Isaiah 59:13-15

59:13 We have rebelled and tried to deceive the Lord;

we turned back from following our God.

We stir up ¹  oppression and rebellion;

we tell lies we concocted in our minds. ² 

59:14 Justice is driven back;

godliness ³  stands far off.

Indeed, ⁴  honesty stumbles in the city square

and morality is not even able to enter.

59:15 Honesty has disappeared;

the one who tries to avoid evil is robbed.

The Lord watches and is displeased, ⁵ 

for there is no justice.

Jeremiah 6:13

6:13 “That is because, from the least important to the most important of them,

all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.

Prophets and priests alike,

all of them practice deceit.

Jeremiah 7:3-6

7:3 The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ⁶  says: Change the way you have been living and do what is right. ⁷  If you do, I will allow you to continue to live in this land. ⁸  7:4 Stop putting your confidence in the false belief that says, ⁹  “We are safe! ¹⁰  The temple of the Lord is here! The temple of the Lord is here! The temple of the Lord is here!” ¹¹  7:5 You must change ¹²  the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly. ¹³  7:6 Stop oppressing foreigners who live in your land, children who have lost their fathers, and women who have lost their husbands. ¹⁴  Stop killing innocent people ¹⁵  in this land. Stop paying allegiance to ¹⁶  other gods. That will only bring about your ruin. ¹⁷ 

Micah 7:2-5

7:2 Faithful men have disappeared ¹⁸  from the land;

there are no godly men left. ¹⁹ 

They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood; ²⁰ 

they hunt their own brother with a net. ²¹ 

7:3 They are determined to be experts at doing evil; ²² 

government officials and judges take bribes, ²³ 

prominent men make demands,

and they all do what is necessary to satisfy them. ²⁴ 

7:4 The best of them is like a thorn;

the most godly among them are more dangerous than a row of thorn bushes. ²⁵ 

The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen –

your appointed time of punishment – is on the way, ²⁶ 

and then you will experience confusion. ²⁷ 

7:5 Do not rely on a friend;

do not trust a companion!

Don’t even share secrets with the one who lies in your arms! ²⁸ 

¹ tn Heb “speaking.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

² tn Heb “conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.”

³ tn Or “righteousness” (ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); KJV, NAB “justice.”

⁴ tn Or “for” (KJV, NRSV).

⁵ tn Heb “and it is displeasing in his eyes.”

⁶ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God Israel.”

⁷ tn Or “Make good your ways and your actions.” J. Bright’s translation (“Reform the whole pattern of your conduct”; Jeremiah [AB], 52) is excellent.

⁸ tn Heb “place” but this might be misunderstood to refer to the temple.

⁹ tn Heb “Stop trusting in lying words which say.”

¹⁰ tn The words “We are safe!” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ tn Heb “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these (i.e., these buildings).” Elsewhere triple repetition seems to mark a kind of emphasis (cf. Isa 6:3; Jer 22:29; Ezek 21:27 [32 HT]). The triple repetition that follows seems to be Jeremiah’s way of mocking the (false) sense of security that people had in the invincibility of Jerusalem because God dwelt in the temple. They appeared to be treating the temple as some kind of magical charm. A similar feeling had grown up around the ark in the time of the judges (cf. 1 Sam 3:3) and the temple and city of Jerusalem in Micah’s day (cf. Mic 3:11). It is reflected also in some of the Psalms (cf., e.g., Ps 46, especially v. 5).

¹² tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

¹³ tn Heb “you must do justice between a person and his fellow/neighbor.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

¹⁴ tn Heb “Stop oppressing foreigner, orphan, and widow.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “Stop shedding innocent blood.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “going/following after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom involved here.

¹⁷ tn Heb “going after other gods to your ruin.”

¹⁸ tn Or “have perished”; “have been destroyed.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “and an upright one among men there is not.”

²⁰ tn Heb “for bloodshed” (so NASB); TEV “for a chance to commit murder.”

²¹ sn Micah compares these ungodly people to hunters trying to capture their prey with a net.

²² tn Heb “upon evil [are their] hands to do [it] well.”

²³ tn Heb “the official asks – and the judge – for a bribe.”

²⁴ tn More literally, “the great one announces what his appetite desires and they weave it together.” Apparently this means that subordinates plot and maneuver to make sure the prominent man’s desires materialize.

²⁵ tn Heb “[the] godly from a row of thorn bushes.” The preposition מִן (min) is comparative and the comparative element (perhaps “sharper” is the idea) is omitted. See BDB 582 s.v. 6 and GKC 431 §133.e.

²⁶ tn Heb “the day of your watchmen, your appointed [time], is coming.” The present translation takes “watchmen” to refer to actual sentries. However, the “watchmen” could refer figuratively to the prophets who had warned Judah of approaching judgment. In this case one could translate, “The day your prophets warned about – your appointed time of punishment – is on the way.”

²⁷ tn Heb “and now will be their confusion.”

²⁸ tn Heb “from the one who lies in your arms, guard the doors of your mouth.”