A sword will flash in their cities, it will destroy the bars of their city gates, and will devour them in their fortresses.

Her princes ¹  are as fierce as roaring lions; ²  her rulers ³  are as hungry as wolves in the desert, ⁴  who completely devour their prey by morning. ⁵ 

God brought them out of Egypt. They have, as it were, the strength of a young bull; they will devour hostile people ¹  and will break their bones and will pierce them through with arrows.

I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword will devour flesh – the blood of the slaughtered and captured, the chief ¹  of the enemy’s leaders!’”

Then Abner called out to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize that this will turn bitter in the end? When will you tell the people to turn aside from pursuing their brothers?”

When they went back and told him, he said, “The Lord’s word through his servant, Elijah the Tishbite, has come to pass. He warned, ¹  ‘In the plot of land at Jezreel, dogs will devour Jezebel’s flesh.

When ¹  I close up the sky ²  so that it doesn’t rain, or command locusts to devour the land’s vegetation, ³  or send a plague among my people,

There is a generation whose teeth are like ¹  swords ²  and whose molars ³  are like knives to devour ⁴  the poor from the earth and the needy from among the human race.

For a moth will eat away at them like clothes; a clothes moth will devour them like wool. But the vindication I provide ¹  will be permanent; the deliverance I give will last.”

Israel was set apart to the Lord; they were like the first fruits of a harvest to him. ¹  All who tried to devour them were punished; disaster came upon them,” says the Lord.’”

“I will punish them in four different ways: I will have war kill them. I will have dogs drag off their dead bodies. I will have birds and wild beasts devour and destroy their corpses. ¹ 

“Then ¹  a second beast appeared, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and there were three ribs ²  in its mouth between its teeth. ³  It was told, ⁴  ‘Get up and devour much flesh!’

“This is what he told me: ¹  ‘The fourth beast means that there will be a fourth kingdom on earth that will differ from all the other kingdoms. It will devour all the earth and will trample and crush it.

I will attack them like a bear robbed of her cubs – I will rip open their chests. I will devour them there like a lion – like a wild animal would tear them apart.

Like fire they devour everything in their path; ¹  a flame blazes behind them. The land looks like the Garden of Eden ²  before them, but behind them there is only a desolate wilderness – for nothing escapes them! ³ 

You ¹  devour my people’s flesh, strip off their skin, and crush their bones. You chop them up like flesh in a pot ²  – like meat in a kettle.

There the fire will consume ¹  you; the sword will cut you down; it will devour ²  you like the young locust would.Multiply yourself ³  like the young locust; multiply yourself like the flying locust!

Their horses are faster than leopards and more alert ¹  than wolves in the desert. ²  Their horses ³  gallop, ⁴  their horses come a great distance; like a vulture ⁵  they swoop down quickly to devour their prey. ⁶ 

You are too just ¹  to tolerate ²  evil; you are unable to condone ³  wrongdoing. So why do you put up with such treacherous people? ⁴  Why do you say nothing when the wicked devour ⁵  those more righteous than they are? ⁶ 

They ¹  will devour the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil until you are destroyed. They will not leave you with any grain, new wine, olive oil, calves of your herds, ²  or lambs of your flocks ³  until they have destroyed you.