Deuteronomy 8:12-14

8:12 When you eat your fill, when you build and occupy good houses, 8:13 when your cattle and flocks increase, when you have plenty of silver and gold, and when you have abundance of everything, 8:14 be sure ¹  you do not feel self-important and forget the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery,

Proverbs 30:9

30:9 lest I become satisfied and act deceptively ² 

and say, “Who is the Lord?”

Or lest I become poor and steal

and demean ³  the name of my God.

Jeremiah 2:31

2:31 You people of this generation,

listen to what the Lord says.

“Have I been like a wilderness to you, Israel?

Have I been like a dark and dangerous land to you? ⁴ 

Why then do you ⁵  say, ‘We are free to wander. ⁶ 

We will not come to you any more?’

Matthew 9:12

9:12 When ⁷  Jesus heard this he said, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do. ⁸ 

[8:14]  ¹ tn The words “be sure” are not in the Hebrew text; vv. 12-14 are part of the previous sentence. For stylistic reasons a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 12 in the translation and the words “be sure” repeated from v. 11 to indicate the connection.

[30:9]  ² tn The verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) means “to be disappointing; to deceive; to fail; to grow lean.” In the Piel stem it means “to deceive; to act deceptively; to cringe; to disappoint.” The idea of acting deceptively is illustrated in Hos 9:2 where it has the connotation of “disowning” or “refusing to acknowledge” (a meaning very close to its meaning here).

[30:9]  ³ tn The Hebrew verb literally means “to take hold of; to seize”; this produces the idea of doing violence to the reputation of God.

[2:31]  ⁴ tn Heb “a land of the darkness of Yah [= thick or deep darkness].” The idea of danger is an added connotation of the word in this context.

[2:31]  ⁵ tn Heb “my people.”

[2:31]  ⁶ tn Or more freely, “free to do as we please.” There is some debate about the meaning of this verb (רוּד, rud) because its usage is rare and its meaning is debated in the few passages where it does occur. The key to its meaning may rest in the emended text (reading וְרַדְתִּי [vÿradti] for וְיָרַדְתִּי [vÿyaradti]) in Judg 11:37 where it refers to the roaming of Jephthah’s daughter on the mountains of Israel.

[9:12]  ⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[9:12]  ⁸ sn Jesus’ point is that he associates with those who are sick because they have the need and will respond to the offer of help. A person who is healthy (or who thinks mistakenly that he is) will not seek treatment.