12:19 The one who tells the truth 5 will endure forever,
but the one who lies 6 will last only for a moment. 7
44:25 who frustrates the omens of the empty talkers 8
and humiliates 9 the omen readers,
who overturns the counsel of the wise men 10
and makes their advice 11 seem foolish,
13:17 “As for you, son of man, turn toward 15 the daughters of your people who are prophesying from their imagination. 16 Prophesy against them
1 tn Heb “Should I go against Ramoth Gilead for war or should I refrain?”
2 tn Though Jehoshaphat requested an oracle from “the
3 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the
4 tn The Hebrew text has two imperfects connected by וְגַם (vÿgam). These verbs could be translated as specific futures, “you will deceive and also you will prevail,” in which case the
5 tn Heb “a lip of truth.” The genitive אֱמֶת (’emet, “truth”) functions as an attributive adjective: “truthful lip.” The term שְׂפַת (sÿfat, “lip”) functions as a synecdoche of part (= lip) for the whole (= person): “truthful person.” The contrast is between “the lip of truth” and the “tongue of lying.”
6 tn Heb “a tongue of deceit.” The genitive שָׁקֶר (shaqer, “deceit”) functions as an attributive genitive. The noun לָשׁוֹן (lashon, “tongue”) functions as a synecdoche of part (= tongue) for the whole (= person): “lying person.”
7 tn Heb “while I would twinkle.” This expression is an idiom meaning “only for a moment.” The twinkling of the eye, the slightest movement, signals the brevity of the life of a lie (hyperbole). But truth will be established (תִּכּוֹן, tikon), that is, be made firm and endure.
8 tc The Hebrew text has בַּדִּים (baddim), perhaps meaning “empty talkers” (BDB 95 s.v. III בַּד). In the four other occurrences of this word (Job 11:3; Isa 16:6; Jer 48:30; 50:36) the context does not make the meaning of the term very clear. Its primary point appears to be that the words spoken are meaningless or false. In light of its parallelism with “omen readers,” some have proposed an emendation to בָּרִים (barim, “seers”). The Mesopotamian baru-priests were divination specialists who played an important role in court life. See R. Wilson, Prophecy and Society in Ancient Israel, 93-98. Rather than supporting an emendation, J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:189, n. 79) suggests that Isaiah used בַּדִּים purposively as a derisive wordplay on the Akkadian word baru (in light of the close similarity of the d and r consonants).
9 tn Or “makes fools of” (NIV, NRSV); NAB and NASB both similar.
10 tn Heb “who turns back the wise” (so NRSV); NIV “overthrows the learning of the wise”; TEV “The words of the wise I refute.”
11 tn Heb “their knowledge” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).
12 sn The same description of a false prophet is found in Micah 2:11.
13 sn The
14 tn Or “confirmed”; NIV “to be fulfilled”; TEV “to come true.”
15 tn Heb “set your face against.”
16 tn Heb “from their heart.”
17 tn Heb “human lives” or “souls.”
18 tn Heb “from their mind.”
19 tn The word “only,” though not in the Greek text, is supplied in the English translation to bring out the force of the Greek phrase.
20 tn Grk “but the body of Christ.” The term body here, when used in contrast to shadow (σκιά, skia) indicates the opposite meaning, i.e., the reality or substance itself.
21 tn The genitive τοῦ Χριστοῦ (tou Cristou) is appositional and translated as such: “the reality is Christ.”