Luke 15:13

15:13 After ¹  a few days, ²  the younger son gathered together all he had and left on a journey to a distant country, and there he squandered ³  his wealth ⁴  with a wild lifestyle.

Exodus 10:3

10:3 So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and told him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: ‘How long do you refuse ⁵  to humble yourself before me? ⁶  Release my people so that they may serve me!

Exodus 10:2

10:2 and in order that in the hearing of your son and your grandson you may tell ⁷  how I made fools ⁸  of the Egyptians ⁹  and about ¹⁰  my signs that I displayed ¹¹  among them, so that you may know ¹²  that I am the Lord.”

Exodus 28:22

28:22 “You are to make for the breastpiece braided chains like cords of pure gold,

Isaiah 1:5

1:5 ¹³ Why do you insist on being battered?

Why do you continue to rebel? ¹⁴ 

Your head has a massive wound, ¹⁵ 

your whole body is weak. ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 1:9-13

1:9 If the Lord who commands armies ¹⁷  had not left us a few survivors,

we would have quickly become like Sodom, ¹⁸ 

we would have become like Gomorrah.

1:10 Listen to the Lord’s word,

you leaders of Sodom! ¹⁹ 

Pay attention to our God’s rebuke, ²⁰ 

people of Gomorrah!

1:11 “Of what importance to me are your many sacrifices?” ²¹ 

says the Lord.

“I am stuffed with ²²  burnt sacrifices

of rams and the fat from steers.

The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats

I do not want. ²³ 

1:12 When you enter my presence,

do you actually think I want this –

animals trampling on my courtyards? ²⁴ 

1:13 Do not bring any more meaningless ²⁵  offerings;

I consider your incense detestable! ²⁶ 

You observe new moon festivals, Sabbaths, and convocations,

but I cannot tolerate sin-stained celebrations! ²⁷ 

Isaiah 57:17

57:17 I was angry because of their sinful greed;

I attacked them and angrily rejected them, ²⁸ 

yet they remained disobedient and stubborn. ²⁹ 

Jeremiah 5:3

5:3 Lord, I know you look for faithfulness. ³⁰ 

But even when you punish these people, they feel no remorse. ³¹ 

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

They have become as hardheaded as a rock. ³² 

They refuse to change their ways. ³³ 

Jeremiah 8:4-6

Willful Disregard of God Will Lead to Destruction

8:4 The Lord said to me, ³⁴ 

“Tell them, ‘The Lord says,

Do people not get back up when they fall down?

Do they not turn around when they go the wrong way? ³⁵ 

8:5 Why, then, do these people of Jerusalem ³⁶ 

continually turn away from me in apostasy?

They hold fast to their deception. ³⁷ 

They refuse to turn back to me. ³⁸ 

8:6 I have listened to them very carefully, ³⁹ 

but they do not speak honestly.

None of them regrets the evil he has done.

None of them says, “I have done wrong!” ⁴⁰ 

All of them persist in their own wayward course ⁴¹ 

like a horse charging recklessly into battle.

Jeremiah 31:18-19

31:18 I have indeed ⁴²  heard the people of Israel ⁴³  say mournfully,

‘We were like a calf untrained to the yoke. ⁴⁴ 

You disciplined us and we learned from it. ⁴⁵ 

Let us come back to you and we will do so, ⁴⁶ 

for you are the Lord our God.

31:19 For after we turned away from you we repented.

After we came to our senses ⁴⁷  we beat our breasts in sorrow. ⁴⁸ 

We are ashamed and humiliated

because of the disgraceful things we did previously.’ ⁴⁹ 

Jeremiah 31:2

Israel Will Be Restored and Join Judah in Worship

31:2 The Lord says,

“The people of Israel who survived

death at the hands of the enemy ⁵⁰ 

will find favor in the wilderness

as they journey to find rest for themselves.

Jeremiah 2:25-26

2:25 Do not chase after other gods until your shoes wear out

and your throats become dry. ⁵¹ 

But you say, ‘It is useless for you to try and stop me

because I love those foreign gods ⁵²  and want to pursue them!’

2:26 Just as a thief has to suffer dishonor when he is caught,

so the people of Israel ⁵³  will suffer dishonor for what they have done. ⁵⁴ 

So will their kings and officials,

their priests and their prophets.

Revelation 2:21-22

2:21 I ⁵⁵  have given her time to repent, but ⁵⁶  she is not willing to repent of her sexual immorality. 2:22 Look! I am throwing her onto a bed of violent illness, ⁵⁷  and those who commit adultery with her into terrible suffering, ⁵⁸  unless they repent of her deeds.

[15:13]  ¹ tn Grk “And after.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[15:13]  ² tn Grk “after not many days.”

[15:13]  ³ tn Or “wasted.” This verb is graphic; it means to scatter (L&N 57.151).

[15:13]  ⁴ tn Or “estate” (the same word has been translated “estate” in v. 12).

[10:3]  ⁵ tn The verb is מֵאַנְתָּ (me’anta), a Piel perfect. After “how long,” the form may be classified as present perfect (“how long have you refused), for it describes actions begun previously but with the effects continuing. (See GKC 311 §106.g-h). The use of a verb describing a state or condition may also call for a present translation (“how long do you refuse”) that includes past, present, and potentially future, in keeping with the question “how long.”

[10:3]  ⁶ tn The clause is built on the use of the infinitive construct to express the direct object of the verb – it answers the question of what Pharaoh was refusing to do. The Niphal infinitive construct (note the elision of the ה [hey] prefix after the preposition [see GKC 139 §51.l]) is from the verb עָנָה (’anah). The verb in this stem would mean “humble oneself.” The question is somewhat rhetorical, since God was not yet through humbling Pharaoh, who would not humble himself. The issue between Yahweh and Pharaoh is deeper than simply whether or not Pharaoh will let the Israelites leave Egypt.

[10:2]  ⁷ tn The expression is unusual: תְּסַפֵּר בְּאָזְנֵי (tÿsapper bÿ’ozne, “[that] you may declare in the ears of”). The clause explains an additional reason for God’s hardening the heart of Pharaoh, namely, so that the Israelites can tell their children of God’s great wonders. The expression is highly poetic and intense – like Ps 44:1, which says, “we have heard with our ears.” The emphasis would be on the clear teaching, orally, from one generation to another.

[10:2]  ⁸ tn The verb הִתְעַלַּלְתִּי (hit’allalti) is a bold anthropomorphism. The word means to occupy oneself at another’s expense, to toy with someone, which may be paraphrased with “mock.” The whole point is that God is shaming and disgracing Egypt, making them look foolish in their arrogance and stubbornness (W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:366-67). Some prefer to translate it as “I have dealt ruthlessly” with Egypt (see U. Cassuto, Exodus, 123).

[10:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “of Egypt.” The place is put by metonymy for the inhabitants.

[10:2]  ¹⁰ tn The word “about” is supplied to clarify this as another object of the verb “declare.”

[10:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “put” or “placed.”

[10:2]  ¹² tn The form is the perfect tense with vav consecutive, וִידַעְתֶּם (vida’tem, “and that you might know”). This provides another purpose for God’s dealings with Egypt in the way that he was doing. The form is equal to the imperfect tense with vav (ו) prefixed; it thus parallels the imperfect that began v. 2 – “that you might tell.”

[1:5]  ¹³ sn In vv. 5-9 Isaiah addresses the battered nation (5-8) and speaks as their representative (9).

[1:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Why are you still beaten? [Why] do you continue rebellion?” The rhetorical questions express the prophet’s disbelief over Israel’s apparent masochism and obsession with sin. The interrogative construction in the first line does double duty in the parallelism. H. Wildberger (Isaiah, 1:18) offers another alternative by translating the two statements with one question: “Why do you still wish to be struck that you persist in revolt?”

[1:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “all the head is ill”; NRSV “the whole head is sick”; CEV “Your head is badly bruised.”

[1:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and all the heart is faint.” The “heart” here stands for bodily strength and energy, as suggested by the context and usage elsewhere (see Jer 8:18; Lam 1:22).

[1:9]  ¹⁷ tn Traditionally, “the Lord of hosts.” The title pictures God as the sovereign king who has at his disposal a multitude of attendants, messengers, and warriors to do his bidding. In some contexts, like this one, the military dimension of his rulership is highlighted. In this case, the title pictures him as one who leads armies into battle against his enemies.

[1:9]  ¹⁸ tc The translation assumes that כִּמְעָט (kim’at, “quickly,” literally, “like a little”) goes with what follows, contrary to the MT accents, which take it with what precedes. In this case, one could translate the preceding line, “If the Lord who commands armies had not left us a few survivors.” If כִּמְעָט goes with the preceding line (following the MT accents), this expression highlights the idea that there would only be a few survivors (H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:20; H. Zobel, TDOT 8:456). Israel would not be almost like Sodom but exactly like Sodom.

[1:10]  ¹⁹ sn Building on the simile of v. 9, the prophet sarcastically addresses the leaders and people of Jerusalem as if they were leaders and residents of ancient Sodom and Gomorrah. The sarcasm is appropriate, for if the judgment is comparable to Sodom’s, that must mean that the sin which prompted the judgment is comparable as well.

[1:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “to the instruction of our God.” In this context, which is highly accusatory and threatening, תּוֹרָה (torah, “law, instruction”) does not refer to mere teaching, but to corrective teaching and rebuke.

[1:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “Why to me the multitude of your sacrifices?” The sarcastic rhetorical question suggests that their many sacrifices are of no importance to the Lord. This phrase answers the possible objection that an Israelite could raise in response to God’s indictment: “But we are offering the sacrifices you commanded!”

[1:11]  ²² tn The verb שָׂבַע (sava’, “be satisfied, full”) is often used of eating and/or drinking one’s fill. See BDB 959 s.v. שָׂבַע. Here sacrifices are viewed, in typical ancient Near Eastern fashion, as food for the deity. God here declares that he has eaten and drunk, as it were, his fill.

[1:11]  ²³ sn In the chiastic structure of the verse, the verbs at the beginning and end highlight God’s displeasure, while the heaping up of references to animals, fat, and blood in the middle lines hints at why God wants no more of their sacrifices. They have, as it were, piled the food on his table and he needs no more.

[1:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “When you come to appear before me, who requires this from your hand, trampling of my courtyards?” The rhetorical question sarcastically makes the point that God does not require this parade of livestock. The verb “trample” probably refers to the eager worshipers and their sacrificial animals walking around in the temple area.

[1:13]  ²⁵ tn Or “worthless” (NASB, NCV, CEV); KJV, ASV “vain.”

[1:13]  ²⁶ sn Notice some of the other practices that Yahweh regards as “detestable”: homosexuality (Lev 18:22-30; 20:13), idolatry (Deut 7:25; 13:15), human sacrifice (Deut 12:31), eating ritually unclean animals (Deut 14:3-8), sacrificing defective animals (Deut 17:1), engaging in occult activities (Deut 18:9-14), and practicing ritual prostitution (1 Kgs 14:23).

[1:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “sin and assembly” (these two nouns probably represent a hendiadys). The point is that their attempts at worship are unacceptable to God because the people’s everyday actions in the socio-economic realm prove they have no genuine devotion to God (see vv. 16-17).

[57:17]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and I struck him, hiding, and I was angry.” פָּנַיִם (panayim, “face”) is the implied object of “hiding.”

[57:17]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and he walked [as an] apostate in the way of his heart.”

[5:3]  ³⁰ tn Heb “O Lord, are your eyes not to faithfulness?” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.

[5:3]  ³¹ 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]  ³² tn Heb “They made their faces as hard as a rock.”

[5:3]  ³³ tn Or “to repent”; Heb “to turn back.”

[8:4]  ³⁴ tn The words “the Lord said to me” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation to make clear who is speaking and who is being addressed.

[8:4]  ³⁵ sn There is a play on two different nuances of the same Hebrew word that means “turn” and “return,” “turn away” and “turn back.”

[8:5]  ³⁶ tc The text is quite commonly emended, changing שׁוֹבְבָה הָעָם (shovÿvah ha’am) to שׁוֹבָב הָעָם (shovav ha’am) and omitting יְרוּשָׁלַםִ (yÿrushalaim); this is due to the anomaly of a feminine singular verb with a masculine singular subject and the fact that the word “Jerusalem” is absent from one Hebrew ms and the LXX. However, it is possible that this is a case where the noun “Jerusalem” is a defining apposition to the word “these people,” an apposition which GKC 425 §131.k calls “permutation.” In this case the verb could be attracted to the appositional noun and there would be no reason to emend the text. The MT is undoubtedly the harder reading and is for that reason to be preferred.

[8:5]  ³⁷ tn Or “to their allegiance to false gods,” or “to their false professions of loyalty”; Heb “to deceit.” Either “to their mistaken beliefs” or “to their allegiance to false gods” would fit the preceding context. The former is more comprehensive than the latter and was chosen for that reason.

[8:5]  ³⁸ sn There is a continuing play on the same root word used in the preceding verse. Here the words “turn away from me,” “apostasy,” and “turn back to me” are all forms from the root that was translated “go the wrong way” and “turn around” in v. 4. The intended effect is to contrast Judah’s recalcitrant apostasy with the usual tendency to try and correct one’s mistakes.

[8:6]  ³⁹ tn Heb “I have paid attention and I have listened.” This is another case of two concepts being joined by “and” where one expresses the main idea and the other acts as an adverbial or adjectival modifier (a figure called hendiadys).

[8:6]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “What have I done?” The addition of the word “wrong” is implicit in the context and is supplied in the translation for clarity. The rhetorical question does not function as a denial of wrongdoing, but rather as contrite shock at one’s own wrongdoing. It is translated as a declaration for the sake of clarity.

[8:6]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “each one of them turns aside into their own running course.”

[31:18]  ⁴² tn The use of “indeed” is intended to reflect the infinitive absolute which precedes the verb for emphasis (see IBHS 585-86 §35.3.1f).

[31:18]  ⁴³ tn Heb “Ephraim.” See the study note on 31:9. The more familiar term is used, the term “people” added to it, and plural pronouns used throughout the verse to aid in understanding.

[31:18]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “like an untrained calf.” The metaphor is that of a calf who has never been broken to bear the yoke (cf. Hos 4:16; 10:11).

[31:18]  ⁴⁵ tn The verb here is from the same root as the preceding and is probably an example of the “tolerative Niphal,” i.e., “I let myself be disciplined/I responded to it.” See IBHS 389-90 §23.4g and note the translation of some of the examples there, especially Isa 19:22; 65:1.

[31:18]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “Bring me back in order that I may come back.” For the use of the plural pronouns see the marginal note at the beginning of the verse. The verb “bring back” and “come back” are from the same root in two different verbal stems and in the context express the idea of spiritual repentance and restoration of relationship not physical return to the land. (See BDB 999 s.v. שׁוּב Hiph.2.a for the first verb and 997 s.v. Qal.6.c for the second.) For the use of the cohortative to express purpose after the imperative see GKC 320 §108.d or IBHS 575 §34.5.2b.

[31:19]  ⁴⁷ tn For this meaning of the verb see HAL 374 s.v. יָדַע Nif 5 or W. L. Holladay, Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, 129. REB translates “Now that I am submissive” relating the verb to a second root meaning “be submissive.” (See HALOT 375 s.v. II יָדַע and J. Barr, Comparative Philology and the Text of the Old Testament, 19-21, for evidence for this verb. Other passages cited with this nuance are Judg 8:16; Prov 10:9; Job 20:20.)

[31:19]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “I struck my thigh.” This was a gesture of grief and anguish (cf. Ezek 21:12 [21:17 HT]). The modern equivalent is “to beat the breast.”

[31:19]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “because I bear the reproach of my youth.” For the plural referents see the note at the beginning of v. 18.

[31:2]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “who survived the sword.”

[2:25]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “Refrain your feet from being bare and your throat from being dry/thirsty.”

[2:25]  ⁵² tn Heb “It is useless! No!” For this idiom, see Jer 18:12; NEB “No; I am desperate.”

[2:26]  ⁵³ tn Heb “house of Israel.”

[2:26]  ⁵⁴ tn The words “for what they have done” are implicit in the comparison and are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:21]  ⁵⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and contemporary English style.

[2:21]  ⁵⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to bring out the contrast present in this woman’s obstinate refusal to repent.

[2:22]  ⁵⁷ tn Grk “onto a bed,” in this context an idiom for severe illness (L&N 23.152).

[2:22]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “into great distress.” The suffering here is not specified as physical or emotional, and could involve persecution.