1 Kings 21:27-29

21:27 When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted. He slept in sackcloth and walked around dejected. 21:28 The Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, ¹  21:29 “Have you noticed how Ahab shows remorse ²  before me? Because he shows remorse before me, I will not bring disaster on his dynasty during his lifetime, but during the reign of his son.” ³ 

Proverbs 5:12-14

5:12 And you will say, “How I hated discipline!

My heart spurned reproof!

5:13 For ⁴  I did not obey my teachers ⁵ 

and I did not heed ⁶  my instructors. ⁷ 

5:14 I almost ⁸  came to complete ruin ⁹ 

in the midst of the whole congregation!” ¹⁰ 

Micah 2:7

2:7 Does the family ¹¹  of Jacob say, ¹² 

‘The Lord’s patience ¹³  can’t be exhausted –

he would never do such things’? ¹⁴ 

To be sure, my commands bring a reward

for those who obey them, ¹⁵ 

¹ tn Heb “the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite.”

² tn Or “humbles himself.” The expression occurs a second time later in this verse.

³ tn Heb “I will not bring the disaster during his days, [but] in the days of his son I will bring the disaster on his house.”

⁴ tn The vav that introduces this clause functions in an explanatory sense.

⁵ tn The Hebrew term מוֹרַי (moray) is the nominal form based on the Hiphil plural participle with a suffix, from the root יָרָה (yarah). The verb is “to teach,” the common noun is “instruction, law [torah],” and this participle form is teacher (“my teachers”).

⁶ sn The idioms are vivid: This expression is “incline the ear”; earlier in the first line is “listen to the voice,” meaning “obey.” Such detailed description emphasizes the importance of the material.

⁷ tn The form is the Piel plural participle of לָמַד (lamad) used substantivally.

⁸ tn The expression כִּמְעַט (kim’at) is “like a little.” It means “almost,” and is used of unrealized action (BDB 590 s.v. 2). Cf. NCV “I came close to”; NLT “I have come to the brink of.”

⁹ tn Heb “I was in all evil” (cf. KJV, ASV).

¹⁰ tn The text uses the two words “congregation and assembly” to form a hendiadys, meaning the entire assembly.

¹¹ tn Heb “house” (so many English versions); CEV “descendants.’

¹² tc The MT has אָמוּר (’amur), an otherwise unattested passive participle, which is better emended to אָמוֹר (’amor), an infinitive absolute functioning as a finite verb (see BDB 55 s.v. אָמַר).

¹³ tn The Hebrew word רוּחַ (ruach) often means “Spirit” when used of the Lord, but here it seems to have an abstract sense, “patience.” See BDB 925 s.v. 3.d.

¹⁴ tn Heb “Has the patience of the Lord run short? Or are these his deeds?” The rhetorical questions expect the answer, “No, of course not.” The people contest the prophet’s claims that the Lord’s judgment is falling on the nation.

¹⁵ tn Heb “Do not my words accomplish good for the one who walks uprightly?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course they do!” The Lord begins his response to the claim of the house of Jacob that they are immune to judgment (see v. 7a). He points out that the godly are indeed rewarded, but then he goes on to show that those in the house of Jacob are not godly and can expect divine judgment, not blessing (vv. 8-11). Some emend “my words” to “his words.” In this case, v. 7b is a continuation of the immediately preceding quotation. The people, thinking they are godly, confidently ask, “Do not his [God’s] words accomplish good for the one who walks uprightly?”