Jeremiah 8:12

8:12 Are they ashamed because they have done such disgusting things?

No, they are not at all ashamed!

They do not even know how to blush!

So they will die just like others have died. ¹ 

They will be brought to ruin when I punish them,

says the Lord.

Jeremiah 10:15

10:15 They are worthless, mere objects to be mocked. ² 

When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.

Jeremiah 11:23

11:23 Not one of them will survive. ³  I will bring disaster on those men from Anathoth who threatened you. ⁴  A day of reckoning is coming for them.” ⁵ 

Jeremiah 23:12

23:12 So the paths they follow will be dark and slippery.

They will stumble and fall headlong.

For I will bring disaster on them.

A day of reckoning is coming for them.” ⁶ 

The Lord affirms it! ⁷ 

Jeremiah 46:21

46:21 Even her mercenaries ⁸ 

will prove to be like pampered, ⁹  well-fed calves.

For they too will turn and run away.

They will not stand their ground

when ¹⁰  the time for them to be destroyed comes,

the time for them to be punished.

Jeremiah 51:18

51:18 They are worthless, objects to be ridiculed.

When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.

Isaiah 10:3

10:3 What will you do on judgment day, ¹¹ 

when destruction arrives from a distant place?

To whom will you run for help?

Where will you leave your wealth?

Hosea 9:7

9:7 The time of judgment ¹²  is about to arrive! ¹³ 

The time of retribution ¹⁴  is imminent! ¹⁵ 

Let Israel know! ¹⁶ 

Israel Rejects Hosea’s Prophetic Exhortations

The prophet is considered a fool ¹⁷  –

the inspired man ¹⁸  is viewed as a madman ¹⁹  –

because of the multitude of your sins

and your intense ²⁰  animosity.

Micah 7:4

7:4 The best of them is like a thorn;

the most godly among them are more dangerous than a row of thorn bushes. ²¹ 

The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen –

your appointed time of punishment – is on the way, ²² 

and then you will experience confusion. ²³ 

[8:12]  ¹ tn Heb “They will fall among the fallen.”

[10:15]  ² tn Or “objects of mockery.”

[11:23]  ³ tn Heb “There will be no survivors for/among them.”

[11:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “the men of Anathoth.” For the rationale for adding the qualification see the notes on v. 21.

[11:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “I will bring disaster on…, the year of their punishment.”

[23:12]  ⁶ tn For the last two lines see 11:23 and the notes there.

[23:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[46:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “her hirelings in her midst.”

[46:21]  ⁹ tn The word “pampered” is not in the text. It is supplied in the translation to explain the probable meaning of the simile. The mercenaries were well cared for like stall-fed calves, but in the face of the danger they will prove no help because they will turn and run away without standing their ground. Some see the point of the simile to be that they too are fattened for slaughter. However, the next two lines do not fit that interpretation too well.

[46:21]  ¹⁰ tn The temporal use of the particle כִּי (ki; BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 2.a) seems more appropriate to the context than the causal use.

[10:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the day of visitation” (so KJV, ASV), that is, the day when God arrives to execute justice on the oppressors.

[9:7]  ¹² tn Heb “the days of the visitation”; NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “the days of punishment.”

[9:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “has come” (בָּאוּ, ba’u). The two perfect tense (suffix-conjugation) verbs בָּאוּ (Qal perfect 3rd person common plural from בּוֹא, bo’, “to come”) repeated in this verse are both examples of the so-called “prophetic perfect”: the perfect, which connotes completed or factual action, is used in reference to future events to emphasize the certainty of the announced event taking place.

[9:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the days of the retribution”; NIV “of reckoning”; NRSV “of recompense.”

[9:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “has come”; NIV “are at hand”; NLT “is almost here.”

[9:7]  ¹⁶ tc The Aleppo Codex and Leningrad Codex (the MT ms employed for BHS) both place the atnach (colon-divider) after יֵדְעוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל (yedÿ’u yisra’el, “Let Israel know!”), indicating that this line belongs with 9:7a (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV). However, the LXX reads κακωθήσεται (kakwqhsetai) which reflects an underlying Vorlage of יָרֵעוּ (yare’u, Qal imperfect 3rd person common plural from יָרַע, yara’, “to cry”), as opposed to the MT יֵדְעוּ (yedÿ’u, Qal jussive 3rd common plural from יָדַע, yada’, “to know”). The Old Greek connects יֵדְעוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל (“Israel cries out”) with the following lines (cf. NRSV), which appear to be quotations of Israel mocking Hosea. Aquila (ἔγνω, egnw) and Symmachus (γνώσεται, gnwsetai) both reflect the proto-MT tradition. For a discussion of this textual and syntactical problem, see H. W. Wolff, Hosea (Hermeneia), 150.

[9:7]  ¹⁷ tn Or “is distraught”; cf. CEV, NLT “are crazy.”

[9:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the man of the Spirit”; NAB, NRSV “spirit.”

[9:7]  ¹⁹ tn Or “is driven to despair.” The term מְשֻׁגָּע (mÿshugga’, Pual participle masculine singular from שָׁגַע, shaga’, “to be mad”) may be understood in two senses: (1) It could be a predicate adjective which is a figure of speech: “to be maddened,” to be driven to despair (Deut 28:34); or (2) it could be a substantive: “a madman,” referring to prophets who attempted to enter into a prophetic state through whipping themselves into a frenzy (1 Sam 21:16; 2 Kgs 9:11; Jer 29:26; see BDB 993 s.v. שָׁגַע). The prophetic context of 9:7 favors the latter option (which is followed by most English versions). Apparently, the general populace viewed these mantics with suspicion and questioned the legitimacy of their claim to be true prophets (e.g., 2 Kgs 9:11; Jer 29:26).

[9:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “great.”

[7:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “[the] godly from a row of thorn bushes.” The preposition מִן (min) is comparative and the comparative element (perhaps “sharper” is the idea) is omitted. See BDB 582 s.v. 6 and GKC 431 §133.e.

[7:4]  ²² tn Heb “the day of your watchmen, your appointed [time], is coming.” The present translation takes “watchmen” to refer to actual sentries. However, the “watchmen” could refer figuratively to the prophets who had warned Judah of approaching judgment. In this case one could translate, “The day your prophets warned about – your appointed time of punishment – is on the way.”

[7:4]  ²³ tn Heb “and now will be their confusion.”