“By my strong hand I have accomplished this,
by my strategy that I devised.
I invaded the territory of nations, 1
and looted their storehouses.
Like a mighty conqueror, 2 I brought down rulers. 3
17:10 For you ignore 4 the God who rescues you;
you pay no attention to your strong protector. 5
So this is what happens:
You cultivate beautiful plants
and plant exotic vines. 6
26:1 At that time 7 this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
“We have a strong city!
The Lord’s 8 deliverance, like walls and a rampart, makes it secure. 9
28:2 Look, the sovereign master 10 sends a strong, powerful one. 11
With the force of a hailstorm or a destructive windstorm, 12
with the might of a driving, torrential rainstorm, 13
he will knock that crown 14 to the ground with his hand. 15
29:6 Judgment will come from the Lord who commands armies, 16
accompanied by thunder, earthquake, and a loud noise,
by a strong gale, a windstorm, and a consuming flame of fire.
44:12 A blacksmith works with his tool 17
and forges metal over the coals.
He forms it 18 with hammers;
he makes it with his strong arm.
He gets hungry and loses his energy; 19
he drinks no water and gets tired.
59:10 We grope along the wall like the blind,
we grope like those who cannot see; 20
we stumble at noontime as if it were evening.
Though others are strong, we are like dead men. 21
62:8 The Lord swears an oath by his right hand,
by his strong arm: 22
“I will never again give your grain
to your enemies as food,
and foreigners will not drink your wine,
which you worked hard to produce.
1 tn Heb “removed the borders of nations”; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV “boundaries.”
2 tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has כְּאַבִּיר (kÿ’abir, “like a strong one”); the marginal reading (Qere) is כַּבִיר (kavir, “mighty one”).
3 tn Heb “and I brought down, like a strong one, ones sitting [or “living”].” The participle יוֹשְׁבִים (yoshÿvim, “ones sitting”) could refer to the inhabitants of the nations, but the translation assumes that it refers to those who sit on thrones, i.e., rulers. See BDB 442 s.v. יָשַׁב and HALOT 444 s.v. ישׁב.
4 tn Heb “you have forgotten” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).
5 tn Heb “and the rocky cliff of your strength you do not remember.”
6 tn Heb “a vine, a strange one.” The substantival adjective זָר (zar) functions here as an appositional genitive. It could refer to a cultic plant of some type, associated with a pagan rite. But it is more likely that it refers to an exotic, or imported, type of vine, one that is foreign (i.e., “strange”) to Israel.
7 tn Heb “In that day” (so KJV).
8 tn Heb “his”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 tn Heb “deliverance he makes walls and a rampart.”
10 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 16, 22 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
11 tn Heb “Look, a strong and powerful [one] belongs to the Lord.”
12 tn Heb “like a rainstorm of hail, a wind of destruction.”
13 tn Heb “like a rainstorm of mighty, overflowing waters.”
14 tn The words “that crown” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The object of the verb is unexpressed in the Hebrew text.
15 tn Or “by [his] power.”
16 tn Heb “from the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] there will be visitation.” The third feminine singular passive verb form תִּפָּקֵד (tippaqed, “she/it will be visited”) is used here in an impersonal sense. See GKC 459 §144.b.
17 tn The noun מַעֲצָד (ma’atsad), which refers to some type of tool used for cutting, occurs only here and in Jer 10:3. See HALOT 615 s.v. מַעֲצָד.
18 tn Some English versions take the pronoun “it” to refer to an idol being fashioned by the blacksmith (cf. NIV, NCV, CEV). NLT understands the referent to be “a sharp tool,” which is then used by the carpenter in the following verse to carve an idol from wood.
19 tn Heb “and there is no strength”; NASB “his strength fails.”
20 tn Heb “like there are no eyes.”
21 tn Heb among the strong, like dead men.”
22 tn The Lord’s right hand and strong arm here symbolize his power and remind the audience that his might guarantees the fulfillment of the following promise.