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 

Isaiah 30:8-11

30:8 Now go, write it ⁶  down on a tablet in their presence, ⁷ 

inscribe it on a scroll,

so that it might be preserved for a future time

as an enduring witness. ⁸ 

30:9 For these are rebellious people –

they are lying children,

children unwilling to obey the Lord’s law. ⁹ 

30:10 They ¹⁰  say to the visionaries, “See no more visions!”

and to the seers, “Don’t relate messages to us about what is right! ¹¹ 

Tell us nice things,

relate deceptive messages. ¹² 

30:11 Turn aside from the way,

stray off the path. ¹³ 

Remove from our presence the Holy One of Israel.” ¹⁴ 

Exodus 32:7-10

32:7 The Lord spoke to Moses: “Go quickly, descend, ¹⁵  because your ¹⁶  people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have acted corruptly. 32:8 They have quickly turned aside ¹⁷  from the way that I commanded them – they have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt.’”

32:9 Then the Lord said to Moses: “I have seen this people. ¹⁸  Look ¹⁹  what a stiff-necked people they are! ²⁰  32:10 So now, leave me alone ²¹  so that my anger can burn against them and I can destroy them, and I will make from you a great nation.”

Jeremiah 15:1-2

15:1 Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for ²²  these people, I would not feel pity for them! ²³  Get them away from me! Tell them to go away! ²⁴  15:2 If they ask you, ‘Where should we go?’ tell them the Lord says this:

“Those who are destined to die of disease will go to death by disease.

Those who are destined to die in war will go to death in war.

Those who are destined to die of starvation will go to death by starvation.

Those who are destined to go into exile will go into exile.” ²⁵ 

Hosea 1:9

1:9 Then the Lord ²⁶  said: “Name him ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), because you ²⁷  are not my people and I am not your ²⁸  God.” ²⁹ 

[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.”

[30:8]  ⁶ tn The referent of the third feminine singular pronominal suffix is uncertain. Perhaps it refers to the preceding message, which accuses the people of rejecting the Lord’s help in favor of an alliance with Egypt.

[30:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “with them.” On the use of the preposition here, see BDB 86 s.v. II אֵת.

[30:8]  ⁸ sn Recording the message will enable the prophet to use it in the future as evidence that God warned his people of impending judgment and clearly spelled out the nation’s guilt. An official record of the message will also serve as proof of the prophet’s authority as God’s spokesman.

[30:9]  ⁹ tn Or perhaps, “instruction” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); NCV, TEV “teachings.”

[30:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “who” (so NASB, NRSV). A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[30:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Do not see for us right things.”

[30:10]  ¹² tn Heb “Tell us smooth things, see deceptive things.”

[30:11]  ¹³ sn The imagery refers to the way or path of truth, as revealed by God to the prophet.

[30:11]  ¹⁴ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[32:7]  ¹⁵ tn The two imperatives could also express one idea: “get down there.” In other words, “Make haste to get down.”

[32:7]  ¹⁶ sn By giving the people to Moses in this way, God is saying that they have no longer any right to claim him as their God, since they have shared his honor with another. This is God’s talionic response to their “These are your gods who brought you up.” The use of these pronoun changes also would form an appeal to Moses to respond, since Moses knew that God had brought them up from Egypt.

[32:8]  ¹⁷ tn The verb is a perfect tense, reflecting the present perfect nuance: “they have turned aside” and are still disobedient. But the verb is modified with the adverb “quickly” (actually a Piel infinitive absolute). It has been only a matter of weeks since they heard the voice of God prohibiting this.

[32:9]  ¹⁸ sn This is a bold anthropomorphism; it is as if God has now had a chance to get to know these people and has discovered how rebellious they are. The point of the figure is that there has been discernible evidence of their nature.

[32:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and behold” or “and look.” The expression directs attention in order to persuade the hearer.

[32:9]  ²⁰ sn B. Jacob says the image is that of the people walking before God, and when he called to them the directions, they would not bend their neck to listen; they were resolute in doing what they intended to do (Exodus, 943). The figure describes them as refusing to submit, but resisting in pride.

[32:10]  ²¹ tn The imperative, from the word “to rest” (נוּחַ, nuakh), has the sense of “leave me alone, let me be.” It is a directive for Moses not to intercede for the people. B. S. Childs (Exodus [OTL], 567) reflects the Jewish interpretation that there is a profound paradox in God’s words. He vows the severest punishment but then suddenly conditions it on Moses’ agreement. “Let me alone that I may consume them” is the statement, but the effect is that he has left the door open for intercession. He allows himself to be persuaded – that is what a mediator is for. God could have slammed the door (as when Moses wanted to go into the promised land). Moreover, by alluding to the promise to Abraham God gave Moses the strongest reason to intercede.

[15:1]  ²² tn The words “pleading for” have been supplied in the translation to explain the idiom (a metonymy). For parallel usage see BDB 763 s.v. עָמַד Qal.1.a and compare usage in Gen 19:27, Deut 4:10.

[15:1]  ²³ tn Heb “my soul would not be toward them.” For the usage of “soul” presupposed here see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 6 in the light of the complaints and petitions in Jeremiah’s prayer in 14:19, 21.

[15:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Send them away from my presence and let them go away.”

[15:2]  ²⁵ tn It is difficult to render the rhetorical force of this passage in meaningful English. The text answers the question “Where should we go?” with four brief staccato-like expressions with a play on the preposition “to”: Heb “Who to the death, to the death and who to the sword, to the sword and who to the starvation, to the starvation and who to the captivity, to the captivity.” The word “death” here is commonly understood to be a poetic substitute for “plague” because of the standard trio of sword, famine, and plague (see, e.g., 14:12 and the notes there). This is likely here and in 18:21. For further support see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:440. The nuance “starvation” rather than “famine” has been chosen in the translation because the referents here are all things that accompany war.

[1:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Then he said”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity. As in v. 6, many English versions specify the speaker here.

[1:9]  ²⁷ tn The independent personal pronoun אַתֶּם (’attem, “you”) is a plural form, referring to the people of Israel as a whole. To make this clear TEV translates this as third person: “the people of Israel are not my people” (cf. CEV, NLT).

[1:9]  ²⁸ tn The pronominal suffix on the preposition לָכֶם (lakhem, “your”) is a plural form, referring to the people of Israel as a whole.

[1:9]  ²⁹ tc The MT reads לֹא־אֶהְיֶה לָכֶם (lo’-’ehyeh lakhem, “I will not be yours”). The editors of BHS suggest emending the text to לֹא־אֱלֹהֵיכֶם (lo’-’elohekhem, “I will not be your God”). The emendation creates a tighter parallel with the preceding אַתֶּם לֹא עַמִּי (’attem lo’ ’ammi, “you are not my people”). Because of a lack of external evidence, however, the reading of the MT should be retained.