Ulangan 13:16

13:16 You must gather all of its plunder into the middle of the plaza ¹  and burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It will be an abandoned ruin ²  forever – it must never be rebuilt again.

Mazmur 127:1

Psalm 127 ³ 

A song of ascents, ⁴  by Solomon.

127:1 If the Lord does not build a house, ⁵ 

then those who build it work in vain.

If the Lord does not guard a city, ⁶ 

then the watchman stands guard in vain.

Yesaya 24:20

24:20 The earth will stagger around ⁷  like a drunk;

it will sway back and forth like a hut in a windstorm. ⁸ 

Its sin will weigh it down,

and it will fall and never get up again.

[13:16]  ¹ tn Heb “street.”

[13:16]  ² tn Heb “mound”; NAB “a heap of ruins.” The Hebrew word תֵּל (tel) refers to this day to a ruin represented especially by a built-up mound of dirt or debris (cf. Tel Aviv, “mound of grain”).

[127:1]  ³ sn Psalm 127. In this wisdom psalm the psalmist teaches that one does not find security by one’s own efforts, for God alone gives stability and security.

[127:1]  ⁴ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[127:1]  ⁵ sn The expression build a house may have a double meaning here. It may refer on the surface level to a literal physical structure in which a family lives, but at a deeper, metaphorical level it refers to building, perpetuating, and maintaining a family line. See Deut 25:9; Ruth 4:11; 1 Sam 2:35; 2 Sam 7:27; 1 Kgs 11:38; 1 Chr 17:10, 25. Having a family line provided security in ancient Israel.

[127:1]  ⁶ sn The city symbolizes community security, which is the necessary framework for family security.

[24:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “staggering, staggers.” The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute before the finite verb for emphasis and sound play.

[24:20]  ⁸ tn The words “in a windstorm” are supplied in the translation to clarify the metaphor.