Psalms 37:32

37:32 Evil men set an ambush for the godly

and try to kill them. ¹ 

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 ²  –

29:21 those who bear false testimony against a person, ³ 

who entrap the one who arbitrates at the city gate ⁴ 

and deprive the innocent of justice by making false charges. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 20:10

20:10 I ⁶  hear many whispering words of intrigue against me.

Those who would cause me terror are everywhere! ⁷ 

They are saying, “Come on, let’s publicly denounce him!” ⁸ 

All my so-called friends ⁹  are just watching for

something that would lead to my downfall. ¹⁰ 

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

so we can prevail over ¹¹  him and get our revenge on him.

Daniel 6:4

6:4 Consequently the supervisors and satraps were trying to find ¹²  some pretext against Daniel in connection with administrative matters. ¹³  But they were unable to find any such damaging evidence, ¹⁴  because he was trustworthy and guilty of no negligence or corruption. ¹⁵ 

Luke 6:7

6:7 The experts in the law ¹⁶  and the Pharisees ¹⁷  watched ¹⁸  Jesus ¹⁹  closely to see if ²⁰  he would heal on the Sabbath, ²¹  so that they could find a reason to accuse him.

Luke 11:53-54

11:53 When he went out from there, the experts in the law ²²  and the Pharisees began to oppose him bitterly, ²³  and to ask him hostile questions ²⁴  about many things, 11:54 plotting against ²⁵  him, to catch ²⁶  him in something he might say.

Luke 14:1

Healing Again on the Sabbath

14:1 Now ²⁷  one Sabbath when Jesus went to dine ²⁸  at the house of a leader ²⁹  of the Pharisees, ³⁰  they were watching ³¹  him closely.

Luke 20:20

Paying Taxes to Caesar

20:20 Then ³²  they watched him carefully and sent spies who pretended to be sincere. ³³  They wanted to take advantage of what he might say ³⁴  so that they could deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction ³⁵  of the governor.

John 9:16

9:16 Then some of the Pharisees began to say, ³⁶  “This man is not from God, because he does not observe ³⁷  the Sabbath.” ³⁸  But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform ³⁹  such miraculous signs?” Thus there was a division ⁴⁰  among them.

[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.

[29:20]  ² tn Heb “and all the watchers of wrong will be cut off.”

[29:21]  ³ 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]  ⁴ sn Legal disputes were resolved at the city gate, where the town elders met. See Amos 5:10.

[29:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “and deprive by emptiness the innocent.”

[20:10]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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.”

[6:4]  ¹² tn Aram “looking to find.”

[6:4]  ¹³ tn Aram “from the side of the kingdom.”

[6:4]  ¹⁴ tn Aram “pretext and corruption.”

[6:4]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “no negligence or corruption was found in him.” The Greek version of Theodotion lacks the phrase “and no negligence or corruption was found in him.”

[6:7]  ¹⁶ tn Or “The scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

[6:7]  ¹⁷ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[6:7]  ¹⁸ sn The term translated watched…closely is emotive, since it carries negative connotations. It means they were watching him out of the corner of their eye or spying on him.

[6:7]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:7]  ²⁰ tn This is a first class condition in the Greek text; Jesus’ opponents anticipated he would do this.

[6:7]  ²¹ sn The background for this is the view that only if life was endangered should one attempt to heal on the Sabbath (see the Mishnah, m. Shabbat 6.3; 12.1; 18.3; 19.2; m. Yoma 8.6).

[11:53]  ²² tn Or “the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

[11:53]  ²³ tn Or “terribly.”

[11:53]  ²⁴ tn For this term see L&N 33.183.

[11:54]  ²⁵ tn Grk “lying in ambush against,” but this is a figurative extension of that meaning.

[11:54]  ²⁶ tn This term was often used in a hunting context (BDAG 455 s.v. θηρεύω; L&N 27.30). Later examples of this appear in Luke 20.

[14:1]  ²⁷ tn Grk “Now it happened that one.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[14:1]  ²⁸ tn Grk “to eat bread,” an idiom for participating in a meal.

[14:1]  ²⁹ tn Grk “a ruler of the Pharisees.” He was probably a synagogue official.

[14:1]  ³⁰ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[14:1]  ³¹ sn Watching…closely is a graphic term meaning to lurk and watch; see Luke 11:53-54.

[20:20]  ³² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[20:20]  ³³ tn Grk “righteous,” but in this context the point is their false sincerity.

[20:20]  ³⁴ tn Grk “so that they might catch him in some word.”

[20:20]  ³⁵ tn This word is often translated “authority” in other contexts, but here, in combination with ἀρχή (arch), it refers to the domain or sphere of the governor’s rule (L&N 37.36).

[9:16]  ³⁶ tn As a response to the answers of the man who used to be blind, the use of the imperfect tense in the reply of the Pharisees is best translated as an ingressive imperfect (“began to say” or “started saying”).

[9:16]  ³⁷ tn Grk “he does not keep.”

[9:16]  ³⁸ sn The Jewish religious leaders considered the work involved in making the mud to be a violation of the Sabbath.

[9:16]  ³⁹ tn Grk “do.”

[9:16]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “So there was discord.”