¹ tn The presence of the independent pronoun in the Hebrew text is intended to contrast their actions with those of their ancestors.

¹ tn The use of “indeed” is intended to reflect the infinitive absolute, which precedes the verb for emphasis (see IBHS 585-86 §35.3.1f).

³ tn Heb “Tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord….’” The translation is intended to eliminate one level of imbedded quotation marks to help avoid confusion.

¹ tn Heb “Tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord…’” The translation is intended to eliminate one level of imbedded quote marks to help avoid confusion.

³ tn The translation is intended to reflect a Hebrew construction where a noun functions as the object of a verb from the same root word (the Hebrew cognate accusative).

¹ tn This translation is intended to reflect the wordplay in the Hebrew text where the same root word is repeated in the two lines.

¹ tn Heb “Surely they are poor.” The translation is intended to make clear the explicit contrasts and qualifications drawn in this verse and the next.

¹ tn The expression קָרַב אֶל (qarav ʾel) means “draw near to” or “approach,” but is also used as a euphemism for the intended purpose of sexual relations.

² sn The flatterer is too smooth; his words are intended to gratify. In this proverb some malice is attached to the flattery, for the words prove to be destructive.

⁴ sn The proverb affirms that God in safeguarding true knowledge will frustrate deception from faithless people—what they say will not have its intended effect.

² sn “Hand” in this passage is a personification; the word is frequently used idiomatically for “power,” and that is the sense intended here.

⁴ sn The verb “touches” is intended here to be a euphemism for illegal sexual contact (e.g., Gen 20:6).

¹ tn Heb “by the hand of every man he seals.” This line is intended to mean that with the heavy rains God suspends all agricultural activity.

¹ tn The verse is a rhetorical question; it is intended to mean that man is too little for God to be making so much over him in all this.

¹ tn This name has the definite article and may be intended to refer to a group of people rather than a single individual with this name.

¹ sn As the lot dictates. The Israelite soldiers intended to cast lots to determine which tribe would lead the battle charge (see v. 18).

¹ tn The Hebrew grammatical constructions of all three rhetorical questions indicate emphasis, which “really” and “dare to” are intended to express in the translation.

³ tn The expression קָרַב אֶל (qarav ʾel) means “draw near to” or “approach,” but is also used as a euphemism for the intended purpose of sexual relations.

³ tn Again this expression, “the Jordan of Jericho,” is used. It describes the intended location along the Jordan River, the Jordan next to or across from Jericho.

² tn In the Hebrew text the verb has no expressed subject (although the “Israelites” is certainly intended), and so it can be rendered as a passive.