Yeremia 16:15-17

16:15 But in that time they will affirm them with ‘I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the people of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished them.’ At that time I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors.” ¹ 

16:16 But for now I, the Lord, say: ²  “I will send many enemies who will catch these people like fishermen. After that I will send others who will hunt them out like hunters from all the mountains, all the hills, and the crevices in the rocks. ³  16:17 For I see everything they do. Their wicked ways are not hidden from me. Their sin is not hidden away where I cannot see it. ⁴ 

Yeremia 8:6

8:6 I have listened to them very carefully, ⁵ 

but they do not speak honestly.

None of them regrets the evil he has done.

None of them says, “I have done wrong!” ⁶ 

All of them persist in their own wayward course ⁷ 

like a horse charging recklessly into battle.

Yeremia 8:12

8:12 Are they ashamed because they have done such disgusting things?

No, they are not at all ashamed!

They do not even know how to blush!

So they will die just like others have died. ⁸ 

They will be brought to ruin when I punish them,

says the Lord.

Yeremia 18:18

Jeremiah Petitions the Lord to Punish Those Who Attack Him

18:18 Then some people ⁹  said, “Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! ¹⁰  There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God’s word. ¹¹  Come on! Let’s bring charges against him and get rid of him! ¹²  Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says.”

Yeremia 38:4

38:4 So these officials said to the king, “This man must be put to death. For he is demoralizing ¹³  the soldiers who are left in the city as well as all the other people there by these things he is saying. ¹⁴  This ¹⁵  man is not seeking to help these people but is trying to harm them.” ¹⁶ 

Keluaran 5:2

5:2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord ¹⁷  that ¹⁸  I should obey him ¹⁹  by releasing ²⁰  Israel? I do not know the Lord, ²¹  and I will not release Israel!”

Ayub 15:25-27

15:25 for he stretches out his hand against God, ²² 

and vaunts himself ²³  against the Almighty,

15:26 defiantly charging against him ²⁴ 

with a thick, strong shield! ²⁵ 

15:27 Because he covered his face with fat, ²⁶ 

and made ²⁷  his hips bulge with fat, ²⁸ 

Ayub 21:14-15

21:14 So they say to God, ‘Turn away from us!

We do not want to ²⁹  know your ways. ³⁰ 

21:15 Who is the Almighty, that ³¹  we should serve him?

What would we gain

if we were to pray ³²  to him?’ ³³ 

Mazmur 2:3

2:3 They say, ³⁴  “Let’s tear off the shackles they’ve put on us! ³⁵ 

Let’s free ourselves from ³⁶  their ropes!”

Mazmur 73:8-9

73:8 They mock ³⁷  and say evil things; ³⁸ 

they proudly threaten violence. ³⁹ 

73:9 They speak as if they rule in heaven,

and lay claim to the earth. ⁴⁰ 

Yesaya 3:9

3:9 The look on their faces ⁴¹  testifies to their guilt; ⁴² 

like the people of Sodom they openly boast of their sin. ⁴³ 

Too bad for them! ⁴⁴ 

For they bring disaster on themselves.

Daniel 3:15

3:15 Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must bow down and pay homage to the statue that I had made. If you don’t pay homage to it, you will immediately be thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. Now, who is that god who can rescue you from my power?” ⁴⁵ 

Lukas 19:14

19:14 But his citizens ⁴⁶  hated ⁴⁷  him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man ⁴⁸  to be king ⁴⁹  over us!’

Lukas 19:27

19:27 But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, ⁵⁰  bring them here and slaughter ⁵¹  them ⁵²  in front of me!’”

[16:15]  ¹ tn These two verses which constitute one long sentence with compound, complex subordinations has been broken up for sake of English style. It reads, “Therefore, behold the days are coming, says the Lord [Heb ‘oracle of the Lord’] and it will not be said any longer, ‘By the life of the Lord who…Egypt’ but ‘by the life of the Lord who…’ and I will bring them back….”

[16:16]  ² tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.” The Lord has been speaking; the first person has been utilized in translation to avoid a shift which might create confusion.

[16:16]  ³ tn Heb “Behold I am about to send for many fishermen and they will catch them. And after that I will send for many hunters and they will hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and from the cracks in the rocks.”

[16:16]  sn The picture of rounding up the population for destruction and exile is also seen in Amos 4:2 and Hab 1:14-17.

[16:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “For my eyes are upon all their ways. They are not hidden from before me. And their sin is not hidden away from before my eyes.”

[8:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “I have paid attention and I have listened.” This is another case of two concepts being joined by “and” where one expresses the main idea and the other acts as an adverbial or adjectival modifier (a figure called hendiadys).

[8:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “What have I done?” The addition of the word “wrong” is implicit in the context and is supplied in the translation for clarity. The rhetorical question does not function as a denial of wrongdoing, but rather as contrite shock at one’s own wrongdoing. It is translated as a declaration for the sake of clarity.

[8:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “each one of them turns aside into their own running course.”

[8:6]  sn The wordplay begun in v. 4 is continued here. The word translated “turns aside” in the literal translation and “wayward” in the translation is from the same root as “go the wrong way,” “turn around,” “turn away from me,” “apostasy,” “turn back to me.” What God hoped for were confessions of repentance and change of behavior; what he got was denial of wrongdoing and continued turning away from him.

[8:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “They will fall among the fallen.”

[18:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “They.” The referent is unidentified; “some people” has been used in the translation.

[18:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Let us make plans against Jeremiah.” See 18:18 where this has sinister overtones as it does here.

[18:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Instruction will not perish from priest, counsel from the wise, word from the prophet.”

[18:18]  sn These are the three channels through whom God spoke to his people in the OT. See Jer 8:8-10 and Ezek 7:26.

[18:18]  ¹² tn Heb “Let us smite him with our tongues.” It is clear from the context that this involved plots to kill him.

[38:4]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “by saying these things.”

[38:4]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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].”

[5:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Yahweh.” This is a rhetorical question, expressing doubt or indignation or simply a negative thought that Yahweh is nothing (see erotesis in E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 944-45). Pharaoh is not asking for information (cf. 1 Sam 25:5-10).

[5:2]  ¹⁸ tn The relative pronoun introduces the consecutive clause that depends on the interrogative clause (see GKC 318-19 §107.u).

[5:2]  ¹⁹ tn The imperfect tense here receives the classification of obligatory imperfect. The verb שָׁמַע (shama’) followed by “in the voice of” is idiomatic; rather than referring to simple audition – “that I should hear his voice” – it conveys the thought of listening that issues in action – “that I should obey him.”

[5:2]  sn The construction of these clauses is similar to (ironically) the words of Moses: “Who am I that I should go?” (3:11).

[5:2]  ²⁰ tn The Piel infinitive construct here has the epexegetical usage with lamed (ל); it explains the verb “obey.”

[5:2]  ²¹ sn This absolute statement of Pharaoh is part of a motif that will develop throughout the conflict. For Pharaoh, the Lord (Yahweh) did not exist. So he said “I do not know the Lord [i.e., Yahweh].” The point of the plagues and the exodus will be “that he might know.” Pharaoh will come to know this Yahweh, but not in any pleasant way.

[15:25]  ²² sn The symbol of the outstretched hand is the picture of attempting to strike someone, or shaking a fist at someone; it is a symbol of a challenge or threat (see Isa 5:25; 9:21; 10:4).

[15:25]  ²³ tn The Hitpael of גָּבַר (gavar) means “to act with might” or “to behave like a hero.” The idea is that the wicked boldly vaunts himself before the Lord.

[15:26]  ²⁴ tn Heb “he runs against [or upon] him with the neck.” The RSV takes this to mean “with a stiff neck.” Several commentators, influenced by the LXX’s “insolently,” have attempted to harmonize with some idiom for neck (“outstretched neck,” for example). Others have made more extensive changes. Pope and Anderson follow Tur-Sinai in accepting “with full battle armor.” But the main idea seems to be that of a headlong assault on God.

[15:26]  ²⁵ tn Heb “with the thickness of the bosses of his shield.” The bosses are the convex sides of the bucklers, turned against the foe. This is a defiant attack on God.

[15:27]  ²⁶ sn This verse tells us that he is not in any condition to fight, because he is bloated and fat from luxurious living.

[15:27]  ²⁷ tn D. W. Thomas defends a meaning “cover” for the verb עָשָׂה (’asah). See “Translating Hebrew `asah,” BT 17 [1966]: 190-93.

[15:27]  ²⁸ tn The term פִּימָה (pimah), a hapax legomenon, is explained by the Arabic fa’ima, “to be fat.” Pope renders this “blubber.” Cf. KJV “and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.”

[21:14]  ²⁹ tn The absence of the preposition before the complement adds greater vividness to the statement: “and knowing your ways – we do not desire.”

[21:14]  ³⁰ sn Contrast Ps 25:4, which affirms that walking in God’s ways means to obey God’s will – the Torah.

[21:15]  ³¹ tn The interrogative clause is followed by ki, similar to Exod 5:2, “Who is Yahweh, that I should obey him?”

[21:15]  ³² tn The verb פָּגַע (paga’) means “to encounter; to meet,” but also “to meet with request; to intercede; to interpose.” The latter meaning is a derived meaning by usage.

[21:15]  ³³ tn The verse is not present in the LXX. It may be that it was considered too blasphemous and therefore omitted.

[2:3]  ³⁴ tn The words “they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The quotation represents the words of the rebellious kings.

[2:3]  ³⁵ tn Heb “their (i.e., the Lord’s and the king’s) shackles.” The kings compare the rule of the Lord and his vice-regent to being imprisoned.

[2:3]  ³⁶ tn Heb “throw off from us.”

[73:8]  ³⁷ tn The verb מוּק (muq, “mock”) occurs only here in the OT.

[73:8]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and speak with evil.”

[73:8]  ³⁹ tn Heb “oppression from an elevated place they speak.” The traditional accentuation of the MT places “oppression” with the preceding line. In this case, one might translate, “they mock and speak with evil [of] oppression, from an elevated place [i.e., “proudly”] they speak.” By placing “oppression” with what follows, one achieves better poetic balance in the parallelism.

[73:9]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “they set in heaven their mouth, and their tongue walks through the earth.” The meaning of the text is uncertain. Perhaps the idea is that they lay claim to heaven (i.e., speak as if they were ruling in heaven) and move through the earth declaring their superiority and exerting their influence. Some take the preposition -בְּ (bet) the first line as adversative and translate, “they set their mouth against heaven,” that is, they defy God.

[3:9]  ⁴¹ sn This refers to their proud, arrogant demeanor.

[3:9]  ⁴² tn Heb “answers against them”; NRSV “bears witness against them.”

[3:9]  ⁴³ tn Heb “their sin, like Sodom, they declare, they do not conceal [it].”

[3:9]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “woe to their soul.”

[3:15]  ⁴⁵ tn Aram “hand.” So also in v. 17.

[19:14]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “subjects.” Technically these people were not his subjects yet, but would be upon his return. They were citizens of his country who opposed his appointment as their king; later the newly-appointed king will refer to them as his “enemies” (v. 27).

[19:14]  ⁴⁷ tn The imperfect is intense in this context, suggesting an ongoing attitude.

[19:14]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “this one” (somewhat derogatory in this context).

[19:14]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “to rule.”

[19:27]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “to rule over them.”

[19:27]  ⁵¹ tn This term, when used of people rather than animals, has some connotations of violence and mercilessness (L&N 20.72).

[19:27]  ⁵² sn Slaughter them. To reject the king is to face certain judgment from him.