6:16 The Lord said to his people: 7
“You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path. 8
Ask where the old, reliable paths 9 are.
Ask where the path is that leads to blessing 10 and follow it.
If you do, you will find rest for your souls.”
But they said, “We will not follow it!”
4:4 Do not let anyone accuse or contend against anyone else: 12
for my case is against you priests! 13
4:5 You stumble day and night,
and the false prophets stumble with you;
You have destroyed your own people! 14
4:6 You have destroyed 15 my people
by failing to acknowledge me!
Because you refuse to acknowledge me, 16
I will reject you as my priests.
Because you reject 17 the law of your God,
I will reject 18 your descendants.
4:7 The more the priests increased in numbers,
the more they rebelled against me.
They have turned 19 their glorious calling
into a shameful disgrace!
4:8 They feed on the sin offerings of my people;
their appetites long for their iniquity!
4:9 I will deal with the people and priests together: 20
I will punish them both for their ways,
and I will repay them for their deeds.
4:10 They will eat, but not be satisfied;
they will engage in prostitution, but not increase in numbers;
because they have abandoned the Lord
by pursuing other gods. 21
4:11 Old and new wine
take away the understanding of my people. 22
14:13 Then 23 I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this:
‘Blessed are the dead,
those who die in the Lord from this moment on!’”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “so they can rest from their hard work, 24 because their deeds will follow them.” 25
1 tn Heb “on/in the seventh day.”
2 tn Heb “his work which he did [or “made”].”
3 tn The Hebrew term שָׁבַּת (shabbat) can be translated “to rest” (“and he rested”) but it basically means “to cease.” This is not a rest from exhaustion; it is the cessation of the work of creation.
4 tn The verb is usually translated “and sanctified it.” The Piel verb קִדֵּשׁ (qiddesh) means “to make something holy; to set something apart; to distinguish it.” On the literal level the phrase means essentially that God made this day different. But within the context of the Law, it means that the day belonged to God; it was for rest from ordinary labor, worship, and spiritual service. The day belonged to God.
5 tn Heb “God.” The pronoun (“he”) has been employed in the translation for stylistic reasons.
6 tn Heb “for on it he ceased from all his work which God created to make.” The last infinitive construct and the verb before it form a verbal hendiadys, the infinitive becoming the modifier – “which God creatively made,” or “which God made in his creating.”
7 tn The words, “to his people” are not in the text but are implicit in the interchange of pronouns in the Hebrew of vv. 16-17. They are supplied in the translation here for clarity.
8 tn Heb “Stand at the crossroads and look.”
9 tn Heb “the ancient path,” i.e., the path the
10 tn Heb “the way of/to the good.”
11 sn A yoke is a wooden bar or frame that joins two animals like oxen or horses so that they can pull a wagon, plow, etc. together. Here it is used figuratively of the restrictions that a teacher or rabbi would place on his followers.
12 tn Or “Let no one contend or accuse.”
13 tc The MT reads וְעַמְּךָ כִּמְרִיבֵי כֹהֵן (vÿ’ammÿkha kimrive khohen): “And your people [are] like those who contend against the priest.” This is reflected in the LXX and the versions; however, it is syntactically awkward and makes little sense in context. Several textual critics suggest emending the text to read וְעִמְּךָ רִיבִי כֹהֵן (vÿ’immÿkha rivi khohen): “My contention is with/against you, O priest!” This involves (1) the revocalization of עַמְּךָ (“your people”) to עִמְּךָ (“with/against you”) and (2) positing dittography (a letter written twice instead of once) of כְּ (kaf) between original וְעַמְּךָ רִיבִי to create וְעַמְּךָ כִּרִיבִי (MT). The BHS editors suggest that the MT is corrupt and should be emended. However, the editors of the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project retain the MT reading with a “B” rating. Likewise, the English translations are split: (1) KJV “for thy people are as they that strive with the priest”; NASB “for your people are like those who contend with the priest”; NIV “for your people are like those who bring charges against a priest”; (2) RSV “for with you is my contention, O priest”; NJPS “for this your people has a grievance against [you], O priest!”; TEV “my complaint is against you priests”; CEV “My case is against you, the priests!”
14 tc The MT reads וְדָמִיתִי אִמֶּךָ (vÿdamiti ’immekha, “and I will destroy your mother”), and is followed by most English versions; however, the text should probably be emended to וְדָמִית עַמֶּךָ (vÿdamit ’ammekha, “and you have destroyed your own people”). The 2nd person masculine singular form וְדָמִית (vÿdamit, “and you have destroyed”) is preserved in several medieval Hebrew
15 tn Heb “they have destroyed” or “my people are destroyed” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).
16 tn Heb “Because you reject knowledge”; NLT “because they don’t know me.”
17 tn Heb “have forgotten”; NAB, NIV “have ignored.”
18 tn Heb “forget” (so KJV, NRSV); NLT “forget to bless.”
19 tc The MT reads אָמִיר (’amir, “I will change, exchange”; Hiphil imperfect 1st person common singular from מוּר, mur, “to change, exchange”). However, an alternate scribal tradition (tiqquneh sopherim, that is, an intentional scribal change when the Masoretes believed that the received consonantal reading was corrupt) preserves the reading הֵמִירוּ (hemiru, “they have exchanged”; Hiphil perfect 3rd person common plural from מוּר). This alternate scribal tradition is also found in the Targum and reflected in the Syriac Peshitta. Several translations follow the MT: KJV, RSV, NASB “I will change their glory into shame” and TEV “I will turn your honor into disgrace”; however, others adopt the alternate tradition: NRSV “they changed their glory into shame” and NIV “they exchanged their Glory for something disgraceful.” For discussion in favor of the MT reading, see D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:232.
20 tn Heb “And it shall be, like people, like priest” (so ASV); NAB “The priests shall fare no better than the people.”
21 tn Heb “by guarding harlotry.” The present translation assumes that the first word of v. 11 in the Hebrew text is to be taken with the infinitive at the end of v. 10 (so also NAB, NIV, NCV, NRSV).
22 tn Heb “take away the heart of my people.” The present translation assumes that the first word of v. 12 in the Hebrew text is to be construed with the noun at the end of v. 11 (so also TEV, CEV, NLT).
23 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.
24 tn Or “from their trouble” (L&N 22.7).
25 tn Grk “their deeds will follow with them.”