Isaiah 47:13

47:13 You are tired out from listening to so much advice. ¹ 

Let them take their stand –

the ones who see omens in the sky,

who gaze at the stars,

who make monthly predictions –

let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you! ² 

Isaiah 57:9-10

57:9 You take olive oil as tribute ³  to your king, ⁴ 

along with many perfumes. ⁵ 

You send your messengers to a distant place;

you go all the way to Sheol. ⁶ 

57:10 Because of the long distance you must travel, you get tired, ⁷ 

but you do not say, ‘I give up.’ ⁸ 

You get renewed energy, ⁹ 

so you don’t collapse. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 2:13

2:13 “Do so because my people have committed a double wrong:

they have rejected me,

the fountain of life-giving water, ¹¹ 

and they have dug cisterns for themselves,

cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water.”

Jeremiah 9:5

9:5 One friend deceives another

and no one tells the truth.

These people have trained themselves ¹²  to tell lies.

They do wrong and are unable to repent.

Jeremiah 10:14-15

10:14 All these idolaters ¹³  will prove to be stupid and ignorant.

Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made.

For the image he forges is merely a sham. ¹⁴ 

There is no breath in any of those idols. ¹⁵ 

10:15 They are worthless, mere objects to be mocked. ¹⁶ 

When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.

Jeremiah 51:58

51:58 This is what the Lord who rules over all ¹⁷  says,

“Babylon’s thick wall ¹⁸  will be completely demolished. ¹⁹ 

Her high gates will be set on fire.

The peoples strive for what does not satisfy. ²⁰ 

The nations grow weary trying to get what will be destroyed.” ²¹ 

Hosea 12:1

12:1 Ephraim continually feeds on the wind;

he chases the east wind all day;

he multiplies lies and violence.

They make treaties ²²  with Assyria,

and send olive oil as tribute ²³  to Egypt.

Habakkuk 2:13

2:13 Be sure of this! The Lord who commands armies has decreed:

The nations’ efforts will go up in smoke;

their exhausting work will be for nothing. ²⁴ 

Habakkuk 2:18-19

2:18 What good ²⁵  is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? ²⁶ 

What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? ²⁷ 

Why would its creator place his trust in it ²⁸ 

and make ²⁹  such mute, worthless things?

2:19 The one who says to wood, ‘Wake up!’ is as good as dead ³⁰  –

he who says ³¹  to speechless stone, ‘Awake!’

Can it give reliable guidance? ³² 

It is overlaid with gold and silver;

it has no life’s breath inside it.

[47:13]  ¹ tn Heb “you are tired because of the abundance of your advice.”

[47:13]  ² tn Heb “let them stand and rescue you – the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make known by months – from those things which are coming upon you.”

[57:9]  ³ tn Heb “you journey with oil.”

[57:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “the king.” Since the context refers to idolatry and child sacrifice (see v. 5), some emend מֶלֶך (melekh, “king”) to “Molech.” Perhaps Israel’s devotion to her idols is likened here to a subject taking tribute to a ruler.

[57:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “and you multiply your perfumes.”

[57:9]  ⁶ sn Israel’s devotion to her idols is inordinate, irrational, and self-destructive.

[57:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “by the greatness [i.e., “length,” see BDB 914 s.v. רֹב 2] of your way you get tired.”

[57:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “it is hopeless” (so NAB, NASB, NIV); NRSV “It is useless.”

[57:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “the life of your hand you find.” The term חַיָּה (khayyah, “life”) is here used in the sense of “renewal” (see BDB 312 s.v.) while יָד (yad) is used of “strength.”

[57:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you do not grow weak.”

[2:13]  ¹¹ tn It is difficult to decide whether to translate “fresh, running water” which the Hebrew term for “living water” often refers to (e.g., Gen 26:19; Lev 14:5), or “life-giving water” which the idiom “fountain of life” as source of life and vitality often refers to (e.g., Ps 36:9; Prov 13:14; 14:27). The contrast with cisterns, which collected and held rain water, suggests “fresh, running water,” but the reality underlying the metaphor contrasts the Lord, the source of life, health, and vitality, with useless idols that cannot do anything.

[9:5]  ¹² 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.

[10:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “Every man.” But in the context this is not a reference to all people without exception but to all idolaters. The referent is made explicit for the sake of clarity.

[10:14]  ¹⁴ tn Or “nothing but a phony god”; Heb “a lie/falsehood.”

[10:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “There is no breath in them.” The referent is made explicit so that no one will mistakenly take it to refer to the idolaters or goldsmiths.

[10:15]  ¹⁶ tn Or “objects of mockery.”

[51:58]  ¹⁷ sn See the note at Jer 2:19.

[51:58]  ¹⁸ tn The text has the plural “walls,” but many Hebrew mss read the singular “wall,” which is also supported by the ancient Greek version. The modifying adjective “thick” is singular as well.

[51:58]  ¹⁹ tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following finite verb. Another option is to translate, “will certainly be demolished.”

[51:58]  ²⁰ tn Heb “for what is empty.”

[51:58]  ²¹ tn Heb “and the nations for fire, and they grow weary.”

[12:1]  ²² tn Heb “a treaty” (so NIV, NRSV); KJV, NASB “a covenant”; NAB “comes to terms.”

[12:1]  ²³ tn The phrase “as tribute” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity. Cf. NCV “send a gift of olive oil.”

[2:13]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Is it not, look, from the Lord of hosts that the nations work hard for fire, and the peoples are exhausted for nothing?”

[2:18]  ²⁵ tn Or “of what value.”

[2:18]  ²⁶ tn Heb “so that the one who forms it fashions it?” Here כִּי (ki) is taken as resultative after the rhetorical question. For other examples of this use, see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §450.

[2:18]  ²⁷ tn Heb “or a metal image, a teacher of lies.” The words “What good is” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line. “Teacher of lies” refers to the false oracles that the so-called god would deliver through a priest. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 126.

[2:18]  ²⁸ tn Heb “so that the one who forms his image trusts in it?” As earlier in the verse, כִּי (ki) is resultative.

[2:18]  ²⁹ tn Heb “to make.”

[2:19]  ³⁰ tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who says.” On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.

[2:19]  ³¹ tn The words “he who says” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line.

[2:19]  ³² tn Though the Hebrew text has no formal interrogative marker here, the context indicates that the statement should be taken as a rhetorical question anticipating the answer, “Of course not!” (so also NIV, NRSV).