Jeremiah 2:26

2:26 Just as a thief has to suffer dishonor when he is caught,

so the people of Israel ¹  will suffer dishonor for what they have done. ² 

So will their kings and officials,

their priests and their prophets.

Ezra 9:7

9:7 From the days of our fathers until this very day our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities we, along with our kings and ³  priests, have been delivered over by the local kings ⁴  to sword, captivity, plunder, and embarrassment – right up to the present time.

Nehemiah 9:32-34

9:32 “So now, our God – the great, powerful, and awesome God, who keeps covenant fidelity ⁵  – do not regard as inconsequential ⁶  all the hardship that has befallen us – our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people – from the days of the kings of Assyria until this very day! 9:33 You are righteous with regard to all that has happened to us, for you have acted faithfully. ⁷  It is we who have been in the wrong! 9:34 Our kings, our leaders, our priests, and our ancestors have not kept your law. They have not paid attention to your commandments or your testimonies by which you have solemnly admonished them.

Isaiah 1:4-6

1:4 ⁸ The sinful nation is as good as dead, ⁹ 

the people weighed down by evil deeds.

They are offspring who do wrong,

children ¹⁰  who do wicked things.

They have abandoned the Lord,

and rejected the Holy One of Israel. ¹¹ 

They are alienated from him. ¹² 

1:5 ¹³ Why do you insist on being battered?

Why do you continue to rebel? ¹⁴ 

Your head has a massive wound, ¹⁵ 

your whole body is weak. ¹⁶ 

1:6 From the soles of your feet to your head,

there is no spot that is unharmed. ¹⁷ 

There are only bruises, cuts,

and open wounds.

They have not been cleansed ¹⁸  or bandaged,

nor have they been treated ¹⁹  with olive oil. ²⁰ 

Isaiah 1:23

1:23 Your officials are rebels, ²¹ 

they associate with ²²  thieves.

All of them love bribery,

and look for ²³  payoffs. ²⁴ 

They do not take up the cause of the orphan, ²⁵ 

or defend the rights of the widow. ²⁶ 

Isaiah 9:14-15

9:14 So the Lord cut off Israel’s head and tail,

both the shoots and stalk ²⁷  in one day.

9:15 The leaders and the highly respected people ²⁸  are the head,

the prophets who teach lies are the tail.

Ezekiel 22:6

22:6 “‘See how each of the princes of Israel living within you has used his authority to shed blood. ²⁹ 

Ezekiel 22:25-29

22:25 Her princes ³⁰  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 ³¹  within it. 22:26 Her priests abuse my law and have desecrated my holy things. They do not distinguish between the holy and the profane, ³²  or recognize any distinction between the unclean and the clean. They ignore ³³  my Sabbaths and I am profaned in their midst. 22:27 Her officials are like wolves in her midst rending their prey – shedding blood and destroying lives – so they can get dishonest profit. 22:28 Her prophets coat their messages with whitewash. ³⁴  They see false visions and announce lying omens for them, saying, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ when the Lord has not spoken. 22:29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have wronged the poor and needy; they have oppressed the foreigner who lives among them and denied them justice. ³⁵ 

Daniel 9:6

9:6 We have not paid attention to your servants the prophets, who spoke by your authority ³⁶  to our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors, ³⁷  and to all the inhabitants ³⁸  of the land as well.

Daniel 9:8

9:8 O LORD, we have been humiliated ³⁹  – our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors – because we have sinned against you.

Micah 3:1-5

God Will Judge Judah’s Sinful Leaders

3:1 I said,

“Listen, you leaders ⁴⁰  of Jacob,

you rulers of the nation ⁴¹  of Israel!

You ought to know what is just, ⁴² 

3:2 yet you ⁴³  hate what is good, ⁴⁴ 

and love what is evil. ⁴⁵ 

You flay my people’s skin ⁴⁶ 

and rip the flesh from their bones. ⁴⁷ 

3:3 You ⁴⁸  devour my people’s flesh,

strip off their skin,

and crush their bones.

You chop them up like flesh in a pot ⁴⁹  –

like meat in a kettle.

3:4 Someday these sinners will cry to the Lord for help, ⁵⁰ 

but he will not answer them.

He will hide his face from them at that time,

because they have done such wicked deeds.”

3:5 This is what the Lord says: “The prophets who mislead my people

are as good as dead. ⁵¹ 

If someone gives them enough to eat,

they offer an oracle of peace. ⁵² 

But if someone does not give them food,

they are ready to declare war on him. ⁵³ 

Micah 3:9-12

3:9 Listen to this, you leaders of the family ⁵⁴  of Jacob,

you rulers of the nation ⁵⁵  of Israel!

You ⁵⁶  hate justice

and pervert all that is right.

3:10 You ⁵⁷  build Zion through bloody crimes, ⁵⁸ 

Jerusalem ⁵⁹  through unjust violence.

3:11 Her ⁶⁰  leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, ⁶¹ 

her priests proclaim rulings for profit,

and her prophets read omens for pay.

Yet they claim to trust ⁶²  the Lord and say,

“The Lord is among us. ⁶³ 

Disaster will not overtake ⁶⁴  us!”

3:12 Therefore, because of you, ⁶⁵  Zion will be plowed up like ⁶⁶  a field,

Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,

and the Temple Mount ⁶⁷  will become a hill overgrown with brush! ⁶⁸ 

Zephaniah 3:1-4

Jerusalem is Corrupt

3:1 The filthy, ⁶⁹  stained city is as good as dead;

the city filled with oppressors is finished! ⁷⁰ 

3:2 She is disobedient; ⁷¹ 

she refuses correction. ⁷² 

She does not trust the Lord;

she does not seek the advice of ⁷³  her God.

3:3 Her princes ⁷⁴  are as fierce as roaring lions; ⁷⁵ 

her rulers ⁷⁶  are as hungry as wolves in the desert, ⁷⁷ 

who completely devour their prey by morning. ⁷⁸ 

3:4 Her prophets are proud; ⁷⁹ 

they are deceitful men.

Her priests defile what is holy; ⁸⁰ 

they break God’s laws. ⁸¹ 

[2:26]  ¹ tn Heb “house of Israel.”

[2:26]  ² tn The words “for what they have done” are implicit in the comparison and are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:7]  ³ tc The MT lacks “and” here, but see the LXX and Vulgate.

[9:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “the kings of the lands.”

[9:32]  ⁵ tn Heb “the covenant and loyal love.” The expression is a hendiadys. The second noun retains its full nominal sense, while the first functions adjectivally: “the covenant and loyalty” = covenant fidelity.

[9:32]  ⁶ tn Heb “do not let it seem small in your sight.”

[9:33]  ⁷ tn Heb “you have done truth.”

[1:4]  ⁸ sn Having summoned the witnesses and announced the Lord’s accusation against Israel, Isaiah mourns the nation’s impending doom. The third person references to the Lord in the second half of the verse suggest that the quotation from the Lord (cf. vv. 2-3) has concluded.

[1:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “Woe [to the] sinful nation.” The Hebrew term הוֹי, (hoy, “woe, ah”) was used in funeral laments (see 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5) and carries the connotation of death. In highly dramatic fashion the prophet acts out Israel’s funeral in advance, emphasizing that their demise is inevitable if they do not repent soon.

[1:4]  ¹⁰ tn Or “sons” (NASB). The prophet contrasts four terms of privilege – nation, people, offspring, children – with four terms that depict Israel’s sinful condition in Isaiah’s day – sinful, evil, wrong, wicked (see J. A. Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah, 43).

[1:4]  ¹¹ sn Holy One of Israel is one of Isaiah’s favorite divine titles for God. It pictures the Lord as the sovereign king who rules over his covenant people and exercises moral authority over them.

[1:4]  ¹² tn Heb “they are estranged backward.” The LXX omits this statement, which presents syntactical problems and seems to be outside the synonymous parallelistic structure of the verse.

[1:5]  ¹³ sn In vv. 5-9 Isaiah addresses the battered nation (5-8) and speaks as their representative (9).

[1:5]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “all the head is ill”; NRSV “the whole head is sick”; CEV “Your head is badly bruised.”

[1:5]  ¹⁶ 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).

[1:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “there is not in it health”; NAB “there is no sound spot.”

[1:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “pressed out.”

[1:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “softened” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “soothed.”

[1:6]  ²⁰ sn This verse describes wounds like those one would receive in battle. These wounds are comprehensive and without remedy.

[1:23]  ²¹ tn Or “stubborn”; CEV “have rejected me.”

[1:23]  ²² tn Heb “and companions of” (so KJV, NASB); CEV “friends of crooks.”

[1:23]  ²³ tn Heb “pursue”; NIV “chase after gifts.”

[1:23]  ²⁴ sn Isaiah may have chosen the word for gifts (שַׁלְמוֹנִים, shalmonim; a hapax legomena here), as a sarcastic pun on what these rulers should have been doing. Instead of attending to peace and wholeness (שָׁלוֹם, shalom), they sought after payoffs (שַׁלְמוֹנִים).

[1:23]  ²⁵ sn See the note at v. 17.

[1:23]  ²⁶ sn The rich oppressors referred to in Isaiah and the other eighth century prophets were not rich capitalists in the modern sense of the word. They were members of the royal military and judicial bureaucracies in Israel and Judah. As these bureaucracies grew, they acquired more and more land and gradually commandeered the economy and legal system. At various administrative levels bribery and graft become commonplace. The common people outside the urban administrative centers were vulnerable to exploitation in such a system, especially those, like widows and orphans, who had lost their family provider through death. Through confiscatory taxation, conscription, excessive interest rates, and other oppressive governmental measures and policies, they were gradually disenfranchised and lost their landed property, and with it, their rights as citizens. The socio-economic equilibrium envisioned in the law of Moses was radically disturbed.

[9:14]  ²⁷ sn The metaphor in this line is that of a reed being cut down.

[9:15]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the elder and the one lifted up with respect to the face.” For another example of the Hebrew idiom, see 2 Kgs 5:1.

[22:6]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Look! The princes of Israel, each according to his arm, were in you in order to shed blood.”

[22:25]  ³⁰ 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]  ³¹ tn Heb “her widows they have multiplied.” The statement alludes to their murderous acts.

[22:26]  ³² tn Or “between the consecrated and the common.”

[22:26]  ³³ tn Heb “hide their eyes from.” The idiom means to disregard or ignore something or someone (see Lev 20:4; 1 Sam 12:3; Prov 28:27; Isa 1:15).

[22:28]  ³⁴ tn Heb “her prophets coat for themselves with whitewash.” The expression may be based on Ezek 13:10-15.

[22:29]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and the foreigner they have oppressed without justice.”

[9:6]  ³⁶ tn Heb “in your name.” Another option is to translate, “as your representatives.”

[9:6]  ³⁷ tn Heb “our fathers” (also in vv. 8, 16). The Hebrew term translated “father” can refer to more distant relationships such as grandfathers or ancestors.

[9:6]  ³⁸ tn Heb “people.”

[9:8]  ³⁹ tn Heb “to us (belongs) shame of face.”

[3:1]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “heads.”

[3:1]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “house.”

[3:1]  ⁴² tn Heb “Should you not know justice?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you should!”

[3:2]  ⁴³ tn Heb “the ones who.”

[3:2]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “good.”

[3:2]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “evil.”

[3:2]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “their skin from upon them.” The referent of the pronoun (“my people,” referring to Jacob and/or the house of Israel, with the Lord as the speaker) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “and their flesh from their bones.”

[3:3]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “who.”

[3:3]  ⁴⁹ tc The MT reads “and they chop up as in a pot.” The translation assumes an emendation of כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka’asher, “as”) to כִּשְׁאֵר (kish’er, “like flesh”).

[3:4]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “then they will cry out to the Lord.” The words “Someday these sinners” have been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[3:5]  ⁵¹ 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 Lord. For this reason some prefer to begin the quotation after “the Lord says” (cf. NIV), but this leaves “concerning the prophets” hanging very awkwardly at the beginning of the quotation. It is preferable to add הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) at the beginning of the quotation, right after the graphically similar יְהוָה (yÿhvah; see D. R. Hillers, Micah [Hermeneia], 44). The phrase הוֹי עַל (hoy ’al, “woe upon”) occurs in Jer 50:27 and Ezek 13:3 (with “the prophets” following the preposition in the latter instance).

[3:5]  ⁵² 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]  ⁵³ tn Heb “but [as for the one] who does not place [food] in their mouths, they prepare for war against him.”

[3:9]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “house.”

[3:9]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “house.”

[3:9]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was begun here in the translation for stylistic reasons (also at the beginning of v. 10).

[3:10]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “who.”

[3:10]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “bloodshed” (so NAB, NASB, NIV); NLT “murder.”

[3:10]  ⁵⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:11]  ⁶⁰ sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).

[3:11]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”

[3:11]  ⁶² tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”

[3:11]  ⁶³ tn Heb “Is not the Lord in our midst?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he is!”

[3:11]  ⁶⁴ tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”

[3:12]  ⁶⁵ tn The plural pronoun refers to the leaders, priests, and prophets mentioned in the preceding verse.

[3:12]  ⁶⁶ tn Or “into” (an adverbial accusative of result).

[3:12]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “the mountain of the house” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).

[3:12]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “a high place of overgrowth.”

[3:1]  ⁶⁹ tn The present translation assumes מֹרְאָה (mor’ah) is derived from רֹאִי (ro’i,“excrement”; see Jastrow 1436 s.v. רֳאִי). The following participle, “stained,” supports this interpretation (cf. NEB “filthy and foul”; NRSV “soiled, defiled”). Another option is to derive the form from מָרָה (marah, “to rebel”); in this case the term should be translated “rebellious” (cf. NASB, NIV “rebellious and defiled”). This idea is supported by v. 2. For discussion of the two options, see HALOT 630 s.v. I מרא and J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 206.

[3:1]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “Woe, soiled and stained one, oppressive city.” The verb “is finished” is supplied in the second line. On the Hebrew word הוֹי (hoy, “ah, woe”), see the note on the word “dead” in 2:5.

[3:2]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “she does not hear a voice” Refusing to listen is equated with disobedience.

[3:2]  ⁷² tn Heb “she does not receive correction.” The Hebrew phrase, when negated, refers elsewhere to rejecting verbal advice (Jer 17:23; 32:33; 35:13) and refusing to learn from experience (Jer 2:30; 5:3).

[3:2]  ⁷³ tn Heb “draw near to.” The present translation assumes that the expression “draw near to” refers to seeking God’s will (see 1 Sam 14:36).

[3:3]  ⁷⁴ tn Or “officials.”

[3:3]  ⁷⁵ 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]  ⁷⁶ tn Traditionally “judges.”

[3:3]  ⁷⁷ 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]  ⁷⁸ 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]  ⁷⁹ 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]  ⁸⁰ tn Or “defile the temple.”

[3:4]  ⁸¹ tn Heb “they treat violently [the] law.”