Jeremiah 5:4

5:4 I thought, “Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way. ¹ 

They act like fools because they do not know what the Lord demands. ² 

They do not know what their God requires of them. ³ 

Jeremiah 5:21

5:21 Tell them: ‘Hear this,

you foolish people who have no understanding,

who have eyes but do not discern,

who have ears but do not perceive: ⁴ 

Jeremiah 8:7-9

8:7 Even the stork knows

when it is time to move on. ⁵ 

The turtledove, swallow, and crane ⁶ 

recognize ⁷  the normal times for their migration.

But my people pay no attention

to ⁸  what I, the Lord, require of them. ⁹ 

8:8 How can you say, “We are wise!

We have the law of the Lord”?

The truth is, ¹⁰  those who teach it ¹¹  have used their writings

to make it say what it does not really mean. ¹² 

8:9 Your wise men will be put to shame.

They will be dumbfounded and be brought to judgment. ¹³ 

Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,

what wisdom do they really have?

Deuteronomy 32:6

32:6 Is this how you repay ¹⁴  the Lord,

you foolish, unwise people?

Is he not your father, your creator?

He has made you and established you.

Deuteronomy 32:28

32:28 They are a nation devoid of wisdom,

and there is no understanding among them.

Psalms 14:1-4

Psalm 14 ¹⁵ 

For the music director; by David.

14:1 Fools say to themselves, ¹⁶  “There is no God.” ¹⁷ 

They sin and commit evil deeds; ¹⁸ 

none of them does what is right. ¹⁹ 

14:2 The Lord looks down from heaven ²⁰  at the human race, ²¹ 

to see if there is anyone who is wise ²²  and seeks God. ²³ 

14:3 Everyone rejects God; ²⁴ 

they are all morally corrupt. ²⁵ 

None of them does what is right, ²⁶ 

not even one!

14:4 All those who behave wickedly ²⁷  do not understand – ²⁸ 

those who devour my people as if they were eating bread,

and do not call out to the Lord.

Isaiah 1:3

1:3 An ox recognizes its owner,

a donkey recognizes where its owner puts its food; ²⁹ 

but Israel does not recognize me, ³⁰ 

my people do not understand.”

Isaiah 6:9-10

6:9 He said, “Go and tell these people:

‘Listen continually, but don’t understand!

Look continually, but don’t perceive!’

6:10 Make the hearts of these people calloused;

make their ears deaf and their eyes blind!

Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears,

their hearts might understand and they might repent and be healed.” ³¹ 

Isaiah 27:11

27:11 When its branches get brittle, ³²  they break;

women come and use them for kindling. ³³ 

For these people lack understanding, ³⁴ 

therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;

the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

Isaiah 29:10-12

29:10 For the Lord has poured out on you

a strong urge to sleep deeply. ³⁵ 

He has shut your eyes (the prophets),

and covered your heads (the seers).

29:11 To you this entire prophetic revelation ³⁶  is like words in a sealed scroll. When they hand it to one who can read ³⁷  and say, “Read this,” he responds, “I can’t, because it is sealed.” 29:12 Or when they hand the scroll to one who can’t read ³⁸  and say, “Read this,” he says, “I can’t read.” ³⁹ 

Isaiah 42:19-20

42:19 My servant is truly blind,

my messenger is truly deaf.

My covenant partner, ⁴⁰  the servant of the Lord, is truly blind. ⁴¹ 

42:20 You see ⁴²  many things, but don’t comprehend; ⁴³ 

their ears are open, but do not hear.”

Hosea 4:1

The Lord’s Covenant Lawsuit against the Nation Israel

4:1 Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites! ⁴⁴ 

For the Lord has a covenant lawsuit ⁴⁵  against the people of Israel. ⁴⁶ 

For there is neither faithfulness nor loyalty in the land,

nor do they acknowledge God. ⁴⁷ 

Hosea 4:6

4:6 You have destroyed ⁴⁸  my people

by failing to acknowledge me!

Because you refuse to acknowledge me, ⁴⁹ 

I will reject you as my priests.

Because you reject ⁵⁰  the law of your God,

I will reject ⁵¹  your descendants.

Matthew 23:16-26

23:16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple is bound by nothing. ⁵²  But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound by the oath.’ 23:17 Blind fools! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 23:18 And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar is bound by nothing. ⁵³  But if anyone swears by the gift on it he is bound by the oath.’ 23:19 You are blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 23:20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 23:21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and the one who dwells in it. 23:22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and the one who sits on it.

23:23 “Woe to you, experts in the law ⁵⁴  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth ⁵⁵  of mint, dill, and cumin, ⁵⁶  yet you neglect what is more important in the law – justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You ⁵⁷  should have done these things without neglecting the others. 23:24 Blind guides! You strain out a gnat yet swallow a camel! ⁵⁸ 

23:25 “Woe to you, experts in the law ⁵⁹  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 23:26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, ⁶⁰  so that the outside may become clean too!

Romans 1:22

1:22 Although they claimed ⁶¹  to be wise, they became fools

Romans 3:11

3:11 there is no one who understands,

there is no one who seeks God.

[5:4]  ¹ tn Heb “Surely they are poor.” The translation is intended to make clear the explicit contrasts and qualifications drawn in this verse and the next.

[5:4]  ² tn Heb “the way of the Lord.”

[5:4]  ³ tn Heb “the judgment [or ordinance] of their God.”

[5:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “they have eyes but they do not see, they have ears but they do not hear.”

[8:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “its appointed time.” The translation is contextually motivated to avoid lack of clarity.

[8:7]  ⁶ tn There is debate in the commentaries and lexicons about the identification of some of these birds, particularly regarding the identification of the “swallow” which is more likely the “swift” and the “crane” which some identify with the “thrush.” For a discussion see the Bible encyclopedias and the UBS handbook Fauna and Flora of the Bible. The identity of the individual birds makes little difference to the point being made and “swallow” is more easily identifiable to the average reader than the “swift.”

[8:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “keep.” Ironically birds, which do not think, obey the laws of nature, but Israel does not obey the laws of God.

[8:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “do not know.” But here as elsewhere the word “know” is more than an intellectual matter. It is intended here to summarize both “know” and “follow” (Heb “observe”) in the preceding lines.

[8:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “the ordinance/requirement of the Lord.”

[8:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Surely, behold!”

[8:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the scribes.”

[8:8]  ¹² tn Heb “The lying pen of the scribes have made [it] into a lie.” The translation is an attempt to make the most common interpretation of this passage understandable for the average reader. This is, however, a difficult passage whose interpretation is greatly debated and whose syntax is capable of other interpretations. The interpretation of the NJPS, “Assuredly, for naught has the pen labored, for naught the scribes,” surely deserves consideration within the context; i.e. it hasn’t done any good for the scribes to produce a reliable copy of the law, which the people have refused to follow. That interpretation has the advantage of explaining the absence of an object for the verb “make” or “labored” but creates a very unbalanced poetic couplet.

[8:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “be trapped.” However, the word “trapped” generally carries with it the connotation of divine judgment. See BDB 540 s.v. לָכַד Niph.2, and compare usage in Jer 6:11 for support. The verbs in the first two lines are again the form of the Hebrew verb that emphasizes that the action is as good as done (Hebrew prophetic perfects).

[32:6]  ¹⁴ tn Or “treat” (TEV).

[14:1]  ¹⁵ sn Psalm 14. The psalmist observes that the human race is morally corrupt. Evildoers oppress God’s people, but the psalmist is confident of God’s protection and anticipates a day when God will vindicate Israel.

[14:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a fool says in his heart.” The singular is used here in a collective or representative sense; the typical fool is envisioned.

[14:1]  ¹⁷ sn “There is no God.” The statement is probably not a philosophical assertion that God does not exist, but rather a confident affirmation that God is unconcerned about how men live morally and ethically (see Ps 10:4, 11).

[14:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “they act corruptly, they make a deed evil.” The verbs describe the typical behavior of the wicked. The subject of the plural verbs is “sons of man” (v. 2). The entire human race is characterized by sinful behavior. This practical atheism – living as if there is no God who will hold them accountable for their actions – makes them fools, for one of the earmarks of folly is to fail to anticipate the long range consequences of one’s behavior.

[14:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “there is none that does good.”

[14:2]  ²⁰ sn The picture of the Lord looking down from heaven draws attention to his sovereignty over the world.

[14:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “upon the sons of man.”

[14:2]  ²² tn Or “acts wisely.” The Hiphil is exhibitive.

[14:2]  ²³ sn Anyone who is wise and seeks God refers to the person who seeks to have a relationship with God by obeying and worshiping him.

[14:3]  ²⁴ tn Heb “everyone turns aside.”

[14:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “together they are corrupt.”

[14:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “there is none that does good.”

[14:4]  ²⁷ tn Heb “all the workers of wickedness.” See Pss 5:5; 6:8.

[14:4]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Do they not understand?” The rhetorical question (rendered in the translation as a positive affirmation) expresses the psalmist’s amazement at their apparent lack of understanding. This may refer to their lack of moral understanding, but it more likely refers to their failure to anticipate God’s defense of his people (see vv. 5-7).

[1:3]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and the donkey the feeding trough of its owner.” The verb in the first line does double duty in the parallelism.

[1:3]  ³⁰ tn Although both verbs have no object, the parallelism suggests that Israel fails to recognize the Lord as the one who provides for their needs. In both clauses, the placement of “Israel” and “my people” at the head of the clause focuses the reader’s attention on the rebellious nation (C. van der Merwe, J. Naudé, J. Kroeze, A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar, 346-47).

[6:10]  ³¹ sn Do we take this commission at face value? Does the Lord really want to prevent his people from understanding, repenting, and being healed? Verse 9, which ostensibly records the content of Isaiah’s message, is clearly ironic. As far as we know, Isaiah did not literally proclaim these exact words. The Hebrew imperatival forms are employed rhetorically and anticipate the response Isaiah will receive. When all is said and done, Isaiah might as well preface and conclude every message with these ironic words, which, though imperatival in form, might be paraphrased as follows: “You continually hear, but don’t understand; you continually see, but don’t perceive.” Isaiah might as well command them to be spiritually insensitive, because, as the preceding and following chapters make clear, the people are bent on that anyway. (This ironic command is comparable to saying to a particularly recalcitrant individual, “Go ahead, be stubborn!”) Verse 10b is also clearly sarcastic. On the surface it seems to indicate Isaiah’s hardening ministry will prevent genuine repentance. But, as the surrounding chapters clearly reveal, the people were hardly ready or willing to repent. Therefore, Isaiah’s preaching was not needed to prevent repentance! Verse 10b reflects the people’s attitude and might be paraphrased accordingly: “Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their mind, repent, and be restored, and they certainly wouldn’t want that, would they?” Of course, this sarcastic statement may also reveal that the Lord himself is now bent on judgment, not reconciliation. Just as Pharaoh’s rejection of Yahweh’s ultimatum ignited judgment and foreclosed, at least temporarily, any opportunity for repentance, so the Lord may have come to the point where he has decreed to bring judgment before opening the door for repentance once more. The sarcastic statement in verse 10b would be an emphatic way of making this clear. (Perhaps we could expand our paraphrase: “Otherwise they might…repent, and be restored, and they certainly wouldn’t want that, would they? Besides, it’s too late for that!”) Within this sarcastic framework, verse 10a must also be seen as ironic. As in verse 9 the imperatival forms should be taken as rhetorical and as anticipating the people’s response. One might paraphrase: “Your preaching will desensitize the minds of these people, make their hearing dull, and blind their eyes.” From the outset the Lord might as well command Isaiah to harden the people, because his preaching will end up having that effect. Despite the use of irony, we should still view this as a genuine, albeit indirect, act of divine hardening. After all, God did not have to send Isaiah. By sending him, he drives the sinful people further from him, for Isaiah’s preaching, which focuses on the Lord’s covenantal demands and impending judgment upon covenantal rebellion, forces the people to confront their sin and then continues to desensitize them as they respond negatively to the message. As in the case of Pharaoh, Yahweh’s hardening is not arbitrarily imposed on a righteous or even morally neutral object. Rather his hardening is an element of his righteous judgment on recalcitrant sinners. Ironically, Israel’s rejection of prophetic preaching in turn expedites disciplinary punishment, and brings the battered people to a point where they might be ready for reconciliation. The prophesied judgment (cf. 6:11-13) was fulfilled by 701 b.c. when the Assyrians devastated the land (a situation presupposed by Isa 1:2-20; see especially vv. 4-9). At that time the divine hardening had run its course and Isaiah is able to issue an ultimatum (1:19-20), one which Hezekiah apparently took to heart, resulting in the sparing of Jerusalem (see Isa 36-39 and cf. Jer 26:18-19 with Mic 3:12).This interpretation, which holds in balance both Israel’s moral responsibility and the Lord’s sovereign work among his people, is consistent with other pertinent texts both within and outside the Book of Isaiah. Isa 3:9 declares that the people of Judah “have brought disaster upon themselves,” but Isa 29:9-10 indicates that the Lord was involved to some degree in desensitizing the people. Zech 7:11-12 looks back to the pre-exilic era (cf. v. 7) and observes that the earlier generations stubbornly hardened their hearts, but Ps 81:11-12, recalling this same period, states that the Lord “gave them over to their stubborn hearts.”

[27:11]  ³² tn Heb “are dry” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[27:11]  ³³ tn Heb “women come [and] light it.” The city is likened to a dead tree with dried up branches that is only good for firewood.

[27:11]  ³⁴ tn Heb “for not a people of understanding [is] he.”

[29:10]  ³⁵ tn Heb “a disposition [or “spirit”] of deep sleep.” Through this mixed metaphor (sleep is likened to a liquid which one pours and in turn symbolizes spiritual dullness) the prophet emphasizes that God himself has given the people over to their spiritual insensitivity as a form of judgment.

[29:11]  ³⁶ tn Heb “vision” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[29:11]  ³⁷ tn Heb “one who knows a/the scroll.”

[29:12]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and if the scroll is handed to one who does not know a scroll.”

[29:12]  ³⁹ tn Heb “I do not know a scroll.”

[42:19]  ⁴⁰ tc The precise meaning of מְשֻׁלָּם (mÿshullam) in this context is uncertain. In later biblical Hebrew the form (which appears to be a Pual participle from the root שָׁלַם, shalam) occurs as a proper name, Meshullam. The Pual of שָׁלַם (“be complete”) is attested with the meaning “repaid, requited,” but that makes little sense here. BDB 1023 s.v. שָׁלַם relates the form to the denominative verb שָׁלַם (“be at peace”) and paraphrases “one in a covenant of peace” (J. N. Oswalt suggests “the covenanted one”; Isaiah [NICOT], 2:128, n. 59) Some emend the form to מֹשְׁלָם (moshÿlam, “their ruler”) or to מְשֻׁלָּחִי (mÿshullakhi, “my sent [or “commissioned”] one”), which fits nicely in the parallelism (note “my messenger” in the previous line). The translation above assumes an emendation to כְּמוֹ שֹׁלְמִי (kÿmo sholÿmi, “like my ally”). Isaiah uses כְּמוֹ in 30:22 and perhaps 51:5; for שֹׁלְמי (“my ally”) see Ps 7:5 HT (7:4 ET).

[42:19]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like my messenger I send? Who is blind like my commissioned one, blind like the servant of the Lord?” The point of the rhetorical questions is that no one is as blind/deaf as this servant. In this context the Lord’s “servant” is exiled Israel (cf. 41:8-9), which is spiritually blind and deaf and has failed to fulfill God’s purpose for it. This servant stands in contrast to the ideal “Israel” of the servant songs.

[42:20]  ⁴² tn The consonantal text (Kethib) has a perfect, 2nd person masculine singular; the marginal reading (Qere) has an infinitive absolute, which functions here as a finite verb.

[42:20]  ⁴³ tn Heb “but you do not guard [i.e., retain in your memory]”; NIV “but have paid no attention.”

[4:1]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “sons of Israel” (so NASB); KJV “children of Israel”; NAB, NRSV “people of Israel.”

[4:1]  ⁴⁵ tn The noun רִיב (riv, “dispute, lawsuit”) is used in two contexts: (1) nonlegal contexts: (a) “dispute” between individuals (e.g., Gen 13:7; Isa 58:1; Jer 15:10) or (b) “brawl; quarrel” between people (e.g., Exod 17:7; Deut 25:1); and (2) legal contexts: (a) “lawsuit; legal process” (e.g., Exod 23:3-6; Deut 19:17; 21:5; Ezek 44:24; Ps 35:23), (b) “lawsuit; legal case” (e.g., Deut 1:12; 17:8; Prov 18:17; 25:9), and (c) God’s “lawsuit” on behalf of a person or against his own people (Hos 4:1; 12:3; Mic 6:2; HALOT 1225-26 s.v. רִיב). The term in Hosea refers to a covenant lawsuit in which Yahweh the suzerain lodges a legal case against his disobedient vassal, accusing Israel and Judah of breach of covenant which will elicit the covenant curses.

[4:1]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “with the inhabitants of the land” (so KJV); NAB, NASB, NRSV “against the inhabitants of the land.”

[4:1]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “there is no truthfulness nor loyalty nor knowledge of God in the land.” Here “knowledge of God” refers to recognition of his authority and obedience to his will.

[4:6]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “they have destroyed” or “my people are destroyed” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[4:6]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “Because you reject knowledge”; NLT “because they don’t know me.”

[4:6]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “have forgotten”; NAB, NIV “have ignored.”

[4:6]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “forget” (so KJV, NRSV); NLT “forget to bless.”

[23:16]  ⁵² tn Grk “Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing.”

[23:18]  ⁵³ tn Grk “Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing.”

[23:23]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:23]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “you tithe mint.”

[23:23]  ⁵⁶ sn Cumin (alternately spelled cummin) was an aromatic herb native to the Mediterranean region. Its seeds were used for seasoning.

[23:23]  ⁵⁷ tc ‡ Many witnesses (B C K L W Δ 0102 33 565 892 pm) have δέ (de, “but”) after ταῦτα (tauta, “these things”), while many others lack it (א D Γ Θ Ë^1,13 579 700 1241 1424 pm). Since asyndeton was relatively rare in Koine Greek, the conjunction may be an intentional alteration, and is thus omitted from the present translation. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[23:24]  ⁵⁸ tn Grk “Blind guides who strain out a gnat yet who swallow a camel!”

[23:25]  ⁵⁹ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:26]  ⁶⁰ tc A very difficult textual problem is found here. The most important Alexandrian and Byzantine, as well as significant Western, witnesses (א B C L W 0102 0281 ˹³ 33 Ï lat co) have “and the dish” (καὶ τῆς παροψίδος, kai th" paroyido") after “cup,” while few important witnesses (D Θ Ë¹ 700 and some versional and patristic authorities) omit the phrase. On the one hand, scribes sometimes tended to eliminate redundancy; since “and the dish” is already present in v. 25, it may have been deleted in v. 26 by well-meaning scribes. On the other hand, as B. M. Metzger notes, the singular pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou, “its”) with τὸ ἐκτός (to ekto", “the outside”) in some of the same witnesses that have the longer reading (viz., B* ˹³ al) hints that their archetype lacked the words (TCGNT 50). Further, scribes would be motivated both to add the phrase from v. 25 and to change αὐτοῦ to the plural pronoun αὐτῶν (aujtwn, “their”). Although the external evidence for the shorter reading is not compelling in itself, combined with these two prongs of internal evidence, it is to be slightly preferred.

[1:22]  ⁶¹ tn The participle φάσκοντες (faskonte") is used concessively here.