Mazmur 77:20

77:20 You led your people like a flock of sheep,

by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Mazmur 78:52

78:52 Yet he brought out his people like sheep;

he led them through the wilderness like a flock.

Mazmur 136:16

136:16 to the one who led his people through the wilderness,

for his loyal love endures,

Ezra 8:21-23

8:21 I called for a fast there by the Ahava Canal, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and seek from him a safe journey ¹  for us, our children, and all our property. 8:22 I was embarrassed to request soldiers and horsemen from the king to protect us from the enemy ²  along the way, because we had said to the king, “The good hand of our God is on everyone who is seeking him, but his great anger ³  is against everyone who forsakes him.” 8:23 So we fasted and prayed to our God about this, and he answered us.

Yesaya 30:21

30:21 You ⁴  will hear a word spoken behind you, saying,

“This is the correct ⁵  way, walk in it,”

whether you are heading to the right or the left.

Yesaya 35:8-10

35:8 A thoroughfare will be there –

it will be called the Way of Holiness. ⁶ 

The unclean will not travel on it;

it is reserved for those authorized to use it ⁷  –

fools ⁸  will not stray into it.

35:9 No lions will be there,

no ferocious wild animals will be on it ⁹  –

they will not be found there.

Those delivered from bondage will travel on it,

35:10 those whom the Lord has ransomed will return that way. ¹⁰ 

They will enter Zion with a happy shout.

Unending joy will crown them, ¹¹ 

happiness and joy will overwhelm ¹²  them;

grief and suffering will disappear. ¹³ 

Yesaya 48:17

48:17 This is what the Lord, your protector, ¹⁴  says,

the Holy One of Israel: ¹⁵ 

“I am the Lord your God,

who teaches you how to succeed,

who leads you in the way you should go.

Yesaya 49:8-11

49:8 This is what the Lord says:

“At the time I decide to show my favor, I will respond to you;

in the day of deliverance I will help you;

I will protect you ¹⁶  and make you a covenant mediator for people, ¹⁷ 

to rebuild ¹⁸  the land ¹⁹ 

and to reassign the desolate property.

49:9 You will say ²⁰  to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’

and to those who are in dark dungeons, ²¹  ‘Emerge.’ ²² 

They will graze beside the roads;

on all the slopes they will find pasture.

49:10 They will not be hungry or thirsty;

the sun’s oppressive heat will not beat down on them, ²³ 

for one who has compassion on them will guide them;

he will lead them to springs of water.

49:11 I will make all my mountains into a road;

I will construct my roadways.”

Yesaya 63:13-14

63:13 who led them through the deep water?

Like a horse running on flat land ²⁴  they did not stumble.

63:14 Like an animal that goes down into a valley to graze, ²⁵ 

so the Spirit of the Lord granted them rest.

In this way ²⁶  you guided your people,

gaining for yourself an honored reputation. ²⁷ 

Yeremia 6:16

6:16 The Lord said to his people: ²⁸ 

“You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path. ²⁹ 

Ask where the old, reliable paths ³⁰  are.

Ask where the path is that leads to blessing ³¹  and follow it.

If you do, you will find rest for your souls.”

But they said, “We will not follow it!”

Yeremia 31:9

31:9 They will come back shedding tears of contrition.

I will bring them back praying prayers of repentance. ³² 

I will lead them besides streams of water,

along smooth paths where they will never stumble. ³³ 

I will do this because I am Israel’s father;

Ephraim ³⁴  is my firstborn son.’”

Yeremia 31:2

Israel Will Be Restored and Join Judah in Worship

31:2 The Lord says,

“The people of Israel who survived

death at the hands of the enemy ³⁵ 

will find favor in the wilderness

as they journey to find rest for themselves.

Pengkhotbah 2:15

2:15 So I thought to myself, “The fate of the fool will happen even to me! ³⁶ 

Then what did I gain by becoming so excessively ³⁷  wise?” ³⁸ 

So I lamented to myself, ³⁹ 

“The benefits of wisdom ⁴⁰  are ultimately ⁴¹  meaningless!”

Pengkhotbah 2:21

2:21 For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge, and skill;

however, he must hand over ⁴²  the fruit of his labor ⁴³  as an inheritance ⁴⁴ 

to someone else who did not work for it.

This also is futile, and an awful injustice! ⁴⁵ 

[8:21]  ¹ tn Heb “a straight way.”

[8:22]  ² tn A number of modern translations regard this as a collective singular and translate “from enemies” (also in v. 31).

[8:22]  ³ tn Heb “his strength and his anger.” The expression is a hendiadys (one concept expressed through two terms).

[30:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “your ears” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[30:21]  ⁵ tn The word “correct’ is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[35:8]  ⁶ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and there will be there a road and a way, and the Way of Holiness it will be called.” וְדֶרֶךְ (vÿderekh, “and a/the way”) is accidentally duplicated; the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a does not reflect the repetition of the phrase.

[35:8]  ⁷ tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The text reads literally “and it is for them, the one who walks [on the] way.” In this context those authorized to use the Way of Holiness would be morally upright people who are the recipients of God’s deliverance, in contrast to the morally impure and foolish who are excluded from the new covenant community.

[35:8]  ⁸ tn In this context “fools” are those who are morally corrupt, not those with limited intellectual capacity.

[35:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “will go up on it”; TEV “will pass that way.”

[35:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and the redeemed will walk, the ransomed of the Lord will return.”

[35:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “[will be] on their head[s].” “Joy” may be likened here to a crown (cf. 2 Sam 1:10). The statement may also be an ironic twist on the idiom “earth/dust on the head” (cf. 2 Sam 1:2; 13:19; 15:32; Job 2:12), referring to a mourning practice.

[35:10]  ¹² tn Heb “will overtake” (NIV); NLT “they will be overcome with.”

[35:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee”; KJV “sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

[48:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[48:17]  ¹⁵ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[49:8]  ¹⁶ tn The translation assumes the verb is derived from the root נָצָר (natsar, “protect”). Some prefer to derive it from the root יָצָר (yatsar, “form”).

[49:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a covenant of people.” A person cannot literally be a covenant; בְּרִית (bÿrit) is probably metonymic here, indicating a covenant mediator. Here עָם (’am, “people”) appears to refer to Israel. See the note at 42:6.

[49:8]  ¹⁸ tn The Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “arise”) is probably used here in the sense of “rebuild.”

[49:8]  ¹⁹ tn The “land” probably stands by metonymy for the ruins within it.

[49:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “to say.” In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct is subordinated to what precedes.

[49:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “in darkness” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “the prisoners of darkness.”

[49:9]  ²² tn Heb “show yourselves” (so ASV, NAB, NASB).

[49:10]  ²³ tn Heb “and the heat and the sun will not strike them.” In Isa 35:7, its only other occurrence in the OT, שָׁרָב (sharav) stands parallel to “parched ground” and in contrast to “pool.” In later Hebrew and Aramaic it refers to “dry heat, heat of the sun” (Jastrow 1627 s.v.). Here it likely has this nuance and forms a hendiadys with “sun.”

[63:13]  ²⁴ tn Heb “in the desert [or “steppe”].”

[63:14]  ²⁵ tn The words “to graze” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[63:14]  ²⁶ tn Or “so” (KJV, ASV), or “thus” (NAB, NRSV).

[63:14]  ²⁷ tn Heb “making for yourself a majestic name.”

[6:16]  ²⁸ tn The words, “to his people” are not in the text but are implicit in the interchange of pronouns in the Hebrew of vv. 16-17. They are supplied in the translation here for clarity.

[6:16]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Stand at the crossroads and look.”

[6:16]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the ancient path,” i.e., the path the Lord set out in ancient times (cf. Deut 32:7).

[6:16]  ³¹ tn Heb “the way of/to the good.”

[31:9]  ³² tn Heb “They will come with weeping; I will bring them with supplication.” The ideas of contrition and repentance are implicit from the context (cf. vv. 18-19) and are supplied for clarity.

[31:9]  ³³ sn Jer 31:8-9 are reminiscent of the “New Exodus” motif of Isa 40-66 which has already been referred to in Jer 16:14-15; 23:7-8. See especially Isa 35:3-10; 40:3-5, 11; 41:17-20; 42:14-17; 43:16-21; 49:9-13. As there, the New Exodus will so outstrip the old that the old will pale in comparison and be almost forgotten (see Jer 23:7-8).

[31:9]  ³⁴ sn Ephraim was the second son of Joseph who was elevated to a place of prominence in the family of Jacob by the patriarch’s special blessing. It was the strongest tribe in northern Israel and Samaria lay in its territory. It is often used as a poetic parallel for Israel as here. The poetry is not speaking of two separate entities here; it is a way of repeating an idea for emphasis. Moreover, there is no intent to show special preference for northern Israel over Judah. All Israel is metaphorically God’s son and the object of his special care and concern (Exod 4:22; Deut 32:6).

[31:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “who survived the sword.”

[31:2]  sn This refers to the remnant of northern Israel who had not been killed when Assyria conquered Israel in 722 b.c. or who had not died in exile. References to Samaria in v. 5 and to Ephraim in vv. 6, 9 make clear that northern Israel is in view here.

[2:15]  ³⁶ tn The emphatic use of the 1st person common singular personal pronoun אֲנִי (’ani, “me”) with the emphatic particle of association גַּם (gam, “even, as well as”; HALOT 195–96 s.v. גַּם) appears to emphasize the 1st person common singular suffix on יִקְרֵנִי (yiqreni) “it will befall [or “happen to”] me” (Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular + 1st person common singular suffix from קָרָה, qarah, “to befall; to happen to”); see GKC 438 §135.e. Qoheleth laments not that the fate of the wise man is the same as that of the fool, but that even he himself – the wisest man of all – would fare no better in the end than the most foolish.

[2:15]  ³⁷ tn The adjective יוֹתֵר (yoter) means “too much; excessive,” e.g., 7:16 “excessively righteous” (HALOT 404 s.v. יוֹתֵר 2; BDB 452 s.v. יוֹתֵר). It is derived from the root יֶתֶר (yeter, “what is left over”); see HALOT 452 s.v. I יֶתֶר. It is related to the verbal root יתר (Niphal “to be left over”; Hiphil “to have left over”); see HALOT 451–52 s.v. I יתר. The adjective is related to יִתְרוֹן (yitron, “advantage; profit”) which is a key-term in this section, creating a word-play: The wise man has a relative “advantage” (יִתְרוֹן) over the fool (2:13-14a); however, there is no ultimate advantage because both share the same fate, i.e., death (2:14b-15a). Thus, Qoheleth’s acquisition of tremendous wisdom (1:16; 2:9) was “excessive” because it exceeded its relative advantage over folly: it could not deliver him from the same fate as the fool. He had striven to obtain wisdom, yet it held no ultimate advantage.

[2:15]  ³⁸ tn Heb “And why was I wise (to) excess?” The rhetorical question is an example of negative affirmation, expecting a negative answer: “I gained nothing!” (E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 949).

[2:15]  ³⁹ tn Heb “So I said in my heart.”

[2:15]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and also this,” referring to the relative advantage of wisdom over folly.

[2:15]  ⁴¹ tn The word “ultimately” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[2:21]  ⁴² tn Heb “he must give.” The 3rd person masculine singular suffix on יִתְּנֶנּוּ (yittÿnennu, Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular from נָתַן, natan, “to give” + 3rd person masculine singular suffix) refers back to עֲמָלוֹ (’amalo, “his labor”) which is treated in this line as a metonymy of cause for effect, that is, “he must give it” = “he must give his labor” = “he must give the fruit of his labor.”

[2:21]  sn As in 2:18-19, Qoheleth laments the injustice that a person who works diligently in wisdom must one day hand over the fruit of his labor (i.e., his fortune and the care of his achievements) to his successor. There is no guarantee that one’s heir will be wise and be a good steward of this wealth, or be foolish and squander it – in which case, the former man’s entire life’s work would be in vain.

[2:21]  ⁴³ tn Heb “it”; the referent (“the fruit of his labor”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:21]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “he must turn over an inheritance”; or “he must turn it over, namely, an inheritance.” There are two approaches to the syntax of חֶלְקוֹ (khelqo, “his inheritance”): (1) The 3rd person masculine singular suffix is a subjective genitive: “his inheritance” = the inheritance which he must give to his heir. The referent of the 3rd person masculine singular suffix is Qoheleth in 2:21a who worked hard to amass the fortune. The noun חֵלֶק (kheleq, “inheritance”) functions as an adverbial accusative of state (GKC 372 §118.a) or a predicate accusative (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 12-13, §57): “He must give it [i.e., his fortune] as an inheritance.” (2) The 3rd person masculine singular suffix is an objective genitive: “his inheritance” = the inheritance which the heir will receive from Qoheleth. The referent of the 3rd person masculine singular suffix is the heir in 2:21b. The noun חֵלֶק (“inheritance”) functions as the accusative direct object in apposition (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 15-16, §71) to the 3rd person masculine singular suffix on יִתְּנֶנּוּ (yittÿnennu, “he must give it”; Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular from נָתַן, natan, + 3rd person masculine singular suffix): “He must give it, namely, his inheritance, to one who did not work for it.”

[2:21]  ⁴⁵ tn The noun רָעָה (ra’ah, “evil”) probably means “misfortune” (HALOT 1263 s.v. רָעָה 4) or “injustice; wrong” (HALOT 1262 s.v. רָעָה 2.b). The phrase רָעָה רַבָּה (ra’ah rabbah) connotes “grave injustice” or “great misfortune” (e.g., Eccl 2:17; 5:12, 15; 6:1; 10:5). It is expressed well as: “This too is…a great misfortune” (NAB, NIV, MLB) and “utterly wrong!” (NEB).

[2:21]  sn Verses 18-21 are arranged into two sub-units (2:18-19 and 2:20-21). Each contains a parallel structure: (1) Introductory lament: “I hated all my toil” and “I began to despair about all my toil.” (2) Reason for the lament: “I must turn over the fruit of my labor to the hands of my successor” and “he must hand over the fruit of his work as an inheritance.” (3) Description of successor: “who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool?” and “he did not work for it.” (4) Concluding statement: “This also is fruitless!” and “This also is profitless and an awful injustice!”