Mazmur 119:10

119:10 With all my heart I seek you.

Do not allow me to stray from your commands!

Mazmur 119:110

119:110 The wicked lay a trap for me,

but I do not wander from your precepts.

Mazmur 119:118

119:118 You despise ¹  all who stray from your statutes,

for they are deceptive and unreliable. ² 

Ulangan 27:15-26

27:15 ‘Cursed is the one ³  who makes a carved or metal image – something abhorrent ⁴  to the Lord, the work of the craftsman ⁵  – and sets it up in a secret place.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ ⁶  27:16 ‘Cursed ⁷  is the one who disrespects ⁸  his father and mother.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 27:17 ‘Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor’s boundary marker.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 27:18 ‘Cursed is the one who misleads a blind person on the road.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 27:19 ‘Cursed is the one who perverts justice for the resident foreigner, the orphan, and the widow.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 27:20 ‘Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with ⁹  his father’s former wife, ¹⁰  for he dishonors his father.’ ¹¹  Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 27:21 ‘Cursed is the one who commits bestiality.’ ¹²  Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 27:22 ‘Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his sister, the daughter of either his father or mother.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 27:23 ‘Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his mother-in-law.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 27:24 ‘Cursed is the one who kills ¹³  his neighbor in private.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 27:25 ‘Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 27:26 ‘Cursed is the one who refuses to keep the words of this law.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

Ulangan 28:15

Curses as Reversal of Blessings

28:15 “But if you ignore ¹⁴  the Lord your God and are not careful to keep all his commandments and statutes I am giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you in full force: ¹⁵ 

Ulangan 30:19

30:19 Today I invoke heaven and earth as a witness against you that I have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live!

Nehemia 9:16

9:16 “But they – our ancestors ¹⁶  – behaved presumptuously; they rebelled ¹⁷  and did not obey your commandments.

Nehemia 9:29

9:29 And you solemnly admonished them in order to return them to your law, but they behaved presumptuously and did not obey your commandments. They sinned against your ordinances – those by which an individual, if he obeys them, ¹⁸  will live. They boldly turned from you; ¹⁹  they rebelled ²⁰  and did not obey.

Yesaya 42:24

42:24 Who handed Jacob over to the robber?

Who handed Israel over to the looters? ²¹ 

Was it not the Lord, against whom we sinned?

They refused to follow his commands;

they disobeyed his law. ²² 

Yesaya 43:28

43:28 So I defiled your holy princes,

and handed Jacob over to destruction,

and subjected ²³  Israel to humiliating abuse.”

Yeremia 44:9-11

44:9 Have you forgotten all the wicked things that have been done in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem by your ancestors, by the kings of Judah and their ²⁴  wives, by you and your wives? 44:10 To this day your people ²⁵  have shown no contrition! They have not revered me nor followed the laws and statutes I commanded ²⁶  you and your ancestors.’

44:11 “Because of this, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, ‘I am determined to bring disaster on you, ²⁷  even to the point of destroying all the Judeans here. ²⁸ 

Yeremia 44:16

44:16 “We will not listen to what you claim the Lord has spoken to us! ²⁹ 

Yeremia 44:28-29

44:28 Some who survive in battle will return to the land of Judah from the land of Egypt. But they will be very few indeed! ³⁰  Then the Judean remnant who have come to live in the land of Egypt will know whose word proves true, ³¹  mine or theirs.’ 44:29 Moreover the Lord says, ³²  ‘I will make something happen to prove that I will punish you in this place. I will do it so that you will know that my threats to bring disaster on you will prove true. ³³ 

Galatia 3:13

3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming ³⁴  a curse for us (because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”) ³⁵ 

[119:118]  ¹ tn The Hebrew verb סָלָה (salah, “to disdain”) occurs only here and in Lam 1:15. Cognate usage in Aramaic and Akkadian, as well as Lam 1:15, suggest it may have a concrete nuance of “to throw away.”

[119:118]  ² tn Heb “for their deceit [is] falsehood.”

[27:15]  ³ tn Heb “man,” but in a generic sense here.

[27:15]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term translated here “abhorrent” (תּוֹעֵבָה, to’evah) speaks of attitudes and/or behaviors so vile as to be reprehensible to a holy God. See note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25.

[27:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “craftsman’s hands.”

[27:15]  ⁶ tn Or “So be it!” The term is an affirmation expressing agreement with the words of the Levites.

[27:16]  ⁷ tn The Levites speak again at this point; throughout this pericope the Levites pronounce the curse and the people respond with “Amen.”

[27:16]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term קָלָה (qalah) means to treat with disdain or lack of due respect (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV “dishonors”; NLT “despises”). It is the opposite of כָּבֵד (kaved, “to be heavy,” that is, to treat with reverence and proper deference). To treat a parent lightly is to dishonor him or her and thus violate the fifth commandment (Deut 5:16; cf. Exod 21:17).

[27:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “who lies with” (so NASB, NRSV); also in vv. 22, 23. This is a Hebrew idiom for having sexual relations (cf. NIV “who sleeps with”; NLT “who has sexual intercourse with”).

[27:20]  ¹⁰ tn See note at Deut 22:30.

[27:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he uncovers his father’s skirt” (NASB similar). See note at Deut 22:30.

[27:21]  ¹² tn Heb “lies with any animal” (so NASB, NRSV). “To lie with” is a Hebrew euphemism for having sexual relations with someone (or in this case, some animal).

[27:24]  ¹³ tn Or “strikes down” (so NRSV).

[28:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “do not hear the voice of.”

[28:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and overtake you” (so NIV, NRSV); NAB, NLT “and overwhelm you.”

[9:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and our fathers.” The vav is explicative.

[9:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “they stiffened their neck” (so also in the following verse).

[9:29]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “if a man keep.” See note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

[9:29]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “they gave a stubborn shoulder.”

[9:29]  ²⁰ tn Heb “they stiffened their neck.”

[42:24]  ²¹ tn Heb “Who gave to the robber Jacob, and Israel to the looters?” In the first line the consonantal text (Kethib) has מְשׁוֹסֶה (mÿshoseh), a Polel participle from שָׁסָה (shasah, “plunder”). The marginal reading (Qere) is מְשִׁיסָּה (mÿshissah), a noun meaning “plunder.” In this case one could translate “Who handed Jacob over as plunder?”

[42:24]  ²² tn Heb “they were not willing in his ways to walk, and they did not listen to his law.”

[43:28]  ²³ tn The word “subjected” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[44:9]  ²⁴ tn Heb “his.” This should not be viewed as a textual error but as a distributive singular use of the suffix, i.e., the wives of each of the kings of Judah (cf. GKC 464 §145.l and compare the usage in Isa 2:8; Hos 4:8).

[44:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “they” but as H. Freedman (Jeremiah [SoBB], 284) notes the third person is used here to include the people just referred to as well as the current addressees. Hence “your people” or “the people of Judah.” It is possible that the third person again reflects the rhetorical distancing that was referred to earlier in 35:16 (see the translator’s note there for explanation) in which case one might translate “you have shown,” and “you have not revered.”

[44:10]  ²⁶ tn Heb “to set before.” According to BDB 817 s.v. פָּנֶה II.4.b(g) this refers to “propounding to someone for acceptance or choice.” This is clearly the usage in Deut 30:15, 19; Jer 21:8 and is likely the case here. However, to translate literally would not be good English idiom and “proposed to” might not be correctly understood, so the basic translation of נָתַן (natan) has been used here.

[44:11]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Behold I am setting my face against you for evil/disaster.” For the meaning of the idiom “to set the face to/against” see the translator’s note on 42:15 and compare the references listed there.

[44:11]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and to destroy all Judah.” However, this statement must be understood within the rhetoric of the passage (see vv. 7-8 and the study note on v. 8) and within the broader context of the Lord’s promises to restore the remnant who are in Babylon and those scattered in other lands (23:3; 24:5-6; 29:14; 30:3; 32:27). In this context “all Judah” must refer to all the Judeans living in Egypt whom Jeremiah is now addressing. This involves the figure of synecdoche where all does not extend to all individuals but to all that are further specified or implied (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 616-18, and the comments in H. Freedman, Jeremiah [SoBB], 285). The “and” in front of “to destroy” is to be understood as an example of the epexegetical use of the conjunction ו (vav; see BDB 252 s.v. וַ 1.b and compare the translation of J. Bright, Jeremiah [AB], 260).

[44:16]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the word [or message] you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord.” For an explanation of the rendering of “in the name of the Lord” see the study notes on 10:25 and 23:27.

[44:28]  ³⁰ tn Heb “The survivors of the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah few in number [more literally, “men of number”; for the idiom see BDB 709 s.v. מִסְפָּר 1.a].” The term “survivors of the sword” may be intended to represent both those who survive death in war or death by starvation or disease, a synecdoche of species for all three genera.

[44:28]  sn This statement shows that the preceding “none,” “never again,” “all” in vv. 26-27 are rhetorical hyperbole. Not all but almost all; very few would survive. The following statement implies that the reason that they are left alive is to bear witness to the fact that the Lord’s threats were indeed carried out. See vv. 11-14 for a parallel use of “all” and “none” qualified by a “few.”

[44:28]  ³¹ tn Heb “will stand,” i.e., in the sense of being fulfilled, proving to be true, or succeeding (see BDB 878 s.v. קוּם 7.g).

[44:29]  ³² tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[44:29]  ³³ tn Heb “This will be to you the sign, oracle of the Lord, that I will punish you in this place in order that you may know that my threats against you for evil/disaster/harm will certainly stand [see the translator’s note on the preceding verse for the meaning of this word here].” The word “sign” refers to an event that is a pre-omen or portent of something that will happen later (see BDB 16 s.v. אוֹת 2 and compare usage in 1 Sam 14:10; 2 Kgs 19:29). The best way to carry that idea across in this context seems to be “I will make something happen to prove [or portend].” Another possibility would be “I will give you a pre-omen that,” but many readers would probably not be familiar with “omen/pre-omen.” Again the sentence has been broken in two and restructured to better conform with English style.

[3:13]  ³⁴ tn Grk “having become”; the participle γενόμενος (genomenos) has been taken instrumentally.

[3:13]  ³⁵ sn A quotation from Deut 21:23. By figurative extension the Greek word translated tree (ζύλον, zulon) can also be used to refer to a cross (L&N 6.28), the Roman instrument of execution.