6:21 So, this is what the Lord says:
‘I will assuredly 1 make these people stumble to their doom. 2
Parents and children will stumble and fall to their destruction. 3
Friends and neighbors will die.’
8:8 How can you say, “We are wise!
We have the law of the Lord”?
The truth is, 4 those who teach it 5 have used their writings
to make it say what it does not really mean. 6
8:9 Your wise men will be put to shame.
They will be dumbfounded and be brought to judgment. 7
Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,
what wisdom do they really have?
51:14 The Lord who rules over all 12 has solemnly sworn, 13
‘I will fill your land with enemy soldiers.
They will swarm over it like locusts. 14
They will raise up shouts of victory over it.’
1 tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle rendered “behold” joined to the first person pronoun.
2 tn Heb “I will put stumbling blocks in front of these people.” In this context the stumbling blocks are the invading armies.
3 tn The words “and fall to their destruction” are implicit in the metaphor and are supplied in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “Surely, behold!”
5 tn Heb “the scribes.”
6 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.
7 tn Heb “be trapped.” However, the word “trapped” generally carries with it the connotation of divine judgment. See BDB 540 s.v. לָכַד Niph.2, and compare usage in Jer 6:11 for support. The verbs in the first two lines are again the form of the Hebrew verb that emphasizes that the action is as good as done (Hebrew prophetic perfects).
8 tn Heb “Therefore, thus, says the
9 tn Heb “Oracle of the
10 tn Heb “I know the plans that I am planning for you, oracle of the
11 tn Or “the future you hope for”; Heb “a future and a hope.” This is a good example of hendiadys where two formally coordinated nouns (adjectives, verbs) convey a single idea where one of the terms functions as a qualifier of the other. For this figure see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 658-72. This example is discussed on p. 661.
12 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.” For an explanation of this rendering see the study note on 2:19.
13 tn Heb “has sworn by himself.” See the study note on 22:5 for background.
14 tn Heb “I will fill you with men like locusts.” The “you” refers to Babylon (Babylon is both the city and the land it ruled, Babylonia) which has been alluded to in the preceding verses under descriptive titles. The words “your land” have been used because of the way the preceding verse has been rendered, alluding to people rather than to the land or city. The allusion of “men” is, of course, to enemy soldiers and they are here compared to locusts both for their quantity and their destructiveness (see Joel 1:4). For the use of the particles כִּי אִם (ki ’im) to introduce an oath see BDB 475 s.v. כִּי אִם 2.c and compare usage in 2 Kgs 5:20; one would normally expect אִם לֹא (cf. BDB 50 s.v. אִם 1.b[2]).