3:29 Do not plot 1 evil against your neighbor
when 2 he dwells by you unsuspectingly.
6:14 he plots evil with perverse thoughts 3 in his heart,
he spreads contention 4 at all times.
4:14 “Oh people of Jerusalem, purify your hearts from evil 5
so that you may yet be delivered.
How long will you continue to harbor up
wicked schemes within you?
2:1 Those who devise sinful plans are as good as dead, 6
those who dream about doing evil as they lie in bed. 7
As soon as morning dawns they carry out their plans, 8
because they have the power to do so.
2:2 They confiscate the fields they desire,
and seize the houses they want. 9
They defraud people of their homes, 10
and deprive people of the land they have inherited. 11
2:3 Therefore the Lord says this: “Look, I am devising disaster for this nation! 12
It will be like a yoke from which you cannot free your neck. 13
You will no longer 14 walk proudly,
for it will be a time of catastrophe.
1 sn The verb חָרַשׁ (kharash) means “to cut in; to engrave; to plough; to devise.” The idea of plotting is metaphorical for working, practicing or fabricating (BDB 360 s.v.).
2 tn The vav (ו) prefixed to the pronoun introduces a disjunctive circumstantial clause: “when….”
3 tn The noun is an adverbial accusative of manner, explaining the circumstances that inform his evil plans.
4 tn The word “contention” is from the root דִּין (din); the noun means “strife, contention, quarrel.” The normal plural form is represented by the Qere, and the contracted form by the Kethib.
5 tn Heb “Oh, Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil.”
6 tn Heb “Woe to those who plan sin.” The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “woe”; “ah”) was a cry used in mourning the dead.
7 tn Heb “those who do evil upon their beds.”
8 tn Heb “at the light of morning they do it.”
9 tn Heb “they desire fields and rob [them], and houses and take [them] away.”
10 tn Heb “and they oppress a man and his home.”
11 tn Heb “and a man and his inheritance.” The verb עָשַׁק (’ashaq, “to oppress”; “to wrong”) does double duty in the parallel structure and is understood by ellipsis in the second line.
12 tn Heb “clan” or “extended family.”
13 tn Heb “from which you will not remove your neck.” The words “It will be like a yoke” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
14 tn Or “you will not.”
15 tn The Greek text reads here ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpos). The term is generic referring to any person.
16 tn Grk “the”; the Greek article has been translated here and in the following clause (“his evil treasury”) as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).
17 sn The treasury here is a metaphorical reference to a person’s heart (cf. BDAG 456 s.v. θησαυρός 1.b and the parallel passage in Luke 6:45).