Isaiah 21:2

21:2 I have received a distressing message: ¹ 

“The deceiver deceives,

the destroyer destroys.

Attack, you Elamites!

Lay siege, you Medes!

I will put an end to all the groaning!” ² 

Isaiah 33:1

The Lord Will Restore Zion

33:1 The destroyer is as good as dead, ³ 

you who have not been destroyed!

The deceitful one is as good as dead, ⁴ 

the one whom others have not deceived!

When you are through destroying, you will be destroyed;

when you finish ⁵  deceiving, others will deceive you!

Isaiah 48:8

48:8 You did not hear,

you do not know,

you were not told beforehand. ⁶ 

For I know that you are very deceitful; ⁷ 

you were labeled ⁸  a rebel from birth.

Jeremiah 3:20

3:20 But, you have been unfaithful to me, nation of Israel, ⁹ 

like an unfaithful wife who has left her husband,” ¹⁰ 

says the Lord.

Jeremiah 5:11

5:11 For the nations of Israel and Judah ¹¹ 

have been very unfaithful to me,”

says the Lord.

Jeremiah 12:1

12:1 Lord, you have always been fair

whenever I have complained to you. ¹² 

However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. ¹³ 

Why are wicked people successful? ¹⁴ 

Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?

Jeremiah 12:6

12:6 As a matter of fact, ¹⁵  even your own brothers

and the members of your own family have betrayed you too.

Even they have plotted to do away with you. ¹⁶ 

So do not trust them even when they say kind things ¹⁷  to you.

Lamentations 1:2

ב (Bet)

1:2 She weeps bitterly at night;

tears stream down her cheeks. ¹⁸ 

She has no one to comfort her

among all her lovers. ¹⁹ 

All her friends have betrayed her;

they have become her enemies.

Hosea 5:7

5:7 They have committed treason ²⁰  against the Lord,

because they bore illegitimate children.

Soon ²¹  the new moon festival will devour them and their fields.

Hosea 6:7

Indictments Against the Cities of Israel and Judah

6:7 At Adam ²²  they broke ²³  the covenant;

Oh how ²⁴  they were unfaithful ²⁵  to me!

Habakkuk 1:3

1:3 Why do you force me to witness injustice? ²⁶ 

Why do you put up with wrongdoing? ²⁷ 

Destruction and violence confront ²⁸  me;

conflict is present and one must endure strife. ²⁹ 

[21:2]  ¹ tn Heb “a severe revelation has been related to me.”

[21:2]  ² sn This is often interpreted to mean “all the groaning” that Babylon has caused others.

[33:1]  ³ tn Heb “Woe [to] the destroyer.”

[33:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the deceitful one”; NAB, NIV “O traitor”; NRSV “you treacherous one.” In the parallel structure הוֹי (hoy, “woe [to]”) does double duty.

[33:1]  ⁵ tc The form in the Hebrew text appears to derive from an otherwise unattested verb נָלָה (nalah). The translation follows the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a in reading ככלתך, a Piel infinitival form from the verbal root כָּלָה (kalah), meaning “finish.”

[48:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “beforehand your ear did not open.”

[48:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “deceiving, you deceive.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

[48:8]  ⁸ tn Or “called” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[3:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “house of Israel.”

[3:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a wife unfaithful from her husband.”

[5:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the house of Israel and the house of Judah.”

[12:1]  ¹² tn Or “Lord, you are fair when I present my case before you.”

[12:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “judgments” or “matters of justice.” For the nuance of “complain to,” “fair,” “disposition of justice” assumed here, see BDB 936 s.v. רִיב Qal.4 (cf. Judg 21:22); BDB 843 s.v. צַדִּיק 1.d (cf. Ps 7:12; 11:7); BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 1.f (cf. Isa 26:8; Ps 10:5; Ezek 7:27).

[12:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Why does the way [= course of life] of the wicked prosper?”

[12:6]  ¹⁵ tn This is an attempt to give some contextual sense to the particle “for, indeed” (כִּי, ki).

[12:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “they have called after you fully”; or “have lifted up loud voices against you.” The word “against” does not seem quite adequate for the preposition “after.” The preposition “against” would be Hebrew עַל (’al). The idea appears to be that they are chasing after him, raising their voices along with those of the conspirators to have him killed.

[12:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “good things.” See BDB 373 s.v. II טוֹב 2 for this nuance and compare Prov 12:25 for usage.

[1:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “her tears are on her cheek.”

[1:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “lovers.” The term “lovers” is a figurative expression (hypocatastasis), comparing Jerusalem’s false gods and foreign political alliances to sexually immoral lovers. Hosea uses similar imagery (Hos 2:5, 7, 10, 13). It may also function as a double entendre, first evoking a disconcerting picture of a funeral where the widow has no loved ones present to comfort her. God also does not appear to be present to comfort Jerusalem and will later be called her enemy. The imagery in Lamentations frequently capitalizes on changing the reader’s expectations midstream.

[5:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “dealt treacherously against” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “dealt faithlessly”; NLT “betrayed the honor of.”

[5:7]  ²¹ tn The particle עַתָּה (’attah) often refers to the imminent or the impending future: “very soon” (BDB 774 s.v. עַתָּה 1.b). In Hosea it normally introduces imminent judgment (Hos 2:12; 4:16; 5:7; 8:8, 13; 10:2).

[6:7]  ²² tn Or “Like Adam”; or “Like [sinful] men.” The MT reads כְּאָדָם (kÿ’adam, “like Adam” or “as [sinful] men”); however, the editors of BHS suggest this reflects an orthographic confusion of בְּאָדָם (bÿ’adam, “at Adam”), as suggested by the locative adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) in the following line. However, שָׁם sometimes functions in a nonlocative sense similar to the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “Behold!”). The singular noun אָדָם (’adam) has been taken in several different ways: (1) proper name: “like Adam” (כְּאָדָם), (2) collective singular: “like [sinful] men” (כְּאָדָם), (3) proper location: “at Adam,” referring to a city in the Jordan Valley (Josh 3:16), emending comparative כְּ (kaf) to locative בְּ (bet, “at”): “at Adam” (בְּאָדָם). BDB 9 s.v. אָדָם 2 suggests the collective sense, referring to sinful men (Num 5:6; 1 Kgs 8:46; 2 Chr 6:36; Jer 10:14; Job 31:33; Hos 6:7). The English versions are divided: KJV margin, ASV, RSV margin, NASB, NIV, TEV margin, NLT “like Adam”; RSV, NRSV, TEV “at Adam”; KJV “like men.”

[6:7]  ²³ tn The verb עָבַר (’avar) refers here to breaking a covenant and carries the nuance “to overstep, transgress” (BDB 717 s.v. עָבַר 1.i). Cf. NAB “violated”; NRSV “transgressed.”

[6:7]  ²⁴ tn The adverb שָׁם (sham) normally functions in a locative sense meaning “there” (BDB 1027 s.v. שָׁם). This is how it is translated by many English versions (e.g., KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). However, in poetry שָׁם sometimes functions in a nonlocative sense to introduce expressions of astonishment or when a scene is vividly visualized in the writer’s imagination (see BDB 1027 s.v. 1.a.β), or somewhat similar to the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “Behold!”): “See [שָׁם] how the evildoers lie fallen!” (Ps 36:13); “Listen! The cry on the day of the Lord will be bitter! See [שָׁם]! The shouting of the warrior!” (Zeph 1:14); “They saw [רָאוּ, ra’u] her and were astonished…See [שָׁם] how trembling seized them!” (Ps 48:7). In some cases, it introduces emphatic statements in a manner similar to הִנֵּה (“Behold!”): “Come and see [לְכוּ וּרְאוּ, lÿkhu urÿ’u] what God has done…Behold [שָׁם], let us rejoice in him!” (Ps 66:5); “See/Behold [שָׁם]! I will make a horn grow for David” (Ps 132:17). The present translation’s use of “Oh how!” in Hos 6:7 is less visual than the Hebrew idiom שָׁם (“See! See how!”), but it more closely approximates the parallel English idiom of astonishment.

[6:7]  ²⁵ tn The verb בָּגַד (bagad, “to act treacherously”) is often used in reference to faithlessness in covenant relationships (BDB 93 s.v. בָּגַד).

[1:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Why do you make me see injustice?”

[1:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Why do you look at wrongdoing?”

[1:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “are before.”

[1:3]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and there is conflict and strife he lifts up.” The present translation takes the verb יִשָּׂא (yisa’) in the sense of “carry, bear,” and understands the subject to be indefinite (“one”).