See in Reader
1.3 KiB
I am making you like a sharp threshing sledge ... you will make the hills like chaff
Yahweh speaks of enabling Israel to defeat their enemies as if he were making the nation a threshing sledge that will level mountains. (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metaphor)
a sharp threshing sledge
A threshing sledge was a board with sharp spikes that someone would drag over the wheat to separate the grain from the chaff.
two-edged
This refers to the edges of the spikes that were attached to the threshing sledge. That they are "two-edged" means that they are very sharp.
you will thresh the mountains and crush them
This is a double metaphor. The mountains are a metaphor for grain, and threshing grain is a metaphor for the Israelites defeating the powerful enemy nations near them. Alternate translation: "you will thresh your enemies and crush them as if they were grain, even though they appear to be as strong as mountains" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metaphor and rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-hyperbole)
you will make the hills like chaff
The hills are a metaphor for the powerful enemy nations near Israel. People having the wind blow the chaff away after they have threshed the grain is a metaphor for them allowing Yahweh to destroy their enemies. (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metaphor and rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-simile)