2 Samuel 14:2

14:2 So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He told her, “Pretend to be in mourning ¹  and put on garments for mourning. Don’t anoint yourself with oil. Instead, act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for some time. ² 

2 Samuel 14:19-20

14:19 The king said, “Did Joab put you up to all of this?” ³  The woman answered, “As surely as you live, my lord the king, there is no deviation to the right or to the left from all that my lord the king has said. For your servant Joab gave me instructions. He has put all these words in your servant’s mouth. 14:20 Your servant Joab did this so as to change this situation. But my lord has wisdom like that of the angel of God, and knows everything that is happening in the land.” ⁴ 

Genesis 3:1

The Temptation and the Fall

3:1 Now ⁵  the serpent ⁶  was more shrewd ⁷ 

than any of the wild animals ⁸  that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that ⁹  God ¹⁰  said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 4:22

4:22 The Lord answered, ¹² 

“This will happen ¹³  because my people are foolish.

They do not know me.

They are like children who have no sense. ¹⁴ 

They have no understanding.

They are skilled at doing evil.

They do not know how to do good.”

Jeremiah 4:1

4:1 “If you, Israel, want to come back,” says the Lord,

“if you want to come back to me ¹⁵ 

you must get those disgusting idols ¹⁶  out of my sight

and must no longer go astray. ¹⁷ 

Colossians 3:19

3:19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them.

James 3:15

3:15 Such ¹⁸  wisdom does not come ¹⁹  from above but is earthly, natural, ²⁰  demonic.

¹ tn The Hebrew Hitpael verbal form here indicates pretended rather than genuine action.

² tn Heb “these many days.”

³ tn Heb “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?”

⁴ tn Heb “to know all that is in the land.”

⁵ tn The chapter begins with a disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + predicate) that introduces a new character and a new scene in the story.

⁶ sn Many theologians identify or associate the serpent with Satan. In this view Satan comes in the disguise of a serpent or speaks through a serpent. This explains the serpent’s capacity to speak. While later passages in the Bible may indicate there was a satanic presence behind the serpent (see, for example, Rev 12:9), the immediate context pictures the serpent as simply one of the animals of the field created by God (see vv. 1, 14). An ancient Jewish interpretation explains the reference to the serpent in a literal manner, attributing the capacity to speak to all the animals in the orchard. This text (Jub. 3:28) states, “On that day [the day the man and woman were expelled from the orchard] the mouth of all the beasts and cattle and birds and whatever walked or moved was stopped from speaking because all of them used to speak to one another with one speech and one language [presumed to be Hebrew, see 12:26].” Josephus, Ant. 1.1.4 (1.41) attributes the serpent’s actions to jealousy. He writes that “the serpent, living in the company of Adam and his wife, grew jealous of the blessings which he supposed were destined for them if they obeyed God’s behests, and, believing that disobedience would bring trouble on them, he maliciously persuaded the woman to taste of the tree of wisdom.”

⁷ tn The Hebrew word עָרוּם (’arum) basically means “clever.” This idea then polarizes into the nuances “cunning” (in a negative sense, see Job 5:12; 15:5), and “prudent” in a positive sense (Prov 12:16, 23; 13:16; 14:8, 15, 18; 22:3; 27:12). This same polarization of meaning can be detected in related words derived from the same root (see Exod 21:14; Josh 9:4; 1 Sam 23:22; Job 5:13; Ps 83:3). The negative nuance obviously applies in Gen 3, where the snake attempts to talk the woman into disobeying God by using half-truths and lies.

⁸ tn Heb “animals of the field.”

⁹ tn Heb “Indeed that God said.” The beginning of the quotation is elliptical and therefore difficult to translate. One must supply a phrase like “is it true”: “Indeed, [is it true] that God said.”

¹⁰ sn God. The serpent does not use the expression “Yahweh God” [Lord God] because there is no covenant relationship involved between God and the serpent. He only speaks of “God.” In the process the serpent draws the woman into his manner of speech so that she too only speaks of “God.”

¹¹ tn Heb “you must not eat from all the tree[s] of the orchard.” After the negated prohibitive verb, מִכֹּל (mikkol, “from all”) has the meaning “from any.” Note the construction in Lev 18:26, where the statement “you must not do from all these abominable things” means “you must not do any of these abominable things.” See Lev 22:25 and Deut 28:14 as well.

¹² tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to show clearly the shift in speaker. Jeremiah has been speaking; now the Lord answers, giving the reason for the devastation Jeremiah foresees.

¹³ tn Heb “For….” This gives the explanation for the destruction envisaged in 4:20 to which Jeremiah responds in 4:19, 21.

¹⁴ tn Heb “They are senseless children.”

¹⁵ tn Or “If you, Israel, want to turn [away from your shameful ways (those described in 3:23-25)]…then you must turn back to me.” Or perhaps, “Israel, you must turn back…Yes, you must turn back to me.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “disgusting things.”

¹⁷ tn Or possibly, “If you get those disgusting idols out of my sight, you will not need to flee.” This is less probable because the normal meaning of the last verb is “to wander,” “ to stray.”

¹⁸ tn Grk “This.”

¹⁹ tn Grk “come down”; “descend.”

²⁰ tn Grk “soulish,” which describes life apart from God, characteristic of earthly human life as opposed to what is spiritual. Cf. 1 Cor 2:14; 15:44-46; Jude 19.