Isaiah 9:13

9:13 The people did not return to the one who struck them,

they did not seek reconciliation ¹  with the Lord who commands armies.

Jeremiah 2:30

2:30 “It did no good for me to punish your people.

They did not respond to such correction.

You slaughtered your prophets

like a voracious lion.” ² 

Jeremiah 5:3

5:3 Lord, I know you look for faithfulness. ³ 

But even when you punish these people, they feel no remorse. ⁴ 

Even when you nearly destroy them, they refuse to be corrected.

They have become as hardheaded as a rock. ⁵ 

They refuse to change their ways. ⁶ 

Luke 15:14-16

15:14 Then ⁷  after he had spent everything, a severe famine took place in that country, and he began to be in need. 15:15 So he went and worked for ⁸  one of the citizens of that country, who ⁹  sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁰  15:16 He ¹¹  was longing to eat ¹²  the carob pods ¹³  the pigs were eating, but ¹⁴  no one gave him anything.

¹ tn This verse describes the people’s response to the judgment described in vv. 11-12. The perfects are understood as indicating simple past.

² tn Heb “Your sword devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.” However, the reference to the sword in this and many similar idioms is merely idiomatic for death by violent means.

³ tn Heb “O Lord, are your eyes not to faithfulness?” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.

⁴ tn Commentaries and lexicons debate the meaning of the verb here. The MT is pointed as though from a verb meaning “to writhe in anguish or contrition” (חוּל [khul]; see, e.g., BDB 297 s.v. חוּל 2.c), but some commentaries and lexicons repoint the text as though from a verb meaning “to be sick,” thus “to feel pain” (חָלָה [khalah]; see, e.g., HALOT 304 s.v. חָלָה 3). The former appears more appropriate to the context.

⁵ tn Heb “They made their faces as hard as a rock.”

⁶ tn Or “to repent”; Heb “to turn back.”

⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the sequence of events in the parable. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style generally does not.

⁸ tn Grk “joined himself to” (in this case an idiom for beginning to work for someone).

⁹ tn Grk “and he.” Here the conjunction καί (kai) and the personal pronoun have been translated by a relative pronoun to improve the English style.

¹⁰ sn To a Jew, being sent to the field to feed pigs would be an insult, since pigs were considered unclean animals (Lev 11:7).

¹¹ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

¹² tn Or “would gladly have eaten”; Grk “was longing to be filled with.”

¹³ tn This term refers to the edible pods from a carob tree (BDAG 540 s.v. κεράτιον). They were bean-like in nature and were commonly used for fattening pigs, although they were also used for food by poor people (L&N 3.46).

¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.