56:10 All their watchmen 1 are blind,
they are unaware. 2
All of them are like mute dogs,
unable to bark.
They pant, 3 lie down,
and love to snooze.
23:16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple is bound by nothing. 4 But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound by the oath.’ 23:17 Blind fools! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred?
23:1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples,
“The voice 7 of one shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make 8 his paths straight.’” 9
3:7 But when he saw many Pharisees 10 and Sadducees 11 coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
1:10 For there are many 14 rebellious people, idle talkers, and deceivers, especially those with Jewish connections, 15
1 sn The “watchmen” are probably spiritual leaders, most likely prophets and priests, responsible for giving the people moral direction.
2 tn Heb “they do not know”; KJV “they are all ignorant”; NIV “they all lack knowledge.”
3 tn The Hebrew text has הֹזִים (hozim), which appears to be derived from an otherwise unattested verbal root הָזָה (hazah). On the basis of alleged cognates, BDB 223 s.v. הָזָה offers the definition “dream, rave” while HALOT 243 s.v. הזה lists “pant.” In this case the dog metaphor of the preceding lines continues. The reference to dogs at the beginning of v. 11 favors the extension of the metaphor. The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has חזים (“seers”) here. In this case the “watchmen” are directly identified as prophets and depicted as lazy.
4 tn Grk “Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing.”
5 tn Grk “and saying, ‘Repent.’” The participle λέγων (legwn) at the beginning of v. 2 is redundant in English and has not been translated.
6 tn Grk “was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying.” The participle λέγοντος (legonto") is redundant and has not been translated. The passive construction has also been rendered as active in the translation for the sake of English style.
7 tn Or “A voice.”
8 sn This call to “make paths straight” in this context is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance.
9 sn A quotation from Isa 40:3.
10 sn Pharisees were members of one of the most important and influential religious and political parties of Judaism in the time of Jesus. There were more Pharisees than Sadducees (according to Josephus, Ant. 17.2.4 [17.42] there were more than 6,000 Pharisees at about this time). Pharisees differed with Sadducees on certain doctrines and patterns of behavior. The Pharisees were strict and zealous adherents to the laws of the OT and to numerous additional traditions such as angels and bodily resurrection.
11 sn The Sadducees controlled the official political structures of Judaism at this time, being the majority members of the Sanhedrin. They were known as extremely strict on law and order issues (Josephus, J. W. 2.8.2 [2.119], 2.8.14 [2.164-166]; Ant. 13.5.9 [13.171-173], 13.10.6 [13.293-298], 18.1.2 [18.11], 18.1.4 [18.16-17], 20.9.1 [20.199]; Life 2 [10-11]). See also Matt 16:1-12; 22:23-34; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-38; Acts 5:17; 23:6-8.
12 sn The overseer is another term for the same official position of leadership as the “elder.” This is seen in the interchange of the two terms in this passage and in Acts 20:17, 28, as well as in the parallels between these verses and 1 Tim 3:1-7.
13 tn Grk “as God’s steward.”
14 tc ‡ The earliest and best
15 tn Grk “those of the circumcision.” Some translations take this to refer to Jewish converts to Christianity (cf. NAB “Jewish Christians”; TEV “converts from Judaism”; CEV “Jewish followers”) while others are less clear (cf. NLT “those who insist on circumcision for salvation”).