Yeremia 1:12

1:12 Then the Lord said, “You have observed correctly. This means ¹  I am watching to make sure my threats are carried out.” ² 

Yeremia 5:31

5:31 The prophets prophesy lies.

The priests exercise power by their own authority. ³ 

And my people love to have it this way.

But they will not be able to help you when the time of judgment comes! ⁴ 

Ratapan 4:18

צ (Tsade)

4:18 Our enemies ⁵  hunted us down at every step ⁶ 

so that we could not walk about in our streets.

Our end drew near, our days were numbered, ⁷ 

for our end had come!

Yehezkiel 7:2

7:2 “You, son of man – this is what the sovereign Lord says to the land of Israel: An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land! ⁸ 

Yehezkiel 3:7

3:7 But the house of Israel is unwilling to listen to you, ⁹  because they are not willing to listen to me, ¹⁰  for the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted. ¹¹ 

Yehezkiel 3:10

3:10 And he said to me, “Son of man, take all my words that I speak to you to heart and listen carefully.

Yehezkiel 12:23

12:23 Therefore tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: I hereby end this proverb; they will not recite it in Israel any longer.’ But say to them, ‘The days are at hand when every vision will be fulfilled. ¹² 

Yehezkiel 29:8

29:8 “‘Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will kill ¹³  every person and every animal.

[1:12]  ¹ tn This represents the Hebrew particle (כִּי, ki) that is normally rendered “for” or “because.” The particle here is meant to give the significance of the vision, not the rationale for the statement “you have observed correctly.”

[1:12]  ² tn Heb “watching over my word to do it.”

[1:12]  sn There is a play on the Hebrew word for “almond tree” (שָׁקֵד, shaqed), which blossoms in January/February and is the harbinger of spring, and the Hebrew word for “watching” (שֹׁקֵד, shoqed), which refers to someone watching over someone or something in preparation for action. The play on words announces the certainty and imminence of the Lord carrying out the covenant curses of Lev 26 and Deut 28 threatened by the earlier prophets.

[5:31]  ³ tn Heb “they shall rule at their hands.” Since the word “hand” can be used figuratively for authority or mean “side” and the pronoun “them” can refer to the priests themselves or the prophets, the following translations have also been suggested: “the priests rule under their [the prophets’] directions,” or “the priests rule in league with them [the prophets].” From the rest of the book it would appear that the prophets did not exercise authority over the priests nor did they exercise the same authority over the people that the priests did. Hence it probably mean “by their own hand/power/authority.”

[5:31]  ⁴ tn Heb “But what will you do at its end?” The rhetorical question implies a negative answer: “Nothing!”

[4:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “they”; this has been specified in the translation as “our enemies” for clarity.

[4:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “they hunted our steps.”

[4:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “our days were full.”

[7:2]  ⁸ tn Or “earth.” Elsewhere the expression “four corners of the earth” figuratively refers to the whole earth (Isa 11:12).

[3:7]  ⁹ sn Moses (Exod 3:19) and Isaiah (Isa 6:9-10) were also told that their messages would not be received.

[3:7]  ¹⁰ sn A similar description of Israel’s disobedience is given in 1 Sam 8:7.

[3:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “hard of forehead and stiff of heart.”

[12:23]  ¹² tn Heb “the days draw near and the word of every vision (draws near).”

[29:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “I will cut off from you.”