32:17 They sacrificed to demons, not God,
to gods they had not known;
to new gods who had recently come along,
gods your ancestors 3 had not known about.
81:12 I gave them over to their stubborn desires; 4
they did what seemed right to them. 5
5:31 The prophets prophesy lies.
The priests exercise power by their own authority. 6
And my people love to have it this way.
But they will not be able to help you when the time of judgment comes! 7
4:5 Burn a thank offering of bread made with yeast! 10
Make a public display of your voluntary offerings! 11
For you love to do this, you Israelites.”
The sovereign Lord is speaking!
1 tn Heb “seek out, look into.”
2 tn This last clause is a relative clause explaining the influence of the human heart and physical sight. It literally says, “which you go whoring after them.” The verb for “whoring” may be interpreted to mean “act unfaithfully.” So, the idea is these influences lead to unfaithful activity: “after which you act unfaithfully.”
3 tn Heb “your fathers.”
4 tn Heb “and I sent him away in the stubbornness of their heart.”
5 tn Heb “they walked in their counsel.” The prefixed verbal form is either preterite (“walked”) or a customary imperfect (“were walking”).
6 tn Heb “they shall rule at their hands.” Since the word “hand” can be used figuratively for authority or mean “side” and the pronoun “them” can refer to the priests themselves or the prophets, the following translations have also been suggested: “the priests rule under their [the prophets’] directions,” or “the priests rule in league with them [the prophets].” From the rest of the book it would appear that the prophets did not exercise authority over the priests nor did they exercise the same authority over the people that the priests did. Hence it probably mean “by their own hand/power/authority.”
7 tn Heb “But what will you do at its end?” The rhetorical question implies a negative answer: “Nothing!”
8 tn Heb “each one, the detestable things of their eyes did not throw away.”
9 tn Heb “and I said/thought to pour out.”
10 sn For the background of the thank offering of bread made with yeast, see Lev 7:13.
11 tn Heb “proclaim voluntary offerings, announce.”