Deuteronomy 22:8

22:8 If you build a new house, you must construct a guard rail ¹  around your roof to avoid being culpable ²  in the event someone should fall from it.

Jeremiah 19:13

19:13 The houses in Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled by dead bodies ³  just like this place, Topheth. For they offered sacrifice to the stars ⁴  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, ⁵  proclaim from the housetops. ⁶ 

Acts 10:9

10:9 About noon ⁷  the next day, while they were on their way and approaching ⁸  the city, Peter went up on the roof ⁹  to pray.

¹ tn Or “a parapet” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); KJV “a battlement”; NLT “a barrier.”

² tn Heb “that you not place bloodshed in your house.”

³ 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.

⁴ tn Heb “the host of heaven.”

⁵ tn Grk “what you hear in the ear,” an idiom.

⁶ 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.

⁷ tn Grk “about the sixth hour.”

⁸ tn The participles ὁδοιπορούντων (Jodoiporountwn, “while they were on their way”) and ἐγγιζόντων (engizontwn, “approaching”) have been translated as temporal participles.

⁹ 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.