Isaiah 43:22-26

The Lord Rebukes His People

43:22 “But you did not call for me, O Jacob;

you did not long ¹  for me, O Israel.

43:23 You did not bring me lambs for your burnt offerings;

you did not honor me with your sacrifices.

I did not burden you with offerings;

I did not make you weary by demanding ²  incense.

43:24 You did not buy me aromatic reeds; ³ 

you did not present to me ⁴  the fat of your sacrifices.

Yet you burdened me with your sins;

you made me weary with your evil deeds. ⁵ 

43:25 I, I am the one who blots out your rebellious deeds for my sake;

your sins I do not remember.

43:26 Remind me of what happened! Let’s debate!

You, prove to me that you are right! ⁶ 

Jeremiah 2:5

2:5 This is what the Lord says:

“What fault could your ancestors ⁷  have possibly found in me

that they strayed so far from me? ⁸ 

They paid allegiance to ⁹  worthless idols, and so became worthless to me. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 2:9

The Lord Charges Contemporary Israel with Spiritual Adultery

2:9 “So, once more I will state my case ¹¹  against you,” says the Lord.

“I will also state it against your children and grandchildren. ¹² 

Matthew 25:45

25:45 Then he will answer them, ¹³  ‘I tell you the truth, ¹⁴  just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.’

Matthew 27:23

27:23 He asked, “Why? What wrong has he done?” But they shouted more insistently, “Crucify him!”

Matthew 27:1

Jesus Brought Before Pilate

27:1 When ¹⁵  it was early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people plotted against Jesus to execute him.

Matthew 1:13

1:13 Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor,

[43:22]  ¹ tn Or “strive”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “been weary of me.”

[43:23]  ² tn Heb “with.” The words “by demanding” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[43:24]  ³ tn That is, “calamus” (so NIV); NCV, TEV, NLT “incense”; CEV “spices.”

[43:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “you did not saturate me”; NASB “Neither have you filled Me.”

[43:24]  ⁵ sn In vv. 22-24 the Lord appears to be condemning his people for failure to bring the proper sacrifices. However, this is problematic. If this refers to the nation’s behavior while in exile, such cultic service was impossible and could hardly be expected by the Lord. If this refers to the nation’s conduct before the exile, it contradicts other passages that depict Israel as bringing excessive sacrifices (see, e.g., Isa 1:11-14; Jer 6:20; Amos 4:4-5, 5:21-23). Rather than being a condemnation of Israel’s failure to bring sacrifices, these verses are better taken as a highly rhetorical comment on the worthlessness of Israel’s religious ritual. They may have brought sacrifices, but not to the Lord, for he did not accept them or even want them. See C. R. North, Second Isaiah, 127, and R. Whybray, Isaiah 40-66 (NCBC), 91.

[43:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “you, tell in order that you may be right”; NAB “prove your innocence.”

[2:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “fathers.”

[2:5]  ⁸ tn Or “I did not wrong your ancestors in any way. Yet they went far astray from me.” Both translations are an attempt to render the rhetorical question which demands a negative answer.

[2:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “They went/followed after.” This idiom is found most often in Deuteronomy or covenant contexts. It refers to loyalty to God and to his covenant or his commandments (e.g., 1 Kgs 14:8; 2 Chr 34:31) with the metaphor of a path or way underlying it (e.g., Deut 11:28; 28:14). To “follow other gods” was to abandon this way and this loyalty (i.e., to “abandon” or “forget” God, Judg 2:12; Hos 2:13) and to follow the customs or religious traditions of the pagan nations (e.g., 2 Kgs 17:15). The classic text on “following” God or another god is 1 Kgs 18:18, 21 where Elijah taunts the people with “halting between two opinions” whether the Lord was the true God or Baal was. The idiom is often found followed by “to serve and to worship” or “they served and worshiped” such and such a god or entity (see, e.g., Jer 8:2; 11:10; 13:10; 16:11; 25:6; 35:15).

[2:5]  ¹⁰ tn The words “to me” are not in the Hebrew text but are implicit from the context: Heb “they followed after the worthless thing/things and became worthless.” There is an obvious wordplay on the verb “became worthless” and the noun “worthless thing,” which is probably to be understood collectively and to refer to idols as it does in Jer 8:19; 10:8; 14:22; Jonah 2:8.

[2:9]  ¹¹ tn Or “bring charges against you.”

[2:9]  ¹² tn The words “your children and” are supplied in the translation to bring out the idea of corporate solidarity implicit in the passage.

[25:45]  ¹³ tn Grk “answer them, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[25:45]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[27:1]  ¹⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.