Ulangan 32:41-42

32:41 I will sharpen my lightning-like sword,

and my hand will grasp hold of the weapon of judgment; ¹ 

I will execute vengeance on my foes,

and repay those who hate me! ² 

32:42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,

and my sword will devour flesh –

the blood of the slaughtered and captured,

the chief ³  of the enemy’s leaders!’”

Yeremia 47:6

47:6 How long will you cry out, ⁴  ‘Oh, sword of the Lord,

how long will it be before you stop killing? ⁵ 

Go back into your sheath!

Stay there and rest!’ ⁶ 

Yehezkiel 21:5

21:5 Then everyone will know that I am the Lord, who drew my sword from its sheath – it will not be sheathed again!’

Zakharia 13:7

13:7 “Awake, sword, against my shepherd,

against the man who is my associate,”

says the Lord who rules over all.

Strike the shepherd that the flock may be scattered; ⁷ 

I will turn my hand against the insignificant ones.

[32:41]  ¹ tn Heb “judgment.” This is a metonymy, a figure of speech in which the effect (judgment) is employed as an instrument (sword, spear, or the like), the means, by which it is brought about.

[32:41]  ² tn The Hebrew term שָׂנֵא (sane’, “hate”) in this covenant context speaks of those who reject Yahweh’s covenant overtures, that is, who disobey its stipulations (see note on the word “rejecting” in Deut 5:9; also see Deut 7:10; 2 Chr 19:2; Ps 81:15; 139:20-21).

[32:42]  ³ tn Or “head” (the same Hebrew word can mean “head” in the sense of “leader, chieftain” or “head” in the sense of body part).

[47:6]  ⁴ tn The words “How long will you cry out” are not in the text but some such introduction seems necessary because the rest of the speech assumes a personal subject.

[47:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “before you are quiet/at rest.”

[47:6]  ⁶ sn The passage is highly figurative. The sword of the Lord, which is itself a figure of the destructive agency of the enemy armies, is here addressed as a person and is encouraged in rhetorical questions (the questions are designed to dissuade) to “be quiet,” “be at rest,” “be silent,” all of which is designed to get the Lord to call off the destruction against the Philistines.

[13:7]  ⁷ sn Despite the NT use of this text to speak of the scattering of the disciples following Jesus’ crucifixion (Matt 26:31; Mark 14:27), the immediate context of Zechariah suggests that unfaithful shepherds (kings) will be punished by the Lord precisely so their flocks (disobedient Israel) can be scattered (cf. Zech 11:6, 8, 9, 16). It is likely that Jesus drew on this passage merely to make the point that whenever shepherds are incapacitated, sheep will scatter. Thus he was not identifying himself with the shepherd in this text (the shepherd in the Zechariah text is a character who is portrayed negatively).