Proverbs 23:9

23:9 Do not speak in the ears of a fool, ¹ 

for he will despise the wisdom of your words. ² 

Proverbs 29:1

29:1 The one who stiffens his neck ³  after numerous rebukes ⁴ 

will suddenly be destroyed ⁵  without remedy. ⁶ 

Numbers 14:6-10

14:6 And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, two of those who had investigated the land, tore their garments. 14:7 They said to the whole community of the Israelites, “The land we passed through to investigate is an exceedingly ⁷  good land. 14:8 If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us – a land that is flowing with milk and honey. ⁸  14:9 Only do not rebel against the Lord, and do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. ⁹  Their protection ¹⁰  has turned aside from them, but the Lord is with us. Do not fear them!”

14:10 However, the whole community threatened to stone them. ¹¹  But ¹²  the glory ¹³  of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the tent ¹⁴  of meeting.

Numbers 14:1

The Israelites Respond in Unbelief

14:1 ¹⁵ Then all the community raised a loud cry, ¹⁶  and the people wept ¹⁷  that night.

Numbers 22:8

22:8 He replied to them, “Stay ¹⁸  here tonight, and I will bring back to you whatever word the Lord may speak to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.

Matthew 7:6

7:6 Do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before pigs; otherwise they will trample them under their feet and turn around and tear you to pieces. ¹⁹ 

Matthew 15:14

15:14 Leave them! They are blind guides. ²⁰  If someone who is blind leads another who is blind, ²¹  both will fall into a pit.”

Hebrews 6:4-8

6:4 For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 6:5 tasted the good word of God and the miracles of the coming age, 6:6 and then have committed apostasy, ²²  to renew them again to repentance, since ²³  they are crucifying the Son of God for themselves all over again ²⁴  and holding him up to contempt. 6:7 For the ground that has soaked up the rain that frequently falls on ²⁵  it and yields useful vegetation for those who tend it receives a blessing from God. 6:8 But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is useless and about to be cursed; ²⁶  its fate is to be burned.

[23:9]  ¹ sn The mention of “the ears” emphasizes the concerted effort to get the person’s undivided attention. However, a fool rejects instruction and discipline.

[23:9]  ² sn Saying number nine indicates that wisdom is wasted on a fool. The literature of Egypt has no specific parallel to this one.

[29:1]  ³ tn The idiom “to harden the neck” (מַקְשֶׁה־עֹרֶף, maqsheh-’oref) is the idea of resisting the rebukes and persisting in obstinacy (e.g., Exod 32:9). The opposite of a “stiff neck” would be the bending back, i.e., submission.

[29:1]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew construction is אִישׁ תּוֹכָחוֹת (’ish tokhakhot, “a man of rebukes”), meaning “a man who has (or receives) many rebukes.” This describes a person who is deserving of punishment and who has been given many warnings. The text says, then, “a man of rebukes hardening himself.”

[29:1]  ⁵ sn The stubborn person refuses to listen; he will suddenly be destroyed when the calamity strikes (e.g., Prov 6:15; 13:18; 15:10).

[29:1]  ⁶ tn Or “healing” (NRSV).

[14:7]  ⁵ tn The repetition of the adverb מְאֹד (mÿ’od) is used to express this: “very, very [good].”

[14:8]  ⁷ tn The subjective genitives “milk and honey” are symbols of the wealth of the land, second only to bread. Milk was a sign of such abundance (Gen 49:12; Isa 7:21,22). Because of the climate the milk would thicken quickly and become curds, eaten with bread or turned into butter. The honey mentioned here is the wild honey (see Deut 32:13; Judg 14:8-9). It signified sweetness, or the finer things of life (Ezek 3:3).

[14:9]  ⁹ sn The expression must indicate that they could destroy the enemies as easily as they could eat bread.

[14:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “their shade.” The figure compares the shade from the sun with the protection from the enemy. It is also possible that the text is alluding to their deities here.

[14:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “said to stone them with stones.” The verb and the object are not from the same root, but the combination nonetheless forms an emphasis equal to the cognate accusative.

[14:10]  ¹² tn The vav (ו) on the noun “glory” indicates a strong contrast, one that interrupts their threatened attack.

[14:10]  ¹³ sn The glory of the Lord refers to the reality of the Lord’s presence in a manifestation of his power and splendor. It showed to all that God was a living God. The appearance of the glory indicated blessing for the obedient, but disaster for the disobedient.

[14:10]  ¹⁴ tc The Greek, Syriac, and Tg. Ps.-J. have “in the cloud over the tent.”

[14:1]  ¹³ sn This chapter forms part of the story already begun. There are three major sections here: dissatisfaction with the reports (vv. 1-10), the threat of divine punishment (vv. 11-38), and the defeat of the Israelites (vv. 39-45). See K. D. Sakenfeld, “The Problem of Divine Forgiveness in Num 14,” CBQ 37 (1975): 317-30; also J. R. Bartlett, “The Use of the Word רֹאשׁ as a Title in the Old Testament,” VT 19 (1969): 1-10.

[14:1]  ¹⁴ tn The two verbs “lifted up their voice and cried” form a hendiadys; the idiom of raising the voice means that they cried aloud.

[14:1]  ¹⁵ tn There are a number of things that the verb “to weep” or “wail” can connote. It could reflect joy, grief, lamentation, or repentance, but here it reflects fear, hopelessness, or vexation at the thought of coming all this way and being defeated by the Canaanite armies. See Judg 20:23, 26.

[22:8]  ¹⁵ tn The verb לִין (lin) means “to lodge, spend the night.” The related noun is “a lodge” – a hotel of sorts. Balaam needed to consider the offer. And after darkness was considered the best time for diviners to consult with their deities. Balaam apparently knows of the Lord; he testifies to this effect in 22:18.

[7:6]  ¹⁷ tn Or “otherwise the latter will trample them under their feet and the former will turn around and tear you to pieces.” This verse is sometimes understood as a chiasm of the pattern a-b-b-a, in which the first and last clauses belong together (“dogs…turn around and tear you to pieces”) and the second and third clauses belong together (“pigs…trample them under their feet”).

[15:14]  ¹⁹ tc ‡ Most mss, some of which are significant, read “They are blind guides of the blind” (א¹ C L W Z Θ Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat). The shorter reading is read by א*^,2 B D 0237 Epiph. There is a distinct possibility of omission due to homoioarcton in א*; this manuscript has a word order variation which puts the word τυφλοί (tufloi, “blind”) right before the word τυφλῶν (tuflwn, “of the blind”). This does not explain the shorter reading, however, in the other witnesses, of which B and D are quite weighty. Internal considerations suggest that the shorter reading is original: “of the blind” was likely added by scribes to balance this phrase with Jesus’ following statement about the blind leading the blind, which clearly has two groups in view. A decision is difficult, but internal considerations here along with the strength of the witnesses argue that the shorter reading is more likely original. NA²⁷ places τυφλῶν in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[15:14]  ²⁰ tn Grk “If blind leads blind.”

[6:6]  ²¹ tn Or “have fallen away.”

[6:6]  ²² tn Or “while”; Grk “crucifying…and holding.” The Greek participles here (“crucifying…and holding”) can be understood as either causal (“since”) or temporal (“while”).

[6:6]  ²³ tn Grk “recrucifying the son of God for themselves.”

[6:7]  ²³ tn Grk “comes upon.”

[6:8]  ²⁵ tn Grk “near to a curse.”