Jeremiah 5:23

5:23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts.

They have turned aside and gone their own way. ¹ 

Isaiah 1:5

1:5 ² Why do you insist on being battered?

Why do you continue to rebel? ³ 

Your head has a massive wound, ⁴ 

your whole body is weak. ⁵ 

Isaiah 31:6

31:6 You Israelites! Return to the one against whom you have so blatantly rebelled! ⁶ 

[5:23]  ¹ tn The words, “their own way” are not in the text but are implicit and are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:5]  ² sn In vv. 5-9 Isaiah addresses the battered nation (5-8) and speaks as their representative (9).

[1:5]  ³ tn Heb “Why are you still beaten? [Why] do you continue rebellion?” The rhetorical questions express the prophet’s disbelief over Israel’s apparent masochism and obsession with sin. The interrogative construction in the first line does double duty in the parallelism. H. Wildberger (Isaiah, 1:18) offers another alternative by translating the two statements with one question: “Why do you still wish to be struck that you persist in revolt?”

[1:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “all the head is ill”; NRSV “the whole head is sick”; CEV “Your head is badly bruised.”

[1:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “and all the heart is faint.” The “heart” here stands for bodily strength and energy, as suggested by the context and usage elsewhere (see Jer 8:18; Lam 1:22).

[31:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “Return to the one [against] whom the sons of Israel made deep rebellion.” The syntax is awkward here. A preposition is omitted by ellipsis after the verb (see GKC 446 §138.f, n. 2), and there is a shift from direct address (note the second plural imperative “return”) to the third person (note “they made deep”). For other examples of abrupt shifts in person in poetic style, see GKC 462 §144.p.