Ezekiel 3:20

3:20 “When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I set an obstacle ¹  before him, he will die. If you have not warned him, he will die for his sin. The righteous deeds he performed will not be considered, but I will hold you accountable for his death.

Ezekiel 18:24

18:24 “But if a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and practices wrongdoing according to all the abominable practices the wicked carry out, will he live? All his righteous acts will not be remembered; because of the unfaithful acts he has done and the sin he has committed, he will die. ² 

Ezekiel 33:17-19

33:17 “Yet your people ³  say, ‘The behavior ⁴  of the Lord is not right,’ ⁵  when it is their behavior that is not right. 33:18 When a righteous man turns from his godliness and commits iniquity, he will die for it. 33:19 When the wicked turns from his sin and does what is just and right, he will live because of it.

Matthew 3:9-10

3:9 and don’t think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! 3:10 Even now the ax is laid at ⁶  the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

John 15:2

15:2 He takes away ⁷  every branch that does not bear ⁸  fruit in me. He ⁹  prunes ¹⁰  every branch that bears ¹¹  fruit so that it will bear more fruit.

Revelation 2:5

2:5 Therefore, remember from what high state ¹²  you have fallen and repent! Do ¹³  the deeds you did at the first; ¹⁴  if not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place – that is, if you do not repent. ¹⁵ 

¹ tn Or “stumbling block.” The Hebrew term refers to an obstacle in the road in Lev 19:14.

² tn Heb “because of them he will die.”

³ tn Heb “the sons of your people.”

⁴ tn Heb “way.”

⁵ tn The Hebrew verb translated “is (not) right” has the basic meaning of “to measure.” For a similar concept, see Ezek 18:25, 29.

⁶ sn Laid at the root. That is, placed and aimed, ready to begin cutting.

⁷ tn Or “He cuts off.”

⁸ tn Or “does not yield.”

⁹ tn Grk “And he”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been omitted in the translation in keeping with the tendency in contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

¹⁰ tn Or “trims”; Grk “cleanses” (a wordplay with “clean” in v. 3). Καθαίρει (kaqairei) is not the word one would have expected here, but it provides the transition from the vine imagery to the disciples – there is a wordplay (not reproducible in English) between αἴρει (airei) and καθαίρει in this verse. While the purpose of the Father in cleansing his people is clear, the precise means by which he does so is not immediately obvious. This will become clearer, however, in the following verse.

¹¹ tn Or “that yields.”

¹² tn Grk “from where,” but status is in view rather than physical position. On this term BDAG 838 s.v. πόθεν 1 states, “from what place? from where?…In imagery μνημόνευε πόθεν πέπτωκες remember from what (state) you have fallen Rv 2:5.”

¹³ tn Grk “and do” (a continuation of the previous sentence in the Greek text). For stylistic reasons in English a new sentence was started here in the translation. The repeated mention of repenting at the end of the verse suggests that the intervening material (“do the deeds you did at first”) specifies how the repentance is to be demonstrated.

¹⁴ tn Or “you did formerly.”

¹⁵ tn Although the final clause is somewhat awkward, it is typical of the style of Revelation.