Zakharia 9:15

9:15 The Lord who rules over all will guard them, and they will prevail and overcome with sling stones. Then they will drink, and will become noisy like drunkards, ¹  full like the sacrificial basin or like the corners of the altar. ² 

Mazmur 149:6-9

149:6 May they praise God

while they hold a two-edged sword in their hand, ³ 

149:7 in order to take ⁴  revenge on the nations,

and punish foreigners.

149:8 They bind ⁵  their kings in chains,

and their nobles in iron shackles,

149:9 and execute the judgment to which their enemies ⁶  have been sentenced. ⁷ 

All his loyal followers will be vindicated. ⁸ 

Praise the Lord!

Yesaya 41:15-16

41:15 “Look, I am making you like ⁹  a sharp threshing sledge,

new and double-edged. ¹⁰ 

You will thresh the mountains and crush them;

you will make the hills like straw. ¹¹ 

41:16 You will winnow them and the wind will blow them away;

the wind will scatter them.

You will rejoice in the Lord;

you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.

Daniel 2:34-35

2:34 You were watching as ¹²  a stone was cut out, ¹³  but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its iron and clay feet, breaking them in pieces. 2:35 Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were broken in pieces without distinction ¹⁴  and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors that the wind carries away. Not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a large mountain that filled the entire earth.

Daniel 2:44-45

2:44 In the days of those kings the God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will not be destroyed and a kingdom that will not be left to another people. It will break in pieces and bring about the demise of all these kingdoms. But it will stand forever. 2:45 You saw that a stone was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands; it smashed the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold into pieces. The great God has made known to the king what will occur in the future. ¹⁵  The dream is certain, and its interpretation is reliable.”

Mikha 4:13

4:13 “Get up and thresh, Daughter Zion!

For I will give you iron horns; ¹⁶ 

I will give you bronze hooves,

and you will crush many nations.” ¹⁷ 

You will devote to the Lord the spoils you take from them,

and dedicate their wealth to the sovereign Ruler ¹⁸  of the whole earth. ¹⁹ 

Mikha 5:5-8

5:5 He will give us peace. ²⁰ 

Should the Assyrians try to invade our land

and attempt to set foot in our fortresses, ²¹ 

we will send ²²  against them seven ²³  shepherd-rulers, ²⁴ 

make that eight commanders. ²⁵ 

5:6 They will rule ²⁶  the land of Assyria with the sword,

the land of Nimrod ²⁷  with a drawn sword. ²⁸ 

Our king ²⁹  will rescue us from the Assyrians

should they attempt to invade our land

and try to set foot in our territory.

5:7 Those survivors from ³⁰  Jacob will live ³¹ 

in the midst of many nations. ³² 

They will be like the dew the Lord sends,

like the rain on the grass,

that does not hope for men to come

or wait around for humans to arrive. ³³ 

5:8 Those survivors from Jacob will live among the nations,

in the midst of many peoples.

They will be like a lion among the animals of the forest,

like a young lion among the flocks of sheep,

which attacks when it passes through;

it rips its prey ³⁴  and there is no one to stop it. ³⁵ 

Wahyu 19:19-20

19:19 Then ³⁶  I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to do battle with the one who rode the horse and with his army. 19:20 Now ³⁷  the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf ³⁸  – signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur. ³⁹ 

[9:15]  ¹ tn Heb “they will drink and roar as with wine”; the LXX (followed here by NAB, NRSV) reads “they will drink blood like wine” (referring to a figurative “drinking” of the blood of their enemies).

[9:15]  ² sn The whole setting is eschatological as the intensely figurative language shows. The message is that the Lord will assume his triumphant reign over all the earth and will use his own redeemed and renewed people Israel to accomplish that work. The imagery of v. 15 is the eating and drinking of the flesh and blood of God’s enemies, that is, Israel’s complete mastery of them. Like those who drink too much wine, the Lord’s warriors will be satiated with the blood of their foes and will exult as though drunk.

[149:6]  ³ tn Heb “[May] praises of God [be] in their throat, and a two-edged sword in their hand.”

[149:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “to do.”

[149:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “to bind.”

[149:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the enemies of the people of God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[149:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “to do against them judgment [that] is written.”

[149:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “it is honor for all his godly ones.” The judgment of the oppressive kings will bring vindication and honor to God’s people (see vv. 4-5).

[41:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “into” (so NIV); ASV “have made thee to be.”

[41:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “owner of two-mouths,” i.e., double-edged.

[41:15]  ¹¹ sn The mountains and hills symbolize hostile nations that are obstacles to Israel’s restoration.

[2:34]  ¹² tn Aram “until.”

[2:34]  ¹³ tc The LXX, Theodotion, and the Vulgate have “from a mountain,” though this is probably a harmonization with v. 45.

[2:35]  ¹⁴ tn Aram “as one.” For the meaning “without distinction” see the following: F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 36, §64, and p. 93; E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 60.

[2:45]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “after this.”

[4:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “I will make your horn iron.”

[4:13]  ¹⁷ sn Jerusalem (Daughter Zion at the beginning of the verse; cf. 4:8) is here compared to a powerful ox which crushes the grain on the threshing floor with its hooves.

[4:13]  ¹⁸ tn Or “the Lord” (so many English versions); Heb “the master.”

[4:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and their wealth to the master of all the earth.” The verb “devote” does double duty in the parallelism and is supplied in the second line for clarification.

[4:13]  sn In vv. 11-13 the prophet jumps from the present crisis (which will result in exile, v. 10) to a time beyond the restoration of the exiles when God will protect his city from invaders. The Lord’s victory over the Assyrian armies in 701 b.c. foreshadowed this.

[5:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and this one will be peace”; ASV “and this man shall be our peace” (cf. Eph 2:14).

[5:5]  ²¹ tc Some prefer to read “in our land,” emending the text to בְּאַדְמָתֵנוּ (bÿ’admatenu).

[5:5]  ²² tn Heb “raise up.”

[5:5]  ²³ sn The numbers seven and eight here symbolize completeness and emphasize that Israel will have more than enough military leadership and strength to withstand the Assyrian advance.

[5:5]  ²⁴ tn Heb “shepherds.”

[5:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and eight leaders of men.”

[5:6]  ²⁶ tn Or perhaps “break”; or “defeat.”

[5:6]  ²⁷ sn According to Gen 10:8-12, Nimrod, who was famous as a warrior and hunter, founded Assyria.

[5:6]  ²⁸ tc The MT reads “in her gates,” but the text should be emended to בַּפְּתִיחָה (baptikhah, “with a drawn sword”).

[5:6]  ²⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the coming king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:7]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the remnant of” (also in v. 8).

[5:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “will be.”

[5:7]  ³² tn This could mean “(scattered) among the nations” (cf. CEV, NLT) or “surrounded by many nations” (cf. NRSV).

[5:7]  ³³ tn Heb “that does not hope for man, and does not wait for the sons of men.”

[5:7]  sn Men wait eagerly for the dew and the rain, not vice versa. Just as the dew and rain are subject to the Lord, not men, so the remnant of Israel will succeed by the supernatural power of God and not need the support of other nations. There may even be a military metaphor here. Israel will overwhelm their enemies, just as the dew completely covers the grass (see 2 Sam 17:12). This interpretation would be consistent with the image of v. 7.

[5:8]  ³⁴ tn The words “its prey” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:8]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and there is no deliverer.”

[19:19]  ³⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[19:20]  ³⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the introduction of an unexpected development in the account: The opposing armies do not come together in battle; rather the leader of one side is captured.

[19:20]  ³⁸ tn For this meaning see BDAG 342 s.v. ἐνώπιον 4.b, “by the authority of, on behalf of Rv 13:12, 14; 19:20.”

[19:20]  ³⁹ tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”