2 Kings 9:11

9:11 When Jehu rejoined ¹  his master’s servants, they ²  asked him, “Is everything all right? ³  Why did this madman visit you?” He replied, “Ah, it’s not important. You know what kind of man he is and the kinds of things he says.” ⁴ 

Jeremiah 29:26

29:26 “The Lord has made you priest in place of Jehoiada. ⁵  He has put you in charge in the Lord’s temple of controlling ⁶  any lunatic ⁷  who pretends to be a prophet. ⁸  And it is your duty to put any such person in the stocks ⁹  with an iron collar around his neck. ¹⁰ 

Hosea 9:7

9:7 The time of judgment ¹¹  is about to arrive! ¹² 

The time of retribution ¹³  is imminent! ¹⁴ 

Let Israel know! ¹⁵ 

Israel Rejects Hosea’s Prophetic Exhortations

The prophet is considered a fool ¹⁶  –

the inspired man ¹⁷  is viewed as a madman ¹⁸  –

because of the multitude of your sins

and your intense ¹⁹  animosity.

John 10:20

10:20 Many of them were saying, “He is possessed by a demon and has lost his mind! ²⁰  Why do you listen to him?”

Acts 26:24

26:24 As Paul ²¹  was saying these things in his defense, Festus ²²  exclaimed loudly, “You have lost your mind, ²³  Paul! Your great learning is driving you insane!”

Acts 26:2

26:2 “Regarding all the things I have been accused of by the Jews, King Agrippa, ²⁴  I consider myself fortunate that I am about to make my defense before you today,

Colossians 1:13

1:13 He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, ²⁵ 

[9:11]  ¹ tn Heb “went out to.”

[9:11]  ² tc The MT has the singular, “he said,” but many witnesses correctly read the plural.

[9:11]  ³ tn Heb “Is there peace?”

[9:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “He said, ‘You, you know the man and his thoughts.’” Jehu tries to deflect their question by reminding them that the man is an eccentric individual who says strange things. His reply suggests that the man said nothing of importance. The translation seeks to bring out the tone and intent of Jehu’s reply.

[29:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “in place of Jehoiada the priest.” The word “the priest” is unnecessary to the English sentence.

[29:26]  ⁶ tc Heb “The Lord has appointed you priest in place of the priest Jehoiada to be overseer in the house of the Lord for/over.” The translation is based on a reading presupposed by several of the versions. The Hebrew text reads “The Lord has…to be overseers [in] the house of the Lord for/over.” The reading here follows that of the Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions in reading פָּקִיד בְּבֵית (paqid bÿvet) in place of פְּקִדִים בֵּית (pÿqidim bet). There has been a confusion of the ם (mem) and בּ (bet) and a transposition of the י (yod) and ד (dalet).

[29:26]  ⁷ sn The Hebrew term translated lunatic applies to anyone who exhibits irrational behavior. It was used for example of David who drooled and scratched on the city gate to convince Achish not to arrest him as a politically dangerous threat (1 Sam 21:14). It was often used contemptuously of the prophets by those who wanted to play down the significance of their words (2 Kgs 9:11; Hos 9:7 and here).

[29:26]  ⁸ tn The verb here is a good example of what IBHS 431 §26.2f calls the estimative-declarative reflexive where a person presents himself in a certain light. For examples of this usage see 2 Sam 13:5; Prov 13:7.

[29:26]  ⁹ tn See the translator’s note on 20:2 for this word which only occurs here and in 20:2-3.

[29:26]  ¹⁰ tn This word only occurs here in the Hebrew Bible. All the lexicons are agreed as seeing it referring to a collar placed around the neck. The basis for this definition are the cognate languages (see, e.g., HALOT 958-59 s.v. צִינֹק for the most complete discussion).

[9:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the days of the visitation”; NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “the days of punishment.”

[9:7]  ¹² tn Heb “has come” (בָּאוּ, ba’u). The two perfect tense (suffix-conjugation) verbs בָּאוּ (Qal perfect 3rd person common plural from בּוֹא, bo’, “to come”) repeated in this verse are both examples of the so-called “prophetic perfect”: the perfect, which connotes completed or factual action, is used in reference to future events to emphasize the certainty of the announced event taking place.

[9:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “the days of the retribution”; NIV “of reckoning”; NRSV “of recompense.”

[9:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “has come”; NIV “are at hand”; NLT “is almost here.”

[9:7]  ¹⁵ tc The Aleppo Codex and Leningrad Codex (the MT ms employed for BHS) both place the atnach (colon-divider) after יֵדְעוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל (yedÿ’u yisra’el, “Let Israel know!”), indicating that this line belongs with 9:7a (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV). However, the LXX reads κακωθήσεται (kakwqhsetai) which reflects an underlying Vorlage of יָרֵעוּ (yare’u, Qal imperfect 3rd person common plural from יָרַע, yara’, “to cry”), as opposed to the MT יֵדְעוּ (yedÿ’u, Qal jussive 3rd common plural from יָדַע, yada’, “to know”). The Old Greek connects יֵדְעוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל (“Israel cries out”) with the following lines (cf. NRSV), which appear to be quotations of Israel mocking Hosea. Aquila (ἔγνω, egnw) and Symmachus (γνώσεται, gnwsetai) both reflect the proto-MT tradition. For a discussion of this textual and syntactical problem, see H. W. Wolff, Hosea (Hermeneia), 150.

[9:7]  ¹⁶ tn Or “is distraught”; cf. CEV, NLT “are crazy.”

[9:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the man of the Spirit”; NAB, NRSV “spirit.”

[9:7]  ¹⁸ tn Or “is driven to despair.” The term מְשֻׁגָּע (mÿshugga’, Pual participle masculine singular from שָׁגַע, shaga’, “to be mad”) may be understood in two senses: (1) It could be a predicate adjective which is a figure of speech: “to be maddened,” to be driven to despair (Deut 28:34); or (2) it could be a substantive: “a madman,” referring to prophets who attempted to enter into a prophetic state through whipping themselves into a frenzy (1 Sam 21:16; 2 Kgs 9:11; Jer 29:26; see BDB 993 s.v. שָׁגַע). The prophetic context of 9:7 favors the latter option (which is followed by most English versions). Apparently, the general populace viewed these mantics with suspicion and questioned the legitimacy of their claim to be true prophets (e.g., 2 Kgs 9:11; Jer 29:26).

[9:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “great.”

[10:20]  ²⁰ tn Or “is insane.” To translate simply “he is mad” (so KJV, ASV, RSV; “raving mad” NIV) could give the impression that Jesus was angry, while the actual charge was madness or insanity.

[26:24]  ²¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:24]  ²² sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.

[26:24]  ²³ tn On the term translated “lost your mind” see BDAG 610 s.v. μαίνομαι, which has “you’re out of your mind, you’re raving, said to one whose enthusiasm seems to have outrun better judgment 26:24.”

[26:2]  ²⁴ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

[1:13]  ²⁵ tn Here αὐτοῦ (autou) has been translated as a subjective genitive (“he loves”).