Psalms 146:3-5

146:3 Do not trust in princes,

or in human beings, who cannot deliver! ¹ 

146:4 Their life’s breath departs, they return to the ground;

on that day their plans die. ² 

146:5 How blessed is the one whose helper is the God of Jacob,

whose hope is in the Lord his God,

Job 9:13

9:13 God does not restrain his anger; ³ 

under him the helpers of Rahab ⁴  lie crushed. ⁵ 

Job 16:2

16:2 “I have heard many things like these before.

What miserable comforters ⁶  are you all!

Isaiah 2:22

2:22 Stop trusting in human beings,

whose life’s breath is in their nostrils.

For why should they be given special consideration?

Isaiah 30:3-5

30:3 But Pharaoh’s protection will bring you nothing but shame,

and the safety of Egypt’s protective shade nothing but humiliation.

30:4 Though his ⁷  officials are in Zoan

and his messengers arrive at Hanes, ⁸ 

30:5 all will be put to shame ⁹ 

because of a nation that cannot help them,

who cannot give them aid or help,

but only shame and disgrace.”

Isaiah 31:3

31:3 The Egyptians are mere humans, not God;

their horses are made of flesh, not spirit.

The Lord will strike with ¹⁰  his hand;

the one who helps will stumble

and the one being helped will fall.

Together they will perish. ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 17:5-8

Individuals Are Challenged to Put Their Trust in the Lord ¹² 

17:5 The Lord says,

“I will put a curse on people

who trust in mere human beings,

who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength, ¹³ 

and whose hearts ¹⁴  have turned away from the Lord.

17:6 They will be like a shrub ¹⁵  in the desert.

They will not experience good things even when they happen.

It will be as though they were growing in the desert,

in a salt land where no one can live.

17:7 My blessing is on those people who trust in me,

who put their confidence in me. ¹⁶ 

17:8 They will be like a tree planted near a stream

whose roots spread out toward the water.

It has nothing to fear when the heat comes.

Its leaves are always green.

It has no need to be concerned in a year of drought.

It does not stop bearing fruit.

Lamentations 4:17

The People of Jerusalem Lament:

ע (Ayin)

4:17 Our eyes continually failed us

as we looked in vain for help. ¹⁷ 

From our watchtowers we watched

for a nation that could not rescue us.

[146:3]  ¹ tn Heb “in a son of man, to whom there is no deliverance.”

[146:4]  ² tn Heb “his spirit goes out, it returns to his ground; in that day his plans die.” The singular refers to the representative man mentioned in v. 3b.

[9:13]  ³ sn The meaning of the line is that God’s anger will continue until it has accomplished its purpose (23:13-14).

[9:13]  ⁴ sn “Rahab” is not to be confused with the harlot of the same name from Jericho. “Rahab” is identified with Tiamat of the Babylonian creation epic, or Leviathan of the Canaanite myths. It is also used in parallelism to the sea (26:12), or the Red Sea (Ps 74:13), and so comes to symbolize Egypt (Isa 30:7). In the Babylonian Creation Epic there is reference to the helpers of Tiamat. In the Bible the reference is only to the raging sea, which the Lord controlled at creation.

[9:13]  ⁵ tn The verb שָׁחַח (shakhakh) means “to be prostrate” or “to crouch.” Here the enemies are prostrate under the feet of God – they are crushed.

[16:2]  ⁶ tn The expression uses the Piel participle in construct: מְנַחֲמֵי עָמָל (mÿnahame ’amal, “comforters of trouble”), i.e., comforters who increase trouble instead of relieving it. D. W. Thomas translates this “breathers out of trouble” (“A Note on the Hebrew Root naham,” ExpTim 44 [1932/33]: 192).

[30:4]  ⁷ sn This probably refers to Judah’s officials and messengers.

[30:4]  ⁸ sn Zoan was located in the Egyptian delta in the north; Hanes was located somewhere in southern region of lower Egypt, south of Memphis; the exact location is debated.

[30:5]  ⁹ tn The present translation follows the marginal (Qere) reading of the Hebrew text; the consonantal text (Kethib) has “made to stink, decay.”

[31:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “will extend”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV “stretch out.”

[31:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “together all of them will come to an end.”

[17:5]  ¹² sn Verses 5-11 are a collection of wisdom-like sayings (cf. Ps 1) which set forth the theme of the two ways and their consequences. It has as its background the blessings and the curses of Deut 28 and the challenge to faith in Deut 29-30 which climaxes in Deut 30:15-20. The nation is sinful and God is weary of showing them patience. However, there is hope for individuals within the nation if they will trust in him.

[17:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “who make flesh their arm.” The “arm” is the symbol of strength and the flesh is the symbol of mortal man in relation to the omnipotent God. The translation “mere flesh and blood” reflects this.

[17:5]  ¹⁴ sn In the psychology of ancient Hebrew thought the heart was the center not only of the emotions but of the thoughts and motivations. It was also the seat of moral conduct (cf. its placement in the middle of the discussion of moral conduct in Prov 4:20-27, i.e., in v. 23).

[17:6]  ¹⁵ tn This word occurs only here and in Jer 48:6. It has been identified as a kind of juniper, which is a short shrub with minute leaves that look like scales. For a picture and more discussion see Fauna and Flora of the Bible, 131.

[17:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Blessed is the person who trusts in the Lord, and whose confidence is in the Lord.” However, because this is a statement of the Lord and the translation chooses to show that the blessing comes from him, the first person is substituted for the divine name.

[4:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Our eyes failed in vain for help.”