Psalms 114:1

Psalm 114 ¹ 

114:1 When Israel left Egypt,

when the family of Jacob left a foreign nation behind, ² 

Deuteronomy 28:49

28:49 The Lord will raise up a distant nation against you, one from the other side of the earth ³  as the eagle flies, ⁴  a nation whose language you will not understand,

Isaiah 28:11

28:11 For with mocking lips and a foreign tongue

he will speak to these people. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 5:15

5:15 The Lord says, ⁶  “Listen, ⁷  nation of Israel! ⁸ 

I am about to bring a nation from far away to attack you.

It will be a nation that was founded long ago

and has lasted for a long time.

It will be a nation whose language you will not know.

Its people will speak words that you will not be able to understand.

Jeremiah 5:1

Judah is Justly Deserving of Coming Judgment

5:1 The Lord said, ⁹ 

“Go up and down ¹⁰  through the streets of Jerusalem. ¹¹ 

Look around and see for yourselves.

Search through its public squares.

See if any of you can find a single person

who deals honestly and tries to be truthful. ¹² 

If you can, ¹³  then I will not punish this city. ¹⁴ 

Colossians 1:21-22

Paul’s Goal in Ministry

1:21 And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your ¹⁵  minds ¹⁶  as expressed through ¹⁷  your evil deeds, 1:22 but now he has reconciled you ¹⁸  by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him –

[114:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 114. The psalmist recalls the events of the exodus and conquest and celebrates God’s kingship over his covenant people.

[114:1]  ² tn Heb “the house of Jacob from a nation speaking a foreign language.” The Hebrew verb לָעַז (la’at, “to speak a foreign language”) occurs only here in the OT.

[28:49]  ³ tn Heb “from the end of the earth.”

[28:49]  ⁴ tn Some translations understand this to mean “like an eagle swoops down” (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), comparing the swift attack of an eagle to the attack of the Israelites’ enemies.

[28:11]  ⁵ sn This verse alludes to the coming Assyrian invasion, when the people will hear a foreign language that sounds like gibberish to them. The Lord is the subject of the verb “will speak,” as v. 12 makes clear. He once spoke in meaningful terms, but in the coming judgment he will speak to them, as it were, through the mouth of foreign oppressors. The apparent gibberish they hear will be an outward reminder that God has decreed their defeat.

[5:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[5:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “Behold!”

[5:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “house of Israel.”

[5:1]  ⁹ tn These words are not in the text, but since the words at the end are obviously those of the Lord, they are supplied in the translation here to mark the shift in speaker from 4:29-31 where Jeremiah is the obvious speaker.

[5:1]  ¹⁰ tn It is not clear who is being addressed here. The verbs are plural so they are not addressed to Jeremiah per se. Since the passage is talking about the people of Jerusalem, it is unlikely they are addressed here except perhaps rhetorically. Some have suggested that the heavenly court is being addressed here as in Job 1:6-8; 2:1-3. It is clear from Jer 23:18, 22; Amos 3:7 that the prophets had access to this heavenly counsel through visions (cf. 1 Kgs 22:19-23), so Jeremiah could have been privy to this speech through that means. Though these are the most likely addressee, it is too presumptuous to supply such an explicit addressee without clearer indication in the text. The translation will just have to run the risk of the probable erroneous assumption by most English readers that the addressee is Jeremiah.

[5:1]  ¹¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:1]  ¹² tn Heb “who does justice and seeks faithfulness.”

[5:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “squares. If you can find…if there is one person…then I will…”

[5:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “forgive [or pardon] it.”

[1:21]  ¹⁵ tn The article τῇ (th) has been translated as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[1:21]  ¹⁶ tn Although διανοία (dianoia) is singular in Greek, the previous plural noun ἐχθρούς (ecqrous) indicates that all those from Colossae are in view here.

[1:21]  ¹⁷ tn The dative ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς (en toi" ergoi" toi" ponhroi") is taken as means, indicating the avenue through which hostility in the mind is revealed and made known.

[1:22]  ¹⁸ tc Some of the better representatives of the Alexandrian and Western texts have a passive verb here instead of the active ἀποκατήλλαξεν (apokathllaxen, “he has reconciled”): ἀποκατηλλάγητε (apokathllaghte) in (Ì⁴⁶) B, ἀποκατήλλακται [sic] (apokathllaktai) in 33, and ἀποκαταλλαγέντες (apokatallagente") in D* F G. Yet the active verb is strongly supported by א A C D² Ψ 048 075 [0278] 1739 1881 Ï lat sy. Internally, the passive creates an anacoluthon in that it looks back to the accusative ὑμᾶς (Juma", “you”) of v. 21 and leaves the following παραστῆσαι (parasthsai) dangling (“you were reconciled…to present you”). The passive reading is certainly the harder reading. As such, it may well explain the rise of the other readings. At the same time, it is possible that the passive was produced by scribes who wanted some symmetry between the ποτε (pote, “at one time”) of v. 21 and the νυνὶ δέ (nuni de, “but now”) of v. 22: Since a passive periphrastic participle is used in v. 21, there may have a temptation to produce a corresponding passive form in v. 22, handling the ὑμᾶς of v. 21 by way of constructio ad sensum. Since παραστῆσαι occurs ten words later, it may not have been considered in this scribal modification. Further, the Western reading (ἀποκαταλλαγέντες) hardly seems to have arisen from ἀποκατηλλάγητε (contra TCGNT 555). As difficult as this decision is, the preferred reading is the active form because it is superior externally and seems to explain the rise of all forms of the passive readings.