Psalms 7:11-13

7:11 God is a just judge;

he is angry throughout the day. ¹ 

7:12 If a person ²  does not repent, God sharpens his sword ³ 

and prepares to shoot his bow. ⁴ 

7:13 He prepares to use deadly weapons against him; ⁵ 

he gets ready to shoot flaming arrows. ⁶ 

Isaiah 27:1

27:1 At that time ⁷  the Lord will punish

with his destructive, ⁸  great, and powerful sword

Leviathan the fast-moving ⁹  serpent,

Leviathan the squirming serpent;

he will kill the sea monster. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 34:5-6

34:5 He says, ¹¹  “Indeed, my sword has slaughtered heavenly powers. ¹² 

Look, it now descends on Edom, ¹³ 

on the people I will annihilate in judgment.”

34:6 The Lord’s sword is dripping with blood,

it is covered ¹⁴  with fat;

it drips ¹⁵  with the blood of young rams and goats

and is covered ¹⁶  with the fat of rams’ kidneys.

For the Lord is holding a sacrifice ¹⁷  in Bozrah, ¹⁸ 

a bloody ¹⁹  slaughter in the land of Edom.

[7:11]  ¹ tn Heb “God (the divine name אֵל [’el] is used) is angry during all the day.” The verb זֹעֵם (zo’em) means “be indignant, be angry, curse.” Here God’s angry response to wrongdoing and injustice leads him to prepare to execute judgment as described in the following verses.

[7:12]  ² tn Heb “If he”; the referent (a person who is a sinner) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The subject of the first verb is understood as the sinner who fails to repent of his ways and becomes the target of God’s judgment (vv. 9, 14-16).

[7:12]  ³ tn Heb “if he does not return, his sword he sharpens.” The referent (God) of the pronominal subject of the second verb (“sharpens”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “his bow he treads and prepares it.” “Treading the bow” involved stepping on one end of it in order to string it and thus prepare it for battle.

[7:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “and for him he prepares the weapons of death.”

[7:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “his arrows into flaming [things] he makes.”

[27:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV).

[27:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “hard, severe”; cf. NAB, NRSV “cruel”; KJV “sore”; NLT “terrible.”

[27:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “fleeing” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV). Some translate “slippery” or “slithering.”

[27:1]  ¹⁰ tn The description of Leviathan should be compared with the following excerpts from Ugaritic mythological texts: (1) “Was not the dragon (Ugaritic tnn, cognate with Hebrew תַנִּין [tannin, translated “sea monster” here]) vanquished and captured? I did destroy the wriggling (Ugaritic ’qltn, cognate to Hebrew עֲקַלָּתוֹן [’aqallaton, translated “squirming” here]) serpent, the tyrant with seven heads (cf. Ps 74:14).” (See CTA 3 iii 38-39.) (2) “for all that you smote Leviathan the slippery (Ugaritic brh, cognate to Hebrew בָּרִחַ [bariakh, translated “fast-moving” here]) serpent, [and] made an end of the wriggling serpent, the tyrant with seven heads” (See CTA 5 i 1-3.)

[34:5]  ¹¹ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Lord speaks at this point.

[34:5]  ¹² tn Heb “indeed [or “for”] my sword is drenched in the heavens.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has תראה (“[my sword] appeared [in the heavens]”), but this is apparently an attempt to make sense out of a difficult metaphor. Cf. NIV “My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens.”

[34:5]  ¹³ sn Edom is mentioned here as epitomizing the hostile nations that oppose God.

[34:6]  ¹⁴ tn The verb is a rare Hotpaal passive form. See GKC 150 §54.h.

[34:6]  ¹⁵ tn The words “it drips” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[34:6]  ¹⁶ tn The words “and is covered” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[34:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “for there is a sacrifice to the Lord.”

[34:6]  ¹⁸ sn The Lord’s judgment of Edom is compared to a bloody sacrificial scene.

[34:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “great” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).