Jeremiah 5:3

5:3 Lord, I know you look for faithfulness. ¹ 

But even when you punish these people, they feel no remorse. ² 

Even when you nearly destroy them, they refuse to be corrected.

They have become as hardheaded as a rock. ³ 

They refuse to change their ways. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 6:8-10

6:8 So ⁵  take warning, Jerusalem,

or I will abandon you in disgust ⁶ 

and make you desolate,

a place where no one can live.”

6:9 This is what the Lord who rules over all ⁷  said to me: ⁸ 

“Those who remain in Israel will be

like the grapes thoroughly gleaned ⁹  from a vine.

So go over them again, as though you were a grape harvester

passing your hand over the branches one last time.” ¹⁰ 

6:10 I answered, ¹¹ 

“Who would listen

if I spoke to them and warned them? ¹² 

Their ears are so closed ¹³ 

that they cannot hear!

Indeed, ¹⁴  what the Lord says is offensive to them.

They do not like it at all. ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 9:12

9:12 I said, ¹⁶ 

“Who is wise enough to understand why this has happened? ¹⁷ 

Who has a word from the Lord that can explain it? ¹⁸ 

Why does the land lie in ruins?

Why is it as scorched as a desert through which no one travels?”

Jeremiah 32:33

32:33 They have turned away from me instead of turning to me. ¹⁹  I tried over and over again ²⁰  to instruct them, but they did not listen and respond to correction. ²¹ 

Psalms 32:8-9

32:8 I will instruct and teach you ²²  about how you should live. ²³ 

I will advise you as I look you in the eye. ²⁴ 

32:9 Do not be ²⁵  like an unintelligent horse or mule, ²⁶ 

which will not obey you

unless they are controlled by a bridle and bit. ²⁷ 

Proverbs 8:10

8:10 Receive my instruction ²⁸  rather than ²⁹  silver,

and knowledge rather than choice gold.

Proverbs 19:20

19:20 Listen to advice ³⁰  and receive discipline,

that ³¹  you may become wise ³²  by the end of your life. ³³ 

Isaiah 28:9-12

28:9 Who is the Lord ³⁴  trying to teach?

To whom is he explaining a message? ³⁵ 

Those just weaned from milk!

Those just taken from their mother’s breast! ³⁶ 

28:10 Indeed, they will hear meaningless gibberish,

senseless babbling,

a syllable here, a syllable there. ³⁷ 

28:11 For with mocking lips and a foreign tongue

he will speak to these people. ³⁸ 

28:12 In the past he said to them, ³⁹ 

“This is where security can be found.

Provide security for the one who is exhausted!

This is where rest can be found.” ⁴⁰ 

But they refused to listen.

Isaiah 42:23

42:23 Who among you will pay attention to this?

Who will listen attentively in the future? ⁴¹ 

Hebrews 12:25

12:25 Take care not to refuse the one who is speaking! For if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less shall we, if we reject the one who warns from heaven?

[5:3]  ¹ tn Heb “O Lord, are your eyes not to faithfulness?” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.

[5:3]  ² tn Commentaries and lexicons debate the meaning of the verb here. The MT is pointed as though from a verb meaning “to writhe in anguish or contrition” (חוּל [khul]; see, e.g., BDB 297 s.v. חוּל 2.c), but some commentaries and lexicons repoint the text as though from a verb meaning “to be sick,” thus “to feel pain” (חָלָה [khalah]; see, e.g., HALOT 304 s.v. חָלָה 3). The former appears more appropriate to the context.

[5:3]  ³ tn Heb “They made their faces as hard as a rock.”

[5:3]  ⁴ tn Or “to repent”; Heb “to turn back.”

[6:8]  ⁵ tn This word is not in the text but is supplied in the translation. Jeremiah uses a figure of speech (enallage) where the speaker turns from talking about someone to address him/her directly.

[6:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “lest my soul [= I] becomes disgusted with you.”

[6:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[6:9]  ⁸ tn The words “to me” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “They will thoroughly glean those who are left in Israel like a vine.” That is, they will be carried off by judgment. It is not necessary to read the verb forms here as two imperatives or an infinitive absolute followed by an imperative as some English versions and commentaries do. This is an example of a third plural verb used impersonally and translated as a passive (cf. GKC 460 §144.g).

[6:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Pass your hand back over the branches like a grape harvester.” The translation is intended to clarify the metaphor that Jeremiah should try to rescue some from the coming destruction.

[6:10]  ¹¹ tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:10]  ¹² tn Or “To whom shall I speak? To whom shall I give warning? Who will listen?” Heb “Unto whom shall I speak and give warning that they may listen?”

[6:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “are uncircumcised.”

[6:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Behold!”

[6:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “They do not take pleasure in it.”

[9:12]  ¹⁶ tn The words, “I said” are not in the text. It is not clear that a shift in speaker has taken place. However, the words of the verse are very unlikely to be a continuation of the Lord’s threat. It is generally assumed that these are the words of Jeremiah and that a dialogue is going on between him and the Lord in vv. 9-14. That assumption is accepted here.

[9:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Who is the wise man that he may understand this?”

[9:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “And [who is the man] to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken that he may explain it?”

[32:33]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “they have turned [their] backs to me, not [their] faces.” Compare the same idiom in 2:27.

[32:33]  ²⁰ tn For the idiom involved here see the translator’s note on 7:13. The verb that introduces this clause is a Piel infinitive absolute which is functioning in place of the finite verb (see, e.g., GKC 346 §113.ff and compare usage in Jer 8:15; 14:19. This grammatical point means that the versions cited in BHS fn a may not be reading a different text after all, but may merely be interpreting the form as syntactically equivalent to a finite verb as the present translation has done.).

[32:33]  ²¹ tn Heb “But they were not listening so as to accept correction.”

[32:8]  ²² tn The second person pronominal forms in this verse are singular. The psalmist addresses each member of his audience individually (see also the note on the word “eye” in the next line). A less likely option (but one which is commonly understood) is that the Lord addresses the psalmist in vv. 8-9 (cf. NASB “I will instruct you and teach you…I will counsel you with My eye upon you”).

[32:8]  ²³ tn Heb “I will instruct you and I will teach you in the way [in] which you should walk.”

[32:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “I will advise, upon you my eye,” that is, “I will offer advice [with] my eye upon you.” In 2 Chr 20:12 the statement “our eye is upon you” means that the speakers are looking to the Lord for intervention. Here the expression “my eye upon you” may simply mean that the psalmist will teach his pupils directly and personally.

[32:9]  ²⁵ tn The verb form is plural (i.e., “do not all of you be”); the psalmist addresses the whole group.

[32:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “like a horse, like a mule without understanding.”

[32:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “with a bridle and bit, its [?] to hold, not to come near to you.” The meaning of the Hebrew noun עֲדִי (’adiy) is uncertain. Normally the word refers to “jewelry,” so some suggest the meaning “trappings” here (cf. NASB). Some emend the form to לְחֵיהֶם (lÿkhehem, “their jawbones”) but it is difficult to see how the present Hebrew text, even if corrupt, could have derived from this proposed original reading. P. C. Craigie (Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 265) takes the form from an Arabic root and translates “whose gallop.” Cf. also NRSV “whose temper must be curbed.”

[8:10]  ²⁸ tn Heb “discipline.” The term refers to instruction that trains with discipline (e.g., Prov 1:2).

[8:10]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and not” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “in preference to.”

[19:20]  ³⁰ sn The advice refers in all probability to the teachings of the sages that will make one wise.

[19:20]  ³¹ tn The proverb is one continuous thought, but the second half of the verse provides the purpose for the imperatives of the first half.

[19:20]  ³² tn The imperfect tense has the nuance of a final imperfect in a purpose clause, and so is translated “that you may become wise” (cf. NAB, NRSV).

[19:20]  ³³ tn Heb “become wise in your latter end” (cf. KJV, ASV) which could obviously be misunderstood.

[28:9]  ³⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:9]  ³⁵ tn Heb “Who is he teaching knowledge? For whom is he explaining a message?” The translation assumes that the Lord is the subject of the verbs “teaching” and “explaining,” and that the prophet is asking the questions. See v. 12. According to some vv. 9-10 record the people’s sarcastic response to the Lord’s message through Isaiah.

[28:9]  ³⁶ tn Heb “from the breasts.” The words “their mother’s” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The translation assumes that this is the prophet’s answer to the questions asked in the first half of the verse. The Lord is trying to instruct people who are “infants” morally and ethically.

[28:10]  ³⁷ tn The meaning of this verse has been debated. The text has literally “indeed [or “for”] a little there, a little there” ( כִּי צַו לָצָו צַו לָצָו קַו לָקָו קַו, ki tsav latsav, tsav latsav, qav laqav, qav laqav). The present translation assumes that the repetitive syllables are gibberish that resembles baby talk (cf v. 9b) and mimics what the people will hear when foreign invaders conquer the land (v. 11). In this case זְעֵיר (zÿ’er, “a little”) refers to the short syllabic structure of the babbling (cf. CEV). Some take צַו (tsav) as a derivative of צָוָה (tsavah, “command”) and translate the first part of the statement as “command after command, command after command.” Proponents of this position (followed by many English versions) also take קַו (qav) as a noun meaning “measuring line” (see v. 17), understood here in the abstract sense of “standard” or “rule.”

[28:11]  ³⁸ sn This verse alludes to the coming Assyrian invasion, when the people will hear a foreign language that sounds like gibberish to them. The Lord is the subject of the verb “will speak,” as v. 12 makes clear. He once spoke in meaningful terms, but in the coming judgment he will speak to them, as it were, through the mouth of foreign oppressors. The apparent gibberish they hear will be an outward reminder that God has decreed their defeat.

[28:12]  ³⁹ tn Heb “who said to them.”

[28:12]  ⁴⁰ sn This message encapsulates the Lord’s invitation to his people to find security in his protection and blessing.

[42:23]  ⁴¹ tn The interrogative particle is understood in the second line by ellipsis (note the preceding line).