1:28 Then they will call to me, but I will not answer;
they will diligently seek 1 me, but they will not find me.
3:28 Do not say to your neighbor, “Go! Return tomorrow
and I will give it,” when 2 you have it with you at the time. 3
24:31 I saw 4 that thorns had grown up all over it,
the ground 5 was covered with weeds,
and its stone wall was broken down.
30:20 This is the way 6 of an adulterous 7 woman:
she eats and wipes her mouth 8
and says, “I have not done wrong.” 9
1 tn Heb “look to.” The verb שָׁחַר (shakhar, “to look”) is used figuratively of intensely looking (=seeking) for deliverance out of trouble (W. L. Holladay, Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, 366); cf. NLT “anxiously search for.” It is used elsewhere in parallelism with בָּקַשׁ (baqash, “to seek rescue”; Hos 5:15). It does not mean “to seek early” (cf. KJV) as is popularly taught due to etymological connections with the noun שַׁחַר (shakhar, “dawn”; so BDB 1007 s.v. שָׁחַר).
2 tn Heb “and it is with you.” The prefixed vav introduces a circumstantial clause: “when …”
3 tn The words “at the time” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.
4 tn The Hebrew term וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, traditionally “and, lo” [KJV, ASV]) is a deictic particle that calls attention to what comes next. “And look” is too abrupt here; “I saw” calls attention to the field that was noticed.
5 tn Heb “its face” (so KJV, ASV).
6 sn Equally amazing is the insensitivity of the adulterous woman to the sin. The use of the word “way” clearly connects this and the preceding material. Its presence here also supports the interpretation of the final clause in v. 19 as referring to sexual intimacy. While that is a wonder of God’s creation, so is the way that human nature has distorted it and ruined it.
7 sn The word clearly indicates that the woman is married and unchaste; but the text describes her as amoral as much as immoral – she sees nothing wrong with what she does.
8 sn The acts of “eating” and “wiping her mouth” are euphemistic; they employ an implied comparison between the physical act of eating and wiping one’s mouth afterward on the one hand with sexual activity on the other hand (e.g., Prov 9:17).
9 sn This is the amazing part of the observation. It is one thing to sin, for everyone sins, but to dismiss the act of adultery so easily, as if it were no more significant than a meal, is incredibly brazen.