8:6 I have listened to them very carefully, 1
but they do not speak honestly.
None of them regrets the evil he has done.
None of them says, “I have done wrong!” 2
All of them persist in their own wayward course 3
like a horse charging recklessly into battle.
30:6 Ask yourselves this and consider it carefully: 4
Have you ever seen a man give birth to a baby?
Why then do I see all these strong men
grabbing their stomachs in pain like 5 a woman giving birth?
And why do their faces
turn so deathly pale?
1 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).
2 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.
3 tn Heb “each one of them turns aside into their own running course.”
sn The wordplay begun in v. 4 is continued here. The word translated “turns aside” in the literal translation and “wayward” in the translation is from the same root as “go the wrong way,” “turn around,” “turn away from me,” “apostasy,” “turn back to me.” What God hoped for were confessions of repentance and change of behavior; what he got was denial of wrongdoing and continued turning away from him.
4 tn Heb “Ask and see/consider.”
5 tn Heb “with their hands on their loins.” The word rendered “loins” refers to the area between the ribs and the thighs.