Yesaya 28:11

28:11 For with mocking lips and a foreign tongue

he will speak to these people. ¹ 

Yeremia 5:15

5:15 The Lord says, ²  “Listen, ³  nation of Israel! ⁴ 

I am about to bring a nation from far away to attack you.

It will be a nation that was founded long ago

and has lasted for a long time.

It will be a nation whose language you will not know.

Its people will speak words that you will not be able to understand.

Yehezkiel 3:5-6

3:5 For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech ⁵  and difficult language, ⁶  but ⁷  to the house of Israel – 3:6 not to many peoples of unintelligible speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand ⁸  – surely if ⁹  I had sent you to them, they would listen to you!

Yehezkiel 3:1

3:1 He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you see in front of you ¹⁰  – eat this scroll – and then go and speak to the house of Israel.”

Kolose 1:21

Paul’s Goal in Ministry

1:21 And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your ¹¹  minds ¹²  as expressed through ¹³  your evil deeds,

[28:11]  ¹ sn This verse alludes to the coming Assyrian invasion, when the people will hear a foreign language that sounds like gibberish to them. The Lord is the subject of the verb “will speak,” as v. 12 makes clear. He once spoke in meaningful terms, but in the coming judgment he will speak to them, as it were, through the mouth of foreign oppressors. The apparent gibberish they hear will be an outward reminder that God has decreed their defeat.

[5:15]  ² tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[5:15]  ³ tn Heb “Behold!”

[5:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “house of Israel.”

[3:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “deep of lip” (in the sense of incomprehensible).

[3:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “heavy of tongue.” Similar language occurs in Exod 4:10; Isa 33:19.

[3:5]  ⁷ tn The conjunction “but” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied from the context.

[3:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “hear.”

[3:6]  ⁹ tc The MT reads “if not” but most ancient versions translate only “if.” The expression occurs with this sense in Isa 5:9; 14:24. See also Ezek 34:8; 36:5; 38:19.

[3:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “eat what you find.”

[1:21]  ¹¹ tn The article τῇ (th) has been translated as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[1:21]  ¹² tn Although διανοία (dianoia) is singular in Greek, the previous plural noun ἐχθρούς (ecqrous) indicates that all those from Colossae are in view here.

[1:21]  ¹³ tn The dative ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς (en toi" ergoi" toi" ponhroi") is taken as means, indicating the avenue through which hostility in the mind is revealed and made known.