Jeremiah 3:12

The Lord Calls on Israel and Judah to Repent

3:12 “Go and shout this message to my people in the countries in the north. ¹  Tell them,

‘Come back to me, wayward Israel,’ says the Lord.

‘I will not continue to look on you with displeasure. ² 

For I am merciful,’ says the Lord.

‘I will not be angry with you forever.

Lamentations 5:20

5:20 Why do you keep on forgetting ³  us?

Why do you forsake us so long?

Micah 7:18-20

7:18 There is no other God like you! ⁴ 

You ⁵  forgive sin

and pardon ⁶  the rebellion

of those who remain among your people. ⁷ 

You do not remain angry forever, ⁸ 

but delight in showing loyal love.

7:19 You will once again ⁹  have mercy on us;

you will conquer ¹⁰  our evil deeds;

you will hurl our ¹¹  sins into the depths of the sea. ¹² 

7:20 You will be loyal to Jacob

and extend your loyal love to Abraham, ¹³ 

which you promised on oath to our ancestors ¹⁴ 

in ancient times. ¹⁵ 

Malachi 1:4

1:4 Edom ¹⁶  says, “Though we are devastated, we will once again build the ruined places.” So the Lord who rules over all ¹⁷  responds, “They indeed may build, but I will overthrow. They will be known as ¹⁸  the land of evil, the people with whom the Lord is permanently displeased.

Malachi 1:2

1:2 “I have shown love to you,” says the Lord, but you say, “How have you shown love to us?”

“Esau was Jacob’s brother,” the Lord explains, “yet I chose Jacob

Malachi 2:17

Resistance to the Lord through Self-deceit

2:17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” Because you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the Lord’s opinion, ¹⁹  and he delights in them,” or “Where is the God of justice?”

Revelation 20:10

20:10 And the devil who deceived ²⁰  them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, ²¹  where the beast and the false prophet are ²²  too, and they will be tormented there day and night forever and ever.

[3:12]  ¹ tn Heb “Go and proclaim these words to the north.” The translation assumes that the message is directed toward the exiles of northern Israel who have been scattered in the provinces of Assyria to the north.

[3:12]  ² tn Heb “I will not cause my face to fall on you.”

[5:20]  ³ tn The Hebrew verb “forget” often means “to not pay attention to, ignore,” just as the Hebrew “remember” often means “to consider, attend to.”

[7:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “Who is a God like you?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one!”

[7:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “one who.” The prayer moves from direct address (second person) in v. 18a to a descriptive (third person) style in vv. 18b-19a and then back to direct address (second person) in vv. 19b-20. Due to considerations of English style and the unfamiliarity of the modern reader with alternation of persons in Hebrew poetry, the entire section has been rendered as direct address (second person) in the translation.

[7:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “pass over.”

[7:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “of the remnant of his inheritance.”

[7:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “he does not keep hold of his anger forever.”

[7:19]  ⁹ tn The verb יָשׁוּב (yashuv, “he will return”) is here used adverbially in relation to the following verb, indicating that the Lord will again show mercy.

[7:19]  ¹⁰ tn Some prefer to read יִכְבֹּס (yikhbos, “he will cleanse”; see HALOT 459 s.v. כבס pi). If the MT is taken as it stands, sin is personified as an enemy that the Lord subdues.

[7:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “their sins,” but the final mem (ם) may be enclitic rather than a pronominal suffix. In this case the suffix from the preceding line (“our”) may be understood as doing double duty.

[7:19]  ¹² sn In this metaphor the Lord disposes of Israel’s sins by throwing them into the waters of the sea (here symbolic of chaos).

[7:20]  ¹³ tn More literally, “You will extend loyalty to Jacob, and loyal love to Abraham.

[7:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “our fathers.” The Hebrew term refers here to more distant ancestors, not immediate parents.

[7:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “which you swore [or, “pledged”] to our fathers from days of old.”

[1:4]  ¹⁶ sn Edom, a “brother” nation to Israel, became almost paradigmatic of hostility toward Israel and God (see Num 20:14-21; Deut 2:8; Jer 49:7-22; Ezek 25:12-14; Amos 1:11-12; Obad 10-12).

[1:4]  ¹⁷ sn The epithet Lord who rules over all occurs frequently as a divine title throughout Malachi (24 times total). This name (יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת, yÿhvah tsÿva’ot), traditionally translated “Lord of hosts” (so KJV, NAB, NASB; cf. NIV NLT “Lord Almighty”; NCV, CEV “Lord All-Powerful”), emphasizes the majestic sovereignty of the Lord, an especially important concept in the postexilic world of great human empires and rulers. For a thorough study of the divine title, see T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 123-57.

[1:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and they will call them.” The third person plural subject is indefinite; one could translate, “and people will call them.”

[2:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord.”

[20:10]  ²⁰ tn Or “misled.”

[20:10]  ²¹ tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”

[20:10]  ²² tn The verb in this clause is elided. In keeping with the previous past tenses some translations supply a past tense verb here (“were”), but in view of the future tense that follows (“they will be tormented”), a present tense verb was used to provide a transition from the previous past tense to the future tense that follows.