2 Samuel 23:6-7

23:6 But evil people are like thorns –

all of them are tossed away,

for they cannot be held in the hand.

23:7 The one who touches them

must use an iron instrument

or the wooden shaft of a spear.

They are completely burned up right where they lie!” ¹ 

Yesaya 9:18

9:18 For ²  evil burned like a fire, ³ 

it consumed thorns and briers;

it burned up the thickets of the forest,

and they went up in smoke. ⁴ 

Yeremia 6:28

6:28 I reported, ⁵ 

“All of them are the most stubborn of rebels! ⁶ 

They are as hard as bronze or iron.

They go about telling lies.

They all deal corruptly.

Mikha 7:4

7:4 The best of them is like a thorn;

the most godly among them are more dangerous than a row of thorn bushes. ⁷ 

The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen –

your appointed time of punishment – is on the way, ⁸ 

and then you will experience confusion. ⁹ 

[23:7]  ¹ tn Heb “and with fire they are completely burned up in [the place where they] remain.” The infinitive absolute is used before the finite verb to emphasize that they are completely consumed by the fire.

[9:18]  ² tn Or “Indeed” (cf. NIV “Surely”). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[9:18]  ³ sn Evil was uncontrollable and destructive, and so can be compared to a forest fire.

[9:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “and they swirled [with] the rising of the smoke” (cf. NRSV).

[6:28]  ⁵ tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity. Some takes these words to be the continuation of the Lord’s commission of Jeremiah to the task of testing them. However, since this is the evaluation, the task appears to be complete. The words are better to be taken as Jeremiah’s report after he has completed the task.

[6:28]  ⁶ tn Or “arch rebels,” or “hardened rebels.” Literally “rebels of rebels.”

[7:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “[the] godly from a row of thorn bushes.” The preposition מִן (min) is comparative and the comparative element (perhaps “sharper” is the idea) is omitted. See BDB 582 s.v. 6 and GKC 431 §133.e.

[7:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “the day of your watchmen, your appointed [time], is coming.” The present translation takes “watchmen” to refer to actual sentries. However, the “watchmen” could refer figuratively to the prophets who had warned Judah of approaching judgment. In this case one could translate, “The day your prophets warned about – your appointed time of punishment – is on the way.”

[7:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “and now will be their confusion.”