Yesaya 14:2

14:2 Nations will take them and bring them back to their own place. Then the family of Jacob will make foreigners their servants as they settle in the Lord’s land. ¹  They will make their captors captives and rule over the ones who oppressed them.

Yesaya 33:1

The Lord Will Restore Zion

33:1 The destroyer is as good as dead, ² 

you who have not been destroyed!

The deceitful one is as good as dead, ³ 

the one whom others have not deceived!

When you are through destroying, you will be destroyed;

when you finish ⁴  deceiving, others will deceive you!

Yesaya 33:23

33:23 Though at this time your ropes are slack, ⁵ 

the mast is not secured, ⁶ 

and the sail ⁷  is not unfurled,

at that time you will divide up a great quantity of loot; ⁸ 

even the lame will drag off plunder. ⁹ 

Yeremia 27:7

27:7 All nations must serve him and his son and grandson ¹⁰  until the time comes for his own nation to fall. ¹¹  Then many nations and great kings will in turn subjugate Babylon. ¹² 

Yehezkiel 39:10

39:10 They will not need to take ¹³  wood from the field or cut down trees from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons. They will take the loot from those who looted them and seize the plunder of those who plundered them, ¹⁴  declares the sovereign Lord.

Habakuk 2:8

2:8 Because you robbed many countries, ¹⁵ 

all who are left among the nations ¹⁶  will rob you.

You have shed human blood

and committed violent acts against lands, cities, ¹⁷  and those who live in them.

Habakuk 2:17

2:17 For you will pay in full for your violent acts against Lebanon; ¹⁸ 

terrifying judgment will come upon you because of the way you destroyed the wild animals living there. ¹⁹ 

You have shed human blood

and committed violent acts against lands, cities, and those who live in them.

Zefanya 2:9

2:9 Therefore, as surely as I live,” says the Lord who commands armies, the God of Israel,

“be certain that Moab will become like Sodom

and the Ammonites like Gomorrah.

They will be overrun by weeds, ²⁰ 

filled with salt pits, ²¹ 

and permanently desolate.

Those of my people who are left ²²  will plunder their belongings; ²³ 

those who are left in Judah ²⁴  will take possession of their land.”

[14:2]  ¹ tn Heb “and the house of Jacob will take possession of them [i.e., the nations], on the land of the Lord, as male servants and female servants.”

[33:1]  ² tn Heb “Woe [to] the destroyer.”

[33:1]  sn In this context “the destroyer” appears to refer collectively to the hostile nations (vv. 3-4). Assyria would probably have been primary in the minds of the prophet and his audience.

[33:1]  ³ tn Heb “and the deceitful one”; NAB, NIV “O traitor”; NRSV “you treacherous one.” In the parallel structure הוֹי (hoy, “woe [to]”) does double duty.

[33:1]  ⁴ tc The form in the Hebrew text appears to derive from an otherwise unattested verb נָלָה (nalah). The translation follows the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a in reading ככלתך, a Piel infinitival form from the verbal root כָּלָה (kalah), meaning “finish.”

[33:23]  ⁵ tn The words “though at this time” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The first half of the verse is addressed to Judah and contrasts the nation’s present weakness with its future prosperity. Judah is compared to a ship that is incapable of sailing.

[33:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “they do not fasten the base of their mast.” On כֵּן (ken, “base”) see BDB 487 s.v. III כֵּן and HALOT 483 s.v. III כֵּן.

[33:23]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps, “flag.”

[33:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “then there will be divided up loot of plunder [in] abundance.”

[33:23]  ⁹ sn Judah’s victory over its enemies will be so thorough there will be more than enough plunder for everyone, even slow-moving lame men who would normally get left out in the rush to gather the loot.

[27:7]  ¹⁰ sn This is a figure that emphasizes that they will serve for a long time but not for an unlimited duration. The kingdom of Babylon lasted a relatively short time by ancient standards. It lasted from 605 b.c. when Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho at Carchemish until the fall of Babylon in 538 b.c. There were only four rulers. Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son, Evil Merodach (cf. 52:31), and two other rulers who were not descended from him.

[27:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “until the time of his land, even his, comes.” The independent pronoun is placed here for emphasis on the possessive pronoun. The word “time” is used by substitution for the things that are done in it (compare in the NT John 2:4; 7:30; 8:20 “his hour had not yet come”).

[27:7]  sn See Jer 25:12-14, 16.

[27:7]  ¹² tn Heb “him.” This is a good example of the figure of substitution where the person is put for his descendants or the nation or subject he rules. (See Gen 28:13-14 for another good example and Acts 22:7 in the NT.)

[39:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “they will not carry.”

[39:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “loot their looters and plunder their plunderers.”

[2:8]  ¹⁵ tn Or “nations.”

[2:8]  ¹⁶ tn Or “peoples.”

[2:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “because of the shed blood of humankind and violence against land, city.” The singular forms אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”) and קִרְיָה (qiryah, “city”) are collective, referring to all the lands and cities terrorized by the Babylonians.

[2:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “for the violence against Lebanon will cover you.”

[2:17]  ¹⁹ tc The Hebrew appears to read literally, “and the violence against the animals [which] he terrified.” The verb form יְחִיתַן (yÿkhitan) appears to be a Hiphil imperfect third masculine singular with third feminine plural suffix (the antecedent being the animals) from חָתַת (khatat, “be terrified”). The translation above follows the LXX and assumes a reading יְחִתֶּךָ (yÿkhittekha, “[the violence against the animals] will terrify you”; cf. NRSV “the destruction of the animals will terrify you”; NIV “and your destruction of animals will terrify you”). In this case the verb is a Hiphil imperfect third masculine singular with second masculine singular suffix (the antecedent being Babylon). This provides better symmetry with the preceding line, where Babylon’s violence is the subject of the verb “cover.”

[2:17]  sn The language may anticipate Nebuchadnezzar’s utilization of trees from the Lebanon forest in building projects. Lebanon and its animals probably represent the western Palestinian states conquered by the Babylonians.

[2:9]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew text reads מִמְשַׁק חָרוּל (mimshaq kharul, “[?] of weeds”). The meaning of the first word is unknown. The present translation (“They will be overrun by weeds”) is speculative, based on the general sense of the context. For a defense of “overrun” on linguistic grounds, see R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (WEC), 347. Cf. NEB “a pile of weeds”; NIV “a place of weeds”; NRSV “a land possessed by nettles.”

[2:9]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew text reads וּמִכְרֵה־מֶלַח (umikhreh-melakh, “and a [?] of salt”). The meaning of the first word is unclear, though “pit” (NASB, NIV, NRSV; NKJV “saltpit”), “mine,” and “heap” (cf. NEB “a rotting heap of saltwort”) are all options. The words “filled with” are supplied for clarification.

[2:9]  ²² tn Or “The remnant of my people.”

[2:9]  ²³ tn Heb “them.” The actual object of the plundering, “their belongings,” has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:9]  ²⁴ tn Heb “[the] nation.” For clarity the “nation” has been specified as “Judah” in the translation.