Jeremiah 5:21

5:21 Tell them: ‘Hear this,

you foolish people who have no understanding,

who have eyes but do not discern,

who have ears but do not perceive: ¹ 

Jeremiah 7:2

7:2 “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s temple and proclaim ²  this message: ‘Listen, all you people of Judah who have passed through these gates to worship the Lord. ³  Hear what the Lord has to say.

Jeremiah 13:15

13:15 Then I said to the people of Judah, ⁴ 

“Listen and pay attention! Do not be arrogant!

For the Lord has spoken.

Jeremiah 19:3

19:3 Say, ‘Listen to what the Lord says, you kings of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem! ⁵  The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ⁶  says, “I will bring a disaster on this place ⁷  that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it ring! ⁸ 

Jeremiah 34:4

34:4 However, listen to what I, the Lord, promise you, King Zedekiah of Judah. I, the Lord, promise that ⁹  you will not die in battle or be executed. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 44:24-26

44:24 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people, particularly to all the women. ¹¹  “Listen to what the Lord has to say all you people of Judah who are in Egypt. 44:25 The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, ‘You women ¹²  have confirmed by your actions what you vowed with your lips! You said, “We will certainly carry out our vows to sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven.” Well, then fulfill your vows! Carry them out!’ ¹³  44:26 But ¹⁴  listen to what the Lord has to say, all you people of Judah who are living in the land of Egypt. The Lord says, ‘I hereby swear by my own great name that none of the people of Judah who are living anywhere in Egypt will ever again invoke my name in their oaths! Never again will any of them use it in an oath saying, “As surely as the Lord God lives….” ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 51:1-4

There is Hope for the Future

51:1 “Listen to me, you who pursue godliness, ¹⁶ 

who seek the Lord!

Look at the rock from which you were chiseled,

at the quarry ¹⁷  from which you were dug! ¹⁸ 

51:2 Look at Abraham, your father,

and Sarah, who gave you birth. ¹⁹ 

When I summoned him, he was a lone individual, ²⁰ 

but I blessed him ²¹  and gave him numerous descendants. ²² 

51:3 Certainly the Lord will console Zion;

he will console all her ruins.

He will make her wilderness like Eden,

her desert like the Garden of the Lord.

Happiness and joy will be restored to ²³  her,

thanksgiving and the sound of music.

51:4 Pay attention to me, my people!

Listen to me, my people!

For ²⁴  I will issue a decree, ²⁵ 

I will make my justice a light to the nations. ²⁶ 

Hosea 4:1

The Lord’s Covenant Lawsuit against the Nation Israel

4:1 Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites! ²⁷ 

For the Lord has a covenant lawsuit ²⁸  against the people of Israel. ²⁹ 

For there is neither faithfulness nor loyalty in the land,

nor do they acknowledge God. ³⁰ 

Micah 6:1

The Lord Demands Justice, not Ritual

6:1 Listen to what the Lord says:

“Get up! Defend yourself ³¹  before the mountains! ³² 

Present your case before the hills!” ³³ 

[5:21]  ¹ tn Heb “they have eyes but they do not see, they have ears but they do not hear.”

[7:2]  ² tn Heb “Proclaim there…” The adverb is unnecessary in English style.

[7:2]  ³ sn That is, all those who have passed through the gates of the outer court and are standing in the courtyard of the temple.

[13:15]  ⁴ tn The words “Then I said to the people of Judah” are not in the text but are implicit from the address in v. 15 and the content of v. 17. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to show the shift from the Lord speaking to Jeremiah.

[19:3]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[19:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”

[19:3]  ⁷ sn Careful comparison of the use of this term throughout this passage and comparison with 7:31-33 which is parallel to several verses in this passage will show that the reference is to the Valley of Ben Hinnom which will become a Valley of Slaughter (see v. 6 and 7:32).

[19:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “which everyone who hears it [or about it] his ears will ring.” This is proverbial for a tremendous disaster. See 1 Sam 3:11; 2 Kgs 21:12 for similar prophecies.

[34:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “However, hear the word of the Lord, Zedekiah king of Judah, ‘Thus says the Lord to you, “You will not die by the sword.”’” The translation has tried to avoid the complexity created by embedding quotes within quotes and has used the first person address within the Lord’s speech as has also been done elsewhere.

[34:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “by the sword.”

[44:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and to all the women.” The “and” (ו, vav) is to be explained here according to BDB 252 s.v. וַ 1.a. The focus of the address that follows is on the women. See the translator’s note on the next verse.

[44:25]  ¹² tn Or “You and your wives.” The text and referent here is uncertain because of the confusing picture that the alternation of pronouns presents in this verse. Three of the main verbs are second feminine plurals and one of them is second masculine plural. All the pronominal suffixes on the nouns are second masculine plurals. The Hebrew text reads: “You [masc. pl.] and your [masc. pl.] wives have spoken [2nd fem. pl.; תְּדַבֵּרְנָה, tÿdabberÿnah] with your [masc. pl.] mouth and you have fulfilled [masc. pl.; מִלֵּאתֶם, mille’tem] with your [masc. pl.] hands, saying, ‘We [common gender] will certainly carry out….’ Indeed fulfill [2nd fem. pl.; תָּקִימְנָה, taqimnah] your [masc. pl.] vows and indeed carry out [2nd fem. pl.; תַעֲשֶׂינָה, ta’asenah] your [masc. pl.] vows.” Older commentaries, such as K&D 22:165, explain the feminine verbs as a matter of the women being the principle subject. Most all modern commentaries (e.g., J. A. Thompson, J. Bright, W. L. Holladay, and G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, T. G. Smothers) follow the reading of the Greek version which reads “you women” (= אַתֵּנָה הַנָּשִּׁים, [’attenah hannashim]) in place of “you and your wives” (אַתֶּם וּנְשֵׁיכֶם, ’attem unÿshekhem) in the Hebrew. None of them, however, explain the use of the 2nd masc. plurals here. This is possibly a case where the masculine forms are used in the place of the feminine due to the dislike of Hebrew to use the feminine plural forms (cf. GKC 459 §144.a and 466 §145.t). This seems all the more probable when 2nd fem. pl. verbs are qualified by nouns with 2nd masc. pl. suffixes. The translation here follows this interpretation of the masc. pl. forms and reads “you women” with the Greek version in place of “you and your wives” and sees the referents throughout as the women.

[44:25]  ¹³ tn Heb “Carry out your vows!”

[44:26]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Therefore.” This particle quite often introduces the announcement of judgment after an indictment or accusation of a crime. That is its function here after the statement of cause in vv. 24-25. However, it would not sound right after the immediately preceding ironical or sarcastic commands to go ahead and fulfill their vows. “But” is a better transition unless one wants to paraphrase “Therefore, since you are so determined to do that….”

[44:26]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Behold I swear by…that my name will no more be pronounced in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt saying, ‘As the Lord Yahweh lives.’” The sentence has been broken up and restructured to better conform with contemporary English style and the significance of pronouncing the name has been interpreted for the sake of readers who might not be familiar with this biblical idiom.

[51:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “righteousness” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “justice”; NLT “hope for deliverance.”

[51:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the excavation of the hole.”

[51:1]  ¹⁸ sn The “rock” and “quarry” refer here to Abraham and Sarah, the progenitors of the nation.

[51:2]  ¹⁹ sn Although Abraham and Sarah are distant ancestors of the people the prophet is addressing, they are spoken of as the immediate parents.

[51:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “one”; NLT “was alone”; TEV “was childless.”

[51:2]  ²¹ tn “Bless” may here carry the sense of “endue with potency, reproductive power.” See Gen 1:28.

[51:2]  ²² tn Heb “and I made him numerous.”

[51:3]  ²³ tn Heb “found in” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[51:4]  ²⁴ tn Or “certainly.”

[51:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “instruction [or “a law”] will go out from me.”

[51:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and my justice for a light to the nations I will cause to rest.”

[4:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “sons of Israel” (so NASB); KJV “children of Israel”; NAB, NRSV “people of Israel.”

[4:1]  ²⁸ tn The noun רִיב (riv, “dispute, lawsuit”) is used in two contexts: (1) nonlegal contexts: (a) “dispute” between individuals (e.g., Gen 13:7; Isa 58:1; Jer 15:10) or (b) “brawl; quarrel” between people (e.g., Exod 17:7; Deut 25:1); and (2) legal contexts: (a) “lawsuit; legal process” (e.g., Exod 23:3-6; Deut 19:17; 21:5; Ezek 44:24; Ps 35:23), (b) “lawsuit; legal case” (e.g., Deut 1:12; 17:8; Prov 18:17; 25:9), and (c) God’s “lawsuit” on behalf of a person or against his own people (Hos 4:1; 12:3; Mic 6:2; HALOT 1225-26 s.v. רִיב). The term in Hosea refers to a covenant lawsuit in which Yahweh the suzerain lodges a legal case against his disobedient vassal, accusing Israel and Judah of breach of covenant which will elicit the covenant curses.

[4:1]  ²⁹ tn Heb “with the inhabitants of the land” (so KJV); NAB, NASB, NRSV “against the inhabitants of the land.”

[4:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “there is no truthfulness nor loyalty nor knowledge of God in the land.” Here “knowledge of God” refers to recognition of his authority and obedience to his will.

[6:1]  ³¹ tn Or “plead your case” (NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “present your plea”; NLT “state your case.”

[6:1]  ³² sn As in some ancient Near Eastern treaties, the mountains are personified as legal witnesses that will settle the dispute between God and Israel.

[6:1]  ³³ tn Heb “let the hills hear your voice.”