Imamat 26:44

26:44 In spite of this, however, when they are in the land of their enemies I will not reject them and abhor them to make a complete end of them, to break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God.

Yeremia 5:10

5:10 The Lord commanded the enemy, ¹ 

“March through the vineyards of Israel and Judah and ruin them. ² 

But do not destroy them completely.

Strip off their branches

for these people do not belong to the Lord. ³ 

Yeremia 5:18

5:18 Yet even then ⁴  I will not completely destroy you,” says the Lord.

Yeremia 12:12

12:12 A destructive army ⁵  will come marching

over the hilltops in the desert.

For the Lord will use them as his destructive weapon ⁶ 

against ⁷  everyone from one end of the land to the other.

No one will be safe. ⁸ 

Yeremia 30:11

30:11 For I, the Lord, affirm ⁹  that

I will be with you and will rescue you.

I will completely destroy all the nations where I scattered you.

But I will not completely destroy you.

I will indeed discipline you, but only in due measure.

I will not allow you to go entirely unpunished.” ¹⁰ 

Yeremia 46:28

46:28 I, the Lord, tell ¹¹  you not to be afraid,

you descendants of Jacob, my servant,

for I am with you.

Though I completely destroy all the nations where I scatter you,

I will not completely destroy you.

I will indeed discipline you but only in due measure.

I will not allow you to go entirely unpunished.” ¹² 

Yehezkiel 20:17

20:17 Yet I had pity on ¹³  them and did not destroy them, so I did not make an end of them in the wilderness.

Amos 9:8

9:8 Look, the sovereign Lord is watching ¹⁴  the sinful nation, ¹⁵ 

and I will destroy it from the face of the earth.

But I will not completely destroy the family ¹⁶  of Jacob,” says the Lord.

[5:10]  ¹ tn These words to not appear in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for the sake of clarity to identify the implied addressee.

[5:10]  ² tn Heb “through her vine rows and destroy.” No object is given but “vines” must be implicit. The word for “vineyards” (or “vine rows”) is a hapax legomenon and its derivation is debated. BDB 1004 s.v. שּׁוּרָה repoints שָׁרוֹתֶיהָ (sharoteha) to שֻׁרוֹתֶיהָ (shuroteha) and relates it to a Mishnaic Hebrew and Palestinian Aramaic word meaning “row.” HALOT 1348 s.v. שּׁוּרָה also repoints to שֻׁרוֹתֶיהָ and relates it to a noun meaning “wall,” preferring to see the reference here to the walled terraces on which the vineyards were planted. The difference in meaning is minimal.

[5:10]  ³ tn Heb “for they do not belong to the Lord.” In the light of the context and Jeremiah’s identification of Israel as a vine (cf., e.g., 2:21) and a vineyard (cf., e.g., 12:10), it is likely that this verse has a totally metaphorical significance. The enemy is to go through the vineyard that is Israel and Judah and destroy all those who have been unfaithful to the Lord. It is not impossible, however, that the verse has a double meaning, a literal one and a figurative one: the enemy is not only to destroy Israel and Judah’s vines but to destroy Israel and Judah, lopping off the wicked Israelites who, because of their covenant unfaithfulness, the Lord has disowned. If the verse is totally metaphorical one might translate: “Pass through my vineyard, Israel and Judah, wreaking destruction. But do not destroy all of the people. Cut down like branches those unfaithful people because they no longer belong to the Lord.”

[5:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “in those days.”

[12:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “destroyers.”

[12:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “It is the Lord’s consuming sword.”

[12:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “For a sword of the Lord will devour.” The sword is often symbolic for destructive forces of all kinds. Here and in Isa 34:6; Jer 47:6 it is symbolic of the enemy armies that the Lord uses to carry out destructive punishment against his enemies, hence the translation “his destructive weapon.” A similar figure is use in Isa 10:5 where the figure is more clearly identified; Assyria is the rod/club that the Lord will use to discipline unfaithful Israel.

[12:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “There is no peace to all flesh.”

[30:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[30:11]  ¹⁰ tn The translation “entirely unpunished” is intended to reflect the emphatic construction of the infinitive absolute before the finite verb.

[46:28]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.” Again the first person is adopted because the Lord is speaking and the indirect quotation is used to avoid an embedded quotation with quotation marks on either side.

[46:28]  ¹² tn The translation “entirely unpunished” is intended to reflect the emphatic construction of the infinitive absolute before the finite verb.

[20:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “my eye pitied.”

[9:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the eyes of the sovereign Lord are on.”

[9:8]  ¹⁵ tn Or “kingdom.”

[9:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).