'Upon' in the Bible

“All this happened to Nebuchadnezzar the king.

Immediately the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails were like birds’ claws.

Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he went into his house (now in his roof chamber his windows were open toward Jerusalem); he continued to get down on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.

A stone was brought and laid over the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signet rings of his nobles, so that nothing would be changed concerning Daniel.

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions appeared in his mind as he lay on his bed; then he wrote the dream down and related a summary of it.

The first (the Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar) was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind was given to it.

He said, “Behold, I am going to let you know what will happen during the final time of the indignation and wrath [of God upon the ungodly], for it concerns the appointed time of the end.

And He has carried out completely His [threatening] words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers [the kings, princes, and judges] who ruled us, to bring on us a great tragedy; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything [so dreadful] like that which [He commanded and] was done to Jerusalem.

Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this tragedy has come on us. Yet we have not wholeheartedly begged for forgiveness and sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our wickedness and paying attention to and placing value in Your truth.

Therefore the Lord has kept the tragedy ready and has brought it on us, for the Lord our God is [uncompromisingly] righteous and openly just in all His works which He does—He keeps His word; and we have not obeyed His voice.

Now therefore, our God, listen to (heed) the prayer of Your servant (Daniel) and his supplications, and for Your own sake let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary.

“Seventy weeks [of years, or 490 years] have been decreed for your people and for your holy city (Jerusalem), to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make atonement (reconciliation) for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness (right-standing with God), to seal up vision and prophecy and prophet, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.

And he will enter into a binding and irrevocable covenant with the many for one week (seven years), but in the middle of the week he will stop the sacrifice and grain offering [for the remaining three and one-half years]; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until the complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who causes the horror.”

And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision [of this heavenly being], for the men who were with me did not see the vision; nevertheless, a great panic overwhelmed them, so they ran away to hide themselves.

Then behold, a hand touched me and set me unsteadily on my hands and knees.

And behold, one who resembled the sons of men touched my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spoke and said to him who was standing before me, “O my lord, because of the vision anguish has come upon me, and I have retained no strength.

After this, he (Antiochus III the Great, King of Syria) will turn his attention to the islands and coastlands and capture many [of them]. But a commander (Lucius Scipio Asiaticus of Rome) will put an end to his aggression [toward Rome’s territorial interests]; in fact, he will repay his insolence and turn his audacity back upon him.

And the Lord said to him, “Name him Jezreel; for yet in a little while I will avenge the blood [that was shed in the Valley] of Jezreel and inflict the punishment for it on the house of Jehu, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.

“For she (Israel) has not noticed nor understood nor realized that it was I [the Lord God] who gave her the grain and the new wine and the oil,And lavished on her silver and gold,Which they used for Baal and made into his image.

“And I will punish her for the [feast] days of the Baals,When she used to offer sacrifices and burn incense to themAnd adorn herself with her earrings and nose rings and her jewelry,And follow her lovers, so that she forgot Me,” says the Lord.

They sacrifice on the tops of the mountainsAnd burn incense on the hills,Under oaks, poplars, and terebinths,Because the shade is pleasant there.Therefore your daughters play the prostituteAnd your brides commit adultery.

Hear this and pay close attention, O priests!Give heed, O house of Israel!Listen, O house of the king!For the [pronounced] judgment pertains to you and is meant for you to hear,Because you have been a snare at MizpahAnd a net spread out over Tabor (military strongholds on either side of the Jordan River).

The princes of Judah are like those who move a boundary marker;I will pour out My wrath on them like [an unrestrained flood of] water.

Therefore, I have hewn them in pieces by [the words of] the prophets;I have slain them by the words of My mouth;My judgments [pronounced upon them by the prophets] are like the light that shines forth [obvious to all].

Strangers have devoured his strength,Yet he does not know it;Gray hairs are sprinkled on him,Yet he does not know.

They do not cry out to Me from their heartWhen they wail on their beds [in unbelieving despair];For the sake of grain and new wine they assemble themselves [as if worshiping Baal];They rebel against Me.

For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces [and pagan temples],And Judah has built many fortified cities;But I will send a fire upon their cities so that it may consume their palaces and fortresses.

Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation as do the [pagan] peoples,For you have played the prostitute, turning away from your God.You have loved prostitutes’ earnings on every threshing floor [attributing the harvest to the Baals instead of to God].

As for Samaria, her king will be cut off and float awayLike a twig on the surface of the water.

Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to tread out the grain,But I will come over her fair neck with a heavy yoke [for hard field work].I will harness Ephraim;Judah will plow and Jacob will harrow and rake for himself.

Sow with a view to righteousness [that righteousness, like seed, may germinate];Reap in accordance with mercy and lovingkindness.Break up your uncultivated ground,For it is time to seek and search diligently for the Lord [and to long for His blessing]Until He comes to rain righteousness and His gift of salvation on you.

The sword will whirl against and fall on their cities,And will demolish the bars of their gates and fortificationsAnd will consume them because of their counsels.

The Lord also has a dispute [a legal complaint and an indictment] with Judah,And He will punish Jacob in accordance with his ways;He will repay him in accordance with his deeds.

Ephraim has provoked most bitter anger;So his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him [invoking punishment]And bring back to him his shame and dishonor.

“Assyria will not save us;We will not ride on horses [relying on military might],Nor will we say again to [the idols who are] the work of our hands,‘You are our gods.’For in You [O Lord] the orphan finds love and compassion and mercy.”

A day of darkness and gloom,A day of clouds and of thick [dark] mist,Like the dawn spread over the mountains;There is a [pagan, hostile] people numerous and mighty,The like of which has never been beforeNor will be again afterwardEven for years of many generations.

They do not crowd each other;Each one marches in his path.When they burst through the defenses (weapons),They do not break ranks.

They rush over the city,They run on the wall;They climb up into the houses,They enter at the windows like a thief.

“It shall come about after thisThat I shall pour out My Spirit on all mankind;And your sons and your daughters will prophesy,Your old men will dream dreams,Your young men will see visions.

“Even on the male and female servantsI will pour out My Spirit in those days.

I will gather together all the [Gentile] nations [that were hostile to My people]And bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat (the Lord has judged).And there I will deal with them and enter into judgment with them thereFor [their treatment of] My people, My inheritance, Israel,Whom they have scattered among the nations,And [because] they have encroached on My land and divided it up.

Moreover, what are you to Me, O Tyre and Sidon and all the [five small] regions of Philistia? Will you pay Me back for something [I have supposedly done to you]? Even if you do pay Me back, I will swiftly and speedily return your deed [of retaliation] on your own head.

behold, I am going to stir them up from the place where you have sold them [and return them to their land], and I shall return your action [of retaliation] on your own head.

“So I will send a fire [of war, conquest, and destruction] upon the house of Hazael,And it shall devour the palaces and strongholds of Ben-hadad (Hazael’s son).

“So I will send a fire [of war, conquest, and destruction] upon Teman,And it shall consume the citadels of Bozrah [in Edom].”

“So I will send a fire [of war, conquest, and destruction] upon MoabAnd it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth;And Moab shall die amid tumult and uproar,With war cries and shouts of alarm and the sound of the trumpet.

“So I will send a fire [of war, conquest, and destruction by the Babylonians] upon JudahAnd it will devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.”

“They stretch out beside every [pagan] altar on clothes taken in pledge [to secure a loan, disregarding God’s command],And in the house of their God [in contempt of Him] they frivolously drink the wine [which has been] taken from those who have been fined.

“I have known [chosen, cared for, and loved] only you of all the families of the earth;Therefore I shall punish you for all your wickedness.”

Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground when there is no bait in it?Does a trap spring up from the ground when it has caught nothing at all? [Of course not! So it is that Israel has earned her impending judgment.]

Proclaim on the fortresses in Ashdod (Philistia) and on the citadels in the land of Egypt, and say, “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see the great confusion within her and the oppressions and abuse of authority in her midst.

“On that day when I punish Israel’s transgressions,I shall also punish the altars of Bethel [with their golden calves];And the horns of the altar shall be cut offAnd fall to the ground.

The Lord God has sworn [an oath] by His holinessThat, “Behold, the days are coming upon youWhen they shall take you away with meat hooks,And the last of you with fish hooks.

“Furthermore, I withheld the rain from youWhen there were still three months until the harvest.Then I would send rain on one city,And on another city I would not send rain;One piece of ground was rained on,While the part not rained on would dry up.

“Seek the Lord [search diligently for Him and long for Him as your most essential need] so that you may live,Or He will rush down like a [devouring] fire, O house of Joseph,And there will be no one to quench the flame for [idolatrous] Bethel,

He who made the [cluster of stars called] Pleiades and [the constellation] Orion,Who turns deep darkness into the morningAnd darkens the day into night,Who calls for the waters of the seaAnd pours them out on the surface of the earth,The Lord is His name.

It is He who causes [sudden] destruction to flash forth on the strongSo that destruction comes on the fortress.

Therefore, because you impose heavy rent on the poorAnd demand a tribute (food-tax) of grain from them,Though you have built [luxurious] houses of square stone,You will not live in them;You have planted beautiful vineyards, but you will not drink their wine.

“Even though you offer Me your burnt offerings and your grain offerings,I will not accept them;And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fattened animals.

Do you put off the day of punishment,Yet cause the seat of violence to come near?

Those who lie on [luxurious] beds of ivoryAnd lounge around out on their couches,And eat lambs from the flockAnd calves from the midst of the stall,

Do horses run on rocks?Do men plow rocks with oxen? [Of course not!]Yet you have turned justice into poisonAnd the fruit of righteousness into wormwood (bitterness),

Thus He showed me [a vision], and behold, the Lord was standing by a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand [to determine if the wall was straight or if it needed to be destroyed].

And He said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel. I will spare them no longer [for the nation is ripe for judgment].

“And I shall turn your festivals and feasts into mourningAnd all your songs into dirges (funeral poems to be sung);And I shall cause sackcloth to be put on everyone’s loinsAnd baldness on every head [shaved for mourning].And I shall make that time like a time of mourning for an only son [who has died],And the end of it shall be like a bitter day.

“And though they go into captivity before their enemies,From there I shall command the sword to kill them,And I will set My eyes against them for evil (judgment, punishment) and not for good [that is, not for correction leading to restoration].”

“Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful [northern] kingdom [of Israel’s ten tribes]And I shall destroy it from the face of the earth;But I shall not totally destroy the house of Jacob [that is, the entire nation of Israel],”Says the Lord.

“For behold, I am commanding,And I shall shake and sift the house of Israel among all nations [and cause it to tremble]Like grain is shaken in a sieve [removing the chaff],But not a kernel [of the faithful remnant] shall fall to the ground and be lost [from My sight].

“I will also plant them on their land,And they shall never again be uprooted from their landWhich I have given them,”Says the Lord your God.

“For the [judgment] day of the Lord draws near on all the nations.As you have done, it shall be done to you [in retribution];Your [evil] dealings will return on your own head.

“Because just as you [Edom] drank on My holy mountain [desecrating it in the revelry of the destroyers],So shall all the nations drink continually [one by one, of My wrath];Yes, they shall drink and swallow [the full measure of punishment]And become as though they had never existed.

But the Lord hurled a great wind toward the sea, and there was a violent tempest on the sea so that the ship was about to break up.

So the captain came up to him and said, “How can you stay asleep? Get up! Call on your god! Perhaps your god will give a thought to us so that we will not perish.”

And they said to another, “Come, let us cast lots, so we may learn who is to blame for this disaster.” So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.

Then they said to him, “Now tell us! Who is to blame for this disaster? What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country?”

Jonah said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you.”

Then they called on the Lord and said, “Please, O Lord, do not let us perish because of taking this man’s life, and do not make us accountable for innocent blood; for You, O Lord, have done as You pleased.”

“When my soul was fainting within me,I remembered the Lord,And my prayer came to You,Into Your holy temple.

So the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.

When the sun came up God prepared a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he fainted and he wished to die, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

For behold, the Lord is coming down from His placeHe shall come down and tread [in judgment] on the high places of the earth.

Moreover, I will bring on youThe one who takes possession,O inhabitant of Mareshah (Prominent Place).The glory (nobility) of Israel will enter Adullam [seeking refuge].

Woe (judgment is coming) to those who devise wickednessAnd plot evil on their beds!When morning comes, they practice evilBecause it is in the power of their hands.

“Therefore, you will have no one stretching a measuring line [dividing the common land]For you by lot in the assembly of the Lord.

Her leaders pronounce judgment for a bribe,Her priests teach for a fee,And her prophets foretell for money;Yet they lean on the Lord, saying,“Is not the Lord among us?No tragedy or distress will come on us.”

“Now many [conquering] nations are assembled against you,Who say, ‘Let her be profaned [through Gentile presence and the temple’s destruction],And let our eyes gaze on and gloat over Zion.’

This One [the Messiah] shall be our peace.When the Assyrian invades our landAnd tramples on our citadels and in our palaces,Then shall we raise against himSeven shepherds and eight princes [an overpowering force] among men.

Then the remnant of JacobShall be among many peoplesLike dew from the Lord,Like showers on the grass [a source of blessing]Which [come suddenly and] do not wait for manNor delay for the sons of men.

“And in anger and wrath I shall execute vengeanceOn the nations which have not obeyed [such vengeance as they have not known before].”

Concerning evil, both of their hands pursue it and do it diligently and thoroughly;The prince asks, also the judge, for a bribe,And a great man speaks the [evil] desire of his soul.So they twist the course of justice between them.

Then my enemy [all the pagan nations] shall see it,And shame [for despising the Lord] will cover her who said to me,“Where is the Lord your God?”My eyes will look on her [with satisfaction at her judgment];Now she (unbelievers) will be trampled downLike mud of the streets.

The [pagan] nations shall see [God’s omnipotence in delivering Israel] and be ashamedOf all their might [which cannot be compared to His].They shall put their hand on their mouth [in silent astonishment];Their ears shall be deaf.

Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news [telling of Assyria’s destruction],Who announces peace and prosperity!Celebrate your feasts, O Judah;Perform your vows.For the wicked one [the king of Assyria] will never again pass through you;He is completely cut off.

It is decreed:Nineveh is stripped, and she is carried away,And her handmaids are moaning like the sound of doves,Beating on their breasts [in sorrow].

There is no relief and healing for your hurt;Your wound is incurable.All who hear the news about youClap their hands over [what has happened to] you.For on whom has your [unceasing] evil not come continually?

Why do You make me see iniquity,And cause me to look on wickedness?For destruction and violence are before me;Strife continues and contention arises.

Your eyes are too pure to approve evil,And You cannot look favorably on wickedness.Why then do You look favorablyOn those who act treacherously?Why are you silent when the wicked (Chaldean oppressors) destroyThose more righteous than they?

I will stand at my guard postAnd station myself on the tower;And I will keep watch to see what He will say to me,And what answer I will give [as His spokesman] when I am reproved.

Then the Lord answered me and said,“Write the visionAnd engrave it plainly on [clay] tabletsSo that the one who reads it will run.

“You will be filled with disgrace instead of honor.Now drink and expose your own nakedness!The cup [of wrath] in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you [O destroyer],And utter disgrace will be on your own glory.