Ulangan 32:41

32:41 I will sharpen my lightning-like sword,

and my hand will grasp hold of the weapon of judgment; ¹ 

I will execute vengeance on my foes,

and repay those who hate me! ² 

Yesaya 31:8

31:8 Assyria will fall by a sword, but not one human-made; ³ 

a sword not made by humankind will destroy them. ⁴ 

They will run away from this sword ⁵ 

and their young men will be forced to do hard labor.

Yeremia 46:10

46:10 But that day belongs to the Lord God who rules over all. ⁶ 

It is the day when he will pay back his enemies. ⁷ 

His sword will devour them until its appetite is satisfied!

It will drink their blood until it is full! ⁸ 

For the Lord God who rules over all ⁹  will offer them up as a sacrifice

in the land of the north by the Euphrates River.

Yeremia 47:6

47:6 How long will you cry out, ¹⁰  ‘Oh, sword of the Lord,

how long will it be before you stop killing? ¹¹ 

Go back into your sheath!

Stay there and rest!’ ¹² 

Yehezkiel 14:17

14:17 “Or suppose I were to bring a sword against that land and say, ‘Let a sword pass through the land,’ and I were to kill both people and animals.

Yehezkiel 21:28

21:28 “As for you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says concerning the Ammonites and their coming humiliation; ¹³  say:

“‘A sword, a sword drawn for slaughter,

polished to consume, ¹⁴  to flash like lightning –

Yehezkiel 33:2

33:2 “Son of man, speak to your people, ¹⁵  and say to them, ‘Suppose I bring a sword against the land, and the people of the land take one man from their borders and make him their watchman.

[32:41]  ¹ tn Heb “judgment.” This is a metonymy, a figure of speech in which the effect (judgment) is employed as an instrument (sword, spear, or the like), the means, by which it is brought about.

[32:41]  ² tn The Hebrew term שָׂנֵא (sane’, “hate”) in this covenant context speaks of those who reject Yahweh’s covenant overtures, that is, who disobey its stipulations (see note on the word “rejecting” in Deut 5:9; also see Deut 7:10; 2 Chr 19:2; Ps 81:15; 139:20-21).

[31:8]  ³ tn Heb “Assyria will fall by a sword, not of a man.”

[31:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “and a sword not of humankind will devour him.”

[31:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “he will flee for himself from before a sword.”

[46:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “the Lord Yahweh of armies.” See the study note at 2:19 for the translation and significance of this title for God.

[46:10]  ⁷ sn Most commentators think that this is a reference to the Lord exacting vengeance on Pharaoh Necho for killing Josiah, carrying Jehoahaz off into captivity, and exacting heavy tribute on Judah in 609 b.c. (2 Kgs 23:29, 33-35).

[46:10]  ⁸ tn Or more paraphrastically, “he will kill them/ until he has exacted full vengeance”; Heb “The sword will eat and be sated; it will drink its fill of their blood.”

[46:10]  sn This passage is, of course, highly figurative. The Lord does not have a literal “sword,” but he uses agents of destruction like the Assyrian armies (called his “rod” in Isa 10:5-6) and the Babylonian armies (called his war club in Jer 51:20) to wreak vengeance on his foes. Likewise, swords do not “eat” or “drink.” What is meant here is that God will use this battle against the Egyptians to kill off many Egyptians until his vengeance is fully satisfied.

[46:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “the Lord Yahweh of armies.” See the study note at 2:19 for the translation and significance of this title for God.

[47:6]  ¹⁰ tn The words “How long will you cry out” are not in the text but some such introduction seems necessary because the rest of the speech assumes a personal subject.

[47:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “before you are quiet/at rest.”

[47:6]  ¹² sn The passage is highly figurative. The sword of the Lord, which is itself a figure of the destructive agency of the enemy armies, is here addressed as a person and is encouraged in rhetorical questions (the questions are designed to dissuade) to “be quiet,” “be at rest,” “be silent,” all of which is designed to get the Lord to call off the destruction against the Philistines.

[21:28]  ¹³ tn Heb “their reproach.”

[21:28]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to contain, endure.” Since the Hebrew text as it stands makes little, if any, sense, most emend the text to read either “to consume” or “for destruction.” For discussion of options see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:693.

[33:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “sons of your people.”