Ayub 39:27-30

39:27 Is it at your command ¹  that the eagle soars,

and builds its nest on high?

39:28 It lives on a rock and spends the night there,

on a rocky crag ²  and a fortress. ³ 

39:29 From there it spots ⁴  its prey, ⁵ 

its eyes gaze intently from a distance.

39:30 And its young ones devour the blood,

and where the dead carcasses ⁶  are,

there it is.”

Ayub 39:2

39:2 Do you count the months they must fulfill,

and do you know the time they give birth? ⁷ 

1 Samuel 1:23

1:23 So her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do what you think best. ⁸  Stay until you have weaned him. May the Lord fulfill his promise.” ⁹ 

So the woman stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

Amsal 23:5

23:5 When you gaze upon riches, ¹⁰  they are gone,

for they surely make wings for themselves,

and fly off into the sky like an eagle! ¹¹ 

Yeremia 4:13

4:13 Look! The enemy is approaching like gathering clouds. ¹² 

The roar of his chariots is like that of a whirlwind. ¹³ 

His horses move more swiftly than eagles.”

I cry out, ¹⁴  “We are doomed, ¹⁵  for we will be destroyed!”

Ratapan 4:19

ק (Qof)

4:19 Those who pursued us were swifter

than eagles ¹⁶  in the sky. ¹⁷ 

They chased us over the mountains;

they ambushed us in the wilderness.

Habakuk 1:8

1:8 Their horses are faster than leopards

and more alert ¹⁸  than wolves in the desert. ¹⁹ 

Their horses ²⁰  gallop, ²¹ 

their horses come a great distance;

like a vulture ²²  they swoop down quickly to devour their prey. ²³ 

[39:27]  ¹ tn Heb “your mouth.”

[39:28]  ² tn Heb “upon the tooth of a rock.”

[39:28]  ³ tn The word could be taken as the predicate, but because of the conjunction it seems to be adding another description of the place of its nest.

[39:29]  ⁴ tn The word means “search,” but can be used for a wide range of matters, including spying.

[39:29]  ⁵ tn Heb “food.”

[39:30]  ⁶ tn The word חֲלָלִים (khalalim) designates someone who is fatally wounded, literally the “pierced one,” meaning anyone or thing that dies a violent death.

[39:2]  ⁷ tn Here the infinitive is again a substantive: “the time of their giving birth.”

[1:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “what is good in your eyes.”

[1:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “establish his word.” This apparently refers to the promise inherent in Eli’s priestly blessing (see v. 17).

[23:5]  ¹⁰ tc The Kethib is הֲתָעוּף (hata’uf), “do your eyes fly [light] on it?” The Qere is the Hiphil, הֲתָעִיף (hata’if) “do you cause your eyes to fly on it?” But the line is difficult. The question may be indirect: If you cast your eyes on it, it is gone – when you think you are close, it slips away.

[23:5]  tn The term “riches” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation based on the previous verse.

[23:5]  ¹¹ sn This seventh saying warns people not to expend all their energy trying to get rich because riches are fleeting (cf. Instruction of Amememope, chap. 7, 9:10-11 which says, “they have made themselves wings like geese and have flown away to heaven”). In the ancient world the symbol of birds flying away signified fleeting wealth.

[4:13]  ¹² tn Heb “he is coming up like clouds.” The words “The enemy” are supplied in the translation to identify the referent and the word “gathering” is supplied to try to convey the significance of the simile, i.e., that of quantity and of an approaching storm.

[4:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “his chariots [are] like a whirlwind.” The words “roar” and “sound” are supplied in the translation to clarify the significance of the simile.

[4:13]  ¹⁴ tn The words “I cry out” are not in the text, but the words that follow are obviously not the Lord’s. They are either those of the people or of Jeremiah. Taking them as Jeremiah’s parallels the interjection of Jeremiah’s response in 4:10 which is formally introduced.

[4:13]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Woe to us!” The words “woe to” are common in funeral laments and at the beginning of oracles of judgment. In many contexts they carry the connotation of hopelessness or apprehensiveness of inevitable doom.

[4:19]  ¹⁶ tn The bird referred to here could be one of several species of eagles, but more likely is the griffin-vulture (cf. NEB “vultures”). However, because eagles are more commonly associated with swiftness than vultures in contemporary English, “eagles” was used in the translation.

[4:19]  ¹⁷ tn Or “in the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[1:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “sharper,” in the sense of “keener” or “more alert.” Some translate “quicker” on the basis of the parallelism with the first line (see HALOT 291 s.v. חדד).

[1:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “wolves of the evening,” that is, wolves that prowl at night. The present translation assumes an emendation to עֲרָבָה (’aravah, “desert”). On this phrase see also Zeph 3:3.

[1:8]  ²⁰ tn Or “horsemen,” “cavalry.”

[1:8]  ²¹ tn The precise nuance of the rare verb פָּוַשׁ (parash) is unclear here. Elsewhere it is used of animals jumping or leaping (see Jer 50:11; Mal 4:2).

[1:8]  ²² tn Or “eagle” (so NASB, NRSV). The term can refer to either eagles or vultures, but in this context of gruesome destruction and death “vulture” is preferred.

[1:8]  ²³ tn Heb “they fly like a vulture/an eagle quickly to devour.” The direct object “their prey” is not included in the Hebrew text but is implied, and has been supplied in the translation for clarity.