Jeremiah 18:22

18:22 Let cries of terror be heard in their houses

when you send bands of raiders unexpectedly to plunder them. ¹ 

For they have virtually dug a pit to capture me

and have hidden traps for me to step into.

Jeremiah 18:1

An Object Lesson from the Making of Pottery

18:1 The Lord said to Jeremiah: ² 

Jeremiah 19:10-11

19:10 The Lord continued, ³  “Now break the jar in front of those who have come here with you. 19:11 Tell them the Lord who rules over all says, ⁴  ‘I will do just as Jeremiah has done. ⁵  I will smash this nation and this city as though it were a potter’s vessel which is broken beyond repair. ⁶  The dead will be buried here in Topheth until there is no more room to bury them.’ ⁷ 

Psalms 10:9-10

10:9 He lies in ambush in a hidden place, like a lion in a thicket; ⁸ 

he lies in ambush, waiting to catch ⁹  the oppressed;

he catches the oppressed ¹⁰  by pulling in his net. ¹¹ 

10:10 His victims are crushed and beaten down;

they are trapped in his sturdy nets. ¹² 

Psalms 64:5

64:5 They encourage one another to carry out their evil deed. ¹³ 

They plan how to hide ¹⁴  snares,

and boast, ¹⁵  “Who will see them?” ¹⁶ 

Proverbs 1:11

1:11 If they say, “Come with us!

We will ¹⁷  lie in wait ¹⁸  to shed blood; ¹⁹ 

we will ambush ²⁰  an innocent person ²¹  capriciously. ²² 

Proverbs 1:17-18

1:17 Surely it is futile to spread ²³  a net

in plain sight of ²⁴  any bird, ²⁵ 

1:18 but these men lie in wait for their own blood, ²⁶ 

they ambush their own lives! ²⁷ 

Habakkuk 1:14-15

1:14 You made people like fish in the sea,

like animals in the sea ²⁸  that have no ruler.

1:15 The Babylonian tyrant ²⁹  pulls them all up with a fishhook;

he hauls them in with his throw net. ³⁰ 

When he catches ³¹  them in his dragnet,

he is very happy. ³² 

[18:22]  ¹ tn Heb “when you bring marauders in against them.” For the use of the noun translated here “bands of raiders to plunder them” see 1 Sam 30:3, 15, 23 and BDB 151 s.v. גְּדוּד 1.

[18:1]  ² tn Heb “The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying:” This same formula occurs ten other times in Jeremiah. It has already occurred at 7:1 and 11:1.

[19:10]  ³ tn The words “And the Lord continued” are not in the text. However, they are necessary to take us clearly back to the flow of the narrative begun in vv. 1-2 and interrupted by the long speech in vv. 3-9.

[19:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “Thus says Yahweh of armies.” For this title see the study note on 2:19. The translation attempts to avoid the confusion of embedding quotes within quotes by reducing this one to an indirect quote.

[19:11]  ⁵ tn The adverb “Thus” or “Like this” normally points back to something previously mentioned. See, e.g., Exod 29:35; Num 11:15; 15:11; Deut 25:9.

[19:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “Like this I will break this people and this city, just as one breaks the vessel of a potter which is not able to be repaired.”

[19:11]  ⁷ sn See Jer 7:22-23 for parallels.

[10:9]  ⁸ tn Or “in its den.”

[10:9]  ⁹ tn The verb, which also appears in the next line, occurs only here and in Judg 21:21.

[10:9]  ¹⁰ tn The singular form is collective (see v. 10) or refers to the typical or representative oppressed individual.

[10:9]  ¹¹ tn Or “when he [i.e., the wicked man] pulls in his net.”

[10:10]  ¹² tn Heb “he crushes, he is bowed down, and he falls into his strong [ones], [the] unfortunate [ones].” This verse presents several lexical and syntactical difficulties. The first word (יִדְכֶּה, yidekeh) is an otherwise unattested Qal form of the verb דָּכָה (dakhah, “crush”). (The Qere [marginal] form is imperfect; the consonantal text [Kethib] has the perfect with a prefixed conjunction vav [ו].) If the wicked man’s victim is the subject, which seems to be the case (note the two verbs which follow), then the form should be emended to a Niphal (יִדָּכֶה, yiddakheh). The phrase בַּעֲצוּמָיו (ba’atsumayv, “into his strong [ones]”), poses interpretive problems. The preposition -בְּ (bet) follows the verb נָפַל (nafal, “fall”), so it may very well carry the nuance “into” here, with “his strong [ones]” then referring to something into which the oppressed individual falls. Since a net is mentioned in the preceding verse as the instrument used to entrap the victim, it is possible that “strong [ones]” here refers metonymically to the wicked man’s nets or traps. Ps 35:8 refers to a man falling into a net (רֶשֶׁת, reshet), as does Ps 141:10 (where the plural of מִכְמָר [mikhmar, “net”] is used). A hunter’s net (רֶשֶׁת), is associated with snares (פַּח [pakh], מֹקְשִׁים, [moqÿshim]) and ropes (חֲבָלִים, khavalim) in Ps 140:5. The final word in the verse (חֶלְכָּאִים (khelka’im, “unfortunate [ones]”) may be an alternate form of חֵלְכָח (khelkhakh, “unfortunate [one]”; see vv. 8, 14). The Qere (marginal reading) divides the form into two words, חֵיל כָּאִים (khel ka’im, “army/host of disheartened [ones]”). The three verb forms in v. 10 are singular because the representative “oppressed” individual is the grammatical subject (see the singular עָנִי [’aniy] in v. 9).

[64:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “they give strength to themselves, an evil matter [or “word”].”

[64:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they report about hiding.”

[64:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “they say.”

[64:5]  ¹⁶ tn If this is a direct quotation (cf. NASB, NIV), the pronoun “them” refers to the snares mentioned in the previous line. If it is an indirect quotation, then the pronoun may refer to the enemies themselves (cf. NEB, which is ambiguous). Some translations retain the direct quotation but alter the pronoun to “us,” referring clearly to the enemies (cf. NRSV).

[1:11]  ¹⁷ tn This cohortative נֶאֶרְבָה (ne’ervah) could denote resolve (“We will lie in wait!”) or exhortation (“Let us lie in wait!”). These sinners are either expressing their determination to carry out a violent plan or they are trying to entice the lad to participate with them.

[1:11]  ¹⁸ tn The verb אָרַב (’arav, “to lie in wait”) it is used for planning murder (Deut 19:11), kidnapping (Judg 21:20), or seduction (Prov 23:28).

[1:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “for blood.” The term דָּם (dam, “blood”) functions as a metonymy of effect for “blood shed violently” through murder (HALOT 224 s.v. 4).

[1:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “lie in hiding.”

[1:11]  ²¹ tn The term “innocent” (נָקִי, naqi) intimates that the person to be attacked is harmless.

[1:11]  ²² tn Heb “without cause” (so KJV, NASB); NCV “just for fun.” The term חִנָּם (khinnam, “without cause”) emphasizes that the planned attack is completely unwarranted.

[1:17]  ²³ tn Heb “for the net to be spread out.” The Pual participle of זָרָה (zarah) means “to be spread” (HALOT 280 s.v. I זרה pu.1). The subject of this verbal use of the participle is the noun הָרָשֶׁת (harashet, “the net”). It is futile for the net to be spread out in plain view of birds.

[1:17]  ²⁴ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[1:17]  ²⁵ tn Heb “all of the possessors of wings.”

[1:18]  ²⁶ sn They think that they are going to shed innocent blood, but in their blindness they do not realize that it is their own blood they shed. Their greed will lead to their destruction. This is an example of ironic poetic justice. They do not intend to destroy themselves; but this is what they accomplish.

[1:18]  ²⁷ tn Heb “their own souls.” The term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul”) is used as a metonymy (= soul) of association (= life). The noun נֶפֶשׁ often refers to physical “life” (Exod 21:23; Num 17:3; Judg 5:18; Prov 12:10; BDB 659 s.v. 3.c).

[1:14]  ²⁸ tn The Hebrew word רֶמֶשׂ (remesh) usually refers to animals that creep, but here the referent seems to be marine animals that glide through the water (note the parallelism in the previous line). See also Ps 104:25.

[1:15]  ²⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Babylonian tyrant) has been specified in the translation for clarity (cf. NASB “The Chaldeans”; NIV “The wicked foe”; NRSV “The enemy”). Babylonian imperialism is here compared to a professional fisherman who repeatedly brings in his catch and has plenty to eat.

[1:15]  ³⁰ tn Apparently two different types of fishing nets are referred to here. The חֵרֶם (kherem, “throw net”) was used by fishermen standing on the shore (see Ezek 47:10), while the מִכְמֶרֶת (mikhmeret, “dragnet”) was used by men in a boat. See R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (WEC), 165.

[1:15]  ³¹ tn Heb “and he gathers.”

[1:15]  ³² tn Heb “Therefore he is happy and rejoices.” Here two synonyms are joined for emphasis.