2 Samuel 11:2

11:2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his palace. ¹  From the roof he saw a woman bathing. Now this woman was very attractive. ² 

Isaiah 22:1

The Lord Will Judge Jerusalem

22:1 Here is a message about the Valley of Vision: ³ 

What is the reason ⁴ 

that all of you go up to the rooftops?

Jeremiah 19:13

19:13 The houses in Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled by dead bodies ⁵  just like this place, Topheth. For they offered sacrifice to the stars ⁶  and poured out drink offerings to other gods on the roofs of those houses.’”

Matthew 10:27

10:27 What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light, and what is whispered in your ear, ⁷  proclaim from the housetops. ⁸ 

Mark 2:4

2:4 When they were not able to bring him in because of the crowd, they removed the roof ⁹  above Jesus. ¹⁰  Then, ¹¹  after tearing it out, they lowered the stretcher the paralytic was lying on.

Acts 10:9

10:9 About noon ¹²  the next day, while they were on their way and approaching ¹³  the city, Peter went up on the roof ¹⁴  to pray.

¹ tn Heb “on the roof of the house of the king.” So also in vv. 8, 9.

² tn The disjunctive clause highlights this observation and builds the tension of the story.

³ sn The following message pertains to Jerusalem. The significance of referring to the city as the Valley of Vision is uncertain. Perhaps the Hinnom Valley is in view, but why it is associated with a prophetic revelatory “vision” is not entirely clear. Maybe the Hinnom Valley is called this because the destruction that will take place there is the focal point of this prophetic message (see v. 5).

⁴ tn Heb “What to you, then?”

⁵ tn The words “by dead bodies” is not in the text but is implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn Heb “the host of heaven.”

⁷ tn Grk “what you hear in the ear,” an idiom.

⁸ tn The expression “proclaim from the housetops” is an idiom for proclaiming something publicly (L&N 7.51). Roofs of many first century Jewish houses in Judea and Galilee were flat and had access either from outside or from within the house. Something shouted from atop a house would be heard by everyone in the street below.

⁹ sn A house in 1st century Palestine would have had a flat roof with stairs or a ladder going up. This access was often from the outside of the house.

¹⁰ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

¹² tn Grk “about the sixth hour.”

¹³ tn The participles ὁδοιπορούντων (Jodoiporountwn, “while they were on their way”) and ἐγγιζόντων (engizontwn, “approaching”) have been translated as temporal participles.

¹⁴ sn Went up on the roof. Most of the roofs in the NT were flat roofs made of pounded dirt, sometimes mixed with lime or stones, supported by heavy wooden beams. They generally had an easy means of access, either a sturdy wooden ladder or stone stairway, sometimes on the outside of the house.