Mazmur 73:22

73:22 I was ignorant ¹  and lacked insight; ² 

I was as senseless as an animal before you. ³ 

Mazmur 92:6

92:6 The spiritually insensitive do not recognize this;

the fool does not understand this. ⁴ 

Amsal 30:2

30:2 Surely ⁵  I am more brutish ⁶  than any other human being, ⁷ 

and I do not have human understanding; ⁸ 

Yeremia 10:14

10:14 All these idolaters ⁹  will prove to be stupid and ignorant.

Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made.

For the image he forges is merely a sham. ¹⁰ 

There is no breath in any of those idols. ¹¹ 

Yeremia 10:21

10:21 For our leaders ¹²  are stupid.

They have not sought the Lord’s advice. ¹³ 

So they do not act wisely,

and the people they are responsible for ¹⁴  have all been scattered.

[73:22]  ¹ tn Or “brutish, stupid.”

[73:22]  ² tn Heb “and I was not knowing.”

[73:22]  ³ tn Heb “an animal I was with you.”

[92:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “the brutish man does not know, and the fool does not understand this.” The adjective בַּעַר (ba’ar, “brutish”) refers to spiritual insensitivity, not mere lack of intelligence or reasoning ability (see Pss 49:10; 73:22; Prov 12:1; 30:2, as well as the use of the related verb in Ps 94:8).

[30:2]  ⁵ tn The particle כִּי (ki) functions in an asseverative sense, “surely; indeed; truly” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §449).

[30:2]  ⁶ tn The noun בַּעַר (ba’ar) means “brutishness”; here it functions as a predicate adjective. It is followed by מֵאִישׁ (me’ish) expressing comparative degree: “more than a man” or “more than any man,” with “man” used in a generic sense. He is saying that he has fallen beneath the level of mankind. Cf. NRSV “I am too stupid to be human.”

[30:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “than man.” The verse is using hyperbole; this individual feels as if he has no intelligence at all, that he is more brutish than any other human. Of course this is not true, or he would not be able to speculate on the God of the universe at all.

[30:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “the understanding of a man,” with “man” used attributively here.

[10:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “Every man.” But in the context this is not a reference to all people without exception but to all idolaters. The referent is made explicit for the sake of clarity.

[10:14]  ¹⁰ tn Or “nothing but a phony god”; Heb “a lie/falsehood.”

[10:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “There is no breath in them.” The referent is made explicit so that no one will mistakenly take it to refer to the idolaters or goldsmiths.

[10:21]  ¹² tn Heb “the shepherds.”

[10:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “They have not sought the Lord.”

[10:21]  sn The idiom translated sought the Lord’s advice quite commonly refers to inquiring for the Lord’s guidance through a prophet. See for example Exod 18:15; 1 Sam 9:9; 1 Kgs 22:8. It would not exclude consulting the law.

[10:21]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “all their flock (or “pasturage”).”

[10:21]  sn This verse uses the figure of rulers as shepherds and the people they ruled as sheep. It is a common figure in the Bible. See Ezek 34 for an extended development of this metaphor.