Deuteronomy 32:6

32:6 Is this how you repay ¹  the Lord,

you foolish, unwise people?

Is he not your father, your creator?

He has made you and established you.

Job 2:10

2:10 But he replied, ²  “You’re talking like one of the godless ³  women would do! Should we receive ⁴  what is good from God, and not also ⁵  receive ⁶  what is evil?” ⁷  In all this Job did not sin by what he said. ⁸ 

Psalms 5:5

5:5 Arrogant people cannot stand in your presence; ⁹ 

you hate ¹⁰  all who behave wickedly. ¹¹ 

Proverbs 9:6

9:6 Abandon your foolish ways ¹²  so that you may live, ¹³ 

and proceed ¹⁴  in the way of understanding.”

Jeremiah 4:22

4:22 The Lord answered, ¹⁵ 

“This will happen ¹⁶  because my people are foolish.

They do not know me.

They are like children who have no sense. ¹⁷ 

They have no understanding.

They are skilled at doing evil.

They do not know how to do good.”

Matthew 7:26

7:26 Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

Matthew 25:2

25:2 Five ¹⁸  of the virgins ¹⁹  were foolish, and five were wise.

Romans 1:21

1:21 For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts ²⁰  were darkened.

Galatians 3:1

Justification by Law or by Faith?

3:1 You ²¹  foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell ²²  on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed ²³  as crucified!

Titus 3:3

3:3 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another.

[32:6]  ¹ tn Or “treat” (TEV).

[2:10]  ² tn Heb “he said to her.”

[2:10]  ³ tn The word “foolish” (נָבָל, naval) has to do with godlessness more than silliness (Ps 14:1). To be foolish in this sense is to deny the nature and the work of God in life its proper place. See A. Phillips, “NEBALA – A Term for Serious Disorderly Unruly Conduct,” VT 25 (1975): 237-41; and W. M. W. Roth, “NBL,” VT 10 (1960): 394-409.

[2:10]  ⁴ tn The verb קִבֵּל (qibbel) means “to accept, receive.” It is attested in the Amarna letters with the meaning “receive meekly, patiently.”

[2:10]  ⁵ tn The adverb גָּם (gam, “also, even”) is placed here before the first clause, but belongs with the second. It intensifies the idea (see GKC 483 §153). See also C. J. Labuschagne, “The Emphasizing Particle GAM and Its Connotations,” Studia Biblica et Semitica, 193-203.

[2:10]  ⁶ tn The two verbs in this sentence, Piel imperfects, are deliberative imperfects; they express the reasoning or deliberating in the interrogative sentences.

[2:10]  ⁷ tn A question need not be introduced by an interrogative particle or adverb. The natural emphasis on the words is enough to indicate it is a question (GKC 473 §150.a).

[2:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “sin with his lips,” an idiom meaning he did not sin by what he said.

[5:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “before your eyes.”

[5:5]  ¹⁰ sn You hate. The Lord “hates” the wicked in the sense that he despises their wicked character and deeds and actively opposes and judges them for their wickedness. See Ps 11:5.

[5:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “all the workers of wickedness.”

[9:6]  ¹² tn There are two ways to take this word: either as “fools” or as “foolish ways.” The spelling for “foolishness” in v. 13 differs from this spelling, and so some have taken that as an indicator that this should be “fools.” But this could still be an abstract plural here as in 1:22. Either the message is to forsake fools (i.e., bad company; cf. KJV, TEV) or forsake foolishness (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT).

[9:6]  ¹³ tn The two imperatives are joined with vav; this is a volitive sequence in which result or consequence is expressed.

[9:6]  ¹⁴ tn The verb means “go straight, go on, advance” or “go straight on in the way of understanding” (BDB 80 s.v. אָשַׁר).

[4:22]  ¹⁵ 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 Lord answers, giving the reason for the devastation Jeremiah foresees.

[4:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “For….” This gives the explanation for the destruction envisaged in 4:20 to which Jeremiah responds in 4:19, 21.

[4:22]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “They are senseless children.”

[25:2]  ¹⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[25:2]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “Five of them.”

[1:21]  ²⁰ tn Grk “heart.”

[3:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “O” (an interjection used both in address and emotion). In context the following section is highly charged emotionally.

[3:1]  ²² tn Or “deceived”; the verb βασκαίνω (baskainw) can be understood literally here in the sense of bewitching by black magic, but could also be understood figuratively to refer to an act of deception (see L&N 53.98 and 88.159).

[3:1]  ²³ tn Or “publicly placarded,” “set forth in a public proclamation” (BDAG 867 s.v. προγράφω 2).