Yeremia 10:18

10:18 For the Lord says, “I will now throw out

those who live in this land.

I will bring so much trouble on them

that they will actually feel it.” ¹ 

Yehezkiel 6:10

6:10 They will know that I am the Lord; my threats to bring this catastrophe on them were not empty.’ ² 

Zefanya 1:14-17

1:14 The Lord’s great day of judgment ³  is almost here;

it is approaching very rapidly!

There will be a bitter sound on the Lord’s day of judgment;

at that time warriors will cry out in battle. ⁴ 

1:15 That day will be a day of God’s anger, ⁵ 

a day of distress and hardship,

a day of devastation and ruin,

a day of darkness and gloom,

a day of clouds and dark skies,

1:16 a day of trumpet blasts ⁶  and battle cries. ⁷ 

Judgment will fall on ⁸  the fortified cities and the high corner towers.

1:17 I will bring distress on the people ⁹ 

and they will stumble ¹⁰  like blind men,

for they have sinned against the Lord.

Their blood will be poured out like dirt;

their flesh ¹¹  will be scattered ¹²  like manure.

[10:18]  ¹ tn The meaning of this last line is somewhat uncertain: Heb “I will cause them distress in order that [or with the result that] they will find.” The absence of an object for the verb “find” has led to conjecture that the text is wrong. Some commentators follow the lead of the Greek and Latin versions which read the verb as a passive: “they will be found,” i.e., be caught and captured. Others follow a suggestion by G. R. Driver (“Linguistic and Textual Problems: Jeremiah,” JQR 28 [1937-38]: 107) that the verb be read not as “they will find” (יִמְצָאוּ [yimtsa’u] from מָצָא [matsa’]) but “they will be squeezed/ drained” (יִמְצוּ [yimtsu] from מָצָה [matsah]). The translation adopted assumes that this is an example of the ellipsis of the object supplied from the context (cf. E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 8-12). For a similar nuance for the verb “find” = “feel/experience” see BDB 592 s.v. מָצָא Qal.1.f and compare the usage in Ps 116:3.

[6:10]  ² tn Heb “not in vain did I speak to do to them this catastrophe.” The wording of the last half of v. 10 parallels God’s declaration after the sin of the golden calf (Exod 32:14).

[1:14]  ³ tn Heb “The great day of the Lord.” The words “of judgment” are supplied in the translation here and later in this verse for clarity. See the note on the expression “day of judgment” in v. 7.

[1:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “the sound of the day of the Lord, bitter [is] one crying out there, a warrior.” The present translation does four things: (1) It takes מַר (mar, “bitter”) with what precedes (contrary to the accentuation of the MT). (2) It understands the participle צָרַח (tsarakh, “cry out in battle”) as verbal with “warrior” as its subject. (3) It takes שָׁם (sham, “there”) in a temporal sense, meaning “then, at that time.” (4) It understands “warrior” as collective.

[1:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “a day of wrath.” The word “God’s” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[1:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “a ram’s horn.” By metonymy the Hebrew text mentions the trumpet (“ram’s horn”) in place of the sound it produces (“trumpet blasts”).

[1:16]  ⁷ sn This description of the day of the Lord consists of an initial reference to anger, followed by four pairs of synonyms. The joining of synonyms in this way emphasizes the degree of the characteristic being described. The first two pairs focus on the distress and ruin that judgment will bring; the second two pairs picture this day of judgment as being very dark (darkness) and exceedingly overcast (gloom). The description concludes with the pairing of two familiar battle sounds, the blast on the ram’s horn (trumpet blasts) and the war cries of the warriors (battle cries).

[1:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “against.” The words “judgment will fall” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[1:17]  ⁹ tn “The people” refers to mankind in general (see vv. 2-3) or more specifically to the residents of Judah (see vv. 4-13).

[1:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “walk.”

[1:17]  ¹¹ tn Some take the referent of “flesh” to be more specific here; cf. NEB (“bowels”), NAB (“brains”), NIV (“entrails”).

[1:17]  ¹² tn The words “will be scattered” are supplied in the translation for clarity based on the parallelism with “will be poured out” in the previous line.