Jeremiah 8:4

Willful Disregard of God Will Lead to Destruction

8:4 The Lord said to me, ¹ 

“Tell them, ‘The Lord says,

Do people not get back up when they fall down?

Do they not turn around when they go the wrong way? ² 

Jeremiah 25:27

25:27 Then the Lord said to me, ³  “Tell them that the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ⁴  says, ⁵  ‘Drink this cup ⁶  until you get drunk and vomit. Drink until you fall down and can’t get up. ⁷  For I will send wars sweeping through you.’ ⁸ 

Daniel 11:19

11:19 He will then turn his attention to the fortresses of his own land, but he will stumble and fall, not to be found again.

Amos 8:14

8:14 These are the ones who now take oaths ⁹  in the name of the sinful idol goddess ¹⁰  of Samaria.

They vow, ¹¹  ‘As surely as your god ¹²  lives, O Dan,’ or ‘As surely as your beloved one ¹³  lives, O Beer Sheba!’

But they will fall down and not get up again.”

Zechariah 5:5-8

Vision Seven: The Ephah

5:5 After this the angelic messenger ¹⁴  who had been speaking to me went out and said, “Look, see what is leaving.” 5:6 I asked, “What is it?” And he replied, “It is a basket for measuring grain ¹⁵  that is moving away from here.” Moreover, he said, “This is their ‘eye’ ¹⁶  throughout all the earth.” 5:7 Then a round lead cover was raised up, revealing a woman sitting inside the basket. 5:8 He then said, “This woman represents wickedness,” and he pushed her down into the basket and placed the lead cover on top.

Revelation 18:21

18:21 Then ¹⁷  one powerful angel picked up a stone like a huge millstone, threw it into the sea, and said,

“With this kind of sudden violent force ¹⁸ 

Babylon the great city will be thrown down ¹⁹ 

and it will never be found again!

[8:4]  ¹ tn The words “the Lord said to me” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation to make clear who is speaking and who is being addressed.

[8:4]  ² sn There is a play on two different nuances of the same Hebrew word that means “turn” and “return,” “turn away” and “turn back.”

[25:27]  ³ tn The words “Then the Lord said to me” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity, to connect this part of the narrative with vv. 15, 17 after the long intervening list of nations who were to drink the cup of God’s wrath in judgment.

[25:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”

[25:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “Tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord….’” The translation is intended to eliminate one level of imbedded quotation marks to help avoid confusion.

[25:27]  ⁶ tn The words “this cup” are not in the text but are implicit to the metaphor and the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[25:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “Drink, and get drunk, and vomit and fall down and don’t get up.” The imperatives following drink are not parallel actions but consequent actions. For the use of the imperative plus the conjunctive “and” to indicate consequent action, even intention see GKC 324-25 §110.f and compare usage in 1 Kgs 22:12; Prov 3:3b-4a.

[25:27]  ⁸ tn Heb “because of the sword that I will send among you.” See the notes on 2:16 for explanation.

[8:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “those who swear.”

[8:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the sin [or “guilt”] of Samaria.” This could be a derogatory reference to an idol-goddess popular in the northern kingdom, perhaps Asherah (cf. 2 Chr 24:18, where this worship is labeled “their guilt”), or to the golden calf at the national sanctuary in Bethel (Hos 8:6, 10:8). Some English versions (e.g., NEB, NRSV, CEV) repoint the word and read “Ashimah,” the name of a goddess worshiped in Hamath in Syria (see 2 Kgs 17:30).

[8:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “say.”

[8:14]  ¹² sn Your god is not identified. It may refer to another patron deity who was not the God of Israel, a local manifestation of the Lord that was worshiped by the people there, or, more specifically, the golden calf image erected in Dan by Jeroboam I (see 1 Kgs 12:28-30).

[8:14]  ¹³ tc The MT reads, “As surely as the way [to] Beer Sheba lives,” or “As surely as the way lives, O Beer Sheba.” Perhaps the term דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, “the way”) refers to the pilgrimage route to Beersheba (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 272) or it may be a title for a god. The notion of pilgrimage appears elsewhere in the book (cf. 4:4-5; 5:4-5; 8:12). The translation above assumes an emendation to דֹּדְךְ (dodÿkh, “your beloved” or “relative”; the term also is used in 6:10) and understands this as referring either to the Lord (since other kinship terms are used of him, such as “Father”) or to another deity that was particularly popular in Beer Sheba. Besides the commentaries, see S. M. Olyan, “The Oaths of Amos 8:14” Priesthood and Cult in Ancient Israel, 121-49.

[5:5]  ¹⁴ tn See the note on the expression “angelic messenger” in 1:9.

[5:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “[This is] the ephah.” An ephah was a liquid or solid measure of about a bushel (five gallons or just under twenty liters). By metonymy it refers here to a measuring container (probably a basket) of that quantity.

[5:6]  ¹⁶ tc The LXX and Syriac read עֲוֹנָם (’avonam, “their iniquity,” so NRSV; NIV similar) for the MT עֵינָם (’enam, “their eye”), a reading that is consistent with the identification of the woman in v. 8 as wickedness, but one that is unnecessary. In 4:10 the “eye” represented divine omniscience and power; here it represents the demonic counterfeit.

[18:21]  ¹⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[18:21]  ¹⁸ tn On ὅρμημα ({ormhma) BDAG 724 s.v. states, “violent rush, onset ὁρμήματι βληθήσεται Βαβυλών Babylon will be thrown down with violence Rv 18:21.” L&N 68.82 refers to the suddenness of the force or violence.

[18:21]  ¹⁹ sn Thrown down is a play on both the words and the action. The angel’s action with the stone illustrates the kind of sudden violent force with which the city will be overthrown.