4:9 Again, however, pay very careful attention, 1 lest you forget the things you have seen and disregard them for the rest of your life; instead teach them to your children and grandchildren.
1:3 An ox recognizes its owner,
a donkey recognizes where its owner puts its food; 4
but Israel does not recognize me, 5
my people do not understand.”
12:3 “Therefore, son of man, pack up your belongings as if for exile. During the day, while they are watching, pretend to go into exile. Go from where you live to another place. Perhaps they will understand, 6 although they are a rebellious house.
1 tn Heb “watch yourself and watch your soul carefully.”
2 tn Heb “the
3 tn Heb “commanded.”
4 tn Heb “and the donkey the feeding trough of its owner.” The verb in the first line does double duty in the parallelism.
5 tn Although both verbs have no object, the parallelism suggests that Israel fails to recognize the Lord as the one who provides for their needs. In both clauses, the placement of “Israel” and “my people” at the head of the clause focuses the reader’s attention on the rebellious nation (C. van der Merwe, J. Naudé, J. Kroeze, A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar, 346-47).
6 tn Heb “see.” This plays on the uses of “see” in v. 2. They will see his actions with their eyes and perhaps they will “see” with their mind, that is, understand or grasp the point.
7 tn Heb “he saw.”