Psalms 7:12

7:12 If a person ¹  does not repent, God sharpens his sword ² 

and prepares to shoot his bow. ³ 

Isaiah 27:1

27:1 At that time ⁴  the Lord will punish

with his destructive, ⁵  great, and powerful sword

Leviathan the fast-moving ⁶  serpent,

Leviathan the squirming serpent;

he will kill the sea monster. ⁷ 

Isaiah 34:5-6

34:5 He says, ⁸  “Indeed, my sword has slaughtered heavenly powers. ⁹ 

Look, it now descends on Edom, ¹⁰ 

on the people I will annihilate in judgment.”

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

it is covered ¹¹  with fat;

it drips ¹²  with the blood of young rams and goats

and is covered ¹³  with the fat of rams’ kidneys.

For the Lord is holding a sacrifice ¹⁴  in Bozrah, ¹⁵ 

a bloody ¹⁶  slaughter in the land of Edom.

Isaiah 66:16

66:16 For the Lord judges all humanity ¹⁷ 

with fire and his sword;

the Lord will kill many. ¹⁸ 

Ezekiel 21:9-15

21:9 “Son of man, prophesy and say: ‘This is what the Lord says:

“‘A sword, a sword is sharpened,

and also polished.

21:10 It is sharpened for slaughter,

it is polished to flash like lightning!

“‘Should we rejoice in the scepter of my son? No! The sword despises every tree! ¹⁹ 

21:11 “‘He gave it to be polished,

to be grasped in the hand –

the sword is sharpened, it is polished –

giving it into the hand of the executioner.

21:12 Cry out and moan, son of man,

for it is wielded against my people;

against all the princes of Israel.

They are delivered up to the sword, along with my people.

Therefore, strike your thigh. ²⁰ 

21:13 “‘For testing will come, and what will happen when the scepter, which the sword despises, is no more? ²¹  declares the sovereign Lord.’

21:14 “And you, son of man, prophesy,

and clap your hands together.

Let the sword strike twice, even three times!

It is a sword for slaughter,

a sword for the great slaughter surrounding them.

21:15 So hearts melt with fear and many stumble.

At all their gates I have stationed the sword for slaughter.

Ah! It is made to flash, it is drawn for slaughter!

Ezekiel 21:20

21:20 Mark out the routes for the sword to take: “Rabbah of the Ammonites” and “Judah with Jerusalem in it.” ²² 

Zephaniah 2:12

2:12 “You ²³  Ethiopians ²⁴  will also die by my sword!” ²⁵ 

[7:12]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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.

[27:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV).

[27:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “hard, severe”; cf. NAB, NRSV “cruel”; KJV “sore”; NLT “terrible.”

[27:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “fleeing” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV). Some translate “slippery” or “slithering.”

[27:1]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Lord speaks at this point.

[34:5]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ sn Edom is mentioned here as epitomizing the hostile nations that oppose God.

[34:6]  ¹¹ tn The verb is a rare Hotpaal passive form. See GKC 150 §54.h.

[34:6]  ¹² tn The words “it drips” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[34:6]  ¹³ tn The words “and is covered” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[34:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “for there is a sacrifice to the Lord.”

[34:6]  ¹⁵ sn The Lord’s judgment of Edom is compared to a bloody sacrificial scene.

[34:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “great” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[66:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NIV “upon all men”; TEV “all the people of the world.”

[66:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “many are the slain of the Lord.”

[21:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Or shall we rejoice, scepter of my son, it despises every tree.” The translation understands the subject of the verb “despises,” which is a feminine form in the Hebrew text, to be the sword (which is a feminine noun) mentioned just before this. Alternatively, the line may be understood as “let us not rejoice, O tribe of my son; it despises every tree.” The same word in Hebrew may be either “rod,” “scepter,” or “tribe.” The word sometimes translated as “or” or taken as an interrogative particle may be a negative particle. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:672, n. 79.

[21:12]  ²⁰ sn This physical action was part of an expression of grief. Cp. Jer. 31:19.

[21:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “For testing (will come) and what if also a scepter, it despises, will not be?” The translation understands the subject of the verb “despises,” which is a feminine form in the Hebrew text, to be the sword (which is a feminine noun) mentioned in the previous verses. The text is very difficult and any rendering is uncertain.

[21:20]  ²² tc The MT reads “Judah in fortified Jerusalem,” a geographic impossibility. The translation follows the LXX, which assumes בְּתוֹכָהּ (bÿtokhah, “in it”) for בְּצוּרָה (bÿtsurah, “fortified”).

[2:12]  ²³ sn Though there is no formal introduction, these words are apparently spoken by the Lord (note my sword).

[2:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Cushites.” This is traditionally assumed to refer to people from the region south of Egypt, i.e., Nubia or northern Sudan, referred to as “Ethiopia” by classical authors (not the more recent Abyssinia).

[2:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Also you Cushites, who lie dead by my sword.”