Jeremiah 2:22

2:22 You can try to wash away your guilt with a strong detergent.

You can use as much soap as you want.

But the stain of your guilt is still there for me to see,” ¹ 

says the Lord God. ² 

Jeremiah 2:30

2:30 “It did no good for me to punish your people.

They did not respond to such correction.

You slaughtered your prophets

like a voracious lion.” ³ 

Jeremiah 5:3

5:3 Lord, I know you look for faithfulness. ⁴ 

But even when you punish these people, they feel no remorse. ⁵ 

Even when you nearly destroy them, they refuse to be corrected.

They have become as hardheaded as a rock. ⁶ 

They refuse to change their ways. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 6:29-30

6:29 The fiery bellows of judgment burn fiercely.

But there is too much dross to be removed. ⁸ 

The process of refining them has proved useless. ⁹ 

The wicked have not been purged.

6:30 They are regarded as ‘rejected silver’ ¹⁰ 

because the Lord rejects them.”

Jeremiah 17:9

17:9 The human mind is more deceitful than anything else.

It is incurably bad. ¹¹  Who can understand it?

Proverbs 27:22

27:22 If you should pound ¹²  the fool in the mortar

among the grain ¹³  with the pestle,

his foolishness would not depart from him. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 1:5

1:5 ¹⁵ Why do you insist on being battered?

Why do you continue to rebel? ¹⁶ 

Your head has a massive wound, ¹⁷ 

your whole body is weak. ¹⁸ 

Matthew 19:24-28

19:24 Again I say, ¹⁹  it is easier for a camel ²⁰  to go through the eye of a needle ²¹  than for a rich person to enter into the kingdom of God.” 19:25 The ²²  disciples were greatly astonished when they heard this and said, “Then who can be saved?” ²³  19:26 Jesus ²⁴  looked at them and replied, “This is impossible for mere humans, ²⁵  but for God all things are possible.” 19:27 Then Peter said ²⁶  to him, “Look, ²⁷  we have left everything to follow you! ²⁸  What then will there be for us?” 19:28 Jesus ²⁹  said to them, “I tell you the truth: ³⁰  In the age when all things are renewed, ³¹  when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging ³²  the twelve tribes of Israel.

[2:22]  ¹ tn Heb “Even if you wash with natron/lye, and use much soap, your sin is a stain before me.”

[2:22]  ² tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.” For an explanation of this title see the study notes on 1:6.

[2:30]  ³ tn Heb “Your sword devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.” However, the reference to the sword in this and many similar idioms is merely idiomatic for death by violent means.

[5:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “O Lord, are your eyes not to faithfulness?” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.

[5:3]  ⁵ tn Commentaries and lexicons debate the meaning of the verb here. The MT is pointed as though from a verb meaning “to writhe in anguish or contrition” (חוּל [khul]; see, e.g., BDB 297 s.v. חוּל 2.c), but some commentaries and lexicons repoint the text as though from a verb meaning “to be sick,” thus “to feel pain” (חָלָה [khalah]; see, e.g., HALOT 304 s.v. חָלָה 3). The former appears more appropriate to the context.

[5:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “They made their faces as hard as a rock.”

[5:3]  ⁷ tn Or “to repent”; Heb “to turn back.”

[6:29]  ⁸ tn Heb “The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed by the fire.” The translation tries to clarify a metaphor involving ancient metallurgy. In the ancient refining process lead was added as a flux to remove impurities from silver ore in the process of oxidizing the lead. Jeremiah says that the lead has been used up and the impurities have not been removed. The translation is based on the recognition of an otherwise unused verb root meaning “blow” (נָחַר [nakhar]; cf. BDB 1123 s.v. I חָרַר and HALOT 651 s.v. נָחַר) and the Masoretes’ suggestion that the consonants מאשׁתם be read מֵאֵשׁ תַּם (me’esh tam) rather than as מֵאֶשָּׁתָם (me’eshatam, “from their fire”) from an otherwise unattested noun אֶשָּׁה (’eshah).

[6:29]  ⁹ tn Heb “The refiner refines them in vain.”

[6:30]  ¹⁰ tn This translation is intended to reflect the wordplay in the Hebrew text where the same root word is repeated in the two lines.

[17:9]  ¹¹ tn Or “incurably deceitful”; Heb “It is incurable.” For the word “deceitful” compare the usage of the verb in Gen 27:36 and a related noun in 2 Kgs 10:19. For the adjective “incurable” compare the usage in Jer 15:18. It is most commonly used with reference to wounds or of pain. In Jer 17:16 it is used metaphorically for a “woeful day” (i.e., day of irreparable devastation).

[27:22]  ¹² tn The verb means “to pound” in a mortar with a pestle (cf. NRSV “Crush”; NLT “grind”). The imperfect is in a conditional clause, an unreal, hypothetical condition to make the point.

[27:22]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew term רִיפוֹת (rifot) refers to some kind of grain spread out to dry and then pounded. It may refer to barley groats (coarsely ground barley), but others have suggested the term means “cheeses” (BDB 937 s.v.). Most English versions have “grain” without being more specific; NAB “grits.”

[27:22]  ¹⁴ tn The LXX contains this paraphrase: “If you scourge a fool in the assembly, dishonoring him, you would not remove his folly.” This removes the imagery of mortar and pestle from the verse. Using the analogy of pounding something in a mortar, the proverb is saying even if a fool was pounded or pulverized, meaning severe physical punishment, his folly would not leave him – it is too ingrained in his nature.

[1:5]  ¹⁵ sn In vv. 5-9 Isaiah addresses the battered nation (5-8) and speaks as their representative (9).

[1:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Why are you still beaten? [Why] do you continue rebellion?” The rhetorical questions express the prophet’s disbelief over Israel’s apparent masochism and obsession with sin. The interrogative construction in the first line does double duty in the parallelism. H. Wildberger (Isaiah, 1:18) offers another alternative by translating the two statements with one question: “Why do you still wish to be struck that you persist in revolt?”

[1:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “all the head is ill”; NRSV “the whole head is sick”; CEV “Your head is badly bruised.”

[1:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and all the heart is faint.” The “heart” here stands for bodily strength and energy, as suggested by the context and usage elsewhere (see Jer 8:18; Lam 1:22).

[19:24]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “I say to you.”

[19:24]  ²⁰ tc A few late witnesses (579 1424 pc) read κάμιλον (kamilon, “rope”) for κάμηλον (kamhlon, “camel”), either through accidental misreading of the text or intentionally so as to soften Jesus’ words.

[19:24]  ²¹ sn The eye of a needle refers to a sewing needle. (The gate in Jerusalem known as “The Needle’s Eye” was built during the middle ages and was not in existence in Jesus’ day.) Jesus was saying rhetorically that it is impossible for a rich person to enter God’s kingdom, unless God (v. 26) intervenes.

[19:25]  ²² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[19:25]  ²³ sn The assumption is that the rich are blessed, so if they risk exclusion, who is left to be saved?

[19:26]  ²⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[19:26]  ²⁵ tn The plural Greek term ἄνθρωποις (anqrwpois) is used here in a generic sense, referring to both men and women (cf. NASB 1995 update, “people”). Because of the contrast here between mere mortals and God (“impossible for men, but for God all things are possible”) the phrase “mere humans” has been used in the translation. There may also be a slight wordplay with “the Son of Man” in v. 28.

[19:27]  ²⁶ tn Grk “Then answering, Peter said.” This construction is somewhat redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified in the translation.

[19:27]  ²⁷ sn Peter wants reassurance that the disciples’ response and sacrifice have been noticed.

[19:27]  ²⁸ tn Grk “We have left everything and followed you.” Koine Greek often used paratactic structure when hypotactic was implied.

[19:28]  ²⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[19:28]  ³⁰ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[19:28]  ³¹ sn The Greek term translated the age when all things are renewed (παλιγγενεσία, palingenesia) is understood as a reference to the Messianic age, the time when all things are renewed and restored (cf. Rev 21:5).

[19:28]  ³² sn The statement you…will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel looks at the future authority the Twelve will have when Jesus returns. They will share in Israel’s judgment.