Yehezkiel 14:13

14:13 “Son of man, suppose a country sins against me by being unfaithful, and I stretch out my hand against it, cut off its bread supply, ¹  cause famine to come on it, and kill both people and animals.

Yehezkiel 14:15

14:15 “Suppose I were to send wild animals through the land and kill its children, leaving it desolate, without travelers due to the wild animals.

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 14:19

14:19 “Or suppose I were to send a plague into that land, and pour out my rage on it with bloodshed, killing both people and animals.

Yehezkiel 5:12

5:12 A third of your people will die of plague or be overcome by the famine within you. ²  A third of your people will fall by the sword surrounding you, ³  and a third I will scatter to the winds. I will unleash a sword behind them.

Yehezkiel 5:17

5:17 I will send famine and wild beasts against you and they will take your children from you. ⁴  Plague and bloodshed will overwhelm you, ⁵  and I will bring a sword against you. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Yehezkiel 6:11-12

6:11 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Clap your hands, stamp your feet, and say, “Ah!” because of all the evil, abominable practices of the house of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine, and pestilence. ⁶  6:12 The one far away will die by pestilence, the one close by will fall by the sword, and whoever is left and has escaped these ⁷  will die by famine. I will fully vent my rage against them.

Yehezkiel 33:27

33:27 “This is what you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, those living in the ruins will die ⁸  by the sword, those in the open field I will give to the wild beasts for food, and those who are in the strongholds and caves will die of disease.

Yeremia 15:2-3

15:2 If they ask you, ‘Where should we go?’ tell them the Lord says this:

“Those who are destined to die of disease will go to death by disease.

Those who are destined to die in war will go to death in war.

Those who are destined to die of starvation will go to death by starvation.

Those who are destined to go into exile will go into exile.” ⁹ 

15:3 “I will punish them in four different ways: I will have war kill them. I will have dogs drag off their dead bodies. I will have birds and wild beasts devour and destroy their corpses. ¹⁰ 

Amos 4:6-12

4:6 “But surely I gave ¹¹  you no food to eat in any of your cities;

you lacked food everywhere you live. ¹² 

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

4:7 “I withheld rain from you three months before the harvest. ¹³ 

I gave rain to one city, but not to another.

One field ¹⁴  would get rain, but the field that received no rain dried up.

4:8 People from ¹⁵  two or three cities staggered into one city to get ¹⁶  water,

but remained thirsty. ¹⁷ 

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

4:9 “I destroyed your crops ¹⁸  with blight and disease.

Locusts kept ¹⁹  devouring your orchards, ²⁰  vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

4:10 “I sent against you a plague like one of the Egyptian plagues. ²¹ 

I killed your young men with the sword,

along with the horses you had captured.

I made the stench from the corpses ²²  rise up into your nostrils.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

4:11 “I overthrew some of you the way God ²³  overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. ²⁴ 

You were like a burning stick ²⁵  snatched from the flames.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

4:12 “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel.

Because I will do this to you,

prepare to meet your God, Israel! ²⁶ 

Wahyu 6:4-8

6:4 And another horse, fiery red, ²⁷  came out, and the one who rode it ²⁸  was granted permission ²⁹  to take peace from the earth, so that people would butcher ³⁰  one another, and he was given a huge sword.

6:5 Then ³¹  when the Lamb opened the third seal I heard the third living creature saying, “Come!” So ³²  I looked, ³³  and here came ³⁴  a black horse! The ³⁵  one who rode it ³⁶  had a balance scale ³⁷  in his hand. 6:6 Then ³⁸  I heard something like a voice from among the four living creatures saying, “A quart ³⁹  of wheat will cost a day’s pay ⁴⁰  and three quarts of barley will cost a day’s pay. But ⁴¹  do not damage the olive oil and the wine!”

6:7 Then ⁴²  when the Lamb opened the fourth seal I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come!” 6:8 So ⁴³  I looked ⁴⁴  and here came ⁴⁵  a pale green ⁴⁶  horse! The ⁴⁷  name of the one who rode it ⁴⁸  was Death, and Hades followed right behind. ⁴⁹  They ⁵⁰  were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill its population with the sword, ⁵¹  famine, and disease, ⁵²  and by the wild animals of the earth.

[14:13]  ¹ tn Heb “break its staff of bread.”

[5:12]  ² sn The judgment of plague and famine comes from the covenant curse (Lev 26:25-26). As in v. 10, the city of Jerusalem is figuratively addressed here.

[5:12]  ³ sn Judgment by plague, famine, and sword occurs in Jer 21:9; 27:13; Ezek 6:11, 12; 7:15.

[5:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “will bereave you.”

[5:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “will pass through you.” This threat recalls the warning of Lev 26:22, 25 and Deut 32:24-25.

[6:11]  ⁶ sn By the sword and by famine and by pestilence. A similar trilogy of punishments is mentioned in Lev 26:25-26. See also Jer 14:12; 21:9; 27:8, 13; 29:18).

[6:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “the one who is left, the one who is spared.”

[33:27]  ⁸ tn Heb “fall.”

[15:2]  ⁹ tn It is difficult to render the rhetorical force of this passage in meaningful English. The text answers the question “Where should we go?” with four brief staccato-like expressions with a play on the preposition “to”: Heb “Who to the death, to the death and who to the sword, to the sword and who to the starvation, to the starvation and who to the captivity, to the captivity.” The word “death” here is commonly understood to be a poetic substitute for “plague” because of the standard trio of sword, famine, and plague (see, e.g., 14:12 and the notes there). This is likely here and in 18:21. For further support see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:440. The nuance “starvation” rather than “famine” has been chosen in the translation because the referents here are all things that accompany war.

[15:3]  ¹⁰ tn The translation attempts to render in understandable English some rather unusual uses of terms here. The verb translated “punish” is often used that way (cf. BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד Qal.A.3 and compare usage in Jer 11:22, 13:21). However, here it is accompanied by a direct object and a preposition meaning “over” which is usually used in the sense of appointing someone over someone (cf. BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד Qal.B.1 and compare usage in Jer 51:27). Moreover the word translated “different ways” normally refers to “families,” “clans,” or “guilds” (cf. BDB 1046-47 s.v. מִשְׁפָּחָה for usage). Hence the four things mentioned are referred to figuratively as officers or agents into whose power the Lord consigns them. The Hebrew text reads: “I will appoint over them four guilds, the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, the birds of the skies and the beasts of the earth to devour and to destroy.”

[4:6]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic (pronoun + verb). It underscores the stark contrast between the judgments that the Lord had been sending with the God of blessing Israel was celebrating in its worship (4:4-5).

[4:6]  ¹² tn Heb “But I gave to you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of food in all your places.” The phrase “cleanness of teeth” is a vivid way of picturing the famine Israel experienced.

[4:7]  ¹³ sn Rain…three months before the harvest refers to the rains of late March-early April.

[4:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “portion”; KJV, ASV “piece”; NASB “part.” The same word occurs a second time later in this verse.

[4:8]  ¹⁵ tn The words “people from” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[4:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to drink.”

[4:8]  ¹⁷ tn Or “were not satisfied.”

[4:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “you.” By metonymy the crops belonging to these people are meant. See the remainder of this verse, which describes the agricultural devastation caused by locusts.

[4:9]  ¹⁹ tn The Hiphil infinitive construct is taken adverbially (“kept”) and connected to the activity of the locusts (NJPS). It also could be taken with the preceding sentence and related to the Lord’s interventions (“I kept destroying,” cf. NEB, NJB, NIV, NRSV), or it could be understood substantivally in construct with the following nouns (“Locusts devoured your many orchards,” cf. NASB; cf. also KJV, NKJV).

[4:9]  ²⁰ tn Or “gardens.”

[4:10]  ²¹ tn Heb “in the manner [or “way”] of Egypt.”

[4:10]  ²² tn Heb “of your camps [or “armies”].”

[4:11]  ²³ tn Several English versions substitute the first person pronoun (“I”) here for stylistic reasons (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[4:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “like God’s overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.” The divine name may be used in an idiomatic superlative sense here, in which case one might translate, “like the great [or “disastrous”] overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.”

[4:11]  sn The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is described in Gen 19:1-29.

[4:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “like that which is burning.”

[4:12]  ²⁶ tn The Lord appears to announce a culminating judgment resulting from Israel’s obstinate refusal to repent. The following verse describes the Lord in his role as sovereign judge, but it does not outline the judgment per se. For this reason F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman (Amos [AB], 450) take the prefixed verbal forms as preterites referring to the series of judgments detailed in vv. 6-11. It is more likely that a coming judgment is in view, but that its details are omitted for rhetorical effect, creating a degree of suspense (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 149-50) that will find its solution in chapter 5. This line is an ironic conclusion to the section begun at 4:4. Israel thought they were meeting the Lord at the sanctuaries, yet they actually had misunderstood how he had been trying to bring them back to himself. Now Israel would truly meet the Lord – not at the sanctuaries, but face-to-face in judgment.

[6:4]  ²⁷ tn L&N 79.31 states, “‘fiery red’ (probably with a tinge of yellow or orange).”

[6:4]  ²⁸ tn Grk “the one sitting on it.”

[6:4]  ²⁹ tn The word “permission” is implied; Grk “it was given to him to take peace from the earth.”

[6:4]  ³⁰ tn BDAG 979 s.v. σφάζω states, “Of the killing of a person by violence…σφάζειν τινά butcher or murder someone (4 Km 10:7; Jer 52:10; Manetho: 609 fgm. 8, 76 Jac. [in Jos., C. Ap. 1, 76]; Demetr.[?]: 722 fgm. 7; Ar. 10, 9) 1J 3:12; Rv 6:4. Pass. (Hdt. 5, 5) 5:9; 6:9; 18:24.”

[6:5]  ³¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[6:5]  ³² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the summons by the third creature.

[6:5]  ³³ tc The reading “and I looked” (καὶ εἶδον, kai eidon) or some slight variation (e.g., ἶδον, idon) has excellent ms support ({א A C P 1611}) and its omission seems to have come through the mss that have already placed “and look” (καὶ ἴδε or καὶ βλέπε [kai ide or kai blepe]) after the verb “come” (ἔρχου, ercou) in 6:1. Thus, for these copyists it was redundant to add “and I looked” again.

[6:5]  ³⁴ tn The phrase “and here came” expresses the sense of καὶ ἰδού (kai idou).

[6:5]  ³⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[6:5]  ³⁶ tn Grk “the one sitting on it.”

[6:5]  ³⁷ sn A balance scale would have been a rod held by a rope in the middle with pans attached to both ends for measuring.

[6:6]  ³⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[6:6]  ³⁹ tn BDAG 1086 s.v. χοῖνιξ states, “a dry measure, oft. used for grain, approximately equivalent to one quart or one liter, quart. A χ.of grain was a daily ration for one pers.…Rv 6:6ab.”

[6:6]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “a quart of wheat for a denarius.” A denarius was one day’s pay for an average worker. The words “will cost” are used to indicate the genitive of price or value; otherwise the English reader could understand the phrase to mean “a quart of wheat to be given as a day’s pay.”

[6:6]  ⁴¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[6:7]  ⁴² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[6:8]  ⁴³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the summons by the fourth creature.

[6:8]  ⁴⁴ tc The reading “and I looked” (καὶ εἶδον, kai eidon) or some slight variation (e.g., ἶδον, idon) has excellent ms support ({א A C P 1611}) and its omission seems to have come through the mss that have already placed “and look” (καὶ ἴδε or καὶ βλέπε [kai ide or kai blepe]) after the verb “come” (ἔρχου, ercou) in 6:1. Thus, for these copyists it was redundant to add “and I looked” again.

[6:8]  ⁴⁵ tn The phrase “and here came” expresses the sense of καὶ ἰδού (kai idou).

[6:8]  ⁴⁶ tn A sickly pallor, when referring to persons, or the green color of plants. BDAG 1085 s.v. χλωρός 2 states, “pale, greenish gray…as the color of a pers. in sickness contrasted with appearance in health…so the horse ridden by Death…ἵππος χλωρός Rv 6:8.” Because the color of the horse is symbolic, “pale green” is used in the translation. Cf. NIV, NCV “pale”; NASB “ashen.”

[6:8]  ⁴⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[6:8]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “the one sitting on it.”

[6:8]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “And Hades was following with him.” The Greek expression μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ (met’ autou, “with him”) is Semitic and indicates close proximity. The translation “followed right behind” reflects this.

[6:8]  ⁵⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[6:8]  ⁵¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[6:8]  ⁵² tn Grk “with death.” θάνατος (qanatos) can in particular contexts refer to a manner of death, specifically a contagious disease (see BDAG 443 s.v. 3; L&N 23.158).