12:2 You plant them like trees and they put down their roots. 1
They grow prosperous and are very fruitful. 2
They always talk about you,
but they really care nothing about you. 3
11:16 I, the Lord, once called 4 you a thriving olive tree,
one that produced beautiful fruit.
But I will set you 5 on fire,
fire that will blaze with a mighty roar. 6
Then all your branches will be good for nothing. 7
6:19 Hear this, you peoples of the earth: 8
‘Take note! 9 I am about to bring disaster on these people.
It will come as punishment for their scheming. 10
For they have paid no attention to what I have said, 11
and they have rejected my law.
17:8 They will be like a tree planted near a stream
whose roots spread out toward the water.
It has nothing to fear when the heat comes.
Its leaves are always green.
It has no need to be concerned in a year of drought.
It does not stop bearing fruit.
1 tn Heb “You planted them and they took root.”
2 tn Heb “they grow and produce fruit.” For the nuance “grow” for the verb which normally means “go, walk,” see BDB 232 s.v. חָלַךְ Qal.I.3 and compare Hos 14:7.
3 tn Heb “You are near in their mouths, but far from their kidneys.” The figure of substitution is being used here, “mouth” for “words” and “kidneys” for passions and affections. A contemporary equivalent might be, “your name is always on their lips, but their hearts are far from you.”
4 tn Heb “The
5 tn The verb form used here is another example of a verb expressing that the action is as good as done (the Hebrew prophetic perfect).
6 tn Heb “At the sound of a mighty roar he will set fire to it.” For the shift from third person “he” to the first person “I” see the preceding note. The Hebrew use of the pronouns in vv. 16-17 for the olive tree and the people that it represents is likely to cause confusion if retained. In v. 16 the people are “you” and the olive tree is “it.” The people are again “you” in v. 17 but part of the metaphor is carried over, i.e., “he ‘planted’ you.” It creates less confusion in the flow of the passage if the metaphorical identification is carried out throughout by addressing the people/plant as “you.”
7 tn The verb here has most commonly been derived from a root meaning “to be broken” (cf. BDB 949 s.v. II רָעַע) which fits poorly with the metaphor of setting the plant on fire. Another common option is to emend it to a verb meaning “to be burned up” (בָּעַר, ba’ar). However, it is better to follow the lead of the Greek version which translates “be good for nothing” (ἠχρειώθησαν, hcreiwqhsan) and derive the verb from רָעַע (ra’a’) meaning “be bad/evil” (cf. BDB 949 and compare the nuance of the adjective from this verb in BDB 948 s.v. רַע 5).
7 tn Heb “earth.”
8 tn Heb “Behold!”
9 tn Heb “disaster on these people, the fruit of their schemes.”
10 tn Heb “my word.”
10 tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.” The translation follows the ancient Jewish tradition of substituting the Hebrew word for God for the proper name Yahweh.
11 tn Heb “this place.” Some see this as a reference to the temple but the context has been talking about what goes on in the towns of Judah and Jerusalem and the words that follow, meant as a further explanation, are applied to the whole land.
12 tn Heb “the trees of/in the field and the fruit of/in the ground.”