Zephaniah 3:8

3:8 Therefore you must wait patiently ¹  for me,” says the Lord,

“for the day when I attack and take plunder. ² 

I have decided ³  to gather nations together

and assemble kingdoms,

so I can pour out my fury on them –

all my raging anger.

For ⁴  the whole earth will be consumed

by my fiery anger.

Leviticus 26:33-35

26:33 I will scatter you among the nations and unsheathe the sword ⁵  after you, so your land will become desolate and your cities will become a waste.

26:34 “‘Then the land will make up for ⁶  its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate while you are in the land of your enemies; then the land will rest and make up its Sabbaths. 26:35 All the days of the desolation it will have the rest it did not have ⁷  on your Sabbaths when you lived on it.

Deuteronomy 29:20-28

29:20 The Lord will be unwilling to forgive him, and his intense anger ⁸  will rage ⁹  against that man; all the curses ¹⁰  written in this scroll will fall upon him ¹¹  and the Lord will obliterate his name from memory. ¹²  29:21 The Lord will single him out ¹³  for judgment ¹⁴  from all the tribes of Israel according to all the curses of the covenant written in this scroll of the law. 29:22 The generation to come – your descendants who will rise up after you, as well as the foreigner who will come from distant places – will see ¹⁵  the afflictions of that land and the illnesses that the Lord has brought on it. 29:23 The whole land will be covered with brimstone, salt, and burning debris; it will not be planted nor will it sprout or produce grass. It will resemble the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his intense anger. ¹⁶  29:24 Then all the nations will ask, “Why has the Lord done all this to this land? What is this fierce, heated display of anger ¹⁷  all about?” 29:25 Then people will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. 29:26 They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods they did not know and that he did not permit them to worship. ¹⁸  29:27 That is why the Lord’s anger erupted against this land, bringing on it all the curses ¹⁹  written in this scroll. 29:28 So the Lord has uprooted them from their land in anger, wrath, and great rage and has deported them to another land, as is clear today.”

Deuteronomy 31:17

31:17 At that time ²⁰  my anger will erupt against them ²¹  and I will abandon them and hide my face from them until they are devoured. Many disasters and distresses will overcome ²²  them ²³  so that they ²⁴  will say at that time, ‘Have not these disasters ²⁵  overcome us ²⁶  because our ²⁷  God is not among us ²⁸ ?’

Isaiah 24:1-12

The Lord Will Judge the Earth

24:1 Look, the Lord is ready to devastate the earth

and leave it in ruins;

he will mar its surface

and scatter its inhabitants.

24:2 Everyone will suffer – the priest as well as the people, ²⁹ 

the master as well as the servant, ³⁰ 

the elegant lady as well as the female attendant, ³¹ 

the seller as well as the buyer, ³² 

the borrower as well as the lender, ³³ 

the creditor as well as the debtor. ³⁴ 

24:3 The earth will be completely devastated

and thoroughly ransacked.

For the Lord has decreed this judgment. ³⁵ 

24:4 The earth ³⁶  dries up ³⁷  and withers,

the world shrivels up and withers;

the prominent people of the earth ³⁸  fade away.

24:5 The earth is defiled by ³⁹  its inhabitants, ⁴⁰ 

for they have violated laws,

disregarded the regulation, ⁴¹ 

and broken the permanent treaty. ⁴² 

24:6 So a treaty curse ⁴³  devours the earth;

its inhabitants pay for their guilt. ⁴⁴ 

This is why the inhabitants of the earth disappear, ⁴⁵ 

and are reduced to just a handful of people. ⁴⁶ 

24:7 The new wine dries up,

the vines shrivel up,

all those who like to celebrate ⁴⁷  groan.

24:8 The happy sound ⁴⁸  of the tambourines stops,

the revelry of those who celebrate comes to a halt,

the happy sound of the harp ceases.

24:9 They no longer sing and drink wine; ⁴⁹ 

the beer tastes bitter to those who drink it.

24:10 The ruined town ⁵⁰  is shattered;

all of the houses are shut up tight. ⁵¹ 

24:11 They howl in the streets because of what happened to the wine; ⁵² 

all joy turns to sorrow; ⁵³ 

celebrations disappear from the earth. ⁵⁴ 

24:12 The city is left in ruins; ⁵⁵ 

the gate is reduced to rubble. ⁵⁶ 

Jeremiah 4:26-29

4:26 I looked and saw that the fruitful land had become a desert

and that all of the cities had been laid in ruins.

The Lord had brought this all about

because of his blazing anger. ⁵⁷ 

4:27 All this will happen because the Lord said, ⁵⁸ 

“The whole land will be desolate;

however, I will not completely destroy it.

4:28 Because of this the land will mourn

and the sky above will grow black. ⁵⁹ 

For I have made my purpose known ⁶⁰ 

and I will not relent or turn back from carrying it out.” ⁶¹ 

4:29 At the sound of the approaching horsemen and archers

the people of every town will flee.

Some of them will hide in the thickets.

Others will climb up among the rocks.

All the cities will be deserted.

No one will remain in them.

Jeremiah 7:20

7:20 So,” the Lord God ⁶²  says, “my raging fury will be poured out on this land. ⁶³  It will be poured out on human beings and animals, on trees and crops. ⁶⁴  And it will burn like a fire which cannot be extinguished.”

Jeremiah 7:34

7:34 I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, or the glad celebration of brides and grooms throughout the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. For the whole land will become a desolate wasteland.”

Jeremiah 9:11

9:11 The Lord said, ⁶⁵ 

“I will make Jerusalem ⁶⁶  a heap of ruins.

Jackals will make their home there. ⁶⁷ 

I will destroy the towns of Judah

so that no one will be able to live in them.”

[3:8]  ¹ tn The second person verb form (“you must wait patiently”) is masculine plural, indicating that a group is being addressed. Perhaps the humble individuals addressed earlier (see 2:3) are in view. Because of Jerusalem’s sin, they must patiently wait for judgment to pass before their vindication arrives.

[3:8]  ² tn Heb “when I arise for plunder.” The present translation takes עַד (’ad) as “plunder.” Some, following the LXX, repoint the term עֵד (’ed) and translate, “as a witness” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV). In this case the Lord uses a legal metaphor to picture himself as testifying against his enemies. Adele Berlin takes לְעַד (lÿ’ad) in a temporal sense (“forever”) and translates “once and for all” (Zephaniah [AB 25A], 133).

[3:8]  ³ tn Heb “for my decision is.”

[3:8]  ⁴ tn Or “certainly.”

[26:33]  ⁵ tn Heb “and I will empty sword” (see HALOT 1228 s.v. ריק 3).

[26:34]  ⁶ tn There are two Hebrew roots רָצָה (ratsah), one meaning “to be pleased with; to take pleasure” (HALOT 1280-81 s.v. רצה; cf. “enjoy” in NASB, NIV, NRSV, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 452), and the other meaning “to restore” (HALOT 1281-82 s.v. II רצה; cf. NAB “retrieve” and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 189).

[26:35]  ⁷ tn Heb “it shall rest which it did not rest.”

[29:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “the wrath of the Lord and his zeal.” The expression is a hendiadys, a figure in which the second noun becomes adjectival to the first.

[29:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “smoke,” or “smolder.”

[29:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the entire oath.”

[29:20]  ¹¹ tn Or “will lie in wait against him.”

[29:20]  ¹² tn Heb “blot out his name from under the sky.”

[29:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “set him apart.”

[29:21]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “for evil”; NAB “for doom”; NASB “for adversity”; NIV “for disaster”; NRSV “for calamity.”

[29:22]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “will say and see.” One expects a quotation to appear, but it seems to be omitted. To avoid confusion in the translation, the verb “will say” is omitted.

[29:23]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the anger and the wrath.” This construction is a hendiadys intended to intensify the emotion.

[29:24]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “this great burning of anger”; KJV “the heat of this great anger.”

[29:26]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “did not assign to them”; NASB, NRSV “had not allotted to them.”

[29:27]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the entire curse.”

[31:17]  ²⁰ tn Heb “on that day.” This same expression also appears later in the verse and in v. 18.

[31:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.

[31:17]  ²² tn Heb “find,” “encounter.”

[31:17]  ²³ tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.

[31:17]  ²⁴ tn Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.

[31:17]  ²⁵ tn Heb “evils.”

[31:17]  ²⁶ tn Heb “me.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “us,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style.

[31:17]  ²⁷ tn Heb “my.”

[31:17]  ²⁸ tn Heb “me.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “us,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style.

[24:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and it will be like the people, like the priest.”

[24:2]  ³⁰ tn Heb “like the servant, like his master.”

[24:2]  ³¹ tn Heb “like the female servant, like her mistress.”

[24:2]  ³² tn Heb “like the buyer, like the seller.”

[24:2]  ³³ tn Heb “like the lender, like the borrower.”

[24:2]  ³⁴ tn Heb “like the creditor, just as the one to whom he lends.”

[24:3]  ³⁵ tn Heb “for the Lord has spoken this word.”

[24:4]  ³⁶ tn Some prefer to read “land” here, but the word pair אֶרֶץ/תֵּבֵל (erets/tevel [see the corresponding term in the parallel line]) elsewhere clearly designates the earth/world (see 1 Sam 2:8; 1 Chr 16:30; Job 37;12; Pss 19:4; 24:1; 33:8; 89:11; 90:2; 96:13; 98:9; Prov 8:26, 31; Isa 14:16-17; 34:1; Jer 10:12; 51:15; Lam 4:12). According to L. Stadelmann, תבל designates “the habitable part of the world” (The Hebrew Conception of the World [AnBib], 130).

[24:4]  ³⁷ tn Or “mourns” (BDB 5 s.v. אָבַל). HALOT 6-7 lists the homonyms I אבל (“mourn”) and II אבל (“dry up”). They propose the second here on the basis of parallelism.

[24:4]  ³⁸ tn Heb “the height of the people of the earth.” The translation assumes an emendation of the singular form מְרוֹם (mÿrom, “height of”) to the plural construct מְרֹמֵי (mÿrome, “high ones of”; note the plural verb at the beginning of the line), and understands the latter as referring to the prominent people of human society.

[24:5]  ³⁹ tn Heb “beneath”; cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV “under”; NAB “because of.”

[24:5]  ⁴⁰ sn Isa 26:21 suggests that the earth’s inhabitants defiled the earth by shedding the blood of their fellow human beings. See also Num 35:33-34, which assumes that bloodshed defiles a land.

[24:5]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “moved past [the?] regulation.”

[24:5]  ⁴² tn Or “everlasting covenant” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “the ancient covenant”; CEV “their agreement that was to last forever.”

[24:6]  ⁴³ sn Ancient Near Eastern treaties often had “curses,” or threatened judgments, attached to them. (See Deut 28 for a biblical example of such curses.) The party or parties taking an oath of allegiance acknowledged that disobedience would activate these curses, which typically threatened loss of agricultural fertility as depicted in the following verses.

[24:6]  ⁴⁴ tn The verb אָשַׁם (’asham, “be guilty”) is here used metonymically to mean “pay, suffer for one’s guilt” (see HALOT 95 s.v. אשׁם).

[24:6]  ⁴⁵ tn BDB 359 s.v. חָרַר derives the verb חָרוּ (kharu) from חָרַר (kharar, “burn”), but HALOT 351 s.v. II חרה understands a hapax legomenon חָרָה (kharah, “to diminish in number,” a homonym of חָרָה) here, relating it to an alleged Arabic cognate meaning “to decrease.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has חורו, perhaps understanding the root as חָוַר (khavar, “grow pale”; see Isa 29:22 and HALOT 299 s.v. I חור).

[24:6]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “and mankind is left small [in number].”

[24:7]  ⁴⁷ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “all the joyful in heart,” but the context specifies the context as parties and drinking bouts.

[24:8]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “the joy” (again later in this verse).

[24:9]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “with a song they do not drink wine.”

[24:10]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “the city of chaos” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV). Isaiah uses the term תֹּהוּ (tohu) rather frequently of things (like idols) that are empty and worthless (see BDB 1062 s.v.), so the word might characterize the city as rebellious or morally worthless. However, in this context, which focuses on the effects of divine judgment, it probably refers to the ruined or worthless condition in which the city is left (note the use of the word in Isa 34:11). For a discussion of the identity of this city, see R. Chisholm, “The ‘Everlasting Covenant’ and the ‘City of Chaos’: Intentional Ambiguity and Irony in Isaiah 24,” CTR 6 (1993): 237-53. In the context of universal judgment depicted in Isa 24, this city represents all the nations and cities of the world which, like Babylon of old and the powers/cities mentioned in chapters 13-23, rebel against God’s authority. Behind the stereotypical language one can detect various specific manifestations of this symbolic and paradigmatic city, including Babylon, Moab, and Jerusalem, all of which are alluded or referred to in chapters 24-27.

[24:10]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “every house is closed up from entering.”

[24:11]  ⁵² tn Heb “[there is] an outcry over the wine in the streets.”

[24:11]  ⁵³ tn Heb “all joy turns to evening,” the darkness of evening symbolizing distress and sorrow.

[24:11]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “the joy of the earth disappears.”

[24:12]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “and there is left in the city desolation.”

[24:12]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “and [into] rubble the gate is crushed.”

[4:26]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “because of the Lord, because of his blazing anger.”

[4:27]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “For this is what the Lord said,”

[4:28]  ⁵⁹ sn The earth and the heavens are personified here and depicted in the act of mourning and wearing black clothes because of the destruction of the land of Israel.

[4:28]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “has spoken and purposed.” This is an example of hendiadys where two verbs are joined by “and” but one is meant to serve as a modifier of the other.

[4:28]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “will not turn back from it.”

[7:20]  ⁶² tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.” The translation follows the ancient Jewish tradition of substituting the Hebrew word for God for the proper name Yahweh.

[7:20]  ⁶³ tn Heb “this place.” Some see this as a reference to the temple but the context has been talking about what goes on in the towns of Judah and Jerusalem and the words that follow, meant as a further explanation, are applied to the whole land.

[7:20]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “the trees of/in the field and the fruit of/in the ground.”

[9:11]  ⁶⁵ tn The words “the Lord said” are not in the text, but it is obvious from the content that he is the speaker. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:11]  ⁶⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[9:11]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “a heap of ruins, a haunt for jackals.”