Jeremiah 9:23

9:23 ¹ The Lord says,

“Wise people should not boast that they are wise.

Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful. ² 

Rich people should not boast that they are rich. ³ 

Jeremiah 49:16

49:16 The terror you inspire in others ⁴ 

and the arrogance of your heart have deceived you.

You may make your home in the clefts of the rocks;

you may occupy the highest places in the hills. ⁵ 

But even if you made your home where the eagles nest,

I would bring you down from there,”

says the Lord.

Psalms 33:16

33:16 No king is delivered by his vast army;

a warrior is not saved by his great might.

Ecclesiastes 9:11

Wisdom Cannot Protect against Seemingly Chance Events

9:11 Again, ⁶  I observed this on the earth: ⁷ 

the race is not always ⁸  won by the swiftest,

the battle is not always won by the strongest;

prosperity ⁹  does not always belong to those who are the wisest,

wealth does not always belong to those who are the most discerning,

nor does success ¹⁰  always come to those with the most knowledge –

for time and chance may overcome ¹¹  them all.

Isaiah 10:13

10:13 For he says:

“By my strong hand I have accomplished this,

by my strategy that I devised.

I invaded the territory of nations, ¹² 

and looted their storehouses.

Like a mighty conqueror, ¹³  I brought down rulers. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 10:16

10:16 For this reason ¹⁵  the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, will make his healthy ones emaciated. ¹⁶  His majestic glory will go up in smoke. ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 16:6

16:6 We have heard about Moab’s pride,

their great arrogance,

their boasting, pride, and excess. ¹⁸ 

But their boastful claims are empty! ¹⁹ 

Ezekiel 30:6

30:6 “‘This is what the Lord says:

Egypt’s supporters will fall;

her confident pride will crumble. ²⁰ 

From Migdol to Syene ²¹  they will die by the sword within her,

declares the sovereign Lord.

Zephaniah 2:10

2:10 This is how they will be repaid for their arrogance, ²² 

for they taunted and verbally harassed ²³  the people of the Lord who commands armies.

[9:23]  ¹ sn It is not always clear why verses were placed in their present position in the editorial process of collecting Jeremiah’s sermons and the words the Lord spoke to him (see Jer 36:4, 32 for reference to two of these collections). Here it is probable that vv. 23-26 were added as a further answer to the question raised in v. 12.

[9:23]  ² tn Or “Strong people should not brag that they are strong.”

[9:23]  ³ tn Heb “…in their wisdom…in their power…in their riches.”

[49:16]  ⁴ tn The meaning of this Hebrew word (תִּפְלֶצֶת, tifletset) is uncertain because it occurs only here. However, it is related to a verb root that refers to the shaking of the pillars (of the earth) in Job 9:6 and a noun (מִפְלֶצֶת, mifletset) that refers to “horror” or “shuddering” used in Job 21:6; Isa 21:4; Ezek 7:18; Ps 55:6. This is the nuance that is accepted by BDB, KBL, HAL and a majority of the modern English versions. The suffix is an objective genitive. The fact that the following verb is masculine singular suggests that the text here (הִשִּׁיא אֹתָךְ, hishi’ ’otakh) is in error for הִשִּׁיאָתָךְ (hishi’atakh; so G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, T. G. Smothers, Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 327, n. 16.a).

[49:16]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text of the first four lines reads: “Your terror [= the terror you inspire] has deceived you, [and] the arrogance of your heart, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who occupy the heights of the hill.” The sentence is broken up and restructured to better conform with English style.

[9:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “I returned and.” In the Hebrew idiom, “to return and do” means “to do again.”

[9:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “under the sun.”

[9:11]  ⁸ tn The term “always” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation (five times in this verse) for clarity.

[9:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “bread.”

[9:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “favor.”

[9:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “happen to.”

[10:13]  ¹² tn Heb “removed the borders of nations”; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV “boundaries.”

[10:13]  ¹³ tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has כְּאַבִּיר (kÿ’abir, “like a strong one”); the marginal reading (Qere) is כַּבִיר (kavir, “mighty one”).

[10:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and I brought down, like a strong one, ones sitting [or “living”].” The participle יוֹשְׁבִים (yoshÿvim, “ones sitting”) could refer to the inhabitants of the nations, but the translation assumes that it refers to those who sit on thrones, i.e., rulers. See BDB 442 s.v. יָשַׁב and HALOT 444 s.v. ישׁב.

[10:16]  ¹⁵ sn The irrational arrogance of the Assyrians (v. 15) will prompt the judgment about to be described.

[10:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “will send leanness against his healthy ones”; NASB, NIV “will send a wasting disease.”

[10:16]  ¹⁷ tc Heb “and in the place of his glory burning will burn, like the burning of fire.” The highly repetitive text (יֵקַד יְקֹד כִּיקוֹד אֵשׁ, yeqad yiqod kiqod ’esh) may be dittographic; if the second consonantal sequence יקד is omitted, the text would read “and in the place of his glory, it will burn like the burning of fire.”

[16:6]  ¹⁸ tn עֶבְרָה (’evrah) often means “anger, fury,” but here it appears to refer to boastful outbursts or excessive claims. See HALOT 782 s.v. עֶבְרָה.

[16:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “not so his boasting.”

[30:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “come down.”

[30:6]  ²¹ sn Syene is known as Aswan today.

[2:10]  ²² tn Heb “this is for them in place of their arrogance.”

[2:10]  ²³ tn Heb “made great [their mouth?] against” (cf. the last phrase of v. 8).