31:20 Indeed, the people of Israel are my dear children.
They are the children I take delight in. 2
For even though I must often rebuke them,
I still remember them with fondness.
So I am deeply moved with pity for them 3
and will surely have compassion on them.
I, the Lord, affirm it! 4
2:24 You are like a wild female donkey brought up in the wilderness.
In her lust she sniffs the wind to get the scent of a male. 6
No one can hold her back when she is in heat.
None of the males need wear themselves out chasing after her.
At mating time she is easy to find. 7
12:3 But you, Lord, know all about me.
You watch me and test my devotion to you. 11
Drag these wicked men away like sheep to be slaughtered!
Appoint a time when they will be killed! 12
1 tn Heb “And unto the land to which they lift up their souls to return there, there they will not return.” Once again there is a sudden shift in person from the second plural to the third plural. As before the translation levels the pronouns to avoid confusion. For the idiom “to lift up the soul to” = “to long/yearn to/for” see BDB 670 s.v. נָשָׂא 1.b(9).
2 tn Heb “Is Ephraim a dear son to me or a child of delight?” For the substitution of Israel for Ephraim and the plural pronouns for the singular see the note on v. 18. According to BDB 210 s.v. הֲ 1.c the question is rhetorical having the force of an impassioned affirmation. See 1 Sam 2:27; Job 41:9 (41:1 HT) for parallel usage.
3 tn Heb “my stomach churns for him.” The parallelism shows that this refers to pity or compassion.
4 tn Heb “Oracle of the
3 tn Heb “There shall not be an escapee or a survivor to the remnant of Judah who came to sojourn there in the land of Egypt even to return to the land of Judah which they are lifting up their souls [= “longing/desiring” (BDB 672 s.v. נָשָׂא Piel.2)] to return to live there; for none shall return except fugitives.” The long, complex Hebrew original has been broken up and restructured to better conform with contemporary English style. Another possible structure would be “None of the Judean remnant who have come to live in the land of Egypt will escape or survive. None of them will escape or survive to return to the land of Judah where they long to return to live. Indeed (emphatic use of כִּי [ki]; cf. BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 1.e) none of them shall return except a few fugitives.” This verse is a good example of rhetorical hyperbole where a universal negative does not apply to absolutely all the particulars. Though the
4 tn The words “to get the scent of a male” are implicit and are supplied in the translation for clarification.
5 sn The metaphor is intended to depict Israel’s irrepressible desire to worship other gods.
5 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
6 tn Heb “I remember to/for you.”
7 tn Heb “the loyal love of your youth.”
6 tn Heb “You,
7 tn Heb “set aside for them a day of killing.”
7 tn Heb “an everlasting covenant.” For the rationale for the rendering “agreement” and the nature of the biblical covenants see the study note on 11:2.
8 tn Or “stop being gracious to them” or “stop blessing them with good”; Heb “turn back from them to do good to them.”
9 tn Or “I will make them want to fear and respect me so much that”; Heb “I will put the fear of me in their hearts.” However, as has been noted several times, “heart” in Hebrew is more the center of the volition (and intellect) than the center of emotions as it is in English. Both translations are intended to reflect the difference in psychology.
10 tn The words “never again” are not in the text but are implicit from the context and are supplied not only by this translation but by a number of others.