Psalms 46:9

46:9 He brings an end to wars throughout the earth; ¹ 

he shatters ²  the bow and breaks ³  the spear;

he burns ⁴  the shields with fire. ⁵ 

Psalms 76:3-6

76:3 There he shattered the arrows, ⁶ 

the shield, the sword, and the rest of the weapons of war. ⁷  (Selah)

76:4 You shine brightly and reveal your majesty,

as you descend from the hills where you killed your prey. ⁸ 

76:5 The bravehearted ⁹  were plundered; ¹⁰ 

they “fell asleep.” ¹¹ 

All the warriors were helpless. ¹² 

76:6 At the sound of your battle cry, ¹³  O God of Jacob,

both rider ¹⁴  and horse “fell asleep.” ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 51:56

51:56 For a destroyer is attacking Babylon. ¹⁶ 

Her warriors will be captured;

their bows will be broken. ¹⁷ 

For the Lord is a God who punishes; ¹⁸ 

he pays back in full. ¹⁹ 

Hosea 1:5

1:5 At that time, ²⁰  I will destroy the military power ²¹  of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”

Hosea 2:18

New Covenant Relationship with Repentant Israel

2:18 “At that time ²²  I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals,

the birds of the air, and the creatures that crawl on the ground.

I will abolish ²³  the warrior’s bow and sword

– that is, every weapon of warfare ²⁴  – from the land,

and I will allow them to live securely.” ²⁵ 

[46:9]  ¹ tn Heb “[the] one who causes wars to cease unto the end of the earth.” The participle continues the description begun in v. 8b and indicates that this is the Lord’s characteristic activity. Ironically, he brings peace to the earth by devastating the warlike, hostile nations (vv. 8, 9b).

[46:9]  ² tn The verb שָׁבַר (shavar, “break”) appears in the Piel here (see Ps 29:5). In the OT it occurs thirty-six times in the Piel, always with multiple objects (the object is either a collective singular or grammatically plural or dual form). The Piel may highlight the repetition of the pluralative action, or it may suggest an intensification of action, indicating repeated action comprising a whole, perhaps with the nuance “break again and again, break in pieces.” Another option is to understand the form as resultative: “make broken” (see IBHS 404-7 §24.3). The imperfect verbal form carries on and emphasizes the generalizing nature of the description.

[46:9]  ³ tn The perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries along the generalizing emphasis of the preceding imperfect.

[46:9]  ⁴ tn The imperfect verbal form carries on and emphasizes the generalizing nature of the description.

[46:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “wagons he burns with fire.” Some read “chariots” here (cf. NASB), but the Hebrew word refers to wagons or carts, not chariots, elsewhere in the OT. In this context, where military weapons are mentioned, it is better to revocalize the form as עֲגִלוֹת (’agilot, “round shields”), a word which occurs only here in the OT, but is attested in later Hebrew and Aramaic.

[76:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “flames of the bow,” i.e., arrows.

[76:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “shield and sword and battle.” “Battle” probably here stands by metonymy for the weapons of war in general.

[76:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “radiant [are] you, majestic from the hills of prey.” God is depicted as a victorious king and as a lion that has killed its victims.

[76:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “strong of heart.” In Isa 46:12, the only other text where this phrase appears, it refers to those who are stubborn, but here it seems to describe brave warriors (see the next line).

[76:5]  ¹⁰ tn The verb is a rare Aramaized form of the Hitpolel (see GKC 149 §54.a, n. 2); the root is שָׁלַל (shalal, “to plunder”).

[76:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they slept [in] their sleep.” “Sleep” here refers to the “sleep” of death. A number of modern translations take the phrase to refer to something less than death, however: NASB “cast into a deep sleep”; NEB “fall senseless”; NIV “lie still”; NRSV “lay stunned.”

[76:5]  ¹² tn Heb “and all the men of strength did not find their hands.”

[76:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “from your shout.” The noun is derived from the Hebrew verb גָּעַר (ga’ar), which is often understood to mean “rebuke.” In some cases it is apparent that scolding or threatening is in view (see Gen 37:10; Ruth 2:16; Zech 3:2). However, in militaristic contexts this translation is inadequate, for the verb refers in this setting to the warrior’s battle cry, which terrifies and paralyzes the enemy. See A. Caquot, TDOT 3:53, and note the use of the verb in Pss 68:30; 106:9; Nah 1:4, as well as the related noun in Job 26:11; Pss 9:5; 18:15; 104:7; Isa 50:2; 51:20; 66:15.

[76:6]  ¹⁴ tn Or “chariot,” but even so the term is metonymic for the charioteer.

[76:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he fell asleep, and [the] chariot and [the] horse.” Once again (see v. 5) “sleep” refers here to the “sleep” of death.

[51:56]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “for a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon.”

[51:56]  ¹⁷ tn The Piel form (which would be intransitive here, see GKC 142 §52.k) should probably be emended to Qal.

[51:56]  ¹⁸ tn Or “God of retribution.”

[51:56]  ¹⁹ tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following finite verb. Another option is to translate, “he certainly pays one back.” The translation assumes that the imperfect verbal form here describes the Lord’s characteristic actions. Another option is to take it as referring specifically to his judgment on Babylon, in which case one should translate, “he will pay (Babylon) back in full.”

[1:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “In that day” (so NIV; NAB, NRSV “On that day”).

[1:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “I will break the bow” (so NAB, NRSV). The phrase “break the bow” (וְשַׁבָרְתִּי אֶת־קֶשֶׁת, véshavarti ’et-qeshet) is figurative. The term קֶשֶׁת (qeshet, “bow”) frequently refers to the warrior’s weapon (2 Sam 22:35; Ps 18:35; Job 20:24; Hos 2:20; Zech 9:10; 10:4). The reference to the warrior’s bow is a synecdoche of specific (bow) for general (military weaponry or power; see HALOT 1155 s.v. קֶשֶׁת 3). The noun קֶשֶׁת is used figuratively for “power” several times (e.g., Gen 49:24; 1 Sam 2:4; Jer 49:35; Job 29:20; Ps 37:15; BDB 906 s.v. 1.e).

[2:18]  ²² tn Heb “And in that day” (so KJV, ASV).

[2:18]  ²³ tn Heb “I will break”; NAB “I will destroy”; NCV “I will smash”; NLT “I will remove.”

[2:18]  ²⁴ tn Heb “bow and sword and warfare.” The first two terms in the triad וְקֶשֶׁת וְחֶרֶב וּמִלְחָמָה (vÿqeshet vÿkherev umilkhamah, literally, “bow and sword and warfare”) are examples of synecdoche of specific (bow and sword) for general (weapons of war, so CEV). However, they might be examples of metonymy (bow and sword) of association (warfare).

[2:18]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and I will cause them to lie down in safety.” The causative nuance (“will make them”) is retained in several English versions (e.g., KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).