10:31 From 3 the descendants of Harim: Eliezer, Ishijah, Malkijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,
11:9 With his speech 4 the godless person 5 destroys 6 his neighbor,
but by knowledge 7 the righteous will be delivered.
7:15 “Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves. 8
1 tn Heb “and Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.”
2 tc The name “Elnathan” occurs twice in this list. Some, assuming an accidental repetition, would include it only once (cf. NAB).
3 tc The translation reads with many medieval Hebrew
4 tn Heb “with his mouth.” The term פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) functions as a metonymy of cause for speech.
5 sn The Hebrew word originally meant “impious, godless, polluted, profane.” It later developed the idea of a “hypocrite” (Dan 11:32), one who conceals his evil under the appearance of godliness or kindness. This one is a false flatterer.
6 sn The verb שָׁחַת (shakhat) means “to destroy; to ruin” (e.g., the destruction of Sodom in Gen 13:10). The imperfect tense is probably not an habitual imperfect (because the second colon shows exceptions), but probably a progressive imperfect (“this goes on”) or potential imperfect (“they can do this”).
7 sn The antithetical proverb states that a righteous person can escape devastating slander through knowledge. The righteous will have sufficient knowledge and perception to see through the hypocrisy and avoid its effect.
8 sn Sheep’s clothing…voracious wolves. Jesus uses a metaphor here to point out that these false prophets appear to be one thing, but in reality they are something quite different and dangerous.