3:5 This is what the Lord says: “The prophets who mislead my people
are as good as dead. 1
If someone gives them enough to eat,
they offer an oracle of peace. 2
But if someone does not give them food,
they are ready to declare war on him. 3
3:11 Her 4 leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, 5
her priests proclaim rulings for profit,
and her prophets read omens for pay.
Yet they claim to trust 6 the Lord and say,
“The Lord is among us. 7
Disaster will not overtake 8 us!”
4:3 He will arbitrate 9 between many peoples
and settle disputes between many 10 distant nations. 11
They will beat their swords into plowshares, 12
and their spears into pruning hooks. 13
Nations will not use weapons 14 against other nations,
and they will no longer train for war.
5:7 Those survivors from 15 Jacob will live 16
in the midst of many nations. 17
They will be like the dew the Lord sends,
like the rain on the grass,
that does not hope for men to come
or wait around for humans to arrive. 18
6:15 You will plant crops, but will not harvest them;
you will squeeze oil from the olives, 19 but you will have no oil to rub on your bodies; 20
you will squeeze juice from the grapes, but you will have no wine to drink. 21
1 tn Heb “concerning the prophets, those who mislead my people.” The first person pronominal suffix is awkward in a quotation formula that introduces the words of the
2 tn Heb “those who bite with their teeth and cry out, ‘peace.’” The phrase “bite with the teeth” is taken here as idiomatic for eating. Apparently these prophets were driven by mercenary motives. If they were paid well, they gave positive oracles to their clients, but if someone could not afford to pay them, they were hostile and delivered oracles of doom.
3 tn Heb “but [as for the one] who does not place [food] in their mouths, they prepare for war against him.”
4 sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).
5 tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”
6 tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”
7 tn Heb “Is not the
8 tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”
9 tn Or “judge.”
10 tn Or “mighty” (NASB); KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV “strong”; TEV “among the great powers.”
11 tn Heb “[for many nations] to a distance.”
12 sn Instead of referring to the large plow as a whole, the plowshare is simply the metal tip which actually breaks the earth and cuts the furrow.
13 sn This implement was used to prune the vines, i.e., to cut off extra leaves and young shoots (M. Klingbeil, NIDOTTE 1:1117-18). It was a short knife with a curved hook at the end sharpened on the inside like a sickle.
14 tn Heb “take up the sword.”
15 tn Heb “the remnant of” (also in v. 8).
16 tn Heb “will be.”
17 tn This could mean “(scattered) among the nations” (cf. CEV, NLT) or “surrounded by many nations” (cf. NRSV).
18 tn Heb “that does not hope for man, and does not wait for the sons of men.”
sn Men wait eagerly for the dew and the rain, not vice versa. Just as the dew and rain are subject to the
19 tn Heb “you will tread olives.” Literally treading on olives with one’s feet could be harmful and would not supply the necessary pressure to release the oil. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 119. The Hebrew term דָּרַךְ (darakh) may have an idiomatic sense of “press” here, or perhaps the imagery of the following parallel line (referring to treading grapes) has dictated the word choice.
20 tn Heb “but you will not rub yourselves with oil.”
21 tn Heb “and juice, but you will not drink wine.” The verb תִדְרֹךְ (tidrokh, “you will tread”) must be supplied from the preceding line.