2 Kings 14:10-12

14:10 You thoroughly defeated Edom ¹  and it has gone to your head! ²  Gloat over your success, ³  but stay in your palace. Why bring calamity on yourself? Why bring down yourself and Judah along with you?” ⁴  14:11 But Amaziah would not heed the warning, ⁵  so King Jehoash of Israel attacked. ⁶  He and King Amaziah of Judah met face to face ⁷  in Beth Shemesh of Judah. 14:12 Judah was defeated by Israel, and each man ran back home. ⁸ 

Proverbs 29:1

29:1 The one who stiffens his neck ⁹  after numerous rebukes ¹⁰ 

will suddenly be destroyed ¹¹  without remedy. ¹² 

Ecclesiastes 6:10

The Futile Way Life Works

6:10 Whatever has happened was foreordained, ¹³ 

and what happens to a person ¹⁴  was also foreknown.

It is useless for him to argue with God about his fate

because God is more powerful than he is. ¹⁵ 

[14:10]  ¹ tn Or “you have indeed defeated Edom.”

[14:10]  ² tn Heb “and your heart has lifted you up.”

[14:10]  ³ tn Heb “be glorified.”

[14:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “Why get involved in calamity and fall, you and Judah with you?”

[14:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “did not listen.”

[14:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “went up.”

[14:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “looked at each other [in the] face.”

[14:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “and Judah was struck down before Israel and they fled, each to his tent.”

[29:1]  ⁹ tn The idiom “to harden the neck” (מַקְשֶׁה־עֹרֶף, maqsheh-’oref) is the idea of resisting the rebukes and persisting in obstinacy (e.g., Exod 32:9). The opposite of a “stiff neck” would be the bending back, i.e., submission.

[29:1]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew construction is אִישׁ תּוֹכָחוֹת (’ish tokhakhot, “a man of rebukes”), meaning “a man who has (or receives) many rebukes.” This describes a person who is deserving of punishment and who has been given many warnings. The text says, then, “a man of rebukes hardening himself.”

[29:1]  ¹¹ sn The stubborn person refuses to listen; he will suddenly be destroyed when the calamity strikes (e.g., Prov 6:15; 13:18; 15:10).

[29:1]  ¹² tn Or “healing” (NRSV).

[6:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “already its name was called.”

[6:10]  ¹⁴ tn Or “and what a person (Heb “man”) is was foreknown.”

[6:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he cannot contend with the one who is more powerful than him.” The referent of the “the one who is more powerful than he is” (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The words “with God about his fate” have been added for clarity as well.