Romans 3:31

3:31 Do we then nullify ¹  the law through faith? Absolutely not! Instead ²  we uphold the law.

Numbers 30:12

30:12 But if her husband clearly nullifies ³  them when he hears them, then whatever she says ⁴  by way of vows or obligations will not stand. Her husband has made them void, and the Lord will release her from them.

Numbers 30:15

30:15 But if he should nullify them after he has heard them, then he will bear her iniquity.” ⁵ 

Psalms 119:126

119:126 It is time for the Lord to act –

they break your law!

Isaiah 55:11

55:11 In the same way, the promise that I make

does not return to me, having accomplished nothing. ⁶ 

No, it is realized as I desire

and is fulfilled as I intend.” ⁷ 

Jeremiah 19:7

19:7 In this place I will thwart ⁸  the plans of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. I will deliver them over to the power of their enemies who are seeking to kill them. They will die by the sword ⁹  at the hands of their enemies. ¹⁰  I will make their dead bodies food for the birds and wild beasts to eat.

¹ tn Grk “render inoperative.”

² tn Grk “but” (Greek ἀλλά, alla).

³ tn The verb is the imperfect tense in the conditional clause. It is intensified with the infinitive absolute, which would have the force of saying that he nullified them unequivocally, or he made them null and void.

⁴ tn Heb whatever proceeds from her lips.”

⁵ sn In other words, he will pay the penalty for making her break her vows if he makes her stop what she vowed. It will not be her responsibility.

⁶ tn Heb “so is the word which goes out from my mouth, it does not return to empty.” “Word” refers here to divine promises, like the ones made just prior to and after this (see vv. 7b, 12-13).

⁷ tn Heb “but it accomplishes what I desire, and succeeds [on the mission] which I send it.”

⁸ sn There is perhaps a two-fold wordplay in the use of this word. One involves the sound play with the word for “jar,” which has been explained as a water decanter. The word here is בַקֹּתִי (vaqqoti). The word for jar in v. 1 is בַקְבֻּק (vaqbuq). There may also be a play on the literal use of this word to refer to the laying waste or destruction of a land (see Isa 24:3; Nah 2:3). Many modern commentaries think that at this point Jeremiah emptied out the contents of the jar, symbolizing the “emptying” out of their plans.

⁹ sn This refers to the fact that they will die in battle. The sword would be only one of the weapons that strikes them down. It is one of the trio of “sword,” “starvation,” and “disease” which were the concomitants of war referred to so often in the book of Jeremiah. Starvation is referred to in v. 9.

¹⁰ tn Heb “I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and in the hand of those who seek their soul [= life].” In this context the two are meant as obvious qualifications of one entity, not two. Some rearrangement of the qualifiers had to be made in the English translation to convey this.