Ezekiel 6:9

6:9 Then your survivors will remember me among the nations where they are exiled. They will realize ¹  how I was crushed by their unfaithful ²  heart which turned from me and by their eyes which lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves ³  because of the evil they have done and because of all their abominable practices.

Deuteronomy 32:21

32:21 They have made me jealous ⁴  with false gods, ⁵ 

enraging me with their worthless gods; ⁶ 

so I will make them jealous with a people they do not recognize, ⁷ 

with a nation slow to learn ⁸  I will enrage them.

Psalms 78:40

78:40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness,

and insulted him ⁹  in the desert!

Psalms 95:10

95:10 For forty years I was continually disgusted ¹⁰  with that generation,

and I said, ‘These people desire to go astray; ¹¹ 

they do not obey my commands.’ ¹² 

Isaiah 63:10

63:10 But they rebelled and offended ¹³  his holy Spirit, ¹⁴ 

so he turned into an enemy

and fought against them.

Amos 2:13

2:13 Look! I will press you down,

like a cart loaded down with grain presses down. ¹⁵ 

Acts 7:51

7:51 “You stubborn ¹⁶  people, with uncircumcised ¹⁷  hearts and ears! ¹⁸  You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors ¹⁹  did!

Ephesians 4:30

4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

[6:9]  ¹ tn The words “they will realize” are not in the Hebrew text; they are added here for stylistic reasons since this clause assumes the previous verb “to remember” or “to take into account.”

[6:9]  ² tn Heb “how I was broken by their adulterous heart.” The image of God being “broken” is startling, but perfectly natural within the metaphorical framework of God as offended husband. The idiom must refer to the intense grief that Israel’s unfaithfulness caused God. For a discussion of the syntax and semantics of the Hebrew text, see M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 1:134.

[6:9]  ³ tn Heb adds “in their faces.”

[32:21]  ⁴ sn They have made me jealous. The “jealousy” of God is not a spirit of pettiness prompted by his insecurity, but righteous indignation caused by the disloyalty of his people to his covenant grace (see note on the word “God” in Deut 4:24). The jealousy of Israel, however (see next line), will be envy because of God’s lavish attention to another nation. This is an ironic wordplay. See H. Peels, NIDOTTE 3:938-39.

[32:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “what is not a god,” or a “nondeity.”

[32:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “their empty (things).” The Hebrew term used here to refer pejoratively to the false gods is הֶבֶל (hevel, “futile” or “futility”), used frequently in Ecclesiastes (e.g., Eccl 1:1, “Futile! Futile!” laments the Teacher, “Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!”).

[32:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “what is not a people,” or a “nonpeople.” The “nonpeople” (לֹא־עָם, lo’-’am) referred to here are Gentiles who someday would become God’s people in the fullest sense (cf. Hos 1:9; 2:23).

[32:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “a foolish nation” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV); NIV “a nation that has no understanding”; NLT “I will provoke their fury by blessing the foolish Gentiles.”

[78:40]  ⁹ tn Or “caused him pain.”

[95:10]  ¹⁰ tn The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite or an imperfect. If the latter, it emphasizes the ongoing nature of the condition in the past. The translation reflects this interpretation of the verbal form.

[95:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a people, wanderers of heart [are] they.”

[95:10]  ¹² tn Heb “and they do not know my ways.” In this context the Lord’s “ways” are his commands, viewed as a pathway from which his people, likened to wayward sheep (see v. 7), wander.

[63:10]  ¹³ tn Or “grieved, hurt the feelings of.”

[63:10]  ¹⁴ sn The phrase “holy Spirit” occurs in the OT only here (in v. 11 as well) and in Ps 51:11 (51:13 HT), where it is associated with the divine presence.

[2:13]  ¹⁵ tn The precise meaning of this verse is unclear. Various suggested meanings have been proposed (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 94): (1) One option is to relate the verb to an Arabic verb, meaning “to hinder; to hamper,” and translate, “I am making you immobile, like a cart filled with grain is immobile.” In this case, the Lord refers to Israel’s inability to escape his coming judgment (see vv. 14-16; NJPS). (2) Another view relates the verb to a different Arabic verb meaning “to cut in pieces,” translating “I will cut you in pieces as a cart cuts in pieces [the earth],” referring to the ruts and rifts in the ground caused by an earthquake. (3) Some relate the verb to an Arabic root meaning “to groan” with the idea that the Lord causes the ground underneath Israel to groan (cf. NLT). (4) The translation connects the verb to an Aramaism signifying to “press down” (cf. NIV, NRSV). Some English versions translate the verb in an intransitive sense as “I am weighted down” (cf. NASB, NKJV) or “I groan beneath you” (NEB). For this last option, see F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos (AB), 334.

[7:51]  ¹⁶ sn Traditionally, “stiff-necked people.” Now the critique begins in earnest.

[7:51]  ¹⁷ tn The term ἀπερίτμητοι (aperitmhtoi, “uncircumcised”) is a NT hapax legomenon (occurs only once). See BDAG 101-2 s.v. ἀπερίτμητος and Isa 52:1.

[7:51]  ¹⁸ tn Or “You stubborn and obstinate people!” (The phrase “uncircumcised hearts and ears” is another figure for stubbornness.)

[7:51]  ¹⁹ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”