Mikha 3:5
Konteks3:5 This is what the Lord says: “The prophets who mislead my people
are as good as dead. 1
If someone gives them enough to eat,
they offer an oracle of peace. 2
But if someone does not give them food,
they are ready to declare war on him. 3
Mikha 3:11
Konteks3:11 Her 4 leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, 5
her priests proclaim rulings for profit,
and her prophets read omens for pay.
Yet they claim to trust 6 the Lord and say,
“The Lord is among us. 7
Disaster will not overtake 8 us!”
Mikha 3:1
Konteks3:1 I said,
“Listen, you leaders 9 of Jacob,
you rulers of the nation 10 of Israel!
You ought to know what is just, 11
Kisah Para Rasul 22:6
Konteks22:6 As 12 I was en route and near Damascus, 13 about noon a very bright 14 light from heaven 15 suddenly flashed 16 around me.
Yeremia 6:13-14
Konteks6:13 “That is because, from the least important to the most important of them,
all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.
Prophets and priests alike,
all of them practice deceit.
6:14 They offer only superficial help
for the harm my people have suffered. 17
They say, ‘Everything will be all right!’
But everything is not all right! 18
Yeremia 8:10-11
Konteks8:10 19 So I will give their wives to other men
and their fields to new owners.
For from the least important to the most important of them,
all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.
Prophets and priests alike,
all practice deceit.
8:11 They offer only superficial help
for the hurt my dear people 20 have suffered. 21
They say, “Everything will be all right!”
But everything is not all right! 22
Yeremia 23:17
Konteks23:17 They continually say 23 to those who reject what the Lord has said, 24
‘Things will go well for you!’ 25
They say to all those who follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts,
‘Nothing bad will happen to you!’
Roma 16:18
Konteks16:18 For these are the kind who do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By their smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds 26 of the naive.
Filipi 3:19
Konteks3:19 Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, they exult in their shame, and they think about earthly things. 27
Filipi 3:2
Konteks3:2 Beware of the dogs, 28 beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! 29
Pengkhotbah 2:13-19
Konteks2:13 I realized that wisdom is preferable to folly, 30
just as light is preferable to darkness:
2:14 The wise man can see where he is going, 31 but the fool walks in darkness.
Yet I also realized that the same fate 32 happens to them both. 33
2:15 So I thought to myself, “The fate of the fool will happen even to me! 34
Then what did I gain by becoming so excessively 35 wise?” 36
So I lamented to myself, 37
“The benefits of wisdom 38 are ultimately 39 meaningless!”
2:16 For the wise man, like 40 the fool, will not be remembered for very long, 41
because 42 in the days to come, both will already have been forgotten. 43
Alas, 44 the wise man dies – just like 45 the fool!
2:17 So I loathed 46 life 47 because what
happens 48 on earth 49 seems awful to me;
for all the benefits of wisdom 50 are futile – like chasing the wind.
2:18 So I loathed all the fruit of 51 my effort, 52
for which I worked so hard 53 on earth, 54
because 55 I must leave it 56 behind 57 in the hands of my successor. 58
2:19 Who knows if he will be a wise man or a fool?
Yet 59 he will be master over all the fruit of 60 my labor 61
for which I worked so wisely 62 on earth! 63
This also is futile!
[3:5] 1 tn Heb “concerning the prophets, those who mislead my people.” The first person pronominal suffix is awkward in a quotation formula that introduces the words of the
[3:5] 2 tn Heb “those who bite with their teeth and cry out, ‘peace.’” The phrase “bite with the teeth” is taken here as idiomatic for eating. Apparently these prophets were driven by mercenary motives. If they were paid well, they gave positive oracles to their clients, but if someone could not afford to pay them, they were hostile and delivered oracles of doom.
[3:5] 3 tn Heb “but [as for the one] who does not place [food] in their mouths, they prepare for war against him.”
[3:11] 4 sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).
[3:11] 5 tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”
[3:11] 6 tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”
[3:11] 7 tn Heb “Is not the
[3:11] 8 tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”
[3:1] 11 tn Heb “Should you not know justice?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you should!”
[22:6] 12 tn Grk “It happened that as.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
[22:6] 13 tn Grk “going and nearing Damascus.”
[22:6] sn En route and near Damascus. This is the first retelling of Paul’s Damascus Road experience in Acts (cf. Acts 9:1-9; the second retelling is in Acts 26:9-20).
[22:6] 14 tn BDAG 472 s.v. ἱκανός 3.b has “φῶς a very bright light Ac 22:6.”
[22:6] 15 tn Or “from the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).
[6:14] 17 tn Heb “They heal [= bandage] the wound of my people lightly”; TEV “They act as if my people’s wounds were only scratches.”
[6:14] 18 tn Heb “They say, ‘Peace! Peace!’ and there is no peace!”
[8:10] 19 sn See Jer 6:12-15 for parallels to 8:10-12. The words of Jeremiah to the people may have been repeated on more than one occasion or have been found appropriate to more than one of his collection of messages in written and edited form. See Jer 36:4 and Jer 36:28 for reference to at least two of these collections.
[8:11] 20 tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.
[8:11] 21 tn Heb “They heal the wound of my people lightly.”
[8:11] 22 tn Heb “They say, ‘Peace! Peace!’ and there is no peace!”
[23:17] 23 tn The translation reflects an emphatic construction where the infinitive absolute follows a participle (cf. GKC 343 §113.r).
[23:17] 24 tc The translation follows the Greek version. The Hebrew text reads, “who reject me, ‘The
[23:17] 25 tn Heb “You will have peace.” But see the note on 14:13. See also 6:14 and 8:11.
[3:19] 27 tn Grk “whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly and glory is their shame, these who think of earthly things.”
[3:2] 28 sn Dogs is a figurative reference to false teachers whom Paul regards as just as filthy as dogs.
[3:2] 29 tn Grk “beware of the mutilation.”
[2:13] 30 tn Heb “and I saw that there is profit for wisdom more than folly.”
[2:14] 31 tn Heb “has his eyes in his head.” The term עַיִן (’ayin, “eye”) is used figuratively in reference to mental and spiritual faculties (BDB 744 s.v. עַיִן 3.a). The term “eye” is a metonymy of cause (eye) for effect (sight and perception).
[2:14] 32 sn The common fate to which Qoheleth refers is death.
[2:14] 33 tn The term כֻּלָּם (kullam, “all of them”) denotes “both of them.” This is an example of synecdoche of general (“all of them”) for the specific (“both of them,” that is, both the wise man and the fool).
[2:15] 34 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] 35 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] 36 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] 37 tn Heb “So I said in my heart.”
[2:15] 38 tn Heb “and also this,” referring to the relative advantage of wisdom over folly.
[2:15] 39 tn The word “ultimately” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
[2:16] 40 tn The preposition עִם (’im, “with”) may occasionally function in a comparative sense, meaning “together with; even as; like” (e.g., Eccl 1:11; 2:16; 7:11; Job 9:26; 1 Chr 14:10: 20:6; 25:8; see HALOT 839 s.v. עִם 2). When used to describe a common lot, it connotes “together with” (Gen 18:23, 25; 1 Chr 24:5; Job 3:14, 15; 30:1; Pss 26:9; 28:3; 69:29; Isa 38:11), hence “like” (Pss 73:5; 106:6; Eccl 2:16; see BDB 767–68 s.v. עִם 1.e).
[2:16] 41 tn As HALOT 798–99 s.v. עוֹלָם and BDB 762-64 s.v. עוֹלָם note, עוֹלָם (’olam) has a wide range of meanings: (1) indefinite time: “long time; duration,” (2) unlimited time: “eternal; eternity,” (3) future time: “things to come,” and (4) past time: “a long time back,” that is, the dark age of prehistory. The context here suggests the nuance “a long time.”
[2:16] 42 tn The preposition בְּ (bet) on בְּשֶׁכְּבָר (bÿshekkÿvar, the adverb כְּבָר [kÿvar,“already”] + relative pronoun שֶׁ [she] + preposition בְּ) is probably best classified as causal: “Because…already.”
[2:16] 43 tn The verb נִשְׁכָּח (nishkakh) is a future perfect – it describes an event that is portrayed as a past event from the perspective of the future: “they will have been forgotten.” The emphasis of the past perfect is not simply that the future generations will begin to forget him, but that he will already have been forgotten long ago in the past by the time of those future generations. This past perfect situation is brought out by the emphatic use of the temporal adverb כְּבָר (kÿvar) “already” (HALOT 459 s.v. I כְּבָר; BDB 460 s.v. I כְּבָר); see, e.g., Eccl 1:10; 2:12, 16; 3:15; 4:2; 6:10; 9:6-7.
[2:16] 44 tn The particle אֵיךְ (’ekh, “Alas!”) is an exclamation of lamentation and mourning (e.g., 2 Sam 1:19; Isa 14:4, 12; Jer 2:21; 9:18; Ezek 26:17; Mic 2:4); see HALOT 39 s.v. אֵיךְ 5; BDB 32 s.v. אֵיךְ 2; also E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 955.
[2:16] 45 tn The preposition עִם (’im, “with”) may occasionally function in a comparative sense, meaning “together with; even as; like” (e.g., Eccl 1:11; 2:16; 7:11; Job 9:26; 1 Chr 14:10: 20:6; 25:8); see HALOT 839 s.v. עִם 2. When used to describe a common lot, it connotes “together with” (Gen 18:23, 25; 1 Chr 24:5; Job 3:14, 15; 30:1; Ps 26:9; 28:3; 69:29; Isa 38:11), hence “like” (Pss 73:5; 106:6; Eccl 2:16); see BDB 767–68 s.v. עִם 1.e.
[2:17] 47 tn The term הַחַיִּים (hakhayyim, “life”) functions as a metonymy of association, that is, that which is associated with life, that is, the profitlessness and futility of human secular achievement.
[2:17] 48 tn Heb “the deed that is done.” The root עָשָׂה (’asah, “to do”) is repeated in הַמַּעֲשֶׂה שֶׁנַּעֲשָׂה (hamma’aseh shenna’asah, “the deed that is done”) for emphasis. Here, the term “deed” does not refer to human accomplishment, as in 2:1-11, but to the fact of death that destroys any relative advantage of wisdom over folly (2:14a-16). Qoheleth metaphorically describes death as a “deed” that is “done” to man.
[2:17] 49 tn Heb “under the sun.”
[2:17] 50 tn Heb “all,” referring here to the relative advantage of wisdom.
[2:18] 51 tn The phrase “the fruit of” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity (see the following note on the phrase “hard labor”).
[2:18] 52 tn Heb “I hated all my toil for which I had toiled.” The term עֲמָלִי (’amali, “my toil”) is repeated throughout 2:18-21. In each case, it functions as a metonymy of cause (i.e., toil) for effect (i.e., fruit of labor). See, e.g., Ps 105:44; BDB 765 s.v עָמַל 3. The metonymy is indicated by several factors: (1) The 3rd person masculine singular suffix (“it”) on אַנִּיחֶנּוּ (’annikhennu, “I must leave it”) in 2:18, and on יִתְּנֶנּוּ (yittÿnennu, “I must give it”) in 2:21 refer to his wealth, that is, the fruit of his labor. (2) In 2:21 the 3rd person masculine singular suffix on שֶׁלֹּא עָמַל־בּוֹ (shello’ ’amal-bo, “who did not work for it”) refers to the inheritance that Qoheleth must turn over to his successor, namely, the fruit of his labor. (3) While he himself enjoyed the fruit of his labor, he despaired that he had to turn the fruit of his labor over to his successor: “So I loathed all the [fruit of] my labor” (2:18a) and “I began to despair about the [fruit of] my labor” (2:20a). Although most translations render עֲמָלִי as “my toil” in 2:18, the metonymy is recognized by several English translations: “So I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored” (NASB); “So I detested all the fruits of my labor” (NAB); “I hated all the things I had toiled for” (NIV); and “So I loathed all the wealth that I was gaining” (NJPS).
[2:18] 53 tn Qoheleth uses an internal cognate accusative construction (accusative noun and verb from the same root) for emphasis: עֲמָלִי שֶׁאֲנִי עָמֵל (’amali she’ani ’amel, “my toil for which I had toiled”). See IBHS 167 §10.2.1g.
[2:18] 54 tn Heb “under the sun.”
[2:18] 55 tn The relative pronoun שֶׁ (she) on שֶׁאַנִּיחֶנּוּ (she’annikhennu, relative pronoun שֶׁ + Hiphil imperfect 1st person common singular from נוּחַ, nuakh, “to leave” + 3rd person masculine singular suffix) is causal: “Because I must leave it behind.”
[2:18] 56 tn The 3rd person masculine singular suffix on אַנִּיחֶנּוּ (’annikhennu, “I must leave it”) refers to Qoheleth’s wealth, that is, the fruit of his labor (see the note on the phrase “hard labor” in 2:18). The suffix is rendered literally by nearly all translations; however, a few make its referent explicit: “I have to leave its fruits” (NEB), “I must leave them [= all the fruits of my labor]” (NAB).
[2:18] 57 tn The verb נוּחַ (nuakh, “to rest”) denotes “to leave [something] behind” in the hands of someone (e.g., Ps 119:121; Eccl 2:18); see HALOT 680 s.v. נוח B.2.c. The imperfect functions in a modal sense of obligation or necessity. At death, Qoheleth will be forced to pass on his entire estate and the fruit of his labors to his successor.
[2:18] 58 tn Heb “to a man who will come after me.”
[2:19] 59 tn The vav on וְיִשְׁלַט (vÿyishlat, conjunction + Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular from שָׁלַט, shalat, “to be master”) is adversative (“yet”).
[2:19] 60 tn The phrase “the fruit of” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity (see the following note on the word “labor”).
[2:19] 61 tn Heb “my labor.” As in 2:18, the term עֲמָלִי (’amali, “my labor”) is a metonymy of cause (i.e., my labor) for effect (i.e., fruit of my labor). The metonymy is recognized by several translations: “he will control all the wealth that I gained” (NJPS); “he will have control over all the fruits of my labor” (NAB); “he will have mastery over all the fruits of my labor” (NEB); “he will have control over all the fruit of my labor” (NASB); “he will be master over all my possessions” (MLB).
[2:19] 62 tn An internal cognate accusative construction (accusative and verb from same root) is used for emphasis: שֶׁעָמַלְתִּי עֲמָלִי (’amali she’amalti, “my toil for which I had toiled”); see IBHS 167 §10.2.1g. The two verbs שֶׁעָמַלְתִּי וְשֶׁחָכַמְתִּי (she’amalti vÿshekhakhamti, “for which I had labored and for which I had acted wisely”) form a verbal hendiadys (two separate verbs used in association to communicate one idea): “for I had labored so wisely.” The second verb is used adverbially to modify the first verb, which functions in its full verbal sense.
