Psalms 37:32-33

37:32 Evil men set an ambush for the godly

and try to kill them. ¹ 

37:33 But the Lord does not surrender the godly,

or allow them to be condemned in a court of law. ² 

Psalms 38:12

38:12 Those who seek my life try to entrap me; ³ 

those who want to harm me speak destructive words;

all day long they say deceitful things.

Isaiah 29:20-21

29:20 For tyrants will disappear,

those who taunt will vanish,

and all those who love to do wrong will be eliminated ⁴  –

29:21 those who bear false testimony against a person, ⁵ 

who entrap the one who arbitrates at the city gate ⁶ 

and deprive the innocent of justice by making false charges. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 11:19

11:19 Before this I had been like a docile lamb ready to be led to the slaughter.

I did not know they were making plans to kill me. ⁸ 

I did not know they were saying, ⁹ 

“Let’s destroy the tree along with its fruit! ¹⁰ 

Let’s remove Jeremiah ¹¹  from the world of the living

so people will not even be reminded of him any more.” ¹² 

Jeremiah 18:18

Jeremiah Petitions the Lord to Punish Those Who Attack Him

18:18 Then some people ¹³  said, “Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! ¹⁴  There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God’s word. ¹⁵  Come on! Let’s bring charges against him and get rid of him! ¹⁶  Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says.”

Jeremiah 20:10

20:10 I ¹⁷  hear many whispering words of intrigue against me.

Those who would cause me terror are everywhere! ¹⁸ 

They are saying, “Come on, let’s publicly denounce him!” ¹⁹ 

All my so-called friends ²⁰  are just watching for

something that would lead to my downfall. ²¹ 

They say, “Perhaps he can be enticed into slipping up,

so we can prevail over ²²  him and get our revenge on him.

Matthew 22:15

Paying Taxes to Caesar

22:15 Then the Pharisees ²³  went out and planned together to entrap him with his own words. ²⁴ 

Matthew 22:18

22:18 But Jesus realized their evil intentions and said, “Hypocrites! Why are you testing me?

Mark 12:13

Paying Taxes to Caesar

12:13 Then ²⁵  they sent some of the Pharisees ²⁶  and Herodians ²⁷  to trap him with his own words. ²⁸ 

Mark 12:15

12:15 But he saw through their hypocrisy and said ²⁹  to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius ³⁰  and let me look at it.”

[37:32]  ¹ tn Heb “an evil [one] watches the godly [one] and seeks to kill him.” The singular forms are used in a representative sense; the typical evildoer and godly individual are in view. The active participles describe characteristic behavior.

[37:33]  ² tn Heb “the Lord does not abandon him into his hand or condemn him when he is judged.” The imperfects draw attention to the Lord’s characteristic behavior in this regard.

[38:12]  ³ tn Heb “lay snares.”

[29:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “and all the watchers of wrong will be cut off.”

[29:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “the ones who make a man a sinner with a word.” The Hiphil of חָטָא (khata’) here has a delocutive sense: “declare a man sinful/guilty.”

[29:21]  ⁶ sn Legal disputes were resolved at the city gate, where the town elders met. See Amos 5:10.

[29:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “and deprive by emptiness the innocent.”

[11:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “against me.” The words “to kill me” are implicit from the context and are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[11:19]  ⁹ tn The words “I did not know that they were saying” are not in the text. The quote is without formal introduction in the original. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[11:19]  ¹⁰ tn This word and its pronoun (לַחְמוֹ, lakhmo, “its bread”) is often emended to read “in/with its sap” = “in its prime” (either לֵחוֹ [lekho] or לֵחְמוֹ [lekhÿmo]); the latter would be more likely and the מוֹ (mo) could be explained as a rare use of the old poetic third plural suffix for the third singular; cf. GKC 258 §91.l for general use and Ps 11:7 and Job 27:23 for third singular use. Though this fits the context nicely the emendation is probably unnecessary since the word “bread” is sometimes used of other foodstuff than grain or its products (cf. BDB 537 s.v. לֶחֶם 2.a).

[11:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “cut it [or him] off.” The metaphor of the tree may be continued, though the verb “cut off” is used also of killing people. The rendering clarifies the meaning of the metaphor.

[11:19]  ¹² tn Heb “so that his name will not be remembered any more.”

[18:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “They.” The referent is unidentified; “some people” has been used in the translation.

[18:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Let us make plans against Jeremiah.” See 18:18 where this has sinister overtones as it does here.

[18:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Instruction will not perish from priest, counsel from the wise, word from the prophet.”

[18:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Let us smite him with our tongues.” It is clear from the context that this involved plots to kill him.

[20:10]  ¹⁷ tn It would be difficult to render accurately the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) that introduces this verse without lengthening the English line unduly. It probably means something like “This is true even though I…,” i.e., the particle is concessive (cf. BDB s.v. כִּי 2.c). No other nuance seems appropriate. The particle is left out of the translation, but its presence is acknowledged here.

[20:10]  ¹⁸ tn The phrase translated “Those who would cause me terror are everywhere” has already occurred in 6:25 in the context of the terror caused by the enemy from the north and in 20:3 in reference to the curse pronounced on Pashhur who would experience it first hand. Some have seen the phrase here not as Jeremiah’s ejaculation of terror but of his assailant’s taunts of his message or even their taunting nickname for him. But comparison of this passage with the first two lines of Ps 31:13 (31:14 HT) which are word for word the same as these two will show that it refers to the terror inspired by the plots of his enemies to do away with him. It is also clear from the context of that passage and the following context here that the “whispering of many” (the literal translation of “many whispering words of intrigue against me) refers to intrigues to take vengeance on him and do away with him.

[20:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Denounce and let us denounce him.” The verb which is translated “denounce” (נָגַד, nagad) does not take an accusative object of person as it does here very often. When it does it usually means to inform someone. The only relevant passage appears to be Job 17:5 where it means something like “denounce.” What is probably involved here are the attempts to portray Jeremiah as a traitor (Jer 26:10) and a false prophet (see his conflict with Hananiah in Jer 28).

[20:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the men of my peace [who are concerned about my welfare].” For this phrase compare Ps 41:9 (41:10 HT); Jer 38:22. It is generally agreed that irony is being invoked here, hence “so-called” is supplied in the translation to bring out the irony.

[20:10]  ²¹ tn Heb “watching my stumbling [for me to stumble].” Metaphorically they were watching for some slip-up that would lead to his downfall. Compare the use in Pss 35:15 and 38:17 (38:18 HT).

[20:10]  ²² tn All the text says literally is “Perhaps he can be enticed so that we can prevail over him.” However the word “enticed” needs some qualification. As W. McKane (Jeremiah [ICC], 1:479) notes it should probably be read in the context of the “stumbling” (= “something that would lead to my downfall”). Hence “slipping up” has been supplied as an object. It is vague enough to avoid specifics as the original text does but suggests some reference to “something that would lead to my downfall.”

[22:15]  ²³ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[22:15]  ²⁴ tn Grk “trap him in word.”

[12:13]  ²⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[12:13]  ²⁶ sn See the note on Pharisees in 2:16.

[12:13]  ²⁷ sn Pharisees and Herodians made a very interesting alliance. W. W. Wessel (“Mark,” EBC 8:733) comments: “The Herodians were as obnoxious to the Pharisees on political grounds as the Sadducees were on theological grounds. Yet the two groups united in their opposition to Jesus. Collaboration in wickedness, as well as goodness, has great power. Their purpose was to trip Jesus up in his words so that he would lose the support of the people, leaving the way open for them to destroy him.” See also the note on “Herodians” in Mark 3:6.

[12:13]  ²⁸ tn Grk “trap him in word.”

[12:15]  ²⁹ tn Grk “Aware of their hypocrisy he said.”

[12:15]  ³⁰ tn Here the specific name of the coin was retained in the translation, because not all coins in circulation in Palestine at the time carried the image of Caesar. In other places δηνάριον (dhnarion) has been translated simply as “silver coin” with an explanatory note.