Jeremiah 12:1

12:1 Lord, you have always been fair

whenever I have complained to you. ¹ 

However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. ² 

Why are wicked people successful? ³ 

Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?

Jeremiah 12:6

12:6 As a matter of fact, ⁴  even your own brothers

and the members of your own family have betrayed you too.

Even they have plotted to do away with you. ⁵ 

So do not trust them even when they say kind things ⁶  to you.

Hosea 5:7

5:7 They have committed treason ⁷  against the Lord,

because they bore illegitimate children.

Soon ⁸  the new moon festival will devour them and their fields.

Hosea 6:7

Indictments Against the Cities of Israel and Judah

6:7 At Adam ⁹  they broke ¹⁰  the covenant;

Oh how ¹¹  they were unfaithful ¹²  to me!

Micah 7:2-5

7:2 Faithful men have disappeared ¹³  from the land;

there are no godly men left. ¹⁴ 

They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood; ¹⁵ 

they hunt their own brother with a net. ¹⁶ 

7:3 They are determined to be experts at doing evil; ¹⁷ 

government officials and judges take bribes, ¹⁸ 

prominent men make demands,

and they all do what is necessary to satisfy them. ¹⁹ 

7:4 The best of them is like a thorn;

the most godly among them are more dangerous than a row of thorn bushes. ²⁰ 

The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen –

your appointed time of punishment – is on the way, ²¹ 

and then you will experience confusion. ²² 

7:5 Do not rely on a friend;

do not trust a companion!

Don’t even share secrets with the one who lies in your arms! ²³ 

Zephaniah 3:4

3:4 Her prophets are proud; ²⁴ 

they are deceitful men.

Her priests defile what is holy; ²⁵ 

they break God’s laws. ²⁶ 

Malachi 2:11

2:11 Judah has become disloyal, and unspeakable sins have been committed in Israel and Jerusalem. ²⁷  For Judah has profaned ²⁸  the holy things that the Lord loves and has turned to a foreign god! ²⁹ 

[12:1]  ¹ tn Or “Lord, you are fair when I present my case before you.”

[12:1]  ² tn Heb “judgments” or “matters of justice.” For the nuance of “complain to,” “fair,” “disposition of justice” assumed here, see BDB 936 s.v. רִיב Qal.4 (cf. Judg 21:22); BDB 843 s.v. צַדִּיק 1.d (cf. Ps 7:12; 11:7); BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 1.f (cf. Isa 26:8; Ps 10:5; Ezek 7:27).

[12:1]  ³ tn Heb “Why does the way [= course of life] of the wicked prosper?”

[12:6]  ⁴ tn This is an attempt to give some contextual sense to the particle “for, indeed” (כִּי, ki).

[12:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “they have called after you fully”; or “have lifted up loud voices against you.” The word “against” does not seem quite adequate for the preposition “after.” The preposition “against” would be Hebrew עַל (’al). The idea appears to be that they are chasing after him, raising their voices along with those of the conspirators to have him killed.

[12:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “good things.” See BDB 373 s.v. II טוֹב 2 for this nuance and compare Prov 12:25 for usage.

[5:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “dealt treacherously against” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “dealt faithlessly”; NLT “betrayed the honor of.”

[5:7]  ⁸ tn The particle עַתָּה (’attah) often refers to the imminent or the impending future: “very soon” (BDB 774 s.v. עַתָּה 1.b). In Hosea it normally introduces imminent judgment (Hos 2:12; 4:16; 5:7; 8:8, 13; 10:2).

[6:7]  ⁹ tn Or “Like Adam”; or “Like [sinful] men.” The MT reads כְּאָדָם (kÿ’adam, “like Adam” or “as [sinful] men”); however, the editors of BHS suggest this reflects an orthographic confusion of בְּאָדָם (bÿ’adam, “at Adam”), as suggested by the locative adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) in the following line. However, שָׁם sometimes functions in a nonlocative sense similar to the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “Behold!”). The singular noun אָדָם (’adam) has been taken in several different ways: (1) proper name: “like Adam” (כְּאָדָם), (2) collective singular: “like [sinful] men” (כְּאָדָם), (3) proper location: “at Adam,” referring to a city in the Jordan Valley (Josh 3:16), emending comparative כְּ (kaf) to locative בְּ (bet, “at”): “at Adam” (בְּאָדָם). BDB 9 s.v. אָדָם 2 suggests the collective sense, referring to sinful men (Num 5:6; 1 Kgs 8:46; 2 Chr 6:36; Jer 10:14; Job 31:33; Hos 6:7). The English versions are divided: KJV margin, ASV, RSV margin, NASB, NIV, TEV margin, NLT “like Adam”; RSV, NRSV, TEV “at Adam”; KJV “like men.”

[6:7]  ¹⁰ tn The verb עָבַר (’avar) refers here to breaking a covenant and carries the nuance “to overstep, transgress” (BDB 717 s.v. עָבַר 1.i). Cf. NAB “violated”; NRSV “transgressed.”

[6:7]  ¹¹ tn The adverb שָׁם (sham) normally functions in a locative sense meaning “there” (BDB 1027 s.v. שָׁם). This is how it is translated by many English versions (e.g., KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). However, in poetry שָׁם sometimes functions in a nonlocative sense to introduce expressions of astonishment or when a scene is vividly visualized in the writer’s imagination (see BDB 1027 s.v. 1.a.β), or somewhat similar to the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “Behold!”): “See [שָׁם] how the evildoers lie fallen!” (Ps 36:13); “Listen! The cry on the day of the Lord will be bitter! See [שָׁם]! The shouting of the warrior!” (Zeph 1:14); “They saw [רָאוּ, ra’u] her and were astonished…See [שָׁם] how trembling seized them!” (Ps 48:7). In some cases, it introduces emphatic statements in a manner similar to הִנֵּה (“Behold!”): “Come and see [לְכוּ וּרְאוּ, lÿkhu urÿ’u] what God has done…Behold [שָׁם], let us rejoice in him!” (Ps 66:5); “See/Behold [שָׁם]! I will make a horn grow for David” (Ps 132:17). The present translation’s use of “Oh how!” in Hos 6:7 is less visual than the Hebrew idiom שָׁם (“See! See how!”), but it more closely approximates the parallel English idiom of astonishment.

[6:7]  ¹² tn The verb בָּגַד (bagad, “to act treacherously”) is often used in reference to faithlessness in covenant relationships (BDB 93 s.v. בָּגַד).

[7:2]  ¹³ tn Or “have perished”; “have been destroyed.”

[7:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and an upright one among men there is not.”

[7:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “for bloodshed” (so NASB); TEV “for a chance to commit murder.”

[7:2]  ¹⁶ sn Micah compares these ungodly people to hunters trying to capture their prey with a net.

[7:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “upon evil [are their] hands to do [it] well.”

[7:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the official asks – and the judge – for a bribe.”

[7:3]  ¹⁹ tn More literally, “the great one announces what his appetite desires and they weave it together.” Apparently this means that subordinates plot and maneuver to make sure the prominent man’s desires materialize.

[7:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “[the] godly from a row of thorn bushes.” The preposition מִן (min) is comparative and the comparative element (perhaps “sharper” is the idea) is omitted. See BDB 582 s.v. 6 and GKC 431 §133.e.

[7:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “the day of your watchmen, your appointed [time], is coming.” The present translation takes “watchmen” to refer to actual sentries. However, the “watchmen” could refer figuratively to the prophets who had warned Judah of approaching judgment. In this case one could translate, “The day your prophets warned about – your appointed time of punishment – is on the way.”

[7:4]  ²² tn Heb “and now will be their confusion.”

[7:5]  ²³ tn Heb “from the one who lies in your arms, guard the doors of your mouth.”

[3:4]  ²⁴ 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 Lord (see Jer 23:32).

[3:4]  ²⁵ tn Or “defile the temple.”

[3:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “they treat violently [the] law.”

[2:11]  ²⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:11]  ²⁸ tn Or perhaps “secularized”; cf. NIV “desecrated”; TEV, NLT “defiled”; CEV “disgraced.”

[2:11]  ²⁹ tn Heb “has married the daughter of a foreign god.” Marriage is used here as a metaphor to describe Judah’s idolatry, that is, her unfaithfulness to the Lord and “remarriage” to pagan gods. But spiritual intermarriage found expression in literal, physical marriage as well, as vv. 14-16 indicate.