Yeremia 4:25

4:25 I looked and saw that there were no more people, ¹ 

and that all the birds in the sky had flown away.

Yeremia 9:10

The Coming Destruction Calls For Mourning

9:10 I said, ² 

“I will weep and mourn ³  for the grasslands on the mountains, ⁴ 

I will sing a mournful song for the pastures in the wilderness

because they are so scorched no one travels through them.

The sound of livestock is no longer heard there.

Even the birds in the sky and the wild animals in the fields

have fled and are gone.”

Yehezkiel 38:20

38:20 The fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the wild beasts, all the things that creep on the ground, and all people who live on the face of the earth will shake ⁵  at my presence. The mountains will topple, the cliffs ⁶  will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground.

Zefanya 1:3

1:3 “I will destroy people and animals;

I will destroy the birds in the sky

and the fish in the sea.

(The idolatrous images of these creatures will be destroyed along with evil people.) ⁷ 

I will remove ⁸  humanity from the face of the earth,” says the Lord.

[4:25]  ¹ tn Heb “there was no man/human being.”

[9:10]  ² tn The words “I said” are not in the text, but there is general agreement that Jeremiah is the speaker. Cf. the lament in 8:18-9:1. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity. Some English versions follow the Greek text which reads a plural imperative here. Since this reading would make the transition between 9:10 and 9:11 easier it is probably not original but a translator’s way of smoothing over a difficulty.

[9:10]  ³ tn Heb “I will lift up weeping and mourning.”

[9:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “for the mountains.” However, the context makes clear that it is the grasslands or pastures on the mountains that are meant. The words “for the grasslands” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[38:20]  ⁵ tn Or “tremble.”

[38:20]  ⁶ tn The term occurs only here and in Song of Songs 2:14.

[1:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “And the stumbling blocks [or, “ruins”] with the evil”; or “the things that make the evil stumble.” The line does not appear in the original form of the LXX; it may be a later scribal addition. The present translation assumes the “stumbling blocks” are idolatrous images of animals, birds, and fish. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 167, and Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB), 73-74.

[1:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “cut off.”