Mazmur 74:9

74:9 We do not see any signs of God’s presence; ¹ 

there are no longer any prophets ² 

and we have no one to tell us how long this will last. ³ 

Amos 8:11-12

8:11 Be certain of this, ⁴  the time is ⁵  coming,” says the sovereign Lord,

“when I will send a famine through the land –

not a shortage of food or water

but an end to divine revelation! ⁶ 

8:12 People ⁷  will stagger from sea to sea, ⁸ 

and from the north around to the east.

They will wander about looking for a revelation from ⁹  the Lord,

but they will not find any. ¹⁰ 

Mikha 3:6-7

3:6 Therefore night will fall, and you will receive no visions; ¹¹ 

it will grow dark, and you will no longer be able to read the omens. ¹² 

The sun will set on these prophets,

and the daylight will turn to darkness over their heads. ¹³ 

3:7 The prophets ¹⁴  will be ashamed;

the omen readers will be humiliated.

All of them will cover their mouths, ¹⁵ 

for they will receive no divine oracles.” ¹⁶ 

[74:9]  ¹ tn Heb “our signs we do not see.” Because of the reference to a prophet in the next line, it is likely that the “signs” in view here include the evidence of God’s presence as typically revealed through the prophets. These could include miraculous acts performed by the prophets (see, for example, Isa 38:7-8) or object lessons which they acted out (see, for example, Isa 20:3).

[74:9]  ² tn Heb “there is not still a prophet.”

[74:9]  ³ tn Heb “and [there is] not with us one who knows how long.”

[8:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[8:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “the days are.”

[8:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “not a hunger for food or a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord.”

[8:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “they”; the referent (people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:12]  ⁸ tn That is, from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Dead Sea in the east – that is, across the whole land.

[8:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “looking for the word of.”

[8:12]  ¹⁰ tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.

[3:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “it will be night for you without a vision.”

[3:6]  sn The coming of night (and darkness in the following line) symbolizes the cessation of revelation.

[3:6]  ¹² tn Heb “it will be dark for you without divination.”

[3:6]  sn The reading of omens (Heb “divination”) was forbidden in the law (Deut 18:10), so this probably reflects the prophets’ view of how they received divine revelation.

[3:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “and the day will be dark over them.”

[3:7]  ¹⁴ tn Or “seers.”

[3:7]  ¹⁵ tn Or “the mustache,” or perhaps “the beard.” Cf. KJV, NAB, NRSV “cover their lips.”

[3:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “for there will be no answer from God.”