Psalms 74:18

74:18 Remember how ¹  the enemy hurls insults, O Lord, ² 

and how a foolish nation blasphemes your name!

Jeremiah 4:22

4:22 The Lord answered, ³ 

“This will happen ⁴  because my people are foolish.

They do not know me.

They are like children who have no sense. ⁵ 

They have no understanding.

They are skilled at doing evil.

They do not know how to do good.”

Jeremiah 5:21

5:21 Tell them: ‘Hear this,

you foolish people who have no understanding,

who have eyes but do not discern,

who have ears but do not perceive: ⁶ 

Galatians 3:1-3

Justification by Law or by Faith?

3:1 You ⁷  foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell ⁸  on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed ⁹  as crucified! 3:2 The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law ¹⁰  or by believing what you heard? ¹¹  3:3 Are you so foolish? Although you began ¹²  with ¹³  the Spirit, are you now trying to finish ¹⁴  by human effort? ¹⁵ 

[74:18]  ¹ tn Heb “remember this.”

[74:18]  ² tn Or “[how] the enemy insults the Lord.”

[4:22]  ³ tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to show clearly the shift in speaker. Jeremiah has been speaking; now the Lord answers, giving the reason for the devastation Jeremiah foresees.

[4:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “For….” This gives the explanation for the destruction envisaged in 4:20 to which Jeremiah responds in 4:19, 21.

[4:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “They are senseless children.”

[5:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “they have eyes but they do not see, they have ears but they do not hear.”

[3:1]  ⁷ tn Grk “O” (an interjection used both in address and emotion). In context the following section is highly charged emotionally.

[3:1]  ⁸ tn Or “deceived”; the verb βασκαίνω (baskainw) can be understood literally here in the sense of bewitching by black magic, but could also be understood figuratively to refer to an act of deception (see L&N 53.98 and 88.159).

[3:1]  ⁹ tn Or “publicly placarded,” “set forth in a public proclamation” (BDAG 867 s.v. προγράφω 2).

[3:2]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “by [the] works of [the] law,” a reference to observing the Mosaic law.

[3:2]  ¹¹ tn Grk “by [the] hearing of faith.”

[3:3]  ¹² tn Grk “Having begun”; the participle ἐναρξάμενοι (enarxamenoi) has been translated concessively.

[3:3]  ¹³ tn Or “by the Spirit.”

[3:3]  ¹⁴ tn The verb ἐπιτελεῖσθε (epiteleisqe) has been translated as a conative present (see ExSyn 534). This is something the Galatians were attempting to do, but could not accomplish successfully.

[3:3]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “in/by [the] flesh.”