Esther 4:16

4:16 “Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa and fast in my behalf. Don’t eat and don’t drink for three days, night or day. My female attendants and I ¹  will also fast in the same way. Afterward I will go to the king, even though it violates the law. ²  If I perish, I perish!”

Jeremiah 8:14

Jeremiah Laments over the Coming Destruction

8:14 The people say, ³ 

“Why are we just sitting here?

Let us gather together inside the fortified cities. ⁴ 

Let us at least die there fighting, ⁵ 

since the Lord our God has condemned us to die.

He has condemned us to drink the poison waters of judgment ⁶ 

because we have sinned against him. ⁷ 

Jonah 3:9

3:9 Who knows? ⁸  Perhaps God might be willing to change his mind and relent ⁹  and turn from his fierce anger ¹⁰  so that we might not die.” ¹¹ 

Luke 15:17-19

15:17 But when he came to his senses ¹²  he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have food ¹³  enough to spare, but here I am dying from hunger! 15:18 I will get up and go to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned ¹⁴  against heaven ¹⁵  and against ¹⁶  you. 15:19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me ¹⁷  like one of your hired workers.”’

¹ tn Heb “I and my female attendants.” The translation reverses the order for stylistic reasons.

² tn Heb “which is not according to the law” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “contrary to the law.”

³ tn The words “The people say” are not in the text but are implicit in the shift of speakers between vv. 4-13 and vv. 14-16. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Heb “Gather together and let us enter into the fortified cities.”

⁵ tn Heb “Let us die there.” The words “at least” and “fighting” are intended to bring out the contrast of passive surrender to death in the open country and active resistance to the death implicit in the context.

⁶ tn The words “of judgment” are not in the text but are intended to show that “poison water” is not literal but figurative of judgment at the hands of God through the agency of the enemy mentioned in v. 16.

⁷ tn Heb “against the Lord.” The switch is for the sake of smoothness in English.

⁸ sn The king expresses his uncertainty whether Jonah’s message constituted a conditional announcement or an unconditional decree. Jeremiah 18 emphasizes that God sometimes gives people an opportunity to repent when they hear an announcement of judgment. However, as Amos and Isaiah learned, if a people refused to repent over a period of time, the patience of God could be exhausted. The offer of repentance in a conditional announcement of judgment can be withdrawn and in its place an unconditional decree of judgment issued. In many cases it is difficult to determine on the front end whether or not a prophetic message of coming judgment is conditional or unconditional, thus explaining the king’s uncertainty.

⁹ tn “he might turn and relent.” The two verbs יָשׁוּב וְנִחַם (yashub vÿnikham) may function independently (“turn and repent”) or form a verbal hendiadys (“be willing to turn”; see IBHS 540 §32.3b). The imperfect יָשׁוּב and the perfect with prefixed vav וְנִחַם form a future-time narrative sequence. Both verbs function in a modal sense, denoting possibility, as the introductory interrogative suggests (“Who knows…?”). When used in reference to past actions, שׁוּב (shub) can mean “to be sorry” or “to regret” that someone did something in the past, and when used in reference to future planned actions, it can mean “to change one’s mind” about doing something or “to relent” from sending judgment (BDB 997 s.v. שׁוּב 6). The verb נִחַם (nikham) can mean “to be sorry” about past actions (e.g., Gen 6:6, 7; 1 Sam 15:11, 35) and “to change one’s mind” about future actions (BDB 637 s.v. נחם 2). These two verbs are used together elsewhere in passages that consider the question of whether or not God will change his mind and relent from judgment he has threatened (e.g., Jer 4:28). The verbal root שׁוּב is used four times in vv. 8-10, twice of the Ninevites “repenting” from their moral evil and twice of God “relenting” from his threatened calamity. This repetition creates a wordplay that emphasizes the appropriateness of God’s response: if the people repent, God might relent.

¹⁰ tn Heb “from the burning of his nose/face.” See Exod 4:14; 22:24; 32:12; Num 25:4; 32:14; Deut 9:19.

¹¹ tn The imperfect verb נֹאבֵד (no’ved, “we might not die”) functions in a modal sense, denoting possibility. The king’s hope parallels that of the ship’s captain in 1:6. See also Exod 32:7-14; 2 Sam 12:14-22; 1 Kgs 8:33-43; 21:17-29; Jer 18:6-8; Joel 2:11-15.

¹² tn Grk “came to himself” (an idiom).

¹³ tn Grk “bread,” but used figuratively for food of any kind (L&N 5.1).

¹⁴ sn In the confession “I have sinned” there is a recognition of wrong that pictures the penitent coming home and “being found.”

¹⁵ sn The phrase against heaven is a circumlocution for God.

¹⁶ tn According to BDAG 342 s.v. ἐνωπιον 4.a, “in relation to ἁμαρτάνειν ἐ. τινος sin against someone Lk 15:18, 21 (cf. Jdth 5:17; 1 Km 7:6; 20:1).”

¹⁷ tn Or “make me.” Here is a sign of total humility.