Yeremia 12:3-4

12:3 But you, Lord, know all about me.

You watch me and test my devotion to you. ¹ 

Drag these wicked men away like sheep to be slaughtered!

Appoint a time when they will be killed! ² 

12:4 How long must the land be parched ³ 

and the grass in every field be withered?

How long ⁴  must the animals and the birds die

because of the wickedness of the people who live in this land? ⁵ 

For these people boast,

“God ⁶  will not see what happens to us.” ⁷ 

Yeremia 12:2

12:2 You plant them like trees and they put down their roots. ⁸ 

They grow prosperous and are very fruitful. ⁹ 

They always talk about you,

but they really care nothing about you. ¹⁰ 

1 Samuel 18:3

18:3 Jonathan made a covenant with David, for he loved him as much as he did his own life. ¹¹ 

1 Samuel 21:1

21:1 (21:2) David went to Ahimelech the priest in Nob. Ahimelech was shaking with fear when he met ¹²  David, and said to him, “Why are you by yourself with no one accompanying you?”

Yehezkiel 33:24-29

33:24 “Son of man, the ones living in these ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land, but we are many; surely the land has been given to us for a possession.’ ¹³  33:25 Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: You eat the meat with the blood still in it, ¹⁴  pray to ¹⁵  your idols, and shed blood. Do you really think you will possess ¹⁶  the land? 33:26 You rely ¹⁷  on your swords and commit abominable deeds; each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Will you possess the land?’

33:27 “This is what you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, those living in the ruins will die ¹⁸  by the sword, those in the open field I will give to the wild beasts for food, and those who are in the strongholds and caves will die of disease. 33:28 I will turn the land into a desolate ruin; her confident pride will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will be so desolate no one will pass through them. 33:29 Then they will know that I am the Lord when I turn the land into a desolate ruin because of all the abominable deeds they have committed.’ ¹⁹ 

Yohanes 11:50

11:50 You do not realize ²⁰  that it is more to your advantage to have one man ²¹  die for the people than for the whole nation to perish.” ²² 

[12:3]  ¹ tn Heb “You, Lord, know me. You watch me and you test my heart toward you.”

[12:3]  sn Jeremiah appears to be complaining like Job that God cares nothing about the prosperity of the wicked, but watches his every move. The reverse ought to be true. Jeremiah shouldn’t be suffering the onslaughts of his fellow countrymen as he is. The wicked who are prospering should be experiencing punishment.

[12:3]  ² tn Heb “set aside for them a day of killing.”

[12:4]  ³ tn The verb here is often translated “mourn.” However, this verb is from a homonymic root meaning “to be dry” (cf. HALOT 7 s.v. II אָבַל and compare Hos 4:3 for usage).

[12:4]  ⁴ tn The words “How long” are not in the text. They are carried over from the first line.

[12:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “because of the wickedness of those who live in it.”

[12:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “he.” The referent is usually identified as God and is supplied here for clarity. Some identify the referent with Jeremiah. If that is the case, then he returns to his complaint about the conspirators. It is more likely, however, that it refers to God and Jeremiah’s complaint that the people live their lives apart from concern about God.

[12:4]  ⁷ tc Or reading with the Greek version, “God does not see what we are doing.” In place of “what will happen to us (אַחֲרִיתֵנוּ, ’akharitenu, “our end”) the Greek version understands a Hebrew text which reads “our ways” (אָרְחוֹתֵנו, ’orkhotenu), which is graphically very close to the MT. The Masoretic is supported by the Latin and is retained here on the basis of external evidence. Either text makes good sense in the context. Some identify the “he” with Jeremiah and understand the text to be saying that the conspirators are certain that they will succeed and he will not live to see his prophecies fulfilled.

[12:4]  sn The words here may be an outright rejection of the Lord’s words in Deut 32:20, which is part of a song that was to be taught to Israel in the light of their predicted rejection of the Lord.

[12:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “You planted them and they took root.”

[12:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “they grow and produce fruit.” For the nuance “grow” for the verb which normally means “go, walk,” see BDB 232 s.v. חָלַךְ Qal.I.3 and compare Hos 14:7.

[12:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “You are near in their mouths, but far from their kidneys.” The figure of substitution is being used here, “mouth” for “words” and “kidneys” for passions and affections. A contemporary equivalent might be, “your name is always on their lips, but their hearts are far from you.”

[18:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “like his [own] soul.”

[21:1]  ¹² tn Heb “trembled to meet.”

[33:24]  ¹³ sn Outside of its seven occurrences in Ezekiel the term translated “possession” appears only in Exod 6:8 and Deut 33:4.

[33:25]  ¹⁴ sn This practice was a violation of Levitical law (see Lev 19:26).

[33:25]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “lift up your eyes.”

[33:25]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Will you possess?”

[33:26]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “stand.”

[33:27]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “fall.”

[33:29]  ¹⁹ sn The judgments of vv. 27-29 echo the judgments of Lev 26:22, 25.

[11:50]  ²⁰ tn Or “you are not considering.”

[11:50]  ²¹ tn Although it is possible to argue that ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") should be translated “person” here since it is not necessarily masculinity that is in view in Caiaphas’ statement, “man” was retained in the translation because in 11:47 “this man” (οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρωπος, outo" Jo anqrwpo") has as its referent a specific individual, Jesus, and it was felt this connection should be maintained.

[11:50]  ²² sn In his own mind Caiaphas was no doubt giving voice to a common-sense statement of political expediency. Yet he was unconsciously echoing a saying of Jesus himself (cf. Mark 10:45). Caiaphas was right; the death of Jesus would save the nation from destruction. Yet Caiaphas could not suspect that Jesus would die, not in place of the political nation Israel, but on behalf of the true people of God; and he would save them, not from physical destruction, but from eternal destruction (cf. 3:16-17). The understanding of Caiaphas’ words in a sense that Caiaphas could not possibly have imagined at the time he uttered them serves as a clear example of the way in which the author understood that words and actions could be invested retrospectively with a meaning not consciously intended or understood by those present at the time.