Job 29:19

29:19 My roots reach the water,

and the dew lies on my branches all night long.

Isaiah 5:24

5:24 Therefore, as flaming fire ¹  devours straw,

and dry grass disintegrates in the flames,

so their root will rot,

and their flower will blow away like dust. ² 

For they have rejected the law of the Lord who commands armies,

they have spurned the commands ³  of the Holy One of Israel. ⁴ 

Hosea 9:16

9:16 Ephraim will be struck down ⁵  –

their root will be dried up;

they will not yield any fruit.

Even if they do bear children,

I will kill their precious offspring.

Amos 2:9

2:9 For Israel’s sake I destroyed the Amorites. ⁶ 

They were as tall as cedars ⁷ 

and as strong as oaks,

but I destroyed the fruit on their branches ⁸ 

and their roots in the ground. ⁹ 

Malachi 4:1

4:1 (3:19) ¹⁰  “For indeed the day ¹¹  is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant evildoers will be chaff. The coming day will burn them up,” says the Lord who rules over all. “It ¹²  will not leave even a root or branch.

[5:24]  ¹ tn Heb “a tongue of fire” (so NASB), referring to a tongue-shaped flame.

[5:24]  ² sn They are compared to a flowering plant that withers quickly in a hot, arid climate.

[5:24]  ³ tn Heb “the word.”

[5:24]  ⁴ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[9:16]  ⁵ tn Or perhaps, following the plant metaphor, “will be blighted” (NIV similar).

[2:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “I destroyed the Amorites from before them.” The translation takes מִפְּנֵי (mippÿney) in the sense of “for the sake of.” See BDB 818 s.v. פָּנֻה II.6.a and H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos (Hermeneia), 134. Another option is to take the phrase in a spatial sense, “I destroyed the Amorites, [clearing them out] from before them [i.e., Israel]” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[2:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “whose height was like the height of cedars.”

[2:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “his fruit from above.”

[2:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “and his roots from below.”

[4:1]  ¹⁰ sn Beginning with 4:1, the verse numbers through 4:6 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 4:1 ET = 3:19 HT, 4:2 ET = 3:20 HT, etc., through 4:6 ET = 3:24 HT. Thus the book of Malachi in the Hebrew Bible has only three chapters, with 24 verses in ch. 3.

[4:1]  ¹¹ sn This day is the well-known “day of the Lord” so pervasive in OT eschatological texts (see Joel 2:30-31; Amos 5:18; Obad 15). For the believer it is a day of grace and salvation; for the sinner, a day of judgment and destruction.

[4:1]  ¹² tn Heb “so that it” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons a new sentence was begun here in the translation.