Jeremiah 2:33-34

2:33 “My, how good you have become

at chasing after your lovers! ¹ 

Why, you could even teach prostitutes a thing or two! ² 

2:34 Even your clothes are stained with

the lifeblood of the poor who had not done anything wrong;

you did not catch them breaking into your homes. ³ 

Yet, in spite of all these things you have done, ⁴ 

Ezekiel 8:17

8:17 He said to me, “Do you see, son of man? Is it a trivial thing that the house of Judah commits these abominations they are practicing here? For they have filled the land with violence and provoked me to anger still further. Look, they are putting the branch to their nose! ⁵ 

Ezekiel 16:20

16:20 “‘You took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to me and you sacrificed them ⁶  as food for the idols to eat. As if your prostitution not enough,

James 1:21

1:21 So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly ⁷  welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls.

[2:33]  ¹ tn Heb “How good you have made your ways to seek love.”

[2:33]  ² tn Heb “so that even the wicked women you teach your ways.”

[2:34]  ³ tn The words “for example” are implicit and are supplied in the translation for clarification. This is only one example of why their death was not legitimate.

[2:34]  ⁴ tn KJV and ASV read this line with 2:34. The ASV makes little sense and the KJV again erroneously reads the archaic second person feminine singular perfect as first person common singular. All the modern English versions and commentaries take this line with 2:35.

[8:17]  ⁵ tn It is not clear what the practice of “holding a branch to the nose” indicates. A possible parallel is the Syrian relief of a king holding a flower to his nose as he worships the stars (ANEP 281). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:145-46. The LXX glosses the expression as “Behold, they are like mockers.”

[16:20]  ⁶ sn The sacrifice of children was prohibited in Lev 18:21; 20:2; Deut 12:31; 18:10.

[1:21]  ⁷ tn Or “with meekness.”