Imamat 26:14

The Consequences of Disobedience

26:14 “‘If, however, ¹  you do not obey me and keep ²  all these commandments –

Imamat 26:17

26:17 I will set my face against you. You will be struck down before your enemies, those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when there is no one pursuing you.

Imamat 26:36-37

26:36 “‘As for ³  the ones who remain among you, I will bring despair into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a blowing leaf will pursue them, and they will flee as one who flees the sword and fall down even though there is no pursuer. 26:37 They will stumble over each other as those who flee before a sword, though ⁴  there is no pursuer, and there will be no one to take a stand ⁵  for you before your enemies.

Ulangan 28:25

Curses by Defeat and Deportation

28:25 “The Lord will allow you to be struck down before your enemies; you will attack them from one direction but flee from them in seven directions and will become an object of terror ⁶  to all the kingdoms of the earth.

Yosua 7:8

7:8 If only we had been satisfied to live on the other side of the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say now that Israel has retreated ⁷  before its enemies?

Yosua 7:12

7:12 The Israelites are unable to stand before their enemies; they retreat because they have become subject to annihilation. ⁸  I will no longer be with you, ⁹  unless you destroy what has contaminated you. ¹⁰ 

Yosua 7:1

Achan Sins and is Punished

7:1 But the Israelites disobeyed the command about the city’s riches. ¹¹  Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, ¹²  son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, stole some of the riches. ¹³  The Lord was furious with the Israelites. ¹⁴ 

1 Samuel 4:17

4:17 The messenger replied, “Israel has fled from ¹⁵  the Philistines! The army has suffered a great defeat! Your two sons, Hophni and Phineas, are dead! The ark of God has been captured!”

1 Samuel 31:1-7

The Death of Saul

31:1 Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel. The men of Israel fled from the Philistines and many of them fell dead on Mount Gilboa. 31:2 The Philistines stayed right on the heels ¹⁶  of Saul and his sons. They ¹⁷  struck down Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua. 31:3 Saul himself was in the thick of the battle; ¹⁸  the archers ¹⁹  spotted him and wounded him severely.

31:4 Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and stab me with it! Otherwise these uncircumcised people will come, stab me, and torture me.” But his armor bearer refused to do it, because he was very afraid. So Saul took his sword and fell on it. 31:5 When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his own sword and died with him. 31:6 So Saul, his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men died together that day.

31:7 When the men of Israel who were in the valley and across the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled. The Philistines came and occupied them.

[26:14]  ¹ tn Heb “And if.”

[26:14]  ² tn Heb “and do not do.”

[26:36]  ³ tn Heb “And.”

[26:37]  ⁴ tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) is used in a concessive sense here.

[26:37]  ⁵ tn The term rendered “to stand up” is a noun, not an infinitive. It occurs only here and appears to designate someone who would take a powerful stand for them against their enemies.

[28:25]  ⁶ tc The meaningless MT reading זַעֲוָה (za’avah) is clearly a transposition of the more commonly attested Hebrew noun זְוָעָה (zÿva’ah, “terror”).

[7:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “turned [the] back.”

[7:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “they turn [the] back before their enemies because they are set apart [to destruction by the Lord].”

[7:12]  ⁹ tn The second person pronoun is plural in Hebrew, indicating these words are addressed to the entire nation.

[7:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “what is set apart [to destruction by the Lord] from your midst.”

[7:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “But the sons of Israel were unfaithful with unfaithfulness concerning what was set apart [to the Lord].”

[7:1]  ¹² tn 1 Chr 2:6 lists a “Zimri” (but no Zabdi) as one of the five sons of Zerah (cf. also 1 Chr 7:17, 18).

[7:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “took from what was set apart [to the Lord].”

[7:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel.”

[7:1]  sn This incident illustrates well the principle of corporate solidarity and corporate guilt. The sin of one man brought the Lord’s anger down upon the entire nation.

[4:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “before.”

[31:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “stuck close after.”

[31:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the Philistines.”

[31:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and the battle was heavy against Saul.”

[31:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the shooters, men with the bow.”