Lamentations 2:2

ב (Bet)

2:2 The Lord ¹  destroyed ²  mercilessly ³ 

all the homes of Jacob’s descendants. ⁴ 

In his anger he tore down

the fortified cities ⁵  of Daughter Judah.

He knocked to the ground and humiliated

the kingdom and its rulers. ⁶ 

Lamentations 2:17

ע (Ayin)

2:17 The Lord has done what he planned;

he has fulfilled ⁷  his promise ⁸ 

that he threatened ⁹  long ago: ¹⁰ 

He has overthrown you without mercy ¹¹ 

and has enabled the enemy to gloat over you;

he has exalted your adversaries’ power. ¹² 

Lamentations 3:43

ס (Samek)

3:43 You shrouded yourself ¹³  with anger and then pursued us;

you killed without mercy.

Isaiah 27:11

27:11 When its branches get brittle, ¹⁴  they break;

women come and use them for kindling. ¹⁵ 

For these people lack understanding, ¹⁶ 

therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;

the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

Jeremiah 13:14

13:14 And I will smash them like wine bottles against one another, children and parents alike. ¹⁷  I will not show any pity, mercy, or compassion. Nothing will keep me from destroying them,’ ¹⁸  says the Lord.”

Jeremiah 21:7

21:7 Then ¹⁹  I, the Lord, promise that ²⁰  I will hand over King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and any of the people who survive the war, starvation, and disease. I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and to their enemies who want to kill them. He will slaughter them with the sword. He will not show them any mercy, compassion, or pity.’

Ezekiel 5:11

5:11 “Therefore, as surely as I live, says the sovereign Lord, because you defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable idols and with all your abominable practices, I will withdraw; my eye will not pity you, nor will I spare ²¹  you.

Ezekiel 7:4

7:4 My eye will not pity you; I will not spare ²²  you. ²³  For I will hold you responsible for your behavior, ²⁴  and you will suffer the consequences of your abominable practices. ²⁵  Then you will know that I am the Lord!

Ezekiel 7:9

7:9 My eye will not pity you; I will not spare ²⁶  you. For your behavior I will hold you accountable, ²⁷  and you will suffer the consequences of your abominable practices. Then you will know that it is I, the Lord, who is striking you. ²⁸ 

Ezekiel 8:18

8:18 Therefore I will act with fury! My eye will not pity them nor will I spare ²⁹  them. When they have shouted in my ears, I will not listen to them.”

Ezekiel 9:5

9:5 While I listened, he said to the others, ³⁰  “Go through the city after him and strike people down; do no let your eye pity nor spare ³¹  anyone!

Ezekiel 9:10

9:10 But as for me, my eye will not pity them nor will I spare ³²  them; I hereby repay them for what they have done.” ³³ 

Zechariah 11:6

11:6 Indeed, I will no longer have compassion on the people of the land,” says the Lord, “but instead I will turn every last person over to his neighbor and his king. They will devastate the land, and I will not deliver it from them.”

[2:2]  ¹ tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”). See the tc note at 1:14.

[2:2]  ² tn Heb “has swallowed up.”

[2:2]  ³ tc The Kethib is written לֹא חָמַל (lo’ khamal, “without mercy”), while the Qere reads וְלֹא חָמַל (vÿlo’ khamal, “and he has shown no mercy”). The Kethib is followed by the LXX, while the Qere is reflected in many Hebrew mss and the ancient versions (Syriac Peshitta, Aramaic Targum, Latin Vulgate). The English versions are split between the Kethib: “The Lord swallowed all the dwellings of Jacob without mercy” (cf. RSV, NRSV, NIV, TEV, NJPS) and the Qere: “The Lord swallowed all the dwellings of Jacob, and has shown no mercy” (cf. KJV, NASB, CEV). As these words occur between a verb and its object (חָמַל [khamal] is not otherwise followed by אֵת [’et, direct object marker]), an adverbial reading is the most natural, although interrupting the sentence with an insertion is possible. Compare 2:17, 21; 3:43. In contexts of harming, to show mercy often means to spare from harm.

[2:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “all the dwellings of Jacob.”

[2:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “the strongholds.”

[2:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “He brought down to the ground in disgrace the kingdom and its princes.” The verbs חִלֵּל…הִגִּיע (higgi’…khillel, “he has brought down…he has profaned”) function as a verbal hendiadys, as the absence of the conjunction ו (vav) suggests. The first verb retains its full verbal force, while the second functions adverbially: “he has brought down [direct object] in disgrace.”

[2:17]  ⁷ tn The verb בָּצַע (batsa’) has a broad range of meanings: (1) “to cut off, break off,” (2) “to injure” a person, (3) “to gain by violence,” (4) “to finish, complete” and (5) “to accomplish, fulfill” a promise.

[2:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “His word.” When used in collocation with the verb בָּצַע (batsa’, “to fulfill,” see previous tn), the accusative noun אִמְרָה (’imrah) means “promise.”

[2:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “commanded” or “decreed.” If a reference to prophetic oracles is understood, then “decreed” is preferable. If understood as a reference to the warnings in the covenant, then “threatened” is a preferable rendering.

[2:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from days of old.”

[2:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “He has overthrown and has not shown mercy.” The two verbs חָרַס וְלֹא חָמָל (kharas vÿlo’ khamal) form a verbal hendiadys in which the first retains its verbal sense and the second functions adverbially: “He has overthrown you without mercy.” וְלֹא חָמָל (vÿlo’ khamal) alludes to 2:2.

[2:17]  ¹² tn Heb “He has exalted the horn of your adversaries.” The term “horn” (קֶרֶן, qeren) normally refers to the horn of a bull, one of the most powerful animals in ancient Israel. This term is often used figuratively as a symbol of strength, usually in reference to the military might of an army (Deut 33:17; 1 Sam 2:1, 10; 2 Sam 22:3; Pss 18:3; 75:11; 89:18, 25; 92:11; 112:9; 1 Chr 25:5; Jer 48:25; Lam 2:3; Ezek 29:21), just as warriors are sometimes figuratively described as “bulls.” To lift up the horn often means to boast and to lift up someone else’s horn is to give victory or cause to boast.

[3:43]  ¹³ tn Heb “covered.” The object must be supplied either from the next line (“covered yourself”) or from the end of this line (“covered us”).

[27:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “are dry” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[27:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “women come [and] light it.” The city is likened to a dead tree with dried up branches that is only good for firewood.

[27:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “for not a people of understanding [is] he.”

[13:14]  ¹⁷ tn Or “children along with their parents”; Heb “fathers and children together.”

[13:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “I will not show…so as not to destroy them.”

[21:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “And afterward.”

[21:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[5:11]  ²¹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.

[7:4]  ²² tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.

[7:4]  ²³ tn The pronoun “you” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.

[7:4]  ²⁴ tn “I will set your behavior on your head.”

[7:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and your abominable practices will be among you.”

[7:9]  ²⁶ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.

[7:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “According to your behavior I will place on you.”

[7:9]  ²⁸ tn The MT lacks “you.” It has been added for clarification.

[8:18]  ²⁹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.

[9:5]  ³⁰ tn Heb “to these he said in my ears.”

[9:5]  ³¹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.

[9:10]  ³² tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.

[9:10]  ³³ tn Heb “their way on their head I have placed.” The same expression occurs in 1 Kgs 8:32; Ezek 11:21; 16:43; 22:31.