Isaiah 50:2

50:2 Why does no one challenge me when I come?

Why does no one respond when I call? ¹ 

Is my hand too weak ²  to deliver ³  you?

Do I lack the power to rescue you?

Look, with a mere shout ⁴  I can dry up the sea;

I can turn streams into a desert,

so the fish rot away and die

from lack of water. ⁵ 

Isaiah 64:7

64:7 No one invokes ⁶  your name,

or makes an effort ⁷  to take hold of you.

For you have rejected us ⁸ 

and handed us over to our own sins. ⁹ 

Genesis 18:23-32

18:23 Abraham approached and said, “Will you sweep away the godly along with the wicked? 18:24 What if there are fifty godly people in the city? Will you really wipe it out and not spare ¹⁰  the place for the sake of the fifty godly people who are in it? 18:25 Far be it from you to do such a thing – to kill the godly with the wicked, treating the godly and the wicked alike! Far be it from you! Will not the judge ¹¹  of the whole earth do what is right?” ¹² 

18:26 So the Lord replied, “If I find in the city of Sodom fifty godly people, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

18:27 Then Abraham asked, “Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord ¹³  (although I am but dust and ashes), ¹⁴  18:28 what if there are five less than the fifty godly people? Will you destroy ¹⁵  the whole city because five are lacking?” ¹⁶  He replied, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

18:29 Abraham ¹⁷  spoke to him again, ¹⁸  “What if forty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”

18:30 Then Abraham ¹⁹  said, “May the Lord not be angry ²⁰  so that I may speak! ²¹  What if thirty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

18:31 Abraham ²²  said, “Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”

18:32 Finally Abraham ²³  said, “May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”

Psalms 106:23

106:23 He threatened ²⁴  to destroy them,

but ²⁵  Moses, his chosen one, interceded with him ²⁶ 

and turned back his destructive anger. ²⁷ 

Jeremiah 5:1

Judah is Justly Deserving of Coming Judgment

5:1 The Lord said, ²⁸ 

“Go up and down ²⁹  through the streets of Jerusalem. ³⁰ 

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. ³¹ 

If you can, ³²  then I will not punish this city. ³³ 

Ezekiel 22:30

22:30 “I looked for a man from among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one. ³⁴ 

Mark 6:6

6:6 And he was amazed because of their unbelief. Then ³⁵  he went around among the villages and taught.

[50:2]  ¹ sn The present tense translation of the verbs assumes that the Lord is questioning why Israel does not attempt to counter his arguments. Another possibility is to take the verbs as referring to past events: “Why did no one meet me when I came? Why did no one answer when I called?” In this case the Lord might be asking why Israel rejected his calls to repent and his offer to deliver them.

[50:2]  ² tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV).

[50:2]  ³ tn Or “ransom” (NAB, NASB, NIV).

[50:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “with my rebuke.”

[50:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “the fish stink from lack of water and die from thirst.”

[64:7]  ⁶ tn Or “calls out in”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “calls on.”

[64:7]  ⁷ tn Or “rouses himself”; NASB “arouses himself.”

[64:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “for you have hidden your face from us.”

[64:7]  ⁹ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and you caused us to melt in the hand of our sin.” The verb וַתְּמוּגֵנוּ (vattÿmugenu) is a Qal preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the root מוּג (mug, “melt”). However, elsewhere the Qal of this verb is intransitive. If the verbal root מוּג (mug) is retained here, the form should be emended to a Polel pattern (וַתְּמֹגְגֵנוּ, vattÿmogÿgenu). The translation assumes an emendation to וַתְּמַגְּנֵנוּ (vattÿmaggÿnenu, “and you handed us over”). This form is a Piel preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the verbal root מִגֵּן (miggen, “hand over, surrender”; see HALOT 545 s.v. מגן and BDB 171 s.v. מָגָן). The point is that God has abandoned them to their sinful ways and no longer seeks reconciliation.

[18:24]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “lift up,” perhaps in the sense of “bear with” (cf. NRSV “forgive”).

[18:25]  ¹¹ tn Or “ruler.”

[18:25]  ¹² sn Will not the judge of the whole earth do what is right? For discussion of this text see J. L. Crenshaw, “Popular Questioning of the Justice of God in Ancient Israel,” ZAW 82 (1970): 380-95, and C. S. Rodd, “Shall Not the Judge of All the Earth Do What Is Just?” ExpTim 83 (1972): 137-39.

[18:27]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here and in vv. 30, 31, 32 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[18:27]  ¹⁴ tn The disjunctive clause is a concessive clause here, drawing out the humility as a contrast to the Lord.

[18:28]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew verb שָׁחַת (shakhat, “to destroy”) was used earlier to describe the effect of the flood.

[18:28]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “because of five.”

[18:29]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:29]  ¹⁸ tn The construction is a verbal hendiadys – the preterite (“he added”) is combined with an adverb “yet” and an infinitive “to speak.”

[18:30]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:30]  ²⁰ tn Heb “let it not be hot to the Lord.” This is an idiom which means “may the Lord not be angry.”

[18:30]  ²¹ tn After the jussive, the cohortative indicates purpose/result.

[18:31]  ²² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:32]  ²³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[106:23]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and he said.”

[106:23]  ²⁵ tn Heb “if not,” that is, “[and would have] if [Moses] had not.”

[106:23]  ²⁶ tn Heb “stood in the gap before him.”

[106:23]  ²⁷ tn Heb “to turn back his anger from destroying.”

[5:1]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:1]  ³¹ tn Heb “who does justice and seeks faithfulness.”

[5:1]  ³² tn Heb “squares. If you can find…if there is one person…then I will…”

[5:1]  ³³ tn Heb “forgive [or pardon] it.”

[22:30]  ³⁴ tn Heb “I did not find.”

[6:6]  ³⁵ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.