Genesis 2:3

2:3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy ¹  because on it he ceased all the work that he ²  had been doing in creation. ³ 

Genesis 7:2-3

7:2 You must take with you seven ⁴  of every kind of clean animal, ⁵  the male and its mate, ⁶  two of every kind of unclean animal, the male and its mate, 7:3 and also seven ⁷  of every kind of bird in the sky, male and female, ⁸  to preserve their offspring ⁹  on the face of the earth.

Leviticus 4:6

4:6 The priest must dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle ¹⁰  some of it ¹¹  seven times before the Lord toward ¹²  the front of the veil-canopy ¹³  of the sanctuary.

Leviticus 14:16

14:16 Then the priest is to dip his right forefinger into the olive oil ¹⁴  that is in his left hand, and sprinkle some of the olive oil with his finger seven times before the Lord.

Leviticus 25:8

Regulations for the Jubilee Year of Release

25:8 “‘You must count off ¹⁵  seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, ¹⁶  and the days of the seven weeks of years will amount to forty-nine years. ¹⁷ 

Numbers 23:1

Balaam Blesses Israel

23:1 ¹⁸ Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”

Numbers 23:1

Balaam Blesses Israel

23:1 ¹⁹ Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”

Numbers 18:1-2

Responsibilities of the Priests

18:1 ²⁰ The Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your tribe ²¹  with you must bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, ²²  and you and your sons with you must bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

18:2 “Bring with you your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, so that they may join ²³  with you and minister to you while ²⁴  you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.

Numbers 5:10

5:10 Every man’s holy things ²⁵  will be his; whatever any man gives the priest will be his.’”

Job 42:8

42:8 So now take ²⁶  seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job will intercede ²⁷  for you, and I will respect him, ²⁸  so that I do not deal with you ²⁹  according to your folly, ³⁰  because you have not spoken about me what is right, as my servant Job has.” ³¹ 

Zechariah 4:2

4:2 He asked me, “What do you see?” I replied, ³²  “I see a menorah of pure gold with a receptacle at the top and seven lamps, with fourteen pipes going to the lamps.

Revelation 1:4

1:4 From John, ³³  to the seven churches that are in the province of Asia: ³⁴  Grace and peace to you ³⁵  from “he who is,” ³⁶  and who was, and who is still to come, ³⁷  and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,

Revelation 1:20

1:20 The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands is this: ³⁸  The seven stars are the angels ³⁹  of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Revelation 5:1

The Opening of the Scroll

5:1 Then ⁴⁰  I saw in the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne a scroll written on the front and back ⁴¹  and sealed with seven seals. ⁴² 

Revelation 5:6

5:6 Then ⁴³  I saw standing in the middle of the throne ⁴⁴  and of the four living creatures, and in the middle of the elders, a Lamb that appeared to have been killed. ⁴⁵  He had ⁴⁶  seven horns and seven eyes, which ⁴⁷  are the seven ⁴⁸  spirits of God ⁴⁹  sent out into all the earth.

Revelation 8:2

8:2 Then ⁵⁰  I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

Revelation 8:6

8:6 Now ⁵¹  the seven angels holding ⁵²  the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

Revelation 10:3

10:3 Then ⁵³  he shouted in a loud voice like a lion roaring, and when he shouted, the seven thunders sounded their voices.

Revelation 15:1

The Final Plagues

15:1 Then ⁵⁴  I saw another great and astounding sign in heaven: seven angels who have seven final plagues ⁵⁵  (they are final because in them God’s anger is completed).

Revelation 15:7

15:7 Then ⁵⁶  one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath ⁵⁷  of God who lives forever and ever,

Revelation 16:1

The Bowls of God’s Wrath

16:1 Then ⁵⁸  I heard a loud voice from the temple declaring to the seven angels: “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls containing God’s wrath.” ⁵⁹ 

[2:3]  ¹ tn The verb is usually translated “and sanctified it.” The Piel verb קִדֵּשׁ (qiddesh) means “to make something holy; to set something apart; to distinguish it.” On the literal level the phrase means essentially that God made this day different. But within the context of the Law, it means that the day belonged to God; it was for rest from ordinary labor, worship, and spiritual service. The day belonged to God.

[2:3]  ² tn Heb “God.” The pronoun (“he”) has been employed in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[2:3]  ³ tn Heb “for on it he ceased from all his work which God created to make.” The last infinitive construct and the verb before it form a verbal hendiadys, the infinitive becoming the modifier – “which God creatively made,” or “which God made in his creating.”

[7:2]  ⁴ tn Or “seven pairs” (cf. NRSV).

[7:2]  ⁵ sn For a study of the Levitical terminology of “clean” and “unclean,” see L. E. Toombs, IDB 1:643.

[7:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “a male and his female” (also a second time at the end of this verse). The terms used here for male and female animals (אִישׁ, ’ish) and אִשָּׁה, ’ishah) normally refer to humans.

[7:3]  ⁷ tn Or “seven pairs” (cf. NRSV).

[7:3]  ⁸ tn Here (and in v. 9) the Hebrew text uses the normal generic terms for “male and female” (זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה, zakhar unÿqevah).

[7:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “to keep alive offspring.”

[4:6]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew verb וְהִזָּה (vÿhizzah, Hiphil of נָזָה, nazah) does indeed mean “sprinkle” or “splatter.” Contrast the different Hebrew verb meaning “splash” in Lev 1:5 (זָרָק, zaraq).

[4:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “of the blood.” The relative pronoun (“it”) has been used in the translation here for stylistic reasons.

[4:6]  ¹² tn The particle here translated “toward” usually serves as a direct object indicator or a preposition meaning “with.” With the verb of motion it probably means “toward,” “in the direction of” (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:234; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 60); cf. NAB, CEV.

[4:6]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew term פָּרֹכֶת (parokhet) is usually translated “veil” (e.g., ASV, NAB, NASB) or “curtain” (e.g., NIV, NRSV), but it seems to have stretched not only in front of but also over the top of the ark of the covenant which stood behind and under it inside the most holy place (see R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 3:687-89).

[14:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “his right finger from the oil.”

[25:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “And you shall count off for yourself.”

[25:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “seven years seven times.”

[25:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and they shall be for you, the days of the seven Sabbaths of years, forty-nine years.”

[23:1]  ¹⁸ sn The first part of Balaam’s activity ends in disaster for Balak – he blesses Israel. The chapter falls into four units: the first prophecy (vv. 1-10), the relocation (vv. 11-17), the second prophecy (vv. 18-24), and a further location (vv. 25-30).

[23:1]  ¹⁹ sn The first part of Balaam’s activity ends in disaster for Balak – he blesses Israel. The chapter falls into four units: the first prophecy (vv. 1-10), the relocation (vv. 11-17), the second prophecy (vv. 18-24), and a further location (vv. 25-30).

[18:1]  ²⁰ sn This chapter and the next may have been inserted here to explain how the priests are to function because in the preceding chapter Aaron’s position was affirmed. The chapter seems to fall into four units: responsibilities of priests (vv. 1-7), their portions (vv. 8-19), responsibilities of Levites (vv. 20-24), and instructions for Levites (vv. 25-32).

[18:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “your father’s house.”

[18:1]  ²² sn The responsibility for the sanctuary included obligations relating to any violation of the sanctuary. This was stated to forestall any further violations of the sanctuary. The priests were to pay for any ritual errors, primarily if any came too near. Since the priests and Levites come near all the time, they risk violating ritual laws more than any. So, with the great privileges come great responsibilities. The bottom line is that they were responsible for the sanctuary.

[18:2]  ²³ sn The verb forms a wordplay on the name Levi, and makes an allusion to the naming of the tribe Levi by Leah in the book of Genesis. There Leah hoped that with the birth of Levi her husband would be attached to her. Here, with the selection of the tribe to serve in the sanctuary, there is the wordplay again showing that the Levites will be attached to Aaron and the priests. The verb is יִלָּווּ (yillavu), which forms a nice wordplay with Levi (לֵוִי). The tribe will now be attached to the sanctuary. The verb is the imperfect with a vav (ו) that shows volitive sequence after the imperative, here indicating a purpose clause.

[18:2]  ²⁴ tn The clause is a circumstantial clause because the disjunctive vav (ו) is on a nonverb to start the clause.

[5:10]  ²⁵ sn The “holy gifts” are described with the root of קֹדֶשׁ (qodesh) to convey that they were separate. Such things had been taken out of the ordinary and normal activities of life.

[42:8]  ²⁶ tn The imperatives in this verse are plural, so all three had to do this together.

[42:8]  ²⁷ tn The verb “pray” is the Hitpael from the root פָּלַל (palal). That root has the main idea of arbitration; so in this stem it means “to seek arbitration [for oneself],” or “to pray,” or “to intercede.”

[42:8]  ²⁸ tn Heb “I will lift up his face,” meaning, “I will regard him.”

[42:8]  ²⁹ tn This clause is a result clause, using the negated infinitive construct.

[42:8]  ³⁰ tn The word “folly” can also be taken in the sense of “disgrace.” If the latter is chosen, the word serves as the direct object. If the former, then it is an adverbial accusative.

[42:8]  ³¹ sn The difference between what they said and what Job said, therefore, has to do with truth. Job was honest, spoke the truth, poured out his complaints, but never blasphemed God. For his words God said he told the truth. He did so with incomplete understanding, and with all the impatience and frustration one might expect. Now the friends, however, did not tell what was right about God. They were not honest; rather, they were self-righteous and condescending. They were saying what they thought should be said, but it was wrong.

[4:2]  ³² tc The present translation (along with most other English versions) follows the reading of the Qere and many ancient versions, “I said,” as opposed to the MT Kethib “he said.”

[1:4]  ³³ tn Grk “John.” The word “From” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:4]  ³⁴ tn Grk “Asia”; in the NT this always refers to the Roman province of Asia, made up of about one-third of the west and southwest end of modern Asia Minor. Asia lay to the west of the region of Phrygia and Galatia. The words “the province of” are supplied to indicate to the modern reader that this does not refer to the continent of Asia.

[1:4]  ³⁵ tn It is probable that the ὑμῖν (Jumin) applies to both elements of the greeting, i.e., to both grace and peace.

[1:4]  ³⁶ tc The earliest and best mss (Ì^18vid א A C P 2050 al lat sy co) lack the term “God” (θεοῦ, qeou) between “from” (ἀπό, apo) and “he who is” (ὁ ὤν, Jo wn). Its inclusion, as supported by the bulk of the Byzantine witnesses, is clearly secondary and a scribal attempt to achieve two things: (1) to make explicit the referent in the passage, namely, God, and (2) to smooth out the grammar. The preposition “from” in Greek required a noun in the genitive case. But here in Rev 1:4 the words following the preposition “from” (ἀπό) are in another case, i.e., the nominative. There are two principal ways in which to deal with this grammatical anomaly. First, it could be a mistake arising from someone who just did not know Greek very well, or as a Jew, was heavily influenced by a Semitic form of Greek. Both of these unintentional errors are unlikely here. Commenting on this ExSyn 63 argues: “Either of these is doubtful here because (1) such a flagrant misunderstanding of the rudiments of Greek would almost surely mean that the author could not compose in Greek, yet the Apocalypse itself argues against this; (2) nowhere else does the Seer [i.e., John] use a nom. immediately after a preposition (in fact, he uses ἀπό 32 times with the gen. immediately following).” The passage appears to be an allusion to Exod 3:14 (in the LXX) where God refers to himself as “he who is” (ὁ ὤν), the same wording in Greek as here in Rev 1:4. Thus, it appears that John is wanting to leave the divine name untouched (perhaps to allude to God’s immutability, or as a pointer to the Old Testament as the key to unlocking the meaning of this book), irrespective of what it “looks” like grammatically. The translation has placed the “he who is” in quotation marks to indicate to the reader that the syntactical awkwardness is intentional. (For further comments, see ExSyn 63).

[1:4]  ³⁷ tn BDAG 106 s.v. ἀπό 5.d states: “The expr. εἰρήνη ἀπὸ ‘ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος’ Rv 1:4 is quite extraordinary. It may be an interpretation of the name Yahweh already current, or an attempt to show reverence for the divine name by preserving it unchanged, or simply one more of the grammatical peculiarities so frequent in Rv.”

[1:20]  ³⁸ tn The words “is this” are supplied to make a complete sentence in English.

[1:20]  ³⁹ tn Or perhaps “the messengers.”

[5:1]  ⁴⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[5:1]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “written on the inside and the outside” (an idiom for having writing on both sides).

[5:1]  ⁴² tn L&N 6.55 states, “From the immediate context of Re 5:1 it is not possible to determine whether the scroll in question had seven seals on the outside or whether the scroll was sealed at seven different points. However, since according to chapter six of Revelation the seals were broken one after another, it would appear as though the scroll had been sealed at seven different places as it had been rolled up.”

[5:6]  ⁴³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[5:6]  ⁴⁴ tn Perhaps, “in the middle of the throne area” (see L&N 83.10).

[5:6]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “slaughtered”; traditionally, “slain.” The phrase behind this translation is ὡς ἐσφαγμένον (Jw" ejsfagmenon). The particle ὡς is used in Greek generally for comparison, and in Revelation it is used often to describe the appearance of what the author saw. This phrase does not imply that the Lamb “appeared to have been killed” but in reality was not, because the wider context of the NT shows that in fact the Lamb, i.e., Jesus, was killed. See 13:3 for the only other occurrence of this phrase in the NT.

[5:6]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “killed, having.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the pronoun “he.”

[5:6]  ⁴⁷ sn The relative pronoun which is masculine, referring back to the eyes rather than to the horns.

[5:6]  ⁴⁸ tc There is good ms evidence for the inclusion of “seven” (ἑπτά, Jepta; ̲⁴ א 2053 2351 Ï^K). There is equally good ms support for the omission of the term (A 1006 1611 Ï^A pc). It may have been accidentally added due to its repeated presence in the immediately preceding phrases, or it may have been intentionally added to maintain the symmetry of the phrases or more likely to harmonize the phrase with 1:4; 3:1; 4:5. Or it may have been accidentally deleted by way of homoioteleuton (τὰ ἑπτά, ta Jepta). A decision is difficult in this instance. NA²⁷ also does not find the problem easy to solve, placing the word in brackets to indicate doubts as to its authenticity.

[5:6]  ⁴⁹ sn See the note on the phrase the seven spirits of God in Rev 4:5.

[8:2]  ⁵⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[8:6]  ⁵¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[8:6]  ⁵² tn Grk “having.”

[10:3]  ⁵³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[15:1]  ⁵⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[15:1]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “seven plagues – the last ones.”

[15:7]  ⁵⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[15:7]  ⁵⁷ tn Or “anger.”

[16:1]  ⁵⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[16:1]  ⁵⁹ tn Or “anger.” Here τοῦ θυμοῦ (tou qumou) has been translated as a genitive of content.