Proverbs 11:18

11:18 The wicked person ¹  earns ²  deceitful wages, ³ 

but the one who sows ⁴  righteousness reaps ⁵  a genuine ⁶  reward. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 49:16

49:16 The terror you inspire in others ⁸ 

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. ⁹ 

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

I would bring you down from there,”

says the Lord.

Obadiah 1:3

1:3 Your presumptuous heart ¹⁰  has deceived you –

you who reside in the safety of the rocky cliffs, ¹¹ 

whose home is high in the mountains. ¹² 

You think to yourself, ¹³ 

‘No one can ¹⁴  bring me down to the ground!’ ¹⁵ 

Romans 7:11

7:11 For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it I died. ¹⁶ 

Titus 3:3

3:3 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another.

Hebrews 3:13

3:13 But exhort one another each day, as long as it is called “Today,” that none of you may become hardened by sin’s deception.

James 1:26

1:26 If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile.

James 1:2

Joy in Trials

1:2 My brothers and sisters, ¹⁷  consider it nothing but joy ¹⁸  when you fall into all sorts of trials,

James 2:13

2:13 For judgment is merciless for the one who has shown no mercy. But mercy triumphs over ¹⁹  judgment.

[11:18]  ¹ tn The form is the masculine singular adjective used as a substantive.

[11:18]  ² tn Heb “makes” (so NAB).

[11:18]  ³ tn Heb “wages of deception.”

[11:18]  ⁴ sn The participle “sowing” provides an implied comparison (the figure is known as hypocatastasis) with the point of practicing righteousness and inspiring others to do the same. What is sown will yield fruit (1 Cor 9:11; 2 Cor 9:6; Jas 3:18).

[11:18]  ⁵ tn The term “reaps” does not appear in the Hebrew but has been supplied in the translation from context for the sake of smoothness.

[11:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “true” (so NASB, NRSV); KJV, NAB, NIV “sure.”

[11:18]  ⁷ sn A wordplay (paronomasia) occurs between “deceptive” (שָׁקֶר, shaqer) and “reward” (שֶׂכֶר, sekher), underscoring the contrast by the repetition of sounds. The wages of the wicked are deceptive; the reward of the righteous is sure.

[49:16]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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.

[1:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the presumption of your heart”; NAB, NIV “the pride of your heart”; NASB “arrogance of your heart.”

[1:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in the concealed places of the rock”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “in the clefts of the rock”; NCV “the hollow places of the cliff”; CEV “a mountain fortress.”

[1:3]  ¹² tn Heb “on high (is) his dwelling”; NASB “in the loftiness of your dwelling place”; NRSV “whose dwelling (abode NAB) is in the heights.”

[1:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “the one who says in his heart.”

[1:3]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew imperfect verb used here is best understood in a modal sense (“Who can bring me down?”) rather than in the sense of a simple future (“Who will bring me down?”). So also in v. 4 (“I can bring you down”). The question is not so much whether this will happen at some time in the future, but whether it even lies in the realm of possible events. In their hubris the Edomites were boasting that no one had the capability of breaching their impregnable defenses. However, their pride caused them to fail to consider the vast capabilities of Yahweh as warrior.

[1:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Who can bring me down?” This rhetorical question implies a negative answer: “No one!”

[7:11]  ¹⁶ tn Or “and through it killed me.”

[1:2]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited). Where the plural term is used in direct address, as here, “brothers and sisters” is used; where the term is singular and not direct address (as in v. 9), “believer” is preferred.

[1:2]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “all joy,” “full joy,” or “greatest joy.”

[2:13]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “boasts against, exults over,” in victory.