Deuteronomy 24:8

Respect for Human Dignity

24:8 Be careful during an outbreak of leprosy to follow precisely all that the Levitical priests instruct you; as I have commanded them, so you should do.

Deuteronomy 33:10

33:10 They will teach Jacob your ordinances

and Israel your law;

they will offer incense as a pleasant odor,

and a whole offering on your altar.

Deuteronomy 33:2

33:2 He said:

A Historical Review

The Lord came from Sinai

and revealed himself to Israel from Seir.

He appeared in splendor from Mount Paran,

and came forth with ten thousand holy ones.

With his right hand he gave a fiery law to them.

Deuteronomy 17:9

17:9 You will go to the Levitical priests and the judge in office in those days and seek a solution; they will render a verdict.

Deuteronomy 30:1

The Results of Covenant Reaffirmation

30:1 “When you have experienced all these things, both the blessings and the curses I have set before you, you will reflect upon them in all the nations where the Lord your God has banished you.

Nehemiah 8:2

8:2 So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly which included men and women and all those able to understand what they heard. (This happened on the first day of the seventh month.)

Nehemiah 8:8

8:8 They read from the book of God’s law, explaining it and imparting insight. Thus the people 10  gained understanding from what was read.

Nehemiah 9:13-14

9:13 “You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven. You provided them with just judgments, true laws, and good statutes and commandments. 9:14 You made known to them your holy Sabbath; you issued commandments, statutes, and law to them through 11  Moses your servant.

Jeremiah 2:8

2:8 Your priests 12  did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’ 13 

Those responsible for teaching my law 14  did not really know me. 15 

Your rulers rebelled against me.

Your prophets prophesied in the name of the god Baal. 16 

They all worshiped idols that could not help them. 17 

Jeremiah 18:18

Jeremiah Petitions the Lord to Punish Those Who Attack Him

18:18 Then some people 18  said, “Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! 19  There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God’s word. 20  Come on! Let’s bring charges against him and get rid of him! 21  Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says.”

Malachi 2:7

2:7 For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge of sacred things, and people should seek instruction from him 22  because he is the messenger of the Lord who rules over all.

Matthew 28:20

28:20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, 23  I am with you 24  always, to the end of the age.” 25 

Acts 20:27

20:27 For I did not hold back from 26  announcing 27  to you the whole purpose 28  of God.

Acts 20:1

Paul Travels Through Macedonia and Greece

20:1 After the disturbance had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging 29  them and saying farewell, 30  he left to go to Macedonia. 31 

Acts 4:2

4:2 angry 32  because they were teaching the people and announcing 33  in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.

tn Heb “to watch carefully and to do.”

tn Or “rose like the sun” (NCV, TEV).

tc Heb “to him.” The LXX reads “to us” (לָנוּ [lanu] for לָמוֹ [lamo]), the reading of the MT is acceptable since it no doubt has in mind Israel as a collective singular.

tn Or “he shone forth” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

tc With slight alteration (מִמְרִבַת קָדֵשׁ [mimrivat qadesh] for the MT’s מֵרִבְבֹת קֹדֶשׁ [merivvot qodesh]) the translation would be “from Meribah Kadesh” (cf. NAB, NLT; see Deut 32:51). However, the language of holy war in the immediate context favors the reading of the MT, which views the Lord as accompanied by angelic hosts.

tc The mispointed Hebrew term אֵשְׁדָּת (’eshdat) should perhaps be construed as אֵשְׁהַת (’eshhat) with Smr.

tn Heb “the blessing and the curse.”

tn Heb “and you bring (them) back to your heart.”

tn The exact meaning of the pual participle מְפֹרָשׁ (mÿforash) in this verse is uncertain. The basic sense of the Hebrew word seems to be “to make distinct.” The word may also have the sense of “to divide in parts,” “to interpret,” or “to translate.” The context of Neh 8:8 does not decisively clarify how the participle is to be understood here. It probably refers to the role of the Levites as those who explained or interpreted the portions of biblical text that had been publicly read on this occasion. A different option, however, is suggested by the translation distincte (“distinctly”) of the Vulgate (cf. KJV, ASV). If the Hebrew word means “distinctly” here, it would imply that the readers paid particular attention to such things as word-grouping and pronunciation so as to be sure that the listeners had every opportunity to understand the message that was being read. Yet another view is found in the Talmud, which understands translation of the Hebrew text into Aramaic to be what is in view here. The following explanation of Neh 8:8 is found in b. Megillah 3a: “‘And they read in the book, in the law of God’: this indicates the [Hebrew] text; ‘with an interpretation’: this indicates the targum; ‘and they gave the sense’: this indicates the verse stops; ‘and caused them to understand the reading’: this indicates the accentuation, or, according to another version, the Masoretic notes.” However, this ancient rabbinic view that the origins of the Targum are found in Neh 8:8 is debatable. It is not clear that the practice of paraphrasing the Hebrew biblical text into Aramaic in order to accommodate the needs of those Jews who were not at home in the Hebrew language developed this early. The translation of מְפֹרָשׁ adopted above (i.e., “explaining it”) understands the word to have in mind an explanatory function (cf. NAB, NCV, TEV, NLT) rather than one of translation.

10 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

11 tn Heb “by the hand of.”

12 tn Heb “The priests…the ones who grasp my law…the shepherds…the prophets…they…”

13 sn See the study note on 2:6.

14 tn Heb “those who handle my law.”

15 tn Or “were not committed to me.” The Hebrew verb rendered “know” refers to more than mere intellectual knowledge. It carries also the ideas of emotional and volitional commitment as well intimacy. See for example its use in contexts like Hos 4:1; 6:6.

16 tn Heb “by Baal.”

17 tn Heb “and they followed after those things [the word is plural] which do not profit.” The poetic structure of the verse, four lines in which a distinct subject appears at the beginning followed by a fifth line beginning with a prepositional phrase and no distinct subject, argues that this line is climactic and refers to all four classes enumerated in the preceding lines. See W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:88-89. There may be a play or pun in the Hebrew text on the name for the god Baal (בַּעַל, baal) and the verb “cannot help you” (Heb “do not profit”) which is spelled יַעַל (yaal).

18 tn Heb “They.” The referent is unidentified; “some people” has been used in the translation.

19 tn Heb “Let us make plans against Jeremiah.” See 18:18 where this has sinister overtones as it does here.

20 tn Heb “Instruction will not perish from priest, counsel from the wise, word from the prophet.”

21 tn Heb “Let us smite him with our tongues.” It is clear from the context that this involved plots to kill him.

22 tn Heb “from his mouth” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).

23 tn The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has been translated here as “remember” (BDAG 468 s.v. 1.c).

24 sn I am with you. Matthew’s Gospel begins with the prophecy that the Savior’s name would be “Emmanuel, that is, ‘God with us,’” (1:23, in which the author has linked Isa 7:14 and 8:8, 10 together) and it ends with Jesus’ promise to be with his disciples forever. The Gospel of Matthew thus forms an inclusio about Jesus in his relationship to his people that suggests his deity.

25 tc Most mss (Ac Θ Ë13 Ï it sy) have ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”) at the end of v. 20. Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, no good reason exists for the omission of the particle in significant and early witnesses such as א A* B D W Ë1 33 al lat sa.

26 tn Or “did not avoid.” BDAG 1041 s.v. ὑποστέλλω 2.b has “shrink from, avoid implying fear…οὐ γὰρ ὑπεστειλάμην τοῦ μὴ ἀναγγεῖλαι I did not shrink from proclaiming Ac 20:27”; L&N 13.160 has “to hold oneself back from doing something, with the implication of some fearful concern – ‘to hold back from, to shrink from, to avoid’…‘for I have not held back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God’ Ac 20:27.”

27 tn Or “proclaiming,” “declaring.”

28 tn Or “plan.”

29 tn Or “exhorting.”

30 tn Or “and taking leave of them.”

31 sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.

32 tn Or “greatly annoyed,” “provoked.”

33 tn Or “proclaiming.”