30:10 They 3 say to the visionaries, “See no more visions!”
and to the seers, “Don’t relate messages to us about what is right! 4
Tell us nice things,
relate deceptive messages. 5
2:11 If a lying windbag should come and say, 10
‘I’ll promise you blessings of wine and beer,’ 11
he would be just the right preacher for these people! 12
1 tn Heb “the words of the prophets are [with] one mouth good for the king.”
2 tn Heb “let your words be like the word of each of them and speak good.”
3 tn Heb “who” (so NASB, NRSV). A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.
4 tn Heb “Do not see for us right things.”
5 tn Heb “Tell us smooth things, see deceptive things.”
6 tn Heb “weakening the hands of.” For this idiom see BDB 951 s.v. רָפָה Pi. and compare the usage in Isa 13:7; Ezek 21:7 (21:12 HT).
7 tn Heb “by saying these things.”
8 tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) has not been rendered here because it is introducing a parallel causal clause to the preceding one. To render “For” might be misunderstood as a grounds for the preceding statement. To render “And” or “Moreover” sounds a little odd here. If it must be represented, “Moreover” is perhaps the best rendering.
9 tn Or “is not looking out for these people’s best interests but is really trying to do them harm”; Heb “is not seeking the welfare [or “well-being”; Hebrew shalom] of this people but [their] harm [more literally, evil].”
10 tn Heb “if a man, coming [as] wind and falsehood, should lie”; NASB “walking after wind and falsehood”; NIV “a liar and a deceiver.”
11 tn Heb “I will foam at the mouth concerning wine and beer.”
12 tn Heb “he would be the foamer at the mouth for this people.”