Psalms 94:20-21

94:20 Cruel rulers ¹  are not your allies,

those who make oppressive laws. ² 

94:21 They conspire against ³  the blameless, ⁴ 

and condemn to death the innocent. ⁵ 

Ecclesiastes 8:8

8:8 Just as no one has power over the wind to restrain it, ⁶ 

so no one has power over the day of his ⁷  death.

Just as no one can be discharged during the battle, ⁸ 

so wickedness cannot rescue the wicked. ⁹ 

Isaiah 28:15

28:15 For you say,

“We have made a treaty with death,

with Sheol ¹⁰  we have made an agreement. ¹¹ 

When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by ¹² 

it will not reach us.

For we have made a lie our refuge,

we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word.” ¹³ 

Jeremiah 7:10

7:10 Then you come and stand in my presence in this temple I have claimed as my own ¹⁴  and say, “We are safe!” You think you are so safe that you go on doing all those hateful sins! ¹⁵ 

Habakkuk 1:13

1:13 You are too just ¹⁶  to tolerate ¹⁷  evil;

you are unable to condone ¹⁸  wrongdoing.

So why do you put up with such treacherous people? ¹⁹ 

Why do you say nothing when the wicked devour ²⁰  those more righteous than they are? ²¹ 

[94:20]  ¹ tn Heb “a throne of destruction.” “Throne” stands here by metonymy for rulers who occupy thrones.

[94:20]  ² tn Heb “Is a throne of destruction united to you, one that forms trouble upon a statute?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “Of course not!” The translation, while not preserving the interrogative form of the statement, reflects its rhetorical force.

[94:21]  ³ tn Or “attack.”

[94:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “the life of the blameless.”

[94:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the blood of the innocent they declare guilty.”

[8:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “There is not a man who has mastery over the wind to restrain the wind.”

[8:8]  ⁷ tn The word “his” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “There is no discharge in war.”

[8:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “its owners.”

[28:15]  ¹⁰ sn Sheol is the underworld, land of the dead, according to the OT world view.

[28:15]  ¹¹ tn Elsewhere the noun חֹזֶה (khozeh) refers to a prophet who sees visions. In v. 18 the related term חָזוּת (khazut, “vision”) is used. The parallelism in both verses (note “treaty”) seems to demand a meaning “agreement” for both nouns. Perhaps חֹזֶה and חזוּת are used in a metonymic sense in vv. 15 and 18. Another option is to propose a homonymic root. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:514, and HALOT 301 s.v. II חֹזֶה.

[28:15]  ¹² tn Heb “the overwhelming scourge, when it passes by” (NRSV similar).

[28:15]  ¹³ sn “Lie” and “deceitful word” would not be the terms used by the people. They would likely use the words “promise” and “reliable word,” but the prophet substitutes “lie” and “deceitful word” to emphasize that this treaty with death will really prove to be disappointing.

[7:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “over which my name is called.” For this nuance of this idiom cf. BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph.2.d(4) and see the usage in 2 Sam 12:28.

[7:10]  ¹⁵ tn Or “‘We are safe!’ – safe, you think, to go on doing all those hateful things.” Verses 9-10 are all one long sentence in the Hebrew text. It has been broken up for English stylistic reasons. Somewhat literally it reads “Will you steal…then come and stand…and say, ‘We are safe’ so as to/in order to do…” The Hebrew of v. 9 has a series of infinitives which emphasize the bare action of the verb without the idea of time or agent. The effect is to place a kind of staccato like emphasis on the multitude of their sins all of which are violations of one of the Ten Commandments. The final clause in v. 8 expresses purpose or result (probably result) through another infinitive. This long sentence is introduced by a marker (ה interrogative in Hebrew) introducing a rhetorical question in which God expresses his incredulity that they could do these sins, come into the temple and claim the safety of his protection, and then go right back out and commit the same sins. J. Bright (Jeremiah [AB], 52) catches the force nicely: “What? You think you can steal, murder…and then come and stand…and say, ‘We are safe…’ just so that you can go right on…”

[1:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “[you] are too pure of eyes.” God’s “eyes” here signify what he looks at with approval. His “eyes” are “pure” in that he refuses to tolerate any wrongdoing in his presence.

[1:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “to see.” Here “see” is figurative for “tolerate,” “put up with.”

[1:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to look at.” Cf. NEB “who canst not countenance wrongdoing”; NASB “You can not look on wickedness with favor.”

[1:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Why do you look at treacherous ones?” The verb בָּגַד (bagad, “be treacherous”) is often used of those who are disloyal or who violate agreements. See S. Erlandsson, TDOT 1:470-73.

[1:13]  ²⁰ tn Or “swallow up.”

[1:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “more innocent than themselves.”