82:5 They 1 neither know nor understand.
They stumble 2 around in the dark,
while all the foundations of the earth crumble. 3
107:43 Whoever is wise, let him take note of these things!
Let them consider the Lord’s acts of loyal love!
2:9 Then you will understand 4 righteousness and justice
and equity – every 5 good 6 way. 7
8:5 You who are naive, discern 8 wisdom!
And you fools, understand discernment! 9
9:4 “Whoever is naive, let him turn in here,”
she says 10 to those 11 who lack understanding. 12
9:16 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here,”
she says to those who lack understanding. 13
27:11 When its branches get brittle, 14 they break;
women come and use them for kindling. 15
For these people lack understanding, 16
therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;
the one who formed them has no mercy on them.
4:22 The Lord answered, 17
“This will happen 18 because my people are foolish.
They do not know me.
They are like children who have no sense. 19
They have no understanding.
They are skilled at doing evil.
They do not know how to do good.”
13:15 For the heart of this people has become dull;
they are hard of hearing,
and they have shut their eyes,
so that they would not see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’ 20
3:11 there is no one who understands,
there is no one who seeks God.
1 sn Having addressed the defendants, God now speaks to those who are observing the trial, referring to the gods in the third person.
2 tn Heb “walk.” The Hitpael stem indicates iterative action, picturing these ignorant “judges” as stumbling around in the darkness.
3 sn These gods, though responsible for justice, neglect their duty. Their self-imposed ignorance (which the psalmist compares to stumbling around in the dark) results in widespread injustice, which threatens the social order of the world (the meaning of the phrase all the foundations of the earth crumble).
4 tn Heb “discern.” See preceding note on בִּין (bin) in 2:5.
5 tn The phrase “every good way” functions appositionally to the preceding triad of righteous attributes, further explaining and defining them.
6 tn Heb “every way of good.” The term טוֹב (tov, “good”) functions as an attributive genitive: “good way.”
7 tn Heb “track”; KJV, NIV, NRSV “path.” The noun מַעְגַּל (ma’gal) is used (1) literally of “wagon-wheel track; firm path” and (2) figuratively (as a metaphor) to describe the course of life (Pss 17:5; 23:3; 140:6; Prov 2:9, 15, 18; 4:11, 26; 5:6, 21; Isa 26:7; 59:8; see BDB 722-23 s.v. 2; KBL 2:609). It is related to the feminine noun עֲגָלָה (’agalah, “cart”) and the verb עָגַל (’agal) “to be round” (Qal) and “to roll” (Niphal). As a wagon-wheel cuts a deep track in a much traversed dirt road, so a person falls into routines and habits that reveal his moral character. In Proverbs the “paths” of the righteous are characterized by uprightness and integrity.
8 tn The imperative of בִּין (bin) means “to understand; to discern.” The call is for the simple to understand what wisdom is, not just to gain it.
9 tn Heb “heart.” The noun לֵב (lev, “heart”) often functions metonymically for wisdom, understanding, discernment.
10 tn Heb “lacking of heart she says to him.” The pronominal suffix is a resumptive pronoun, meaning, “she says to the lacking of heart.”
11 tn Heb “him.”
12 tn Heb “heart”; cf. NIV “to those who lack judgment.”
13 tn This expression is almost identical to v. 4, with the exception of the addition of conjunctions in the second colon: “and the lacking of understanding and she says to him.” The parallel is deliberate, of course, showing the competing appeals for those passing by.
14 tn Heb “are dry” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).
15 tn Heb “women come [and] light it.” The city is likened to a dead tree with dried up branches that is only good for firewood.
16 tn Heb “for not a people of understanding [is] he.”
17 tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to show clearly the shift in speaker. Jeremiah has been speaking; now the
18 tn Heb “For….” This gives the explanation for the destruction envisaged in 4:20 to which Jeremiah responds in 4:19, 21.
19 tn Heb “They are senseless children.”
20 sn A quotation from Isa 6:9-10. Thus parables both conceal or reveal depending on whether one is open to hearing what they teach.