Psalms 49:10

49:10 Surely ¹  one sees ²  that even wise people die; ³ 

fools and spiritually insensitive people all pass away ⁴ 

and leave their wealth to others. ⁵ 

Psalms 73:22

73:22 I was ignorant ⁶  and lacked insight; ⁷ 

I was as senseless as an animal before you. ⁸ 

Psalms 92:6

92:6 The spiritually insensitive do not recognize this;

the fool does not understand this. ⁹ 

Proverbs 12:1

12:1 The one who loves discipline loves knowledge, ¹⁰ 

but the one who hates reproof is stupid. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 27:11

27:11 When its branches get brittle, ¹²  they break;

women come and use them for kindling. ¹³ 

For these people lack understanding, ¹⁴ 

therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;

the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

Jeremiah 8:6-8

8:6 I have listened to them very carefully, ¹⁵ 

but they do not speak honestly.

None of them regrets the evil he has done.

None of them says, “I have done wrong!” ¹⁶ 

All of them persist in their own wayward course ¹⁷ 

like a horse charging recklessly into battle.

8:7 Even the stork knows

when it is time to move on. ¹⁸ 

The turtledove, swallow, and crane ¹⁹ 

recognize ²⁰  the normal times for their migration.

But my people pay no attention

to ²¹  what I, the Lord, require of them. ²² 

8:8 How can you say, “We are wise!

We have the law of the Lord”?

The truth is, ²³  those who teach it ²⁴  have used their writings

to make it say what it does not really mean. ²⁵ 

Jeremiah 10:8

10:8 The people of those nations ²⁶  are both stupid and foolish.

Instruction from a wooden idol is worthless! ²⁷ 

Romans 3:11

3:11 there is no one who understands,

there is no one who seeks God.

[49:10]  ¹ tn The particle כִּי (ki) is understood here as asseverative (emphatic).

[49:10]  ² tn The subject of the verb is probably the typical “man” mentioned in v. 7. The imperfect can be taken here as generalizing or as indicating potential (“surely he/one can see”).

[49:10]  ³ tn The imperfect verbal forms here and in the next line draw attention to what is characteristically true. The vav (ו) consecutive with perfect in the third line carries the same force.

[49:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “together a fool and a brutish [man] perish.” The adjective בַּעַר (ba’ar, “brutish”) refers to spiritual insensitivity, not mere lack of intelligence or reasoning ability (see Pss 73:22; 92:6; Prov 12:1; 30:2, as well as the use of the related verb in Ps 94:8).

[49:10]  ⁵ sn Death shows no respect for anyone. No matter how wise or foolish an individual happens to be, all pass away.

[73:22]  ⁶ tn Or “brutish, stupid.”

[73:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “and I was not knowing.”

[73:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “an animal I was with you.”

[92:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “the brutish man does not know, and the fool does not understand this.” The adjective בַּעַר (ba’ar, “brutish”) refers to spiritual insensitivity, not mere lack of intelligence or reasoning ability (see Pss 49:10; 73:22; Prov 12:1; 30:2, as well as the use of the related verb in Ps 94:8).

[12:1]  ¹⁰ sn Those who wish to improve themselves must learn to accept correction; the fool hates/rejects any correction.

[12:1]  ¹¹ sn The word בָּעַר (ba’ar, “brutish; stupid”) normally describes dumb animals that lack intellectual sense. Here, it describes the moral fool who is not willing to learn from correction. He is like a dumb animal (so the term here functions as a hypocatastasis: implied comparison).

[27:11]  ¹² tn Heb “are dry” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[27:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “women come [and] light it.” The city is likened to a dead tree with dried up branches that is only good for firewood.

[27:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “for not a people of understanding [is] he.”

[8:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I have paid attention and I have listened.” This is another case of two concepts being joined by “and” where one expresses the main idea and the other acts as an adverbial or adjectival modifier (a figure called hendiadys).

[8:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “What have I done?” The addition of the word “wrong” is implicit in the context and is supplied in the translation for clarity. The rhetorical question does not function as a denial of wrongdoing, but rather as contrite shock at one’s own wrongdoing. It is translated as a declaration for the sake of clarity.

[8:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “each one of them turns aside into their own running course.”

[8:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “its appointed time.” The translation is contextually motivated to avoid lack of clarity.

[8:7]  ¹⁹ tn There is debate in the commentaries and lexicons about the identification of some of these birds, particularly regarding the identification of the “swallow” which is more likely the “swift” and the “crane” which some identify with the “thrush.” For a discussion see the Bible encyclopedias and the UBS handbook Fauna and Flora of the Bible. The identity of the individual birds makes little difference to the point being made and “swallow” is more easily identifiable to the average reader than the “swift.”

[8:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “keep.” Ironically birds, which do not think, obey the laws of nature, but Israel does not obey the laws of God.

[8:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “do not know.” But here as elsewhere the word “know” is more than an intellectual matter. It is intended here to summarize both “know” and “follow” (Heb “observe”) in the preceding lines.

[8:7]  ²² tn Heb “the ordinance/requirement of the Lord.”

[8:8]  ²³ tn Heb “Surely, behold!”

[8:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the scribes.”

[8:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “The lying pen of the scribes have made [it] into a lie.” The translation is an attempt to make the most common interpretation of this passage understandable for the average reader. This is, however, a difficult passage whose interpretation is greatly debated and whose syntax is capable of other interpretations. The interpretation of the NJPS, “Assuredly, for naught has the pen labored, for naught the scribes,” surely deserves consideration within the context; i.e. it hasn’t done any good for the scribes to produce a reliable copy of the law, which the people have refused to follow. That interpretation has the advantage of explaining the absence of an object for the verb “make” or “labored” but creates a very unbalanced poetic couplet.

[10:8]  ²⁶ tn Or “Those wise people and kings are…” It is unclear whether the subject is the “they” of the nations in the preceding verse, or the wise people and kings referred to. The text merely has “they.”

[10:8]  ²⁷ tn Heb “The instruction of vanities [worthless idols] is wood.” The meaning of this line is a little uncertain. Various proposals have been made to make sense, most of which involve radical emendation of the text. For some examples see J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah (NICOT), 323-24, fn 6. However, this is probably a case of the bold predication that discussed in GKC 452 §141.d, some examples of which may be seen in Ps 109:4 “I am prayer,” and Ps 120:7 “I am peace.”