Jeremiah 7:16

7:16 Then the Lord said, ¹  “As for you, Jeremiah, ²  do not pray for these people! Do not cry out to me or petition me on their behalf! Do not plead with me to save them, ³  because I will not listen to you.

Jeremiah 14:11

Judgment for Believing the Misleading Lies of the False Prophets

14:11 Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for good to come to these people! ⁴ 

Jeremiah 15:1

15:1 Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for ⁵  these people, I would not feel pity for them! ⁶  Get them away from me! Tell them to go away! ⁷ 

Exodus 32:10

32:10 So now, leave me alone ⁸  so that my anger can burn against them and I can destroy them, and I will make from you a great nation.”

Proverbs 26:24-25

26:24 The one who hates others disguises ⁹  it with his lips,

but he stores up ¹⁰  deceit within him. ¹¹ 

26:25 When ¹²  he speaks graciously, ¹³  do not believe him, ¹⁴ 

for there are seven ¹⁵  abominations ¹⁶  within him.

Proverbs 26:1

26:1 Like snow in summer or rain in harvest,

so honor ¹⁷  is not fitting for a fool. ¹⁸ 

Proverbs 5:16

5:16 Should your springs be dispersed ¹⁹  outside,

your streams of water in the wide plazas?

[7:16]  ¹ tn The words “Then the Lord said” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[7:16]  ² tn Heb “As for you.” The personal name Jeremiah is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[7:16]  ³ tn The words “to save them” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[14:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “on behalf of these people for benefit.”

[15:1]  ⁵ tn The words “pleading for” have been supplied in the translation to explain the idiom (a metonymy). For parallel usage see BDB 763 s.v. עָמַד Qal.1.a and compare usage in Gen 19:27, Deut 4:10.

[15:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “my soul would not be toward them.” For the usage of “soul” presupposed here see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 6 in the light of the complaints and petitions in Jeremiah’s prayer in 14:19, 21.

[15:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “Send them away from my presence and let them go away.”

[32:10]  ⁸ tn The imperative, from the word “to rest” (נוּחַ, nuakh), has the sense of “leave me alone, let me be.” It is a directive for Moses not to intercede for the people. B. S. Childs (Exodus [OTL], 567) reflects the Jewish interpretation that there is a profound paradox in God’s words. He vows the severest punishment but then suddenly conditions it on Moses’ agreement. “Let me alone that I may consume them” is the statement, but the effect is that he has left the door open for intercession. He allows himself to be persuaded – that is what a mediator is for. God could have slammed the door (as when Moses wanted to go into the promised land). Moreover, by alluding to the promise to Abraham God gave Moses the strongest reason to intercede.

[26:24]  ⁹ tn The Niphal imperfect from נָכַר (nakhar) means “to act [or, treat] as a foreigner [or, stranger]; to misconstrue; to disguise.” The direct object (“it”) is not present in the Hebrew text but is implied. In this passage it means that the hater speaks what is “foreign” to his thought; in other words, he dissembles.

[26:24]  ¹⁰ tn Or “places; puts; lays up” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB).

[26:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “within him” (so KJV, ASV) or “in his midst”; NAB “in his inmost being.”

[26:25]  ¹² tn The particle כִּי (ki) is here interpreted with a temporal nuance. It is also possible that it could be read as concessive (so NIV, NLT “Though”).

[26:25]  ¹³ tn The meaning of the rare Piel form of חָנַן (khanan) is “to make gracious; to make favorable.” The subject is קוֹלוֹ (qolo, “his voice”), a metonymy of cause for what he says. The idea is that what he says is very gracious in its content and its effect.

[26:25]  ¹⁴ sn It may be that the placing of this proverb in this setting is designed to point out that the person speaking graciously is this wicked person who conceals an evil heart. Otherwise it may have in mind a person who has already proven untrustworthy but protests in order to conceal his plans. But even if that were not the connection, the proverb would still warn the disciple not to believe someone just because it sounded wonderful. It will take great discernment to know if there is sincerity behind the person’s words.

[26:25]  ¹⁵ sn The number “seven” is used in scripture as the complete number. In this passage it is not intended to be literally seven; rather, the expression means that there is complete or total abomination in his heart. Cf. TEV “his heart is filled to the brim with hate.”

[26:25]  ¹⁶ sn “Abomination” means something that is loathed. This is a description applied by the writer, for the hypocritical person would not refer to his plans this way.

[26:1]  ¹⁷ sn “Honor” in this passage probably means respect, external recognition of worth, accolades, advancement to high position, etc. All of these would be out of place with a fool; so the sage is warning against elevating or acclaiming those who are worthless. See also J. A. Emerton, “Notes on Some Passages in the Book of Proverbs,” VT 15 (1965): 271-79.

[26:1]  ¹⁸ sn The first twelve verses of this chapter, Prov 26:1-12, are sometimes called “the Book of Fools” because they deal with the actions of fools.

[5:16]  ¹⁹ tn The verb means “to be scattered; to be dispersed”; here the imperfect takes a deliberative nuance in a rhetorical question.