Discovery BoxJeremiah 1:4-10
Context1:4 The Lord said to me,
1:5 “Before I formed you in your mother’s womb 1 I chose you. 2
Before you were born I set you apart.
I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.”
1:6 I answered, “Oh, Lord God, 3 I really 4 do not know how to speak well enough for that, 5 for I am too young.” 6 1:7 The Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ But go 7 to whomever I send you and say whatever I tell you. 1:8 Do not be afraid of those to whom I send you, 8 for I will be with you to protect 9 you,” says the Lord. 1:9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I will most assuredly give you the words you are to speak for me. 10 1:10 Know for certain that 11 I hereby give you the authority to announce to nations and kingdoms that they will be 12 uprooted and torn down, destroyed and demolished, rebuilt and firmly planted.” 13
Jeremiah 20:9
Context20:9 Sometimes I think, “I will make no mention of his message.
I will not speak as his messenger 14 any more.”
But then 15 his message becomes like a fire
locked up inside of me, burning in my heart and soul. 16
I grow weary of trying to hold it in;
I cannot contain it.
Ezekiel 3:14-19
Context3:14 A wind lifted me up and carried me away. I went bitterly, 17 my spirit full of fury, and the hand of the Lord rested powerfully 18 on me. 3:15 I came to the exiles at Tel Abib, 19 who lived by the Kebar River. 20 I sat dumbfounded among them there, where they were living, for seven days. 21
3:16 At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me: 22 3:17 “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman 23 for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must give them a warning from me. 3:18 When I say to the wicked, “You will certainly die,” 24 and you do not warn him – you do not speak out to warn the wicked to turn from his wicked deed and wicked lifestyle so that he may live – that wicked person will die for his iniquity, 25 but I will hold you accountable for his death. 26 3:19 But as for you, if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wicked deed and from his wicked lifestyle, he will die for his iniquity but you will have saved your own life. 27
Ezekiel 33:7-9
Context33:7 “As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman 28 for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must warn them on my behalf. 33:8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you must certainly die,’ 29 and you do not warn 30 the wicked about his behavior, 31 the wicked man will die for his iniquity, but I will hold you accountable for his death. 32 33:9 But if you warn the wicked man to change his behavior, 33 and he refuses to change, 34 he will die for his iniquity, but you have saved your own life.
Amos 7:14-15
Context7:14 Amos replied 35 to Amaziah, “I was not a prophet by profession. 36 No, 37 I was a herdsman who also took care of 38 sycamore fig trees. 39 7:15 Then the Lord took me from tending 40 flocks and gave me this commission, 41 ‘Go! Prophesy to my people Israel!’
James 1:19
Context1:19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters! 42 Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.
James 3:1
Context3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, 43 because you know that we will be judged more strictly. 44
[1:5] 1 tn Heb “the womb.” The words “your mother’s” are implicit and are supplied in the translation for clarity.
[1:5] 2 tn Heb “I knew you.” The parallelism here with “set you apart” and “appointed you” make clear that Jeremiah is speaking of his foreordination to be a prophet. For this same nuance of the Hebrew verb see Gen 18:19; Amos 3:2.
[1:6] 4 tn Heb “Behold, I do not know how to speak.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, commonly rendered “behold”) often introduces a speech and calls special attention to a specific word or the statement as a whole (see IBHS 675-78 §40.2.1).
[1:6] 5 tn The words “well enough for that” are implicit and are supplied in the translation for clarity. Jeremiah is not claiming an absolute inability to speak.
[1:6] 6 tn Heb “I am a boy/youth.” The Hebrew word can refer to an infant (Exod 2:6), a young boy (1 Sam 2:11), a teenager (Gen 21:12), or a young man (2 Sam 18:5). The translation is deliberately ambiguous since it is unclear how old Jeremiah was when he was called to begin prophesying.
[1:7] 7 tn Or “For you must go and say.” The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) is likely adversative here after a negative statement (cf. BDB 474 s.v. כִּי 3.e). The
[1:8] 8 tn Heb “be afraid of them.” The antecedent is the “whomever” in v. 7.
[1:9] 10 tn Heb “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.” This is an example of the Hebrew “scheduling” perfect or the “prophetic” perfect where a future event is viewed as so certain it is spoken of as past. The Hebrew particle rendered here “assuredly” (Heb הִנֵּה, hinneh) underlines the certitude of the promise for the future. See the translator’s note on v. 6.
[1:10] 11 tn Heb “See!” The Hebrew imperative of the verb used here (רָאָה, ra’ah) functions the same as the particle in v. 9. See the translator’s note there.
[1:10] 12 tn Heb “I appoint you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot….” The phrase refers to the
[1:10] 13 sn These three pairs represent the twofold nature of Jeremiah’s prophecies, prophecies of judgment and restoration. For the further programmatic use of these pairs for Jeremiah’s ministry see 18:7-10 and 31:27-28.
[20:9] 14 tn Heb “speak in his name.” This idiom occurs in passages where someone functions as the messenger under the authority of another. See Exod 5:23; Deut 18:19, 29:20; Jer 14:14. The antecedent in the first line is quite commonly misidentified as being “him,” i.e., the
[20:9] 15 tn The English sentence has again been restructured for the sake of English style. The Hebrew construction involves two vav consecutive perfects in a condition and consequence relation, “If I say to myself…then it [his word] becomes.” See GKC 337 §112.kk for the construction.
[20:9] 16 sn Heb “It is in my heart like a burning fire, shut up in my bones.” In addition to standing as part for the whole, the “bones” for the person (e.g., Ps 35:10), the bones were associated with fear (e.g., Job 4:14) and with pain (e.g., Job 33:19, Ps 102:3 [102:4 HT]) and joy or sorrow (e.g., Ps 51:8 [51:10 HT]). As has been mentioned several times, the heart was connected with intellectual and volitional concerns.
[3:14] 17 tn The traditional interpretation is that Ezekiel embarked on his mission with bitterness and anger, either reflecting God’s attitude toward the sinful people or his own feelings about having to carry out such an unpleasant task. L. C. Allen (Ezekiel [WBC], 1:13) takes “bitterly” as a misplaced marginal note and understands the following word, normally translated “anger,” in the sense of fervor or passion. He translates, “I was passionately moved” (p. 4). Another option is to take the word translated “bitterly” as a verb meaning “strengthened” (attested in Ugaritic). See G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 152.
[3:14] 18 tn Heb “the hand of the Lord was on me heavily.” The “hand of the Lord” is a metaphor for his power or influence; the modifier conveys intensity.
[3:15] 19 sn The name “Tel Abib” is a transliteration of an Akkadian term meaning “mound of the flood,” i.e., an ancient mound. It is not to be confused with the modern city of Tel Aviv in Israel.
[3:15] 21 sn A similar response to a divine encounter is found in Acts 9:8-9.
[3:16] 22 sn This phrase occurs about fifty times in the book of Ezekiel.
[3:17] 23 tn The literal role of a watchman is described in 2 Sam 18:24; 2 Kgs 9:17.
[3:18] 24 sn Even though the infinitive absolute is used to emphasize the warning, the warning is still implicitly conditional, as the following context makes clear.
[3:18] 25 tn Or “in his punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and v. 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 18: 17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 33:6, 8, 9; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment for iniquity.”
[3:18] 26 tn Heb “his blood I will seek from your hand.” The expression “seek blood from the hand” is equivalent to requiring the death penalty (2 Sam 4:11-12).
[3:19] 27 tn Verses 17-19 are repeated in Ezek 33:7-9.
[33:7] 28 sn Jeremiah (Jer 6:17) and Habakkuk (Hab 2:1) also served in the role of a watchman.
[33:8] 29 tn The same expression occurs in Gen 2:17.
[33:8] 30 tn Heb “and you do not speak to warn.”
[33:8] 32 tn Heb “and his blood from your hand I will seek.”
[33:9] 33 tn Heb “from his way to turn from it.”
[33:9] 34 tn Heb “and he does not turn from his way.”
[7:14] 35 tn Heb “replied and said.” The phrase “and said” is pleonastic (redundant) and has not been included in the translation.
[7:14] 36 tn Heb “I was not a prophet nor was I the son of a prophet.” The phrase “son of a prophet” refers to one who was trained in a prophetic guild. Since there is no equative verb present in the Hebrew text, another option is to translate with the present tense, “I am not a prophet by profession.” In this case Amos, though now carrying out a prophetic ministry (v. 15), denies any official or professional prophetic status. Modern English versions are divided about whether to understand the past (JB, NIV, NKJV) or present tense (NASB, NEB, NRSV, NJPS) here.
[7:14] 38 tn Heb “gashed”; or “pierced.”
[7:14] 39 sn It is possible that herdsmen agreed to care for sycamore fig trees in exchange for grazing rights. See P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 116-17. Since these trees do not grow around Tekoa but rather in the lowlands, another option is that Amos owned other property outside his hometown. In this case, this verse demonstrates his relative wealth and is his response to Amaziah; he did not depend on prophecy as a profession (v. 13).
[7:15] 40 tn Heb “from [following] after.”
[7:15] 41 tn Heb “and the
[1:19] 42 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
[3:1] 43 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
