Psalms 37:32

37:32 Evil men set an ambush for the godly

and try to kill them. ¹ 

Psalms 57:6

57:6 They have prepared a net to trap me; ² 

I am discouraged. ³ 

They have dug a pit for me. ⁴ 

They will fall ⁵  into it! (Selah)

Psalms 89:51

89:51 Your enemies, O Lord, hurl insults;

they insult your chosen king as they dog his footsteps. ⁶ 

Job 14:16

The Present Condition ⁷ 

14:16 “Surely now you count my steps; ⁸ 

then you would not mark ⁹  my sin. ¹⁰ 

Job 31:4

31:4 Does he not see my ways

and count all my steps?

Jeremiah 20:10

20:10 I ¹¹  hear many whispering words of intrigue against me.

Those who would cause me terror are everywhere! ¹² 

They are saying, “Come on, let’s publicly denounce him!” ¹³ 

All my so-called friends ¹⁴  are just watching for

something that would lead to my downfall. ¹⁵ 

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

so we can prevail over ¹⁶  him and get our revenge on him.

Luke 20:20

Paying Taxes to Caesar

20:20 Then ¹⁷  they watched him carefully and sent spies who pretended to be sincere. ¹⁸  They wanted to take advantage of what he might say ¹⁹  so that they could deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction ²⁰  of the governor.

[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.

[57:6]  ² tn Heb “for my feet.”

[57:6]  ³ tn Heb “my life bends low.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

[57:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “before me.”

[57:6]  ⁵ tn The perfect form is used rhetorically here to express the psalmist’s certitude. The demise of the enemies is so certain that he can speak of it as already accomplished.

[89:51]  ⁶ tn Heb “[by] which your enemies, O Lord, taunt, [by] which they taunt [at] the heels of your anointed one.”

[14:16]  ⁷ sn The hope for life after death is supported now by a description of the severity with which God deals with people in this life.

[14:16]  ⁸ tn If v. 16a continues the previous series, the translation here would be “then” (as in RSV). Others take it as a new beginning to express God’s present watch over Job, and interpret the second half of the verse as a question, or emend it to say God does not pass over his sins.

[14:16]  ⁹ sn Compare Ps 130:3-4, which says, “If you should mark iniquity O Lord, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, in order that you might be feared.”

[14:16]  ¹⁰ tn The second colon of the verse can be contrasted with the first, the first being the present reality and the second the hope looked for in the future. This seems to fit the context well without making any changes at all.

[20:10]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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.”

[20:20]  ¹⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[20:20]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “righteous,” but in this context the point is their false sincerity.

[20:20]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “so that they might catch him in some word.”

[20:20]  ²⁰ 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).