Job 13:4

13:4 But you, however, are inventors of lies; ¹ 

all of you are worthless physicians! ² 

Job 21:34

21:34 So how can you console me with your futile words?

Nothing is left of your answers but deception!” ³ 

Jeremiah 6:14

6:14 They offer only superficial help

for the harm my people have suffered. ⁴ 

They say, ‘Everything will be all right!’

But everything is not all right! ⁵ 

Jeremiah 8:11

8:11 They offer only superficial help

for the hurt my dear people ⁶  have suffered. ⁷ 

They say, “Everything will be all right!”

But everything is not all right! ⁸ 

Jeremiah 14:13

14:13 Then I said, “Oh, Lord God, ⁹  look! ¹⁰  The prophets are telling them that you said, ¹¹  ‘You will not experience war or suffer famine. ¹²  I will give you lasting peace and prosperity in this land.’” ¹³ 

Jeremiah 23:17

23:17 They continually say ¹⁴  to those who reject what the Lord has said, ¹⁵ 

‘Things will go well for you!’ ¹⁶ 

They say to all those who follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts,

‘Nothing bad will happen to you!’

Jeremiah 28:4-6

28:4 I will also bring back to this place Jehoiakim’s son King Jeconiah of Judah and all the exiles who were taken to Babylon.’ Indeed, the Lord affirms, ¹⁷  ‘I will break the yoke of servitude to the king of Babylon.’”

28:5 Then the prophet Jeremiah responded to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the Lord’s temple. 28:6 The prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the Lord do all this! May the Lord make your prophecy come true! May he bring back to this place from Babylon all the valuable articles taken from the Lord’s temple and the people who were carried into exile.

Jeremiah 28:15

28:15 Then the prophet Jeremiah told the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord did not send you! You are making these people trust in a lie! ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 37:19

37:19 Where now are the prophets who prophesied to you that ¹⁹  the king of Babylon would not attack you or this land?

[13:4]  ¹ tn The טֹפְלֵי־שָׁקֶר (tofÿle shaqer) are “plasterers of lies” (Ps 119:69). The verb means “to coat, smear, plaster.” The idea is that of imputing something that is not true. Job is saying that his friends are inventors of lies. The LXX was influenced by the next line and came up with “false physicians.”

[13:4]  ² tn The literal rendering of the construct would be “healers of worthlessness.” Ewald and Dillmann translated it “patchers” based on a meaning in Arabic and Ethiopic; this would give the idea “botchers.” But it makes equally good sense to take “healers” as the meaning, for Job’s friends came to minister comfort and restoration to him – but they failed. See P. Humbert, “Maladie et medicine dans l’AT,” RHPR 44 (1964): 1-29.

[21:34]  ³ tn The word מָעַל (ma’al) is used for “treachery; deception; fraud.” Here Job is saying that their way of interpreting reality is dangerously unfaithful.

[6:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “They heal [= bandage] the wound of my people lightly”; TEV “They act as if my people’s wounds were only scratches.”

[6:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “They say, ‘Peace! Peace!’ and there is no peace!”

[8:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

[8:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “They heal the wound of my people lightly.”

[8:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “They say, ‘Peace! Peace!’ and there is no peace!”

[14:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.” The translation follows the ancient Jewish tradition of substituting the Hebrew word for God for the proper name Yahweh.

[14:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Behold.” See the translator’s note on usage of this particle in 1:6.

[14:13]  ¹¹ tn The words “that you said” are not in the text but are implicit from the first person in the affirmation that follows. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[14:13]  ¹² tn Heb “You will not see sword and you will not have starvation [or hunger].”

[14:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “I will give you unfailing peace in this place.” The translation opts for “peace and prosperity” here for the word שָׁלוֹם (shalom) because in the context it refers both to peace from war and security from famine and plague. The word translated “lasting” (אֱמֶת, ’emet) is a difficult to render here because it has broad uses: “truth, reliability, stability, steadfastness,” etc. “Guaranteed” or “lasting” seem to fit the context the best.

[23:17]  ¹⁴ tn The translation reflects an emphatic construction where the infinitive absolute follows a participle (cf. GKC 343 §113.r).

[23:17]  ¹⁵ tc The translation follows the Greek version. The Hebrew text reads, “who reject me, ‘The Lord has spoken, “Things…”’” The Greek version is to be preferred here because of (1) the parallelism of the lines “reject what the Lord has said” // “follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts;” (2) the preceding context which speaks of “visions of their own imaginations not of what the Lord has given them;” (3) the following context which denies that they have ever had access to the Lord’s secrets; (4) the general contexts earlier regarding false prophecy where rejection of the Lord’s word is in view (6:14 [see there v. 10]; 8:11 [see there v. 9]); (5) the meter of the poetic lines (the Hebrew meter is 3/5/4/3; the meter presupposed by the translation is 5/3/4/3 with the 3’s being their words). The difference is one of vocalization of the same consonants. The vocalization of the MT is יְהוָה מְנַאֲצַי דִּבֶּר [mÿna’atsay dibber yÿhvah]; the Hebrew Vorlage behind the Greek would be vocalized as מְנַאֲצֵי דְּבַר יְהוָה (mÿna’atsey dÿvar yÿhvah).

[23:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “You will have peace.” But see the note on 14:13. See also 6:14 and 8:11.

[28:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[28:15]  ¹⁸ tn Or “You are giving these people false assurances.”

[37:19]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “And where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land?’” The indirect quote has been used in the translation because of its simpler, more direct style.