Jeremiah 8:2

8:2 They will be spread out and exposed to the sun, the moon and the stars. ¹  These are things they ²  adored and served, things to which they paid allegiance, ³  from which they sought guidance, and worshiped. The bones of these people ⁴  will never be regathered and reburied. They will be like manure used to fertilize the ground. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 9:21-22

9:21 ‘Death has climbed in ⁶  through our windows.

It has entered into our fortified houses.

It has taken away our children who play in the streets.

It has taken away our young men who gather in the city squares.’

9:22 Tell your daughters and neighbors, ‘The Lord says,

“The dead bodies of people will lie scattered everywhere

like manure scattered on a field.

They will lie scattered on the ground

like grain that has been cut down but has not been gathered.”’” ⁷ 

Jeremiah 16:4-7

16:4 They will die of deadly diseases. No one will mourn for them. They will not be buried. Their dead bodies will lie like manure spread on the ground. They will be killed in war or die of starvation. Their corpses will be food for the birds and wild animals.

16:5 “Moreover I, the Lord, tell you: ⁸  ‘Do not go into a house where they are having a funeral meal. Do not go there to mourn and express your sorrow for them. For I have stopped showing them my good favor, ⁹  my love, and my compassion. I, the Lord, so affirm it! ¹⁰  16:6 Rich and poor alike will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned. People will not cut their bodies or shave off their hair to show their grief for them. ¹¹  16:7 No one will take any food to those who mourn for the dead to comfort them. No one will give them any wine to drink to console them for the loss of their father or mother.

Psalms 79:3

79:3 They have made their blood flow like water

all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury them. ¹² 

Psalms 83:10

83:10 They were destroyed at Endor; ¹³ 

their corpses were like manure ¹⁴  on the ground.

Ezekiel 39:4-20

39:4 You will fall dead on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the people who are with you. I give you as food to every kind of bird and every wild beast. 39:5 You will fall dead in the open field; for I have spoken, declares the sovereign Lord. 39:6 I will send fire on Magog and those who live securely in the coastlands; then they will know that I am the Lord.

39:7 “‘I will make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; I will not let my holy name be profaned anymore. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁵  39:8 Realize that it is coming and it will be done, declares the sovereign Lord. It is the day I have spoken about.

39:9 “‘Then those who live in the cities of Israel will go out and use the weapons for kindling ¹⁶  – the shields, ¹⁷  bows and arrows, war clubs and spears – they will burn them for seven years. 39:10 They will not need to take ¹⁸  wood from the field or cut down trees from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons. They will take the loot from those who looted them and seize the plunder of those who plundered them, ¹⁹  declares the sovereign Lord.

39:11 “‘On that day I will assign Gog a grave in Israel. It will be the valley of those who travel east of the sea; it will block the way of the travelers. There they will bury Gog and all his horde; they will call it the valley of Hamon-Gog. ²⁰  39:12 For seven months Israel ²¹  will bury them, in order to cleanse the land. 39:13 All the people of the land will bury them, and it will be a memorial ²²  for them on the day I magnify myself, declares the sovereign Lord. 39:14 They will designate men to scout continually ²³  through the land, burying those who remain on the surface of the ground, ²⁴  in order to cleanse it. They will search for seven full months. 39:15 When the scouts survey ²⁵  the land and see a human bone, they will place a sign by it, until those assigned to burial duty have buried it ²⁶  in the valley of Hamon-Gog. 39:16 (A city by the name of Hamonah ²⁷  will also be there.) They will cleanse the land.’

39:17 “As for you, son of man, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Tell every kind of bird and every wild beast: ‘Assemble and come! Gather from all around to my slaughter ²⁸  which I am going to make for you, a great slaughter on the mountains of Israel! You will eat flesh and drink blood. 39:18 You will eat the flesh of warriors ²⁹  and drink the blood of the princes of the earth – the rams, lambs, goats, and bulls, all of them fattened animals of Bashan. 39:19 You will eat fat until you are full, and drink blood until you are drunk, ³⁰  at my slaughter ³¹  which I have made for you. 39:20 You will fill up at my table with horses and charioteers, ³²  with warriors and all the soldiers,’ declares the sovereign Lord.

Revelation 11:9

11:9 For three and a half days those from every ³³  people, tribe, ³⁴  nation, and language will look at their corpses, because they will not permit them to be placed in a tomb. ³⁵ 

[8:2]  ¹ tc MT, 4QJer^a and LXX read “the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven,” but 4QJer^c reads “the sun and all the stars.”

[8:2]  ² tn Heb “the sun, moon, and host of heaven which they…”

[8:2]  ³ tn Heb “followed after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the idiom.

[8:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “they will not” but the referent is far enough removed that it might be ambiguous.

[8:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “like dung/manure on the surface of the ground.”

[9:21]  ⁶ sn Here Death is personified (treated as though it were a person). Some have seen as possible background to this lament an allusion to Mesopotamian mythology where the demon Lamastu climbs in through the windows of houses and over their walls to kill children and babies.

[9:22]  ⁷ tn Or “‘Death has climbed…city squares. And the dead bodies of people lie scattered…They lie scattered…but has not been gathered.’ The Lord has told me to tell you this.” Or “For death will climb…It will enter…It will take away…who gather in the city squares. So tell your daughters and neighbors, ‘The Lord wants you to say, “The dead bodies of people lie scattered…They lie scattered…has not been gathered.”’” The main causes of ambiguity are the particle כִּי (ki) introducing v. 21 and the verb form דַּבֵּר (dabber) at the beginning of v. 22. כִּי may be interpreted as introducing a causal sentence giving Jeremiah’s grounds for the commands of v. 19 in which case the verbs would best be understood as prophetic perfects (as in the second alternate translation). Or it may be interpreted as introducing the content of the lament the women are to teach their daughters and neighbors (as in the translation adopted and in the first alternate translation). The form דַּבֵּר may be interpreted as a Piel masculine singular imperative addressed to Jeremiah (as in the first alternate translation where it is placed at the end for the sake of clarity) or as a Piel infinitive absolute either explaining what the woman are to teach their daughters and neighbors (as in the second alternate translation; cf. GKC 341 §113.h, i for this use of the infinitive absolute) or as equivalent to an imperative addressed to the women telling them to tell their daughters and neighbors the reason for the lament, i.e., the Lord’s promise of widespread death (cf. GKC 346 §113.bb for this use of the infinitive absolute). The translation chosen has opted for v. 21 as the content of the lament and v. 22 as the further explanation that Jeremiah has the women pass on to their neighbors and daughters. This appears to this interpreter to create the least confusion and dislocation in the flow of the passage.

[16:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “For thus says the Lord…”

[16:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “my peace.” The Hebrew word שְׁלוֹמִי (shÿlomi) can be translated “peace, prosperity” or “well-being” (referring to wholeness or health of body and soul).

[16:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[16:6]  ¹¹ sn These were apparently pagan customs associated with mourning (Isa 15:2; Jer 47:5) which were forbidden in Israel (Lev 19:8; 21:5) but apparently practiced anyway (Jer 41:5).

[79:3]  ¹² tn Heb “they have poured out their blood like water, all around Jerusalem, and there is no one burying.”

[83:10]  ¹³ sn Endor is not mentioned in the accounts of Gideon’s or Barak’s victories, but both battles took place in the general vicinity of the town. (See Y. Aharoni and M. Avi-Yonah, The Macmillan Bible Atlas, 46, 54.) Because Sisera and Jabin are mentioned in v. 9b, many understand them to be the subject of the verbs in v. 10, though they relate v. 10 to Gideon’s victory, which is referred to in v. 9a, 11. (See, for example, Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible, 263.)

[83:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they were manure.” In addition to this passage, corpses are compared to manure in 2 Kgs 9:37; Jer 8:2; 9:21; 16:4; 25:33.

[39:7]  ¹⁵ sn The basic sense of the word “holy” is “set apart from that which is commonplace, special, unique.” The Lord’s holiness is first and foremost his transcendent sovereignty as the ruler of the world. He is “set apart” from the world over which he rules. At the same time his holiness encompasses his moral authority, which derives from his royal position. As king he has the right to dictate to his subjects how they are to live; indeed his very own character sets the standard for proper behavior. This expression is a common title for the Lord in the book of Isaiah.

[39:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “burn and kindle the weapons.”

[39:9]  ¹⁷ tn Two different types of shields are specified in the Hebrew text.

[39:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “they will not carry.”

[39:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “loot their looters and plunder their plunderers.”

[39:11]  ²⁰ tn The name means “horde of Gog.”

[39:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “the house of Israel.”

[39:13]  ²² tn Heb “name.”

[39:14]  ²³ tn Heb “men of perpetuity.”

[39:14]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and bury the travelers and those who remain on the surface of the ground.” The reference to “travelers” seems odd and is omitted in the LXX. It is probably an accidental duplication (see v. 11).

[39:15]  ²⁵ tn Heb “as the scouts scout.”

[39:15]  ²⁶ tn That is, the aforementioned bone.

[39:16]  ²⁷ tn This name appears to be a feminine form of the word “horde,” used in the name Hamon-Gog.

[39:17]  ²⁸ tn Or “sacrifice” (so also in the rest of this verse).

[39:18]  ²⁹ sn See Rev 19:17-18.

[39:19]  ³⁰ sn Eating the fat and drinking blood were God’s exclusive rights in Israelite sacrifices (Lev 3:17).

[39:19]  ³¹ tn Or “sacrifice” (so also in the rest of this verse).

[39:20]  ³² tn Heb “chariots.”

[11:9]  ³³ tn The word “every” is not in the Greek text, but is implied by the following list.

[11:9]  ³⁴ tn The Greek term καί (kai) has not been translated before this and the following items in the list, since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[11:9]  ³⁵ tn Or “to be buried.”