Isaiah 49:4

49:4 But I thought, ¹  “I have worked in vain;

I have expended my energy for absolutely nothing.” ² 

But the Lord will vindicate me;

my God will reward me. ³ 

Ezekiel 24:13

24:13 You mix uncleanness with obscene conduct. ⁴ 

I tried to cleanse you, ⁵  but you are not clean.

You will not be cleansed from your uncleanness ⁶ 

until I have exhausted my anger on you.

Hosea 11:7

11:7 My people are obsessed ⁷  with turning away from me; ⁸ 

they call to Baal, ⁹  but he will never exalt them!

[49:4]  ¹ tn Or “said” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “I replied.”

[49:4]  ² tn Heb “for nothing and emptiness.” Synonyms are combined to emphasize the common idea.

[49:4]  ³ tn Heb “But my justice is with the Lord, and my reward [or “wage”] with my God.”

[24:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “in your uncleanness (is) obscene conduct.”

[24:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “because I cleansed you.” In this context (see especially the very next statement), the statement must refer to divine intention and purpose. Despite God’s efforts to cleanse his people, they resisted him and remained morally impure.

[24:13]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text adds the word “again.”

[11:7]  ⁷ tn The term תְלוּאִים (tÿlu’im, Qal passive participle masculine plural from תָּלָא, tala’, “to hang”) literally means “[My people] are hung up” (BDB 1067 s.v. תָּלָא). The verb תָּלָא//תָּלָה (“to hang”) is often used in a concrete sense to describe hanging an item on a peg (Ps 137:2; Song 4:4; Isa 22:24; Ezek 15:3; 27:10) or the impaling of the body of an executed criminal (Gen 40:19, 22; 41:13; Deut 21:22, 23; Josh 8:29; 10:26; 2 Sam 21:12; Esth 2:23; 5:14; 6:4; 7:9, 10; 8:7; 9:13, 14, 25). It is used figuratively here to describe Israel’s moral inability to detach itself from apostasy. Several English versions capture the sense well: “My people are bent on turning away from me” (RSV, NASB), “My people are determined to turn from me” (NIV), “My people are determined to reject me” (CEV; NLT “desert me”), “My people persist in its defection from me” (NJPS), and “they insist on turning away from me” (TEV).

[11:7]  ⁸ tn The 1st person common singular suffix on the noun מְשׁוּבָתִי (mÿshuvati; literally, “turning of me”) functions as an objective genitive: “turning away from me.”

[11:7]  ⁹ tc The meaning and syntax of the MT is enigmatic: וְאֶל־עַל יִקְרָאֻהוּ (vÿ’el-’al yiqra’uhu, “they call upwards to him”). Many English versions including KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT take the referent of “him” as the “most High.” The BHS editors suggest reading וְאֶל־בַּעַל יִקְרָא וְהוּא (vÿ’el-ba’al yiqra’ vehu’, “they call to Baal, but he…”), connecting the 3rd person masculine singular independent personal pronoun וְהוּא (vÿhu’, “but he…”) with the following clause. The early Greek recensions (Aquila and Symmachus), as well as the Aramaic Targum and the Vulgate, vocalized עֹל (’ol) as “yoke” (as in 11:4): “they cry out because of [their] yoke” (a reading followed by TEV).