Isaiah 29:13

29:13 The sovereign master ¹  says,

“These people say they are loyal to me; ² 

they say wonderful things about me, ³ 

but they are not really loyal to me. ⁴ 

Their worship consists of

nothing but man-made ritual. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 9:3-8

The Lord Laments That He Has No Choice But to Judge Them

9:3 The Lord says, ⁶ 

“These people are like soldiers who have readied their bows.

Their tongues are always ready to shoot out lies. ⁷ 

They have become powerful in the land,

but they have not done so by honest means. ⁸ 

Indeed, they do one evil thing after another ⁹ 

and do not pay attention to me. ¹⁰ 

9:4 Everyone must be on his guard around his friends.

He must not even trust any of his relatives. ¹¹ 

For every one of them will find some way to cheat him. ¹² 

And all of his friends will tell lies about him.

9:5 One friend deceives another

and no one tells the truth.

These people have trained themselves ¹³  to tell lies.

They do wrong and are unable to repent.

9:6 They do one act of violence after another,

and one deceitful thing after another. ¹⁴ 

They refuse to pay attention to me,” ¹⁵ 

says the Lord.

9:7 Therefore the Lord who rules over all says, ¹⁶ 

“I will now purify them in the fires of affliction ¹⁷  and test them.

The wickedness of my dear people ¹⁸  has left me no choice.

What else can I do? ¹⁹ 

9:8 Their tongues are like deadly arrows. ²⁰ 

They are always telling lies. ²¹ 

Friendly words for their neighbors come from their mouths.

But their minds are thinking up ways to trap them. ²² 

Ezekiel 2:6-8

2:6 But you, son of man, do not fear them, and do not fear their words – even though briers ²³  and thorns ²⁴  surround you and you live among scorpions – do not fear their words and do not be terrified of the looks they give you, ²⁵  for they are a rebellious house! 2:7 You must speak my words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious. 2:8 As for you, son of man, listen to what I am saying to you: Do not rebel like that rebellious house! Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.”

Ezekiel 33:31

33:31 They come to you in crowds, ²⁶  and they sit in front of you as ²⁷  my people. They hear your words, but do not obey ²⁸  them. For they talk lustfully, ²⁹  and their heart is set on ³⁰  their own advantage. ³¹ 

James 3:6-10

3:6 And the tongue is a fire! The tongue represents ³²  the world of wrongdoing among the parts of our bodies. It ³³  pollutes the entire body and sets fire to the course of human existence – and is set on fire by hell. ³⁴ 

3:7 For every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and sea creature ³⁵  is subdued and has been subdued by humankind. ³⁶  3:8 But no human being can subdue the tongue; it is a restless ³⁷  evil, full of deadly poison. 3:9 With it we bless the Lord ³⁸  and Father, and with it we curse people ³⁹  made in God’s image. 3:10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. These things should not be so, my brothers and sisters. ⁴⁰ 

[29:13]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai).

[29:13]  ² tn Heb “Because these people draw near to me with their mouth.”

[29:13]  ³ tn Heb “and with their lips they honor me.”

[29:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “but their heart is far from me.” The heart is viewed here as the seat of the will, from which genuine loyalty derives.

[29:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “their fear of me is a commandment of men that has been taught.”

[9:3]  ⁶ tn The words “The Lord says” have been moved up from the end of the verse to make clear that a change in speaker has occurred.

[9:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “They have readied [or strung] their tongue as their bow for lies.”

[9:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “but not through honesty.”

[9:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “they go from evil to evil.”

[9:3]  ¹⁰ tn Or “do not acknowledge me”; Heb “do not know me.” But “knowing” in Hebrew thought often involves more than intellectual knowledge; it involves emotional and volitional commitment as well. For יָדַע meaning “acknowledge” see 1 Chr 28:9; Isa 29:21; Hos 2:20; Prov 3:6. This word is also found in ancient Near Eastern treaty contexts where it has the idea of a vassal king acknowledging the sovereignty of a greater king (cf. H. Huffmon, “The Treaty Background of Hebrew yada,” BASOR 181 [1966]: 31-37).

[9:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Be on your guard…Do not trust.” The verbs are second masculine plural of direct address and there seems no way to translate literally and not give the mistaken impression that Jeremiah is being addressed. This is another example of the tendency in Hebrew style to turn from description to direct address (a figure of speech called apostrophe).

[9:4]  ¹² tn Heb “cheating, each of them will cheat.”

[9:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “their tongues.” However, this is probably not a natural idiom in contemporary English and the tongue may stand as a part for the whole anyway.

[9:6]  ¹⁴ tc An alternate reading for vv. 5d-6b is: “They wear themselves out doing wrong. Jeremiah, you live in the midst of deceitful people. They deceitfully refuse to take any thought of/acknowledge me.” The translation which has been adopted is based on a redivision of the lines, a redivision of some of the words, and a revocalization of some of the consonants. The MT reads literally “doing wrong they weary themselves. Your sitting in the midst of deceit; in deceit they refuse to know me” (הַעֲוֵה נִלְאוּ׃ שִׁבְתְּךָ בְּתוֹךְ מִרְמָה בְּמִרְמָה מֵאֲנוּ דַעַת־אוֹתִי). The Greek version reads literally “they do wrong and they do not cease to turn themselves around. Usury upon usury and deceit upon deceit. They do not want to know me.” This suggests that one should read the Hebrew text as שֻׁב׃ תֹּךְ בְּתוֹךְ מִרְ־מָה בְּמִרְ־מָה מֵאֲנוּ דַעַת אוֹתִי הַעֲוֵה נִלְאוּ, which translated literally yields “doing evil [= “they do evil” using the Hiphil infinitive absolute as a finite verb (cf. GKC 346 §113.ff)] they are not able [cf. KBL 468 s.v. לָאָה Niph.3 and see Exod 7:18 for parallel use] to repent. Oppression on oppression [cf. BDB 1067 s.v. תֹּךְ, II תּוֹךְ]; deceit on deceit. They refuse to know me.” This reading has ancient support and avoids the introduction of an unexpected second masculine suffix into the context. It has been adopted here along with a number of modern commentaries (cf., e.g., W. McKane, Jeremiah [ICC], 1:201) and English versions as the more likely reading.

[9:6]  ¹⁵ tn Or “do not acknowledge me”; Heb “do not know me.” See the note on the phrase “do not take any thought of me” in 9:3.

[9:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[9:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “I will refine/purify them.” The words “in the fires of affliction” are supplied in the translation to give clarity to the metaphor.

[9:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

[9:7]  ¹⁹ tc Heb “For how else shall I deal because of the wickedness of the daughter of my people.” The MT does not have the word “wickedness.” The word, however, is read in the Greek version. This is probably a case of a word dropping out because of its similarities to the consonants preceding or following it (i.e., haplography). The word “wickedness” (רַעַת, ra’at) has dropped out before the words “my dear people” (בַּת־עַמִּי, bat-’ammi). The causal nuance which is normal for מִפְּנֵי (mippÿne) does not make sense without some word like this, and the combination of רַעַת מִפְּנֵי (mippÿne ra’at) does occur in Jer 7:12 and one very like it occurs in Jer 26:3.

[9:8]  ²⁰ tc This reading follows the Masoretic consonants (the Kethib, a Qal active participle from שָׁחַט, shakhat). The Masoretes preferred to read “a sharpened arrow” (the Qere, a Qal passive participle from the same root or a homonym, meaning “hammered, beaten”). See HALOT 1354 s.v. II שָׁחַט for discussion. The exact meaning of the word makes little difference to the meaning of the metaphor itself.

[9:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “They speak deceit.”

[9:8]  ²² tn Heb “With his mouth a person speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets an ambush for him.”

[2:6]  ²³ tn The Hebrew term occurs only here in the OT.

[2:6]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew term is found elsewhere in the OT only in Ezek 28:24.

[2:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “of their faces.”

[33:31]  ²⁶ tn Heb “as people come.” Apparently this is an idiom indicating that they come in crowds. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:264.

[33:31]  ²⁷ tn The word “as” is supplied in the translation.

[33:31]  ²⁸ tn Heb “do.”

[33:31]  ²⁹ tn Heb “They do lust with their mouths.”

[33:31]  ³⁰ tn Heb “goes after.”

[33:31]  ³¹ tn The present translation understands the term often used for “unjust gain” in a wider sense, following M. Greenberg, who also notes that the LXX uses a term which can describe either sexual or ritual pollution. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:687.

[3:6]  ³² tn Grk “makes itself,” “is made.”

[3:6]  ³³ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[3:6]  ³⁴ sn The word translated hell is “Gehenna” (γέεννα, geenna), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36).

[3:7]  ³⁵ tn Grk (plurals), “every kind of animals and birds, of reptiles and sea creatures.”

[3:7]  ³⁶ tn Grk “the human species.”

[3:8]  ³⁷ tc Most mss (C Ψ 1739^c Ï as well as a few versions and fathers) read “uncontrollable” (ἀκατασχετόν, akatasceton), while the most important witnesses (א A B K P 1739* latt) have “restless” (ἀκατάστατον, akatastaton). Externally, the latter reading should be preferred. Internally, however, things get a bit more complex. The notion of being uncontrollable is well suited to the context, especially as a counterbalance to v. 8a, though for this very reason scribes may have been tempted to replace ἀκατάστατον with ἀκατασχετόν. However, in a semantically parallel early Christian text, ἀκατάστατος (akatastato") was considered strong enough of a term to denounce slander as “a restless demon” (Herm. 27:3). On the other hand, ἀκατάστατον may have been substituted for ἀκατασχετόν by way of assimilation to 1:8 (especially since both words were relatively rare, scribes may have replaced the less familiar with one that was already used in this letter). On internal evidence, it is difficult to decide, though ἀκατασχετόν is slightly preferred. However, in light of the strong support for ἀκατάστατον, and the less-than-decisive internal evidence, ἀκατάστατον is preferred instead.

[3:9]  ³⁸ tc Most later mss (Ï), along with several versional witnesses, have θεόν (qeon, “God”) here instead of κύριον (kurion, “Lord”). Such is a predictable variant since nowhere else in the NT is God described as “Lord and Father,” but he is called “God and Father” on several occasions. Further, the reading κύριον is well supported by early and diversified witnesses (̲⁰ א A B C P Ψ 33 81 945 1241 1739), rendering it as the overwhelmingly preferred reading.

[3:9]  ³⁹ tn Grk “men”; but here ἀνθρώπους (anqrwpous) has generic force, referring to both men and women.

[3:10]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.