2 Raja-raja 16:10-16

16:10 When King Ahaz went to meet with King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria in Damascus, he saw the altar there. ¹  King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a drawing of the altar and a blueprint for its design. ²  16:11 Uriah the priest built an altar in conformity to the plans King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. ³  Uriah the priest finished it before King Ahaz arrived back from Damascus. ⁴  16:12 When the king arrived back from Damascus and ⁵  saw the altar, he approached it ⁶  and offered a sacrifice on it. ⁷  16:13 He offered his burnt sacrifice and his grain offering. He poured out his libation and sprinkled the blood from his peace offerings on the altar. 16:14 He moved the bronze altar that stood in the Lord’s presence from the front of the temple (between the altar and the Lord’s temple) and put it on the north side of the new ⁸  altar. 16:15 King Ahaz ordered Uriah the priest, “On the large altar ⁹  offer the morning burnt sacrifice, the evening grain offering, the royal burnt sacrifices and grain offering, the burnt sacrifice for all the people of Israel, their grain offering, and their libations. Sprinkle all the blood of the burnt sacrifice and other sacrifices on it. The bronze altar will be for my personal use.” ¹⁰  16:16 So Uriah the priest did exactly as ¹¹  King Ahaz ordered.

Ezra 9:7

9:7 From the days of our fathers until this very day our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities we, along with our kings and ¹²  priests, have been delivered over by the local kings ¹³  to sword, captivity, plunder, and embarrassment – right up to the present time.

Yeremia 5:5

5:5 I will go to the leaders ¹⁴ 

and speak with them.

Surely they know what the Lord demands. ¹⁵ 

Surely they know what their God requires of them.” ¹⁶ 

Yet all of them, too, have rejected his authority

and refuse to submit to him. ¹⁷ 

Yeremia 37:13-15

37:13 But he only got as far as the Benjamin Gate. ¹⁸  There an officer in charge of the guards named Irijah, ¹⁹  who was the son of Shelemiah and the grandson of Hananiah, stopped him. He seized Jeremiah and said, ²⁰  “You are deserting to the Babylonians!” ²¹  37:14 Jeremiah answered, “That’s a lie! I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” ²²  But Irijah would not listen to him. Irijah put Jeremiah under arrest and took him to the officials. 37:15 The officials were very angry ²³  at Jeremiah. They had him flogged and put in prison in the house of Jonathan, the royal secretary, which they had converted into a place for confining prisoners. ²⁴ 

Yeremia 38:4

38:4 So these officials said to the king, “This man must be put to death. For he is demoralizing ²⁵  the soldiers who are left in the city as well as all the other people there by these things he is saying. ²⁶  This ²⁷  man is not seeking to help these people but is trying to harm them.” ²⁸ 

Yehezkiel 22:6

22:6 “‘See how each of the princes of Israel living within you has used his authority to shed blood. ²⁹ 

Yehezkiel 22:26-28

22:26 Her priests abuse my law and have desecrated my holy things. They do not distinguish between the holy and the profane, ³⁰  or recognize any distinction between the unclean and the clean. They ignore ³¹  my Sabbaths and I am profaned in their midst. 22:27 Her officials are like wolves in her midst rending their prey – shedding blood and destroying lives – so they can get dishonest profit. 22:28 Her prophets coat their messages with whitewash. ³²  They see false visions and announce lying omens for them, saying, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ when the Lord has not spoken.

Daniel 9:6

9:6 We have not paid attention to your servants the prophets, who spoke by your authority ³³  to our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors, ³⁴  and to all the inhabitants ³⁵  of the land as well.

Daniel 9:8

9:8 O LORD, we have been humiliated ³⁶  – our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors – because we have sinned against you.

Mikha 3:1-4

God Will Judge Judah’s Sinful Leaders

3:1 I said,

“Listen, you leaders ³⁷  of Jacob,

you rulers of the nation ³⁸  of Israel!

You ought to know what is just, ³⁹ 

3:2 yet you ⁴⁰  hate what is good, ⁴¹ 

and love what is evil. ⁴² 

You flay my people’s skin ⁴³ 

and rip the flesh from their bones. ⁴⁴ 

3:3 You ⁴⁵  devour my people’s flesh,

strip off their skin,

and crush their bones.

You chop them up like flesh in a pot ⁴⁶  –

like meat in a kettle.

3:4 Someday these sinners will cry to the Lord for help, ⁴⁷ 

but he will not answer them.

He will hide his face from them at that time,

because they have done such wicked deeds.”

Mikha 3:9-11

3:9 Listen to this, you leaders of the family ⁴⁸  of Jacob,

you rulers of the nation ⁴⁹  of Israel!

You ⁵⁰  hate justice

and pervert all that is right.

3:10 You ⁵¹  build Zion through bloody crimes, ⁵² 

Jerusalem ⁵³  through unjust violence.

3:11 Her ⁵⁴  leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, ⁵⁵ 

her priests proclaim rulings for profit,

and her prophets read omens for pay.

Yet they claim to trust ⁵⁶  the Lord and say,

“The Lord is among us. ⁵⁷ 

Disaster will not overtake ⁵⁸  us!”

Mikha 7:2

7:2 Faithful men have disappeared ⁵⁹  from the land;

there are no godly men left. ⁶⁰ 

They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood; ⁶¹ 

they hunt their own brother with a net. ⁶² 

Zefanya 3:3-4

3:3 Her princes ⁶³  are as fierce as roaring lions; ⁶⁴ 

her rulers ⁶⁵  are as hungry as wolves in the desert, ⁶⁶ 

who completely devour their prey by morning. ⁶⁷ 

3:4 Her prophets are proud; ⁶⁸ 

they are deceitful men.

Her priests defile what is holy; ⁶⁹ 

they break God’s laws. ⁷⁰ 

[16:10]  ¹ tn Heb “in Damascus.”

[16:10]  ² tn Heb “the likeness of the altar and its pattern for all its work.”

[16:11]  ³ tn Heb “according to all that King Ahaz sent from Damascus.”

[16:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “so Uriah the priest did, until the arrival of King Ahaz from Damascus.”

[16:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the king.”

[16:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “the altar.”

[16:12]  ⁷ tn Or “ascended it.”

[16:14]  ⁸ tn The word “new” is added in the translation for clarification.

[16:15]  ⁹ tn That is, the newly constructed altar.

[16:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for me to seek.” The precise meaning of בָּקַר (baqar), “seek,” is uncertain in this context. For discussion see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 189.

[16:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “according to all which.”

[9:7]  ¹² tc The MT lacks “and” here, but see the LXX and Vulgate.

[9:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “the kings of the lands.”

[5:5]  ¹⁴ tn Or “people in power”; Heb “the great ones.”

[5:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the way of the Lord.”

[5:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the judgment [or ordinance] of their God.”

[5:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “have broken the yoke and torn off the yoke ropes.” Compare Jer 2:20 and the note there.

[37:13]  ¹⁸ sn The Benjamin Gate would have been a gate in the northern wall leading out toward the territory of Benjamin. It is mentioned only here and in Jer 38:7 and Zech 14:10.

[37:13]  ¹⁹ sn Nothing further is known about Irijah. It is generally agreed that the Hananiah mentioned here is not the same as the false prophet of the same name whom Jeremiah confronted approximately six years earlier (28:1, 5, 10, 15).

[37:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “And he was in the gate of Benjamin and there was an officer of the guard whose name [more literally, and his name] was Irijah…and he seized the prophet Jeremiah, saying.” The sentence has been broken down and simplified to better conform with contemporary English style.

[37:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[37:13]  sn Irijah’s charge was based on the suspicion that Jeremiah was following his own counsel to the people to surrender to the Babylonians if they wanted to save their lives (Jer 21:9).

[37:14]  ²² tn Heb “the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[37:15]  ²³ sn The officials mentioned here are not the same as those mentioned in Jer 36:12, most of whom were favorably disposed toward Jeremiah, or at least regarded what he said with enough trepidation to try to protect Jeremiah and preserve the scroll containing his messages (36:16, 19, 24). All those officials had been taken into exile with Jeconiah in 597 b.c. (2 Kgs 24:14).

[37:15]  ²⁴ tn Heb “for they had made it into the house of confinement.” The causal particle does not fit the English sentence very well and “house of confinement” needs some explanation. Some translate this word “prison” but that creates redundancy with the earlier word translated “prison” (בֵּית הָאֵסוּר, bet ha’esur, “house of the band/binding”] which is more closely related to the concept of prison [cf. אָסִיר, ’asir, “prisoner”]). It is clear from the next verse that Jeremiah was confined in a cell in the dungeon of this place.

[38:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “weakening the hands of.” For this idiom see BDB 951 s.v. רָפָה Pi. and compare the usage in Isa 13:7; Ezek 21:7 (21:12 HT).

[38:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “by saying these things.”

[38:4]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) has not been rendered here because it is introducing a parallel causal clause to the preceding one. To render “For” might be misunderstood as a grounds for the preceding statement. To render “And” or “Moreover” sounds a little odd here. If it must be represented, “Moreover” is perhaps the best rendering.

[38:4]  ²⁸ tn Or “is not looking out for these people’s best interests but is really trying to do them harm”; Heb “is not seeking the welfare [or “well-being”; Hebrew shalom] of this people but [their] harm [more literally, evil].”

[22:6]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Look! The princes of Israel, each according to his arm, were in you in order to shed blood.”

[22:26]  ³⁰ tn Or “between the consecrated and the common.”

[22:26]  ³¹ tn Heb “hide their eyes from.” The idiom means to disregard or ignore something or someone (see Lev 20:4; 1 Sam 12:3; Prov 28:27; Isa 1:15).

[22:28]  ³² tn Heb “her prophets coat for themselves with whitewash.” The expression may be based on Ezek 13:10-15.

[9:6]  ³³ tn Heb “in your name.” Another option is to translate, “as your representatives.”

[9:6]  ³⁴ tn Heb “our fathers” (also in vv. 8, 16). The Hebrew term translated “father” can refer to more distant relationships such as grandfathers or ancestors.

[9:6]  ³⁵ tn Heb “people.”

[9:8]  ³⁶ tn Heb “to us (belongs) shame of face.”

[3:1]  ³⁷ tn Heb “heads.”

[3:1]  ³⁸ tn Heb “house.”

[3:1]  ³⁹ tn Heb “Should you not know justice?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you should!”

[3:2]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “the ones who.”

[3:2]  ⁴¹ tn Or “good.”

[3:2]  ⁴² tn Or “evil.”

[3:2]  ⁴³ tn Heb “their skin from upon them.” The referent of the pronoun (“my people,” referring to Jacob and/or the house of Israel, with the Lord as the speaker) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “and their flesh from their bones.”

[3:2]  sn Micah compares the social injustice perpetrated by the house of Jacob/Israel to cannibalism, because it threatens the very lives of the oppressed.

[3:3]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “who.”

[3:3]  ⁴⁶ tc The MT reads “and they chop up as in a pot.” The translation assumes an emendation of כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka’asher, “as”) to כִּשְׁאֵר (kish’er, “like flesh”).

[3:4]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “then they will cry out to the Lord.” The words “Someday these sinners” have been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[3:9]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “house.”

[3:9]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “house.”

[3:9]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was begun here in the translation for stylistic reasons (also at the beginning of v. 10).

[3:10]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “who.”

[3:10]  ⁵² tn Heb “bloodshed” (so NAB, NASB, NIV); NLT “murder.”

[3:10]  ⁵³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:11]  ⁵⁴ sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).

[3:11]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”

[3:11]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”

[3:11]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “Is not the Lord in our midst?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he is!”

[3:11]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”

[7:2]  ⁵⁹ tn Or “have perished”; “have been destroyed.”

[7:2]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “and an upright one among men there is not.”

[7:2]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “for bloodshed” (so NASB); TEV “for a chance to commit murder.”

[7:2]  ⁶² sn Micah compares these ungodly people to hunters trying to capture their prey with a net.

[3:3]  ⁶³ tn Or “officials.”

[3:3]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “her princes in her midst are roaring lions.” The metaphor has been translated as a simile (“as fierce as”) for clarity.

[3:3]  ⁶⁵ tn Traditionally “judges.”

[3:3]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “her judges [are] wolves of the evening,” that is, wolves that prowl at night. The translation assumes an emendation to עֲרָבָה (’aravah, “desert”). For a discussion of this and other options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 128. The metaphor has been translated as a simile (“as hungry as”) for clarity.

[3:3]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “they do not gnaw [a bone] at morning.” The precise meaning of the line is unclear. The statement may mean these wolves devour their prey so completely that not even a bone is left to gnaw by the time morning arrives. For a discussion of this and other options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 129.

[3:4]  ⁶⁸ sn Applied to prophets, the word פֹּחֲזִים (pokhazim, “proud”) probably refers to their audacity in passing off their own words as genuine prophecies from the Lord (see Jer 23:32).

[3:4]  ⁶⁹ tn Or “defile the temple.”

[3:4]  sn These priests defile what is holy by not observing the proper distinctions between what is ritually clean and unclean (see Ezek 22:26).

[3:4]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “they treat violently [the] law.”