2 Samuel 24:16

24:16 When the angel ¹  extended his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented from his judgment. ²  He told the angel who was killing the people, “That’s enough! Stop now!” ³  (Now the Lord’s angel was near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.)

Isaiah 37:36

37:36 The Lord’s messenger ⁴  went out and killed 185,000 troops ⁵  in the Assyrian camp. When they ⁶  got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses! ⁷ 

Ezekiel 9:4

9:4 The Lord said to him, “Go through the city of Jerusalem ⁸  and put a mark ⁹  on the foreheads of the people who moan and groan over all the abominations practiced in it.”

Ezekiel 9:6

9:6 Old men, young men, young women, little children, and women – wipe them out! But do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary!” So they began with the elders who were at the front of the temple.

Ezekiel 9:1

The Execution of Idolaters

9:1 Then he shouted in my ears, “Approach, ¹⁰  you who are to visit destruction on the city, each with his destructive weapon in his hand!”

Colossians 1:10

1:10 so that you may live ¹¹  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ¹²  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

Hebrews 11:28

11:28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, ¹³  so that the one who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them.

Hebrews 12:24

12:24 and to Jesus, the mediator ¹⁴  of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks of something better than Abel’s does. ¹⁵ 

Revelation 7:3

7:3 “Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees until we have put a seal on the foreheads of the servants ¹⁶  of our God.”

Revelation 9:4

9:4 They ¹⁷  were told ¹⁸  not to damage the grass of the earth, or any green plant or tree, but only those people ¹⁹  who did not have the seal of God on their ²⁰  forehead.

¹ tn Heb “messenger.”

² tn Heb “concerning the calamity.”

³ tn Heb “Now, drop your hand.”

⁴ tn Traditionally, “the angel of the Lord” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

⁵ tn The word “troops” is supplied in the translation for smoothness and clarity.

⁶ tn This refers to the Israelites and/or the rest of the Assyrian army.

⁷ tn Heb “look, all of them were dead bodies”; NLT “they found corpses everywhere.”

⁸ tn Heb “through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem.”

⁹ tn The word translated “mark” is in Hebrew the letter ת (tav). Outside this context the only other occurrence of the word is in Job 31:35. In ancient Hebrew script this letter was written like the letter X.

¹⁰ tc Heb “they approached.” Reading the imperative assumes the same consonantal text but different vowels.

¹¹ tn The infinitive περιπατῆσαι (peripathsai, “to walk, to live, to live one’s life”) is best taken as an infinitive of purpose related to “praying” (προσευχόμενοι, proseucomenoi) and “asking” (αἰτούμενοι, aitoumenoi) in v. 9 and is thus translated as “that you may live.”

¹² tn BDAG 129 s.v. ἀρεσκεία states that ἀρεσκείαν (areskeian) refers to a “desire to please εἰς πᾶσαν ἀ. to please (the Lord) in all respects Col 1:10.”

¹³ tn Grk “the pouring out of the blood.”

¹⁴ tn The Greek word μεσίτης (mesith", “mediator”) in this context does not imply that Jesus was a mediator in the contemporary sense of the word, i.e., he worked for compromise between opposing parties. Here the term describes his function as the one who was used by God to enact a new covenant which established a new relationship between God and his people, but entirely on God’s terms.

¹⁵ sn Abel’s shed blood cried out to the Lord for justice and judgment, but Jesus’ blood speaks of redemption and forgiveness, something better than Abel’s does (Gen 4:10; Heb 9:11-14; 11:4).

¹⁶ tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

¹⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

¹⁸ tn The dative indirect object (αὐταῖς, autais) was converted into the subject (“they”) as this more closely approximates English usage. The following ἵ῞να (Jina) is taken as substantival, introducing a direct object clause. In this case, because it is reported speech, the ἵνα is similar to the declarative ὅτι (Joti).

¹⁹ tn Grk “men”; but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here of both men and women.

²⁰ tn The article τῶν (twn) has been translated as a possessive pronoun here (ExSyn 215).