Yeremia 34:11

34:11 But later ¹  they had changed their minds. They had taken back their male and female slaves that they had freed and forced them to be slaves again. ² 

Yeremia 34:1

The Lord Makes an Ominous Promise to Zedekiah

34:1 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah while King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem ³  and the towns around it with a large army. This army consisted of troops from his own army and from the kingdoms and peoples of the lands under his dominion. ⁴ 

1 Samuel 15:11

15:11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from me and has not done what I told him to do.” Samuel became angry and he cried out to the Lord all that night.

Yehezkiel 3:20

3:20 “When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I set an obstacle ⁵  before him, he will die. If you have not warned him, he will die for his sin. The righteous deeds he performed will not be considered, but I will hold you accountable for his death.

Yehezkiel 18:24

18:24 “But if a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and practices wrongdoing according to all the abominable practices the wicked carry out, will he live? All his righteous acts will not be remembered; because of the unfaithful acts he has done and the sin he has committed, he will die. ⁶ 

Yehezkiel 33:12-13

33:12 “And you, son of man, say to your people, ⁷  ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him if he rebels. ⁸  As for the wicked, his wickedness will not make him stumble if he turns from it. ⁹  The righteous will not be able to live by his righteousness ¹⁰  if he sins.’ ¹¹  33:13 Suppose I tell the righteous that he will certainly live, but he becomes confident in his righteousness and commits iniquity. None of his righteous deeds will be remembered; because of the iniquity he has committed he will die.

Lukas 8:13-15

8:13 Those ¹²  on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, ¹³  but ¹⁴  in a time of testing ¹⁵  fall away. ¹⁶  8:14 As for the seed that ¹⁷  fell among thorns, these are the ones who hear, but ¹⁸  as they go on their way they are choked ¹⁹  by the worries and riches and pleasures of life, ²⁰  and their fruit does not mature. ²¹  8:15 But as for the seed that landed on good soil, these are the ones who, after hearing ²²  the word, cling to it ²³  with an honest and good ²⁴  heart, and bear fruit with steadfast endurance. ²⁵ 

¹ sn Most commentators are agreed that the incident referred to here occurred during the period of relief from the siege provided by the Babylonians going off to fight against the Egyptians who were apparently coming to Zedekiah’s aid (compare vv. 21-22 with 37:5, 7). The freeing of the slaves had occurred earlier, under the crisis of the siege while the people were more responsive to the Lord due to the threat of destruction (cf. v. 15).

² tn Heb “they had brought them into subjection for male and female slaves.” However, the qualification of “male and female” is already clear from the preceding and is unnecessary to the English sentence.

³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

⁴ tn Heb “The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord while Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms of the earth under the dominion of his hand and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and against all its towns, saying.” The sentence is obviously too long and the qualifiers obviously too ill-defined to translate literally. This same introductory formula has occurred in 7:1; 11:1; 18:1; 21:1; 30:1; 32:1 but without such a long introductory phrase. It is generally agreed that the phrase “all the peoples” should be seen as a parallel term to “all the kingdoms” under the qualifying “under the dominion of his hand/ control” and what is referred to are contingent forces supplied by these vassal kingdoms and peoples under the terms of their vassal treaties with Nebuchadnezzar. Some of the nature of the make-up of these forces may be seen from a reference to Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiders in the earlier attacks on Jerusalem during the reign of Jehoiakim (2 Kgs 24:2).

sn It is difficult to assign dates to passages which have no dating formulas but there is sufficient detail in this passage to show that this incident occurred sometime early in the siege of Jerusalem while Jeremiah was still free to come and go (see v. 2 and compare 37:4 and see the second study note on 32:2). The Babylonian forces blockaded Jerusalem and attacked the outlying cities, reducing them one by one until Jerusalem had no further help. According to v. 7 Azekah and Lachish in the western foothills still held out and there is evidence from some of the correspondence from Lachish at this period that help was being sought from Egypt.

⁵ tn Or “stumbling block.” The Hebrew term refers to an obstacle in the road in Lev 19:14.

⁶ tn Heb “because of them he will die.”

⁷ tn Heb “the sons of your people.”

⁸ tn Heb “in the day of his rebellion.” The statement envisions a godly person rejecting what is good and becoming sinful. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:247-48.

⁹ tn Heb “and the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stumble in it in the day of his turning from his wickedness.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “by it.”

¹¹ tn Heb “in the day of his sin.”

¹² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹³ sn This time of temporary faith represented by the description believe for a while is presented rather tragically in the passage. The seed does not get a chance to do all it can.

¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

¹⁵ tn Traditionally, “temptation.” Such a translation puts the emphasis on temptation to sin rather than testing of faith, which is what the context seems to indicate.

¹⁶ sn Fall away. On the idea of falling away and the warnings against it, see 2 Tim 3:1; Heb 3:12; Jer 3:14; Dan 9:9.

¹⁷ tn Grk “What”; the referent (the seed) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

¹⁹ sn That is, their concern for spiritual things is crowded out by material things.

²⁰ sn On warnings about the dangers of excessive material attachments, described here as the worries and riches and pleasures of life, see Luke 12:12-21; 16:19-31.

²¹ tn The verb τελεσφορέω (telesforew) means “to produce mature or ripe fruit” (L&N 23.203). Once again the seed does not reach its goal.

²² tn The aorist participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") has been taken temporally, reflecting action antecedent (prior to) that of the main verb.

²³ sn There is a tenacity that is a part of spiritual fruitfulness.

²⁴ sn In an ancient context, the qualifier good described the ethical person who possessed integrity. Here it is integrity concerning God’s revelation through Jesus.

²⁵ sn Given the pressures noted in the previous soils, bearing fruit takes time (steadfast endurance), just as it does for the farmer. See Jas 1:2-4.