Ezekiel 16:48-52

16:48 As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, your sister Sodom and her daughters never behaved as wickedly as you and your daughters have behaved.

16:49 “‘See here – this was the iniquity ¹  of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had majesty, abundance of food, and enjoyed carefree ease, but they did not help ²  the poor and needy. 16:50 They were haughty and practiced abominable deeds before me. Therefore when I saw it I removed them. 16:51 Samaria has not committed half the sins you have; you have done more abominable deeds than they did. ³  You have made your sisters appear righteous with all the abominable things you have done. 16:52 So now, bear your disgrace, because you have given your sisters reason to justify their behavior. ⁴  Because the sins you have committed were more abominable than those of your sisters; they have become more righteous than you. So now, be ashamed and bear the disgrace of making your sisters appear righteous.

Matthew 12:41-42

12:41 The people ⁵  of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented when Jonah preached to them ⁶  – and now, ⁷  something greater than Jonah is here! 12:42 The queen of the South ⁸  will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon – and now, ⁹  something greater than Solomon is here!

Hebrews 11:3

11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds ¹⁰  were set in order at God’s command, ¹¹  so that the visible has its origin in the invisible. ¹² 

¹ tn Or “guilt.”

² tn Heb “strengthen the hand of.”

¹ tn Or “you have multiplied your abominable deeds beyond them.”

¹ tn Heb “because you have interceded for your sisters with your sins.”

¹ tn Grk “men”; the word here (ἀνήρ, anhr) usually indicates males or husbands, but occasionally is used in a generic sense of people in general, as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 1.a, 2).

² tn Grk “at the preaching of Jonah.”

³ tn Grk “behold.”

¹ sn On the queen of the South see 1 Kgs 10:1-3 and 2 Chr 9:1-12, as well as Josephus, Ant. 8.6.5-6 (8.165-175). The South most likely refers to modern southwest Arabia, possibly the eastern part of modern Yemen, although there is an ancient tradition reflected in Josephus which identifies this geo-political entity as Ethiopia.

² tn Grk “behold.”

¹ tn Grk “ages.” The temporal (ages) came to be used of the spatial (what exists in those time periods). See Heb 1:2 for same usage.

² tn Grk “by God’s word.”

³ sn The Greek phrasing emphasizes this point by negating the opposite: “so that what is seen did not come into being from things that are visible.”