22:10 When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she was determined to destroy the entire royal line 1 of Judah. 2
5:6 You destroy 8 liars; 9
the Lord despises 10 violent and deceitful people. 11
55:23 But you, O God, will bring them 12 down to the deep Pit. 13
Violent and deceitful people 14 will not live even half a normal lifespan. 15
But as for me, I trust in you.
“You are just 19 – the one who is and who was,
the Holy One – because you have passed these judgments, 20
16:6 because they poured out the blood of your saints and prophets,
so 21 you have given them blood to drink. They got what they deserved!” 22
16:7 Then 23 I heard the altar reply, 24 “Yes, Lord God, the All-Powerful, 25 your judgments are true and just!”
1 tn Heb “she arose and she destroyed all the royal offspring.” The verb קוּם (qum, “arise”) is here used in an auxiliary sense to indicate that she embarked on a campaign to destroy the royal offspring. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 125.
2 tn Heb “house of Judah.”
3 tn Grk “as.”
4 tn Grk “the towns [or cities] surrounding them.”
5 tn Grk “strange flesh.” This phrase has been variously interpreted. It could refer to flesh of another species (such as angels lusting after human flesh). This would aptly describe the sin of the angels, but not easily explain the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. It could refer to the homosexual practices of the Sodomites, but a difficulty arises from the use of ἕτερος ({etero"; “strange,” “other”). When this is to be distinguished from ἄλλος (allos, “another”) it suggests “another of a different kind.” If so, would that properly describe homosexual behavior? In response, the language could easily be compact: “pursued flesh other than what was normally pursued.” However, would this find an analogy in the lust of angels (such would imply that angels normally had sexual relations of some sort, but cf. Matt 22:30)? Another alternative is that the focus of the parallel is on the activity of the surrounding cities and the activity of the angels. This is especially plausible since the participles ἐκπορνεύσασαι (ekporneusasai, “having indulged in sexual immorality”) and ἀπελθοῦσαι (apelqousai, “having pursued”) have concord with “cities” (πόλεις, poleis), a feminine plural noun, rather than with Sodom and Gomorrah (both masculine nouns). If so, then their sin would not necessarily have to be homosexuality. However, most likely the feminine participles are used because of constructio ad sensum (construction according to sense). That is, since both Sodom and Gomorrah are cities, the feminine is used to imply that all the cities are involved. The connection with angels thus seems to be somewhat loose: Both angels and Sodom and Gomorrah indulged in heinous sexual immorality. Thus, whether the false teachers indulge in homosexual activity is not the point; mere sexual immorality is enough to condemn them.
6 tn Or “in the same way as.”
7 tn “Angels” is not in the Greek text; but the masculine demonstrative pronoun most likely refers back to the angels of v. 6.
8 tn The imperfect verbal form indicates God’s typical response to such individuals. Another option is to translate the verb as future (“You will destroy”); the psalmist may be envisioning a time of judgment when God will remove the wicked from the scene.
9 tn Heb “those who speak a lie.” In the OT a “lie” does not refer in a general philosophical sense to any statement that fails to correspond to reality. Instead it refers more specifically to a slanderous and/or deceitful statement that promotes one’s own selfish, sinful interests and/or exploits or harms those who are innocent. Note the emphasis on violence and deceit in the following line.
10 tn The imperfect verbal form highlights the
11 tn Heb “a man of bloodshed and deceit.” The singular אִישׁ (’ish, “man”) is used here in a collective or representative sense; thus the translation “people” is appropriate here. Note the plural forms in vv. 5-6a.
12 tn The pronominal suffix refers to the psalmist’s enemies (see v. 19).
13 tn Heb “well of the pit.” The Hebrew term שַׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 16:10; 30:9; 49:9; 103:4).
14 tn Heb “men of bloodshed and deceit.”
15 tn Heb “will not divide in half their days.”
16 tn Grk “by [the measure] with which you measure it will be measured to you.”
17 tn Grk “boasts against, exults over,” in victory.
18 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the somewhat parenthetical nature of the remarks that follow.
19 tn Or “righteous,” although the context favors justice as the theme.
20 tn Or “because you have judged these things.” The pronoun ταῦτα (tauta) is neuter gender.
21 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate that this judgment is the result of what these wicked people did to the saints and prophets.
22 tn Grk “They are worthy”; i.e., of this kind of punishment. By extension, “they got what they deserve.”
23 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.
24 tn Grk “the altar saying.”
25 tn On this word BDAG 755 s.v. παντοκράτωρ states, “the Almighty, All-Powerful, Omnipotent (One) only of God…(ὁ) κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ π. …Rv 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 21:22.”