2 Kings 18:29

18:29 This is what the king says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you from my hand!

Psalms 39:11

39:11 You severely discipline people for their sins;

like a moth you slowly devour their strength.

Surely all people are a mere vapor. (Selah)

Psalms 123:3-4

123:3 Show us favor, O Lord, show us favor!

For we have had our fill of humiliation, and then some.

123:4 We have had our fill

of the taunts of the self-assured,

of the contempt of the proud.

Jeremiah 30:5-7

30:5 Yes, here is what he says:

“You hear cries of panic and of terror;

there is no peace in sight.

30:6 Ask yourselves this and consider it carefully:

Have you ever seen a man give birth to a baby?

Why then do I see all these strong men

grabbing their stomachs in pain like a woman giving birth?

And why do their faces

turn so deathly pale?

30:7 Alas, what a terrible time of trouble it is! 10 

There has never been any like it.

It is a time of trouble for the descendants of Jacob,

but some of them will be rescued out of it. 11 

Hosea 5:15--6:1

5:15 Then I will return again to my lair

until they have suffered their punishment. 12 

Then they will seek me; 13 

in their distress they will earnestly seek me.

Superficial Repentance Breeds False Assurance of God’s Forgiveness

6:1 “Come on! Let’s return to the Lord!

He himself has torn us to pieces,

but he will heal us!

He has injured 14  us,

but he will bandage our wounds!


tc The MT has “his hand,” but this is due to graphic confusion of vav (ו) and yod (י). The translation reads “my hand,” along with many medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, Syriac Peshitta, Targum, and Vulgate.

tn “with punishments on account of sin you discipline a man.”

tc Heb “you cause to dissolve, like a moth, his desired [thing].” The translation assumes an emendation of חֲמוּדוֹ (khamudo, “his desirable [thing]”) to חֶמְדוֹ (khemdo, “his loveliness” [or “beauty”]), a reading that is supported by a few medieval Hebrew mss.

tn Heb “for greatly we are filled [with] humiliation.”

tn Heb “greatly our soul is full to it.”

tn The particle כִּי (ki) is functioning here as loosely causal or epexegetical of the preceding introduction. For this usage cf. BDB 473-74 s.v. כִּי 3.c. This nuance borders on that of the intensive use of כִּי. See the discussion in BDB 472 s.v. כִּי note and כִּי 1.e.

tn Heb “We have heard the sound of panic and of fear, and there is no peace.” It is generally agreed that the person of the verb presupposes that this is an unintroduced quote of the people.

tn Heb “Ask and see/consider.”

tn Heb “with their hands on their loins.” The word rendered “loins” refers to the area between the ribs and the thighs.

10 tn Heb “Alas [or Woe] for that day will be great.” For the use of the particle “Alas” to signal a time of terrible trouble, even to sound the death knell for someone, see the translator’s note on 22:13.

11 tn Heb “It is a time of trouble for Jacob but he will be saved out of it.”

12 tn The verb יֶאְשְׁמוּ (yeshÿmu, Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine plural from אָשַׁם, ’asham, “to be guilty”) means “to bear their punishment” (Ps 34:22-23; Prov 30:10; Isa 24:6; Jer 2:3; Hos 5:15; 10:2; 14:1; Zech 11:5; Ezek 6:6; BDB 79 s.v. אָשַׁם 3). Many English versions translate this as “admit their guilt” (NIV, NLT) or “acknowledge their guilt” (NASB, NRSV), but cf. NAB “pay for their guilt” and TEV “have suffered enough for their sins.”

13 tn Heb “seek my face” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “seek my presence.”

14 tn “has struck”; NRSV “struck down.”