7:14 See the one who is pregnant with wickedness,
who conceives destructive plans,
and gives birth to harmful lies – 3
4:16 For they cannot sleep unless they cause harm; 4
they are robbed of sleep 5 until they make someone stumble. 6
5:18 Those who pull evil along using cords of emptiness are as good as dead, 7
who pull sin as with cart ropes. 8
41:6 They help one another; 9
one says to the other, ‘Be strong!’
41:7 The craftsman encourages the metalsmith,
the one who wields the hammer encourages 10 the one who pounds on the anvil.
He approves the quality of the welding, 11
and nails it down so it won’t fall over.”
44:12 A blacksmith works with his tool 12
and forges metal over the coals.
He forms it 13 with hammers;
he makes it with his strong arm.
He gets hungry and loses his energy; 14
he drinks no water and gets tired.
44:13 A carpenter takes measurements; 15
he marks out an outline of its form; 16
he scrapes 17 it with chisels,
and marks it with a compass.
He patterns it after the human form, 18
like a well-built human being,
and puts it in a shrine. 19
44:14 He cuts down cedars
and acquires a cypress 20 or an oak.
He gets 21 trees from the forest;
he plants a cedar 22 and the rain makes it grow.
57:10 Because of the long distance you must travel, you get tired, 23
but you do not say, ‘I give up.’ 24
You get renewed energy, 25
so you don’t collapse. 26
24:12 It has tried my patience; 27
yet its thick rot is not removed 28 from it.
Subject its rot to the fire! 29
6:3 “My people, how have I wronged you? 30
How have I wearied you? Answer me!
2:13 Be sure of this! The Lord who commands armies has decreed:
The nations’ efforts will go up in smoke;
their exhausting work will be for nothing. 31
1 tn Heb “from the least to the greatest.”
2 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the men of Sodom outside the door) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Heb “and he conceives harm and gives birth to a lie.”
4 sn The verb is רָעַע (ra’a’), which means “to do evil; to harm.” The verse is using the figure of hyperbole to stress the preoccupation of some people with causing trouble. R. L. Alden says, “How sick to find peace only at the price of another man’s misfortune” (Proverbs, 47).
5 sn Heb “their sleep is robbed/seized”; these expressions are metonymical for their restlessness in plotting evil.
6 sn The Hiphil imperfect (Kethib) means “cause to stumble.” This idiom (from hypocatastasis) means “bring injury/ruin to someone” (BDB 505-6 s.v. כָּשַׁל Hiph.1).
7 sn See the note at v. 8.
8 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “Woe to those who pull evil with the ropes of emptiness, and, as [with] ropes of a cart, sin.” Though several textual details are unclear, the basic idea is apparent. The sinners are so attached to their sinful ways (compared here to a heavy load) that they strain to drag them along behind them. If שָׁוְא (shavÿ’, “emptiness”) is retained, it makes a further comment on their lifestyle, denouncing it as one that is devoid of what is right and destined to lead to nothing but destruction. Because “emptiness” does not form a very tight parallel with “cart” in the next line, some emend שָׁוְא to שֶׂה (she, “sheep”) and עֲגָלָה (’agalah, “cart”) to עֵגֶל (’egel, “calf”): “Those who pull evil along with a sheep halter are as good as dead who pull sin with a calf rope” (following the lead of the LXX and improving the internal parallelism of the verse). In this case, the verse pictures the sinners pulling sin along behind them as one pulls an animal with a halter. For a discussion of this view, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:163, n. 1. Nevertheless, this emendation is unnecessary. The above translation emphasizes the folly of the Israelites who hold on to their sin (and its punishment) even while they hope for divine intervention.
9 tn Heb “each his neighbor helps”; NCV “The workers help each other.”
10 tn The verb “encourages” is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
11 tn Heb “saying of the welding, ‘It is good.’”
12 tn The noun מַעֲצָד (ma’atsad), which refers to some type of tool used for cutting, occurs only here and in Jer 10:3. See HALOT 615 s.v. מַעֲצָד.
13 tn Some English versions take the pronoun “it” to refer to an idol being fashioned by the blacksmith (cf. NIV, NCV, CEV). NLT understands the referent to be “a sharp tool,” which is then used by the carpenter in the following verse to carve an idol from wood.
14 tn Heb “and there is no strength”; NASB “his strength fails.”
15 tn Heb “stretches out a line” (ASV similar); NIV “measures with a line.”
16 tn Heb “he makes an outline with the [?].” The noun שֶׂרֶד (shered) occurs only here; it apparently refers to some type of tool or marker. Cf. KJV “with a line”; ASV “with a pencil”; NAB, NRSV “with a stylus”; NASB “with red chalk”; NIV “with a marker.”
17 tn Heb “works” (so NASB) or “fashions” (so NRSV); NIV “he roughs it out.”
18 tn Heb “he makes it like the pattern of a man”; NAB “like a man in appearance.”
19 tn Heb “like the glory of man to sit [in] a house”; NIV “that it may dwell in a shrine.”
20 tn It is not certain what type of tree this otherwise unattested noun refers to. Cf. ASV “a holm-tree” (NRSV similar).
21 tn Heb “strengthens for himself,” i.e., “secures for himself” (see BDB 55 s.v. אָמֵץ Pi.2).
22 tn Some prefer to emend אֹרֶן (’oren) to אֶרֶז (’erez, “cedar”), but the otherwise unattested noun appears to have an Akkadian cognate, meaning “cedar.” See H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 44-45. HALOT 90 s.v. I אֹרֶן offers the meaning “laurel.”
23 tn Heb “by the greatness [i.e., “length,” see BDB 914 s.v. רֹב 2] of your way you get tired.”
24 tn Heb “it is hopeless” (so NAB, NASB, NIV); NRSV “It is useless.”
25 tn Heb “the life of your hand you find.” The term חַיָּה (khayyah, “life”) is here used in the sense of “renewal” (see BDB 312 s.v.) while יָד (yad) is used of “strength.”
26 tn Heb “you do not grow weak.”
27 tn Heb “(with) toil she has wearied.” The meaning of the statement is unclear in the Hebrew text; some follow the LXX and delete it. The first word in the statement (rendered “toil” in the literal translation above) occurs only here in the OT, and the verb “she has wearied” lacks a stated object. Elsewhere the Hiphil of the verb refers to wearying someone or trying someone’s patience. The feminine subject is apparently the symbolic pot.
28 tn Heb “does not go out.”
29 tn Heb “in fire its rust.” The meaning of the expression is unclear. The translation understands the statement as a command to burn the rust away. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:768.
30 tn Heb “My people, what have I done to you?”
31 tn Heb “Is it not, look, from the