Discovery BoxIsaiah 56:10-11
Context56:10 All their watchmen 1 are blind,
they are unaware. 2
All of them are like mute dogs,
unable to bark.
They pant, 3 lie down,
and love to snooze.
56:11 The dogs have big appetites;
they are never full. 4
They are shepherds who have no understanding;
they all go their own way,
each one looking for monetary gain. 5
Ezekiel 22:25
Context22:25 Her princes 6 within her are like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they have devoured lives. They take away riches and valuable things; they have made many women widows 7 within it.
Micah 3:5
Context3:5 This is what the Lord says: “The prophets who mislead my people
are as good as dead. 8
If someone gives them enough to eat,
they offer an oracle of peace. 9
But if someone does not give them food,
they are ready to declare war on him. 10
Zephaniah 3:3-4
Context3:3 Her princes 11 are as fierce as roaring lions; 12
her rulers 13 are as hungry as wolves in the desert, 14
who completely devour their prey by morning. 15
3:4 Her prophets are proud; 16
they are deceitful men.
Her priests defile what is holy; 17
they break God’s laws. 18
Acts 20:29-31
Context20:29 I know that after I am gone 19 fierce wolves 20 will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 20:30 Even from among your own group 21 men 22 will arise, teaching perversions of the truth 23 to draw the disciples away after them. 20:31 Therefore be alert, 24 remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop warning 25 each one of you with tears.
Revelation 17:6
Context17:6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of those who testified to Jesus. 26 I 27 was greatly astounded 28 when I saw her.
[56:10] 1 sn The “watchmen” are probably spiritual leaders, most likely prophets and priests, responsible for giving the people moral direction.
[56:10] 2 tn Heb “they do not know”; KJV “they are all ignorant”; NIV “they all lack knowledge.”
[56:10] 3 tn The Hebrew text has הֹזִים (hozim), which appears to be derived from an otherwise unattested verbal root הָזָה (hazah). On the basis of alleged cognates, BDB 223 s.v. הָזָה offers the definition “dream, rave” while HALOT 243 s.v. הזה lists “pant.” In this case the dog metaphor of the preceding lines continues. The reference to dogs at the beginning of v. 11 favors the extension of the metaphor. The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has חזים (“seers”) here. In this case the “watchmen” are directly identified as prophets and depicted as lazy.
[56:11] 4 sn The phrase never full alludes to the greed of the leaders.
[56:11] 5 tn Heb “for his gain from his end.”
[22:25] 6 tn Heb “a conspiracy of her prophets is in her midst.” The LXX reads “whose princes” rather than “a conspiracy of prophets.” The prophets are mentioned later in the paragraph (v. 28). If one follows the LXX in verse 25, then five distinct groups are mentioned in vv. 25-29: princes, priests, officials, prophets, and the people of the land. For a defense of the Septuagintal reading, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:32, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:720, n. 4.
[22:25] 7 tn Heb “her widows they have multiplied.” The statement alludes to their murderous acts.
[3:5] 8 tn Heb “concerning the prophets, those who mislead my people.” The first person pronominal suffix is awkward in a quotation formula that introduces the words of the
[3:5] 9 tn Heb “those who bite with their teeth and cry out, ‘peace.’” The phrase “bite with the teeth” is taken here as idiomatic for eating. Apparently these prophets were driven by mercenary motives. If they were paid well, they gave positive oracles to their clients, but if someone could not afford to pay them, they were hostile and delivered oracles of doom.
[3:5] 10 tn Heb “but [as for the one] who does not place [food] in their mouths, they prepare for war against him.”
[3:3] 12 tn Heb “her princes in her midst are roaring lions.” The metaphor has been translated as a simile (“as fierce as”) for clarity.
[3:3] 13 tn Traditionally “judges.”
[3:3] 14 tn Heb “her judges [are] wolves of the evening,” that is, wolves that prowl at night. The translation assumes an emendation to עֲרָבָה (’aravah, “desert”). For a discussion of this and other options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 128. The metaphor has been translated as a simile (“as hungry as”) for clarity.
[3:3] 15 tn Heb “they do not gnaw [a bone] at morning.” The precise meaning of the line is unclear. The statement may mean these wolves devour their prey so completely that not even a bone is left to gnaw by the time morning arrives. For a discussion of this and other options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 129.
[3:4] 16 sn Applied to prophets, the word פֹּחֲזִים (pokhazim, “proud”) probably refers to their audacity in passing off their own words as genuine prophecies from the
[3:4] 17 tn Or “defile the temple.”
[3:4] 18 tn Heb “they treat violently [the] law.”
[20:29] 19 tn Grk “after my departure.”
[20:29] 20 tn That is, people like fierce wolves. See BDAG 167-68 s.v. βαρύς 4 on the term translated “fierce.” The battle that will follow would be a savage one.
[20:30] 21 tn Grk “from among yourselves.”
[20:30] 22 tn The Greek term here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which only rarely is used in a generic sense to refer to both males and females. Since Paul is speaking to the Ephesian elders at this point and there is nothing in the context to suggest women were included in that group (“from among your own group”), it is most likely Paul was not predicting that these false teachers would include women.
[20:30] 23 tn Grk “speaking crooked things”; BDAG 237 s.v. διαστρέφω 2 has “λαλεῖν διεστραμμένα teach perversions (of the truth) Ac 20:30.”
[20:31] 24 tn Or “be watchful.”
[20:31] 25 tn Or “admonishing.”
[17:6] 26 tn Or “of the witnesses to Jesus.” Here the genitive ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou) is taken as an objective genitive; Jesus is the object of their testimony.
[17:6] 27 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
[17:6] 28 tn Grk “I marveled a great marvel” (an idiom for great astonishment).
