Jeremiah 22:15-19

22:15 Does it make you any more of a king

that you outstrip everyone else in ¹  building with cedar?

Just think about your father.

He was content that he had food and drink. ² 

He did what was just and right. ³ 

So things went well with him.

22:16 He upheld the cause of the poor and needy.

So things went well for Judah.’ ⁴ 

The Lord says,

‘That is a good example of what it means to know me.’ ⁵ 

22:17 But you are always thinking and looking

for ways to increase your wealth by dishonest means.

Your eyes and your heart are set

on killing some innocent person

and committing fraud and oppression. ⁶ 

22:18 So ⁷  the Lord has this to say about Josiah’s son, King Jehoiakim of Judah:

People will not mourn for him, saying,

“This makes me sad, my brother!

This makes me sad, my sister!”

They will not mourn for him, saying,

“Poor, poor lord! Poor, poor majesty!” ⁸ 

22:19 He will be left unburied just like a dead donkey.

His body will be dragged off and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.’” ⁹ 

Job 29:12-14

29:12 for I rescued the poor who cried out for help,

and the orphan who ¹⁰  had no one to assist him;

29:13 the blessing of the dying man descended on me, ¹¹ 

and I made the widow’s heart rejoice; ¹² 

29:14 I put on righteousness and it clothed me, ¹³ 

my just dealing ¹⁴  was like a robe and a turban;

Psalms 72:4

72:4 He will defend ¹⁵  the oppressed among the people;

he will deliver ¹⁶  the children ¹⁷  of the poor

and crush the oppressor.

Psalms 82:2-4

82:2 He says, ¹⁸  “How long will you make unjust legal decisions

and show favoritism to the wicked? ¹⁹  (Selah)

82:3 Defend the cause of the poor and the fatherless! ²⁰ 

Vindicate the oppressed and suffering!

82:4 Rescue the poor and needy!

Deliver them from the power ²¹  of the wicked!

Isaiah 1:23

1:23 Your officials are rebels, ²² 

they associate with ²³  thieves.

All of them love bribery,

and look for ²⁴  payoffs. ²⁵ 

They do not take up the cause of the orphan, ²⁶ 

or defend the rights of the widow. ²⁷ 

Zechariah 7:10

7:10 You must not oppress the widow, the orphan, the foreigner, or the poor, nor should anyone secretly plot evil against his fellow human being.’

[22:15]  ¹ tn For the use of this verb see Jer 12:5 where it is used of Jeremiah “competing” with horses. The form is a rare Tiphel (see GKC 153 §55.h).

[22:15]  ² tn Heb “Your father, did he not eat and drink and do justice and right.” The copulative vav in front of the verbs here (all Hebrew perfects) shows that these actions are all coordinate not sequential. The contrast drawn here between the actions of Jehoiakim and Josiah show that the phrase eating and drinking should be read in the light of the same contrasts in Eccl 2 which ends with the note of contentment in Eccl 2:24 (see also Eccl 3:13; 5:18 [5:17 HT]; 8:15). The question is, of course, rhetorical setting forth the positive role model against which Jehoiakim’s actions are to be condemned. The key terms here are “then things went well with him” which is repeated in the next verse after the reiteration of Josiah’s practice of justice.

[22:15]  ³ sn The father referred to here is the godly king Josiah. He followed the requirements for kings set forth in 22:3 in contrast to his son who did not (22:13).

[22:16]  ⁴ tn The words “for Judah” are not in the text, but the absence of the preposition plus object as in the preceding verse suggests that this is a more general statement, i.e., “things went well for everyone.”

[22:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “Is that not what it means to know me.” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer. It is translated in the light of the context.

[22:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “Your eyes and your heart do not exist except for dishonest gain and for innocent blood to shed [it] and for fraud and for oppression to do [them].” The sentence has been broken up to conform more to English style and the significance of “eyes” and “heart” explained before they are introduced into the translation.

[22:18]  ⁷ sn This is the regular way of introducing the announcement of judgment after an indictment of crimes. See, e.g., Isa 5:13, 14; Jer 23:2.

[22:18]  ⁸ tn The translation follows the majority of scholars who think that the address of brother and sister are the address of the mourners to one another, lamenting their loss. Some scholars feel that all four terms are parallel and represent the relation that the king had metaphorically to his subjects; i.e., he was not only Lord and Majesty to them but like a sister or a brother. In that case something like: “How sad it is for the one who was like a brother to us! How sad it is for the one who was like a sister to us.” This makes for poor poetry and is not very likely. The lover can call his bride sister in Song of Solomon (Song 4:9, 10) but there are no documented examples of a subject ever speaking of a king in this way in Israel or the ancient Near East.

[22:19]  ⁹ sn A similar judgment against this ungodly king is pronounced by Jeremiah in 36:30. According to 2 Chr 36:6 he was bound over to be taken captive to Babylon but apparently died before he got there. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Nebuchadnezzar ordered his body thrown outside the wall in fulfillment of this judgment. The Bible itself, however, does not tell us that.

[29:12]  ¹⁰ tn The negative introduces a clause that serves as a negative attribute; literally the following clause says, “and had no helper” (see GKC 482 §152.u).

[29:13]  ¹¹ tn The verb is simply בּוֹא (bo’, “to come; to enter”). With the preposition עַל (’al, “upon”) it could mean “came to me,” or “came upon me,” i.e., descended (see R. Gordis, Job, 320).

[29:13]  ¹² tn The verb אַרְנִן (’arnin) is from רָנַן (ranan, “to give a ringing cry”) but here “cause to give a ringing cry,” i.e., shout of joy. The rejoicing envisioned in this word is far greater than what the words “sing” or “rejoice” suggest.

[29:14]  ¹³ tn Both verbs in this first half-verse are from לָבַשׁ (lavash, “to clothe; to put on clothing”). P. Joüon changed the vowels to get a verb “it adorned me” instead of “it clothed me” (Bib 11 [1930]: 324). The figure of clothing is used for the character of the person: to wear righteousness is to be righteous.

[29:14]  ¹⁴ tn The word מִשְׁפָּטִי (mishpati) is simply “my justice” or “my judgment.” It refers to the decisions he made in settling issues, how he dealt with other people justly.

[72:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “judge [for].”

[72:4]  ¹⁶ tn The prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, not a jussive.

[72:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “sons.”

[82:2]  ¹⁸ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation to indicate that the following speech is God’s judicial decision (see v. 1).

[82:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and the face of the wicked lift up.”

[82:3]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew noun יָתוֹם (yatom) refers to one who has lost his father (not necessarily his mother, see Ps 109:9). Because they were so vulnerable and were frequently exploited, fatherless children are often mentioned as epitomizing the oppressed (see Pss 10:14; 68:5; 94:6; 146:9; as well as Job 6:27; 22:9; 24:3, 9; 29:12; 31:17, 21).

[82:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “hand.”

[1:23]  ²² tn Or “stubborn”; CEV “have rejected me.”

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

[1:23]  ²⁴ tn Heb “pursue”; NIV “chase after gifts.”

[1:23]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ sn See the note at v. 17.

[1:23]  ²⁷ 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.