Jeremiah 18:18

Jeremiah Petitions the Lord to Punish Those Who Attack Him

18:18 Then some people ¹  said, “Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! ²  There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God’s word. ³  Come on! Let’s bring charges against him and get rid of him! ⁴  Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says.”

Jeremiah 20:10

20:10 I ⁵  hear many whispering words of intrigue against me.

Those who would cause me terror are everywhere! ⁶ 

They are saying, “Come on, let’s publicly denounce him!” ⁷ 

All my so-called friends ⁸  are just watching for

something that would lead to my downfall. ⁹ 

They say, “Perhaps he can be enticed into slipping up,

so we can prevail over ¹⁰  him and get our revenge on him.

Daniel 6:4-5

6:4 Consequently the supervisors and satraps were trying to find ¹¹  some pretext against Daniel in connection with administrative matters. ¹²  But they were unable to find any such damaging evidence, ¹³  because he was trustworthy and guilty of no negligence or corruption. ¹⁴  6:5 So these men concluded, ¹⁵  “We won’t find any pretext against this man Daniel unless it is ¹⁶  in connection with the law of his God.”

Matthew 22:15

Paying Taxes to Caesar

22:15 Then the Pharisees ¹⁷  went out and planned together to entrap him with his own words. ¹⁸ 

Matthew 26:59

26:59 The ¹⁹  chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were trying to find false testimony against Jesus so that they could put him to death.

Acts 6:13

6:13 They brought forward false witnesses who said, “This man does not stop saying things against this holy place ²⁰  and the law. ²¹ 

Acts 6:2

6:2 So the twelve ²²  called ²³  the whole group ²⁴  of the disciples together and said, “It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to wait on tables. ²⁵ 

Colossians 1:12

1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share ²⁶  in the saints’ ²⁷  inheritance in the light.

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²⁸  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 1:14

1:14 in whom we have redemption, ²⁹  the forgiveness of sins.

Titus 2:8

2:8 and a sound message that cannot be criticized, so that any opponent will be at a loss, ³⁰  because he has nothing evil to say about us.

[18:18]  ¹ tn Heb “They.” The referent is unidentified; “some people” has been used in the translation.

[18:18]  ² tn Heb “Let us make plans against Jeremiah.” See 18:18 where this has sinister overtones as it does here.

[18:18]  ³ tn Heb “Instruction will not perish from priest, counsel from the wise, word from the prophet.”

[18:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “Let us smite him with our tongues.” It is clear from the context that this involved plots to kill him.

[20:10]  ⁵ tn It would be difficult to render accurately the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) that introduces this verse without lengthening the English line unduly. It probably means something like “This is true even though I…,” i.e., the particle is concessive (cf. BDB s.v. כִּי 2.c). No other nuance seems appropriate. The particle is left out of the translation, but its presence is acknowledged here.

[20:10]  ⁶ tn The phrase translated “Those who would cause me terror are everywhere” has already occurred in 6:25 in the context of the terror caused by the enemy from the north and in 20:3 in reference to the curse pronounced on Pashhur who would experience it first hand. Some have seen the phrase here not as Jeremiah’s ejaculation of terror but of his assailant’s taunts of his message or even their taunting nickname for him. But comparison of this passage with the first two lines of Ps 31:13 (31:14 HT) which are word for word the same as these two will show that it refers to the terror inspired by the plots of his enemies to do away with him. It is also clear from the context of that passage and the following context here that the “whispering of many” (the literal translation of “many whispering words of intrigue against me) refers to intrigues to take vengeance on him and do away with him.

[20:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “Denounce and let us denounce him.” The verb which is translated “denounce” (נָגַד, nagad) does not take an accusative object of person as it does here very often. When it does it usually means to inform someone. The only relevant passage appears to be Job 17:5 where it means something like “denounce.” What is probably involved here are the attempts to portray Jeremiah as a traitor (Jer 26:10) and a false prophet (see his conflict with Hananiah in Jer 28).

[20:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “the men of my peace [who are concerned about my welfare].” For this phrase compare Ps 41:9 (41:10 HT); Jer 38:22. It is generally agreed that irony is being invoked here, hence “so-called” is supplied in the translation to bring out the irony.

[20:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “watching my stumbling [for me to stumble].” Metaphorically they were watching for some slip-up that would lead to his downfall. Compare the use in Pss 35:15 and 38:17 (38:18 HT).

[20:10]  ¹⁰ tn All the text says literally is “Perhaps he can be enticed so that we can prevail over him.” However the word “enticed” needs some qualification. As W. McKane (Jeremiah [ICC], 1:479) notes it should probably be read in the context of the “stumbling” (= “something that would lead to my downfall”). Hence “slipping up” has been supplied as an object. It is vague enough to avoid specifics as the original text does but suggests some reference to “something that would lead to my downfall.”

[6:4]  ¹¹ tn Aram “looking to find.”

[6:4]  ¹² tn Aram “from the side of the kingdom.”

[6:4]  ¹³ tn Aram “pretext and corruption.”

[6:4]  ¹⁴ tn Aram “no negligence or corruption was found in him.” The Greek version of Theodotion lacks the phrase “and no negligence or corruption was found in him.”

[6:5]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “were saying.”

[6:5]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “unless we find [it] against him.”

[22:15]  ¹⁷ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[22:15]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “trap him in word.”

[26:59]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “Now the.” Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[6:13]  ²⁰ sn This holy place is a reference to the temple.

[6:13]  ²¹ sn The law refers to the law of Moses. It elaborates the nature of the blasphemy in v. 11. To speak against God’s law in Torah was to blaspheme God (Deut 28:15-19). On the Jewish view of false witnesses, see Exod 19:16-18; 20:16; m. Sanhedrin 3.6; 5.1-5. Stephen’s speech in Acts 7 may indicate why the temple was mentioned.

[6:2]  ²² sn The twelve refers to the twelve apostles.

[6:2]  ²³ tn Grk “calling the whole group…together, said.” The participle προσκαλεσάμενοι (proskalesamenoi) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[6:2]  ²⁴ tn Or “the multitude.”

[6:2]  ²⁵ tn Grk “to serve tables.”

[1:12]  ²⁶ tn BDAG 473 s.v. ἱκανόω states, “τινὰ εἴς τι someone for someth. Col 1:12.” The point of the text is that God has qualified the saints for a “share” or “portion” in the inheritance of the saints.

[1:12]  ²⁷ tn Grk “the inheritance of the saints.” The genitive noun τῶν ἁγίων (twn Jagiwn) is a possessive genitive: “the saints’ inheritance.”

[1:1]  ²⁸ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:14]  ²⁹ tc διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ (dia tou {aimato" autou, “through his blood”) is read at this juncture by several minuscule mss (614 630 1505 2464 al) as well as a few, mostly secondary, versional and patristic witnesses. But the reading was prompted by the parallel in Eph 1:7 where the wording is solid. If these words had been in the original of Colossians, why would scribes omit them here but not in Eph 1:7? Further, the testimony on behalf of the shorter reading is quite overwhelming: {א A B C D F G Ψ 075 0150 6 33 1739 1881 Ï latt co as well as several other versions and fathers}. The conviction that “through his blood” is not authentic in Col 1:14 is as strong as the conviction that these words are authentic in Eph 1:7.

[2:8]  ³⁰ tn Or “put to shame.”