68:2 As smoke is driven away by the wind, so you drive them away. 1
As wax melts before fire,
so the wicked are destroyed before God.
112:10 When the wicked 2 see this, they will worry;
they will grind their teeth in frustration 3 and melt away;
the desire of the wicked will perish. 4
64:2 (64:1) As when fire ignites dry wood,
or fire makes water boil,
let your adversaries know who you are, 5
and may the nations shake at your presence!
64:7 No one invokes 6 your name,
or makes an effort 7 to take hold of you.
For you have rejected us 8
and handed us over to our own sins. 9
9:7 Therefore the Lord who rules over all says, 10
“I will now purify them in the fires of affliction 11 and test them.
The wickedness of my dear people 12 has left me no choice.
What else can I do? 13
1 tn Heb “as smoke is scattered, you scatter [them].”
2 tn The Hebrew text uses the singular; the representative wicked individual is in view as typifying the group (note the use of the plural form in v. 10).
3 tn Heb “his teeth he will gnash.” In Pss 35:16 and 37:12 this action is associated with a vicious attack.
4 tn This could mean that the desires of the wicked will go unfulfilled. Another possibility is that “desire” refers by metonymy to the object desired and acquired. In this case the point is that the wicked will lose what they desired so badly and acquired by evil means (see Ps 10:3).
5 tn Heb “to make known your name to your adversaries.” Perhaps the infinitive construct with preposition -לְ (lamed) should be construed with “come down” in v. 1a, or subordinated to the following line: “To make known your name to your adversaries, let the nations shake from before you.”
6 tn Or “calls out in”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “calls on.”
7 tn Or “rouses himself”; NASB “arouses himself.”
8 tn Heb “for you have hidden your face from us.”
9 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and you caused us to melt in the hand of our sin.” The verb וַתְּמוּגֵנוּ (vattÿmugenu) is a Qal preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the root מוּג (mug, “melt”). However, elsewhere the Qal of this verb is intransitive. If the verbal root מוּג (mug) is retained here, the form should be emended to a Polel pattern (וַתְּמֹגְגֵנוּ, vattÿmogÿgenu). The translation assumes an emendation to וַתְּמַגְּנֵנוּ (vattÿmaggÿnenu, “and you handed us over”). This form is a Piel preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the verbal root מִגֵּן (miggen, “hand over, surrender”; see HALOT 545 s.v. מגן and BDB 171 s.v. מָגָן). The point is that God has abandoned them to their sinful ways and no longer seeks reconciliation.
10 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”
11 tn Heb “I will refine/purify them.” The words “in the fires of affliction” are supplied in the translation to give clarity to the metaphor.
12 tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.
13 tc Heb “For how else shall I deal because of the wickedness of the daughter of my people.” The MT does not have the word “wickedness.” The word, however, is read in the Greek version. This is probably a case of a word dropping out because of its similarities to the consonants preceding or following it (i.e., haplography). The word “wickedness” (רַעַת, ra’at) has dropped out before the words “my dear people” (בַּת־עַמִּי, bat-’ammi). The causal nuance which is normal for מִפְּנֵי (mippÿne) does not make sense without some word like this, and the combination of רַעַת מִפְּנֵי (mippÿne ra’at) does occur in Jer 7:12 and one very like it occurs in Jer 26:3.