Isaiah 48:1

The Lord Appeals to the Exiles

48:1 Listen to this, O family of Jacob, ¹ 

you who are called by the name ‘Israel,’

and are descended from Judah, ² 

who take oaths in the name of the Lord,

and invoke ³  the God of Israel –

but not in an honest and just manner. ⁴ 

Psalms 5:9

5:9 For ⁵  they do not speak the truth; ⁶ 

their stomachs are like the place of destruction, ⁷ 

their throats like an open grave, ⁸ 

their tongues like a steep slope leading into it. ⁹ 

Psalms 12:1-2

Psalm 12 ¹⁰ 

For the music director; according to the sheminith style; ¹¹  a psalm of David.

12:1 Deliver, Lord!

For the godly ¹²  have disappeared; ¹³ 

people of integrity ¹⁴  have vanished. ¹⁵ 

12:2 People lie to one another; ¹⁶ 

they flatter and deceive. ¹⁷ 

Jeremiah 5:1-2

Judah is Justly Deserving of Coming Judgment

5:1 The Lord said, ¹⁸ 

“Go up and down ¹⁹  through the streets of Jerusalem. ²⁰ 

Look around and see for yourselves.

Search through its public squares.

See if any of you can find a single person

who deals honestly and tries to be truthful. ²¹ 

If you can, ²²  then I will not punish this city. ²³ 

5:2 These people make promises in the name of the Lord. ²⁴ 

But the fact is, ²⁵  what they swear to is really a lie.” ²⁶ 

Jeremiah 7:28

7:28 So tell them: ‘This is a nation that has not obeyed the Lord their God and has not accepted correction. Faithfulness is nowhere to be found in it. These people do not even profess it anymore. ²⁷ 

Hosea 4:1-2

The Lord’s Covenant Lawsuit against the Nation Israel

4:1 Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites! ²⁸ 

For the Lord has a covenant lawsuit ²⁹  against the people of Israel. ³⁰ 

For there is neither faithfulness nor loyalty in the land,

nor do they acknowledge God. ³¹ 

4:2 There is only cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery.

They resort to violence and bloodshed. ³² 

Micah 7:2

7:2 Faithful men have disappeared ³³  from the land;

there are no godly men left. ³⁴ 

They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood; ³⁵ 

they hunt their own brother with a net. ³⁶ 

[48:1]  ¹ tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV, CEV “people of Israel.”

[48:1]  ² tc The Hebrew text reads literally “and from the waters of Judah came out.” מִמֵּי (mimme) could be a corruption of מִמְּעֵי (mimmÿ’e, “from the inner parts of”; cf. NASB, NIV, NLT, NRSV) as suggested in the above translation. Some translations (ESV, NKJV) retain the MT reading because the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, which corrects a similar form to “from inner parts of” in 39:7, does not do it here.

[48:1]  ³ tn Heb “cause to remember”; KJV, ASV “make mention of.”

[48:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “not in truth and not in righteousness.”

[5:9]  ⁵ tn Or “certainly.”

[5:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “for there is not in his mouth truthfulness.” The singular pronoun (“his”) probably refers back to the “man of bloodshed and deceit” mentioned in v. 6. The singular is collective or representative, as the plural in the next line indicates, and so has been translated “they.”

[5:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “their inward part[s] [is] destruction.” For a discussion of the extended metaphor in v. 9b, see the note on the word “it” at the end of the verse.

[5:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “their throat is an open grave.” For a discussion of the extended metaphor in v. 9b, see the note on the word “it” at the end of the verse. The metaphor is suggested by the physical resemblance of the human throat to a deeply dug grave; both are dark chasms.

[5:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “they make smooth their tongue.” Flattering, deceitful words are in view. See Ps 12:2. The psalmist’s deceitful enemies are compared to the realm of death/Sheol in v. 9b. Sheol was envisioned as a dark region within the earth, the entrance to which was the grave with its steep slopes (cf. Ps 88:4-6). The enemies’ victims are pictured here as slipping down a steep slope (the enemies’ tongues) and falling into an open grave (their throat) that terminates in destruction in the inner recesses of Sheol (their stomach). The enemies’ קרב (“inward part”) refers here to their thoughts and motives, which are destructive in their intent. The throat is where these destructive thoughts are transformed into words, and their tongue is what they use to speak the deceitful words that lead their innocent victims to their demise.

[12:1]  ¹⁰ sn Psalm 12. The psalmist asks the Lord to intervene, for society is overrun by deceitful, arrogant oppressors and godly individuals are a dying breed. When the Lord announces his intention to defend the oppressed, the psalmist affirms his confidence in the divine promise.

[12:1]  ¹¹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term שְׁמִינִית (shÿminit) is uncertain; perhaps it refers to a particular style of music. See 1 Chr 15:21.

[12:1]  ¹² tn The singular form is collective or representative. Note the plural form “faithful [ones]” in the following line. A “godly [one]” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 18:25; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).

[12:1]  ¹³ tn Or “have come to an end.”

[12:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the faithful [ones] from the sons of man.”

[12:1]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew verb פָּסַס (pasas) occurs only here. An Akkadian cognate means “efface, blot out.”

[12:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “falsehood they speak, a man with his neighbor.” The imperfect verb forms in v. 2 describe what is typical in the psalmist’s experience.

[12:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “[with] a lip of smoothness, with a heart and a heart they speak.” Speaking a “smooth” word refers to deceptive flattery (cf. Ps 5:9; 55:21; Prov 2:16; 5:3; 7:5, 21; 26:28; 28:23; Isa 30:10). “Heart” here refers to their mind, from which their motives and intentions originate. The repetition of the noun indicates diversity (see GKC 396 §123.f, IBHS 116 §7.2.3c, and Deut 25:13, where the phrase “weight and a weight” refers to two different measuring weights). These people have two different types of “hearts.” Their flattering words seem to express kind motives and intentions, but this outward display does not really reflect their true motives. Their real “heart” is filled with evil thoughts and destructive intentions. The “heart” that is seemingly displayed through their words is far different from the real “heart” they keep disguised. (For the idea see Ps 28:3.) In 1 Chr 12:33 the phrase “without a heart and a heart” means “undivided loyalty.”

[5:1]  ¹⁸ tn These words are not in the text, but since the words at the end are obviously those of the Lord, they are supplied in the translation here to mark the shift in speaker from 4:29-31 where Jeremiah is the obvious speaker.

[5:1]  ¹⁹ tn It is not clear who is being addressed here. The verbs are plural so they are not addressed to Jeremiah per se. Since the passage is talking about the people of Jerusalem, it is unlikely they are addressed here except perhaps rhetorically. Some have suggested that the heavenly court is being addressed here as in Job 1:6-8; 2:1-3. It is clear from Jer 23:18, 22; Amos 3:7 that the prophets had access to this heavenly counsel through visions (cf. 1 Kgs 22:19-23), so Jeremiah could have been privy to this speech through that means. Though these are the most likely addressee, it is too presumptuous to supply such an explicit addressee without clearer indication in the text. The translation will just have to run the risk of the probable erroneous assumption by most English readers that the addressee is Jeremiah.

[5:1]  ²⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “who does justice and seeks faithfulness.”

[5:1]  ²² tn Heb “squares. If you can find…if there is one person…then I will…”

[5:1]  ²³ tn Heb “forgive [or pardon] it.”

[5:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Though they say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives.” The idea of “swear on oath” comes from the second line.

[5:2]  ²⁵ tc The translation follows many Hebrew mss and the Syriac version in reading “surely” (אָכֵן, ’akhen) instead of “therefore” (לָכֵן, lakhen) in the MT.

[5:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “they swear falsely.”

[7:28]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Faithfulness has vanished. It is cut off from their lips.”

[4:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “sons of Israel” (so NASB); KJV “children of Israel”; NAB, NRSV “people of Israel.”

[4:1]  ²⁹ tn The noun רִיב (riv, “dispute, lawsuit”) is used in two contexts: (1) nonlegal contexts: (a) “dispute” between individuals (e.g., Gen 13:7; Isa 58:1; Jer 15:10) or (b) “brawl; quarrel” between people (e.g., Exod 17:7; Deut 25:1); and (2) legal contexts: (a) “lawsuit; legal process” (e.g., Exod 23:3-6; Deut 19:17; 21:5; Ezek 44:24; Ps 35:23), (b) “lawsuit; legal case” (e.g., Deut 1:12; 17:8; Prov 18:17; 25:9), and (c) God’s “lawsuit” on behalf of a person or against his own people (Hos 4:1; 12:3; Mic 6:2; HALOT 1225-26 s.v. רִיב). The term in Hosea refers to a covenant lawsuit in which Yahweh the suzerain lodges a legal case against his disobedient vassal, accusing Israel and Judah of breach of covenant which will elicit the covenant curses.

[4:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “with the inhabitants of the land” (so KJV); NAB, NASB, NRSV “against the inhabitants of the land.”

[4:1]  ³¹ tn Heb “there is no truthfulness nor loyalty nor knowledge of God in the land.” Here “knowledge of God” refers to recognition of his authority and obedience to his will.

[4:2]  ³² tn Heb “they break out and bloodshed touches bloodshed.” The Hebrew term פָּרַץ (parats, “to break out”) refers to violent and wicked actions (BDB 829 s.v. פָּרַץ 7; HALOT 972 s.v. פרץ 6.c). It is used elsewhere in a concrete sense to describe breaking through physical barriers. Here it is used figuratively to describe breaking moral barriers and restraints (cf. TEV “Crimes increase, and there is one murder after another”).

[7:2]  ³³ tn Or “have perished”; “have been destroyed.”

[7:2]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and an upright one among men there is not.”

[7:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “for bloodshed” (so NASB); TEV “for a chance to commit murder.”

[7:2]  ³⁶ sn Micah compares these ungodly people to hunters trying to capture their prey with a net.