Jeremiah 27:10

27:10 Do not listen to them, ¹  because their prophecies are lies. ²  Listening to them will only cause you ³  to be taken far away from your native land. I will drive you out of your country and you will die in exile. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 27:2

27:2 The Lord told me, ⁵  “Make a yoke ⁶  out of leather straps and wooden crossbars and put it on your neck.

Jeremiah 18:17-22

18:17 I will scatter them before their enemies

like dust blowing in front of a burning east wind.

I will turn my back on them and not look favorably on them ⁷ 

when disaster strikes them.”

Jeremiah Petitions the Lord to Punish Those Who Attack Him

18:18 Then some people ⁸  said, “Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! ⁹  There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God’s word. ¹⁰  Come on! Let’s bring charges against him and get rid of him! ¹¹  Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says.”

18:19 Then I said, ¹² 

“Lord, pay attention to me.

Listen to what my enemies are saying. ¹³ 

18:20 Should good be paid back with evil?

Yet they are virtually digging a pit to kill me. ¹⁴ 

Just remember how I stood before you

pleading on their behalf ¹⁵ 

to keep you from venting your anger on them. ¹⁶ 

18:21 So let their children die of starvation.

Let them be cut down by the sword. ¹⁷ 

Let their wives lose their husbands and children.

Let the older men die of disease ¹⁸ 

and the younger men die by the sword in battle.

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

when you send bands of raiders unexpectedly to plunder them. ¹⁹ 

For they have virtually dug a pit to capture me

and have hidden traps for me to step into.

Jeremiah 25:16

25:16 When they have drunk it, they will stagger to and fro ²⁰  and act insane. For I will send wars sweeping through them.” ²¹ 

Ezekiel 14:3-10

14:3 “Son of man, these men have erected their idols in their hearts and placed the obstacle leading to their iniquity ²²  right before their faces. Should I really allow them to seek ²³  me? 14:4 Therefore speak to them and say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: When any one from the house of Israel erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet, I the Lord am determined to answer him personally according to the enormity of his idolatry. ²⁴  14:5 I will do this in order to capture the hearts of the house of Israel, who have alienated themselves from me on account of all their idols.’

14:6 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Return! Turn from your idols, and turn your faces away from your abominations. 14:7 For when anyone from the house of Israel, or the foreigner who lives in Israel, separates himself from me and erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet to seek something from me, I the Lord am determined to answer him personally. 14:8 I will set my face against that person and will make him an object lesson and a byword ²⁵  and will cut him off from among my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

14:9 “‘As for the prophet, if he is made a fool by being deceived into speaking a prophetic word – I, the Lord, have made a fool of ²⁶  that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel. 14:10 They will bear their punishment; ²⁷  the punishment of the one who sought an oracle will be the same as the punishment of the prophet who gave it ²⁸ 

Matthew 24:24

24:24 For false messiahs ²⁹  and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

Matthew 24:2

24:2 And he said to them, ³⁰  “Do you see all these things? I tell you the truth, ³¹  not one stone will be left on another. ³²  All will be torn down!” ³³ 

Matthew 2:9-12

2:9 After listening to the king they left, and once again ³⁴  the star they saw when it rose ³⁵  led them until it stopped above the place where the child was. 2:10 When they saw the star they shouted joyfully. ³⁶  2:11 As they came into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother, they bowed down ³⁷  and worshiped him. They opened their treasure boxes and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, ³⁸  and myrrh. ³⁹  2:12 After being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, ⁴⁰  they went back by another route to their own country.

Matthew 2:2

2:2 saying, “Where is the one who is born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose ⁴¹  and have come to worship him.”

Matthew 2:17-19

2:17 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:

2:18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,

weeping and loud wailing, ⁴² 

Rachel weeping for her children,

and she did not want to be comforted, because they were ⁴³  gone.” ⁴⁴ 

The Return to Nazareth

2:19 After Herod ⁴⁵  had died, an ⁴⁶  angel of the Lord ⁴⁷  appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt

Matthew 4:3-4

4:3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.” ⁴⁸  4:4 But he answered, ⁴⁹  “It is written, ‘Man ⁵⁰  does not live ⁵¹  by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” ⁵² 

Revelation 13:7-8

13:7 The beast ⁵³  was permitted to go to war against the saints and conquer them. ⁵⁴  He was given ruling authority ⁵⁵  over every tribe, people, ⁵⁶  language, and nation, 13:8 and all those who live on the earth will worship the beast, ⁵⁷  everyone whose name has not been written since the foundation of the world ⁵⁸  in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was killed. ⁵⁹ 

Revelation 13:12-14

13:12 He ⁶⁰  exercised all the ruling authority ⁶¹  of the first beast on his behalf, ⁶²  and made the earth and those who inhabit it worship the first beast, the one whose lethal wound had been healed. 13:13 He ⁶³  performed momentous signs, even making fire come down from heaven in front of people ⁶⁴  13:14 and, by the signs he was permitted to perform on behalf of the beast, he deceived those who live on the earth. He told ⁶⁵  those who live on the earth to make an image to the beast who had been wounded by the sword, but still lived.

[27:10]  ¹ tn The words “Don’t listen to them” have been repeated from v. 9a to pick up the causal connection between v. 9a and v. 10 that is formally introduced by a causal particle in v. 10 in the original text.

[27:10]  ² tn Heb “they are prophesying a lie.”

[27:10]  ³ tn Heb “lies will result in your being taken far…” (לְמַעַן [lÿma’an] + infinitive). This is a rather clear case of the particle לְמַעַן introducing result (contra BDB 775 s.v. מַעַן note 1. There is no irony in this statement; it is a bold prediction).

[27:10]  ⁴ tn The words “out of your country” are not in the text but are implicit in the meaning of the verb. The words “in exile” are also not in the text but are implicit in the context. These words have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[27:2]  ⁵ tn There is some disjunction in the narrative of this chapter. The introduction in v. 1 presents this as a third person narrative. But the rest of the passage reports the narrative in first person. Thus the text reads here “Thus the Lord said to me…” In vv. 12, 16 the narrative picks up in first person report and never indicates that Jeremiah carried out the command in vv. 2-4 that introduces the message which he repeats in summary form himself to Zedekiah. The report is thus an “unedited” first person report. This may create some confusion for some readers, but it is best to leave it in first person here because of the continuation in vv. 12, 16.

[27:2]  ⁶ sn The yoke is a common biblical symbol of political servitude (see, e.g., Deut 28:48; 1 Kgs 12:4, 9, 10). From the context of 1 Kgs 12 it is clear that it applied to taxation and the provision of conscript labor. In international political contexts it involved the payment of heavy tribute which was often conscripted from the citizens (see, e.g., 2 Kgs 15:19-20; 23:34-35) and the furnishing of military contingents for the sovereign’s armies (see, e.g., 2 Kgs 24:2). Jeremiah’s message here combines both a symbolic action (the wearing of a yoke) and words of explanation as in Jer 19:1-13. (See Isa 20:1-6 for an example outside of Jeremiah.) The casting off of the yoke has been used earlier in Jer 2:20, 5:5 to refer to Israel’s failure to remain spiritually “subject” or faithful to God.

[18:17]  ⁷ tc Heb “I will show them [my] back and not [my] face.” This reading follows the suggestion of some of the versions and some of the Masoretes. The MT reads “I will look on their back and not on their faces.”

[18:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “They.” The referent is unidentified; “some people” has been used in the translation.

[18:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “Let us make plans against Jeremiah.” See 18:18 where this has sinister overtones as it does here.

[18:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Instruction will not perish from priest, counsel from the wise, word from the prophet.”

[18:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Let us smite him with our tongues.” It is clear from the context that this involved plots to kill him.

[18:19]  ¹² tn The words “Then I said” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to show that Jeremiah turns from description of the peoples’ plots to his address to God to deal with the plotters.

[18:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “the voice of my adversaries.”

[18:20]  ¹⁴ tn Or “They are plotting to kill me”; Heb “They have dug a pit for my soul.” This is a common metaphor for plotting against someone. See BDB 500 s.v. כָּרָה Qal and for an example see Pss 7:16 (7:15 HT) in its context.

[18:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to speak good concerning them” going back to the concept of “good” being paid back with evil.

[18:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to turn back your anger from them.”

[18:21]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “be poured out to the hand [= power] of the sword.” For this same expression see Ezek 35:5; Ps 63:10 (63:11 HT). Comparison with those two passages show that it involved death by violent means, perhaps death in battle.

[18:21]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “be slain by death.” The commentaries are generally agreed that this refers to death by disease or plague as in 15:2. Hence, the reference is to the deadly trio of sword, starvation, and disease which were often connected with war. See the notes on 15:2.

[18:22]  ¹⁹ 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.

[25:16]  ²⁰ tn There is some debate about the meaning of the verb here. Both BDB 172 s.v. גָּעַשׁ Hithpo and KBL 191 s.v. גָּעַשׁ Hitpol interpret this of the back and forth movement of staggering. HALOT 192 s.v. גָּעַשׁ Hitpo interprets it as vomiting. The word is used elsewhere of the up and down movement of the mountains (2 Sam 22:8) and the up and down movement of the rolling waves of the Nile (Jer 46:7, 8). The fact that a different verb is used in v. 27 for vomiting would appear to argue against it referring to vomiting (contra W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 1:674; it is “they” that do this not their stomachs).

[25:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “because of the sword that I will send among them.” Here, as often elsewhere in Jeremiah, the sword is figurative for warfare which brings death. See, e.g., 15:2. The causal particle here is found in verbal locutions where it is the cause of emotional states or action. Hence there are really two “agents” which produce the effects of “staggering” and “acting insane,” the cup filled with God’s wrath and the sword. The sword is the “more literal” and the actual agent by which the first agent’s action is carried out.

[14:3]  ²² tn Heb “the stumbling block of their iniquity.” This phrase is unique to the prophet Ezekiel.

[14:3]  ²³ tn Or “I will not reveal myself to them.” The Hebrew word is used in a technical sense here of seeking an oracle from a prophet (2 Kgs 1:16; 3:11; 8:8).

[14:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “in accordance with the multitude of his idols.”

[14:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “proverbs.”

[14:9]  ²⁶ tn The translation is uncertain due to difficulty both in determining the meaning of the verb’s stem and its conjugation in this context. In the Qal stem the basic meaning of the verbal root פָּתַה (patah) is “to be gullible, foolish.” The doubling stems (the Pual and Piel used in this verse) typically give such stative verbs a factitive sense, hence either “make gullible” (i.e., “entice”) or “make into a fool” (i.e., “to show to be a fool”). The latter represents the probable meaning of the term in Jer 20:7, 10 and is followed here (see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:193; R. Mosis “Ez 14, 1-11 - ein Ruf zur Umkehr,” BZ 19 [1975]: 166-69 and ThWAT 4:829-31). In this view, if a prophet speaks when not prompted by God, he will be shown to be a fool, but this does not reflect negatively on the Lord because it is God who shows him to be a fool. Secondly, the verb is in the perfect conjugation and may be translated “I have made a fool of him” or “I have enticed him,” or to show determination (see IBHS 439-41 §27.2f and g), or in certain syntactical constructions as future. Any of these may be plausible if the doubling stems used are understood in the sense of “making a fool of.” But if understood as “to make gullible,” more factors come into play. As the Hebrew verbal form is a perfect, it is often translated as present perfect: “I have enticed.” In this case the Lord states that he himself enticed the prophet to cooperate with the idolaters. Such enticement to sin would seem to be a violation of God’s moral character, but sometimes he does use such deception and enticement to sin as a form of punishment against those who have blatantly violated his moral will (see, e.g., 2 Sam 24). If one follows this line of interpretation in Ezek 14:9, one would have to assume that the prophet had already turned from God in his heart. However, the context gives no indication of this. Therefore, it is better to take the perfect as indicating certitude and to translate it with the future tense: “I will entice.” In this case the Lord announces that he will judge the prophet appropriately. If a prophet allows himself to be influenced by idolaters, then the Lord will use deception as a form of punishment against that deceived prophet. A comparison with the preceding oracles also favors this view. In 14:4 the perfect of certitude is used for emphasis (see “I will answer”), though in v. 7 a participle is employed. For a fuller discussion of this text, see R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “Does God Deceive?” BSac 155 (1998): 23-25.

[14:10]  ²⁷ tn Or “They will bear responsibility for their iniquity.” The Hebrew term “iniquity” (three times in this verse) often refers by metonymy to the consequence of sin (see Gen 4:13).

[14:10]  ²⁸ tn Or “As is the guilt of the inquirer so is the guilt of the prophet.”

[24:24]  ²⁹ tn Or “false christs”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[24:2]  ³⁰ tn Grk “answering, he said to them.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (ajpokriqei") is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[24:2]  ³¹ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[24:2]  ³² sn With the statement not one stone will be left on another Jesus predicted the total destruction of the temple, something that did occur in a.d. 70.

[24:2]  ³³ tn Grk “not one stone will be left here on another which will not be thrown down.”

[2:9]  ³⁴ tn Grk “and behold the star.”

[2:9]  ³⁵ tn See the note on the word “rose” in 2:2.

[2:10]  ³⁶ tn Grk “they rejoiced with very great joy.”

[2:11]  ³⁷ tn Grk “they fell down.” BDAG 815 s.v. πίπτω 1.b.α.ב has “fall down, throw oneself to the ground as a sign of devotion, before high-ranking persons or divine beings.”

[2:11]  ³⁸ sn Frankincense refers to the aromatic resin of certain trees, used as a sweet-smelling incense (L&N 6.212).

[2:11]  ³⁹ sn Myrrh consisted of the aromatic resin of certain shrubs (L&N 6.208). It was used in preparing a corpse for burial.

[2:12]  ⁴⁰ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.

[2:2]  ⁴¹ tn Or “in its rising,” referring to the astrological significance of a star in a particular portion of the sky. The term used for the “East” in v. 1 is ἀνατολαί (anatolai, a plural form that is used typically of the rising of the sun), while in vv. 2 and 9 the singular ἀνατολή (anatolh) is used. The singular is typically used of the rising of a star and as such should not normally be translated “in the east” (cf. BDAG 74 s.v. 1: “because of the sg. and the article in contrast to ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν, vs. 1, [it is] prob. not a geograph. expr. like the latter, but rather astronomical…likew. vs. 9”).

[2:18]  ⁴² tc The LXX of Jer 38:15 (31:15 ET) has “lamentation, weeping, and loud wailing”; most later mss (C D L W 0233 ˹³ 33 Ï) have a quotation in Matthew which conforms to that of the LXX (θρῆνος καὶ κλαυθμός καὶ ὀδυρμός; qrhno" kai klauqmo" kai odurmo"). But such assimilations were routine among the scribes; as such, they typically should be discounted because they are both predictable and motivated. The shorter reading, without “lamentation and,” is thus to be preferred, especially since it cannot easily be accounted for unless it is the original wording here. Further, it is found in the better mss along with a good cross-section of other witnesses (א B Z 0250 ˹ pc lat co).

[2:18]  ⁴³ tn Grk “are”; the Greek text uses a present tense verb.

[2:18]  ⁴⁴ sn A quotation from Jer 31:15.

[2:19]  ⁴⁵ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1. When Herod the Great died in 4 b.c., his kingdom was divided up among his three sons: Archelaus, who ruled over Judea (where Bethlehem was located, v. 22); Philip, who became tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis (cf. Luke 3:1); and Antipas, who became tetrarch of Galilee.

[2:19]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “behold, an angel.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[2:19]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 1:20.

[4:3]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “say that these stones should become bread.”

[4:4]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “answering, he said.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant, but the syntax of the phrase has been changed for clarity.

[4:4]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “a person.” Greek ὁ ἄνθρωπος (Jo anqrwpo") is used generically for humanity. The translation “man” is used because the emphasis in Jesus’ response seems to be on his dependence on God as a man.

[4:4]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “will not live.” The verb in Greek is a future tense, but it is unclear whether it is meant to be taken as a command (also known as an imperatival future) or as a statement of reality (predictive future).

[4:4]  ⁵² sn A quotation from Deut 8:3.

[13:7]  ⁵³ tn Grk “and it was given to him to go to war.” Here the passive construction has been simplified, the referent (the beast) has been specified for clarity, and καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[13:7]  ⁵⁴ tc Many mss omit the phrase “it was given to make war with the saints and to overcome them” (Ì⁴⁷ A C 2053 Ï^A sa). It is, however, found in Ì^115vid א 051 1006 (1611) 1841 (1854) 2329 2344 2351 (Ï^K) lat sy^ph,(h) bo. Although the ms evidence is somewhat in favor of the shorter reading, the support of ̹¹⁵ (a recently-discovered ms) for the longer reading balances things out. Normally, the shorter reading should be given preference. However, in an instance in which homoioteleuton could play a role, caution must be exercised. In this passage, accidental omission is quite likely. That this could have happened seems apparent from the two occurrences of the identical phrase “and it was given to him” (καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ, kai edoqh autw) in v. 7. The scribe’s eye skipped over the first καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ and went to the second, hence creating an accidental omission of eleven words.

[13:7]  ⁵⁵ tn For the translation “ruling authority” for ἐξουσία (exousia) see L&N 37.35.

[13:7]  ⁵⁶ tn Grk “and people,” but καί (kai) has not been translated here or before the following term since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[13:8]  ⁵⁷ tn Grk “it”; the referent (the beast) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:8]  ⁵⁸ tn The prepositional phrase “since the foundation of the world” is traditionally translated as a modifier of the immediately preceding phrase in the Greek text, “the Lamb who was killed” (so also G. B. Caird, Revelation [HNTC], 168), but it is more likely that the phrase “since the foundation of the world” modifies the verb “written” (as translated above). Confirmation of this can be found in Rev 17:8 where the phrase “written in the book of life since the foundation of the world” occurs with no ambiguity.

[13:8]  ⁵⁹ tn Or “slaughtered”; traditionally, “slain.”

[13:12]  ⁶⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[13:12]  ⁶¹ tn For the translation “ruling authority” for ἐξουσία (exousia) see L&N 37.35.

[13:12]  ⁶² tn For this meaning see BDAG 342 s.v. ἐνώπιον 4.b, “by the authority of, on behalf of Rv 13:12, 14; 19:20.”

[13:13]  ⁶³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[13:13]  ⁶⁴ tn This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), referring to both men and women.

[13:14]  ⁶⁵ tn Grk “earth, telling.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in Greek.