Ezekiel 33:11

33:11 Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but prefer that the wicked change his behavior ¹  and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil deeds! ²  Why should you die, O house of Israel?’

Deuteronomy 30:15

30:15 “Look! I have set before you today life and prosperity on the one hand, and death and disaster on the other.

Deuteronomy 30:19

30:19 Today I invoke heaven and earth as a witness against you that I have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live!

Proverbs 8:36

8:36 But the one who does not find me ³  brings harm ⁴  to himself; ⁵ 

all who hate me ⁶  love death.”

Jeremiah 21:8

21:8 “But ⁷  tell the people of Jerusalem ⁸  that the Lord says, ‘I will give you a choice between two courses of action. One will result in life; the other will result in death. ⁹ 

Jeremiah 27:15

27:15 For I, the Lord, affirm ¹⁰  that I did not send them. They are prophesying lies to you. If you ¹¹  listen to them, I will drive you and the prophets who are prophesying lies out of the land and you will all die in exile.” ¹² 

Acts 13:46

13:46 Both Paul and Barnabas replied courageously, ¹³  “It was necessary to speak the word of God ¹⁴  to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy ¹⁵  of eternal life, we ¹⁶  are turning to the Gentiles. ¹⁷ 

¹ tn Heb “turn from his way.”

² tn Heb “ways.” This same word is translated “behavior” earlier in the verse.

³ tn Heb “the one sinning [against] me.” The verb חָטָא (khata’, “to sin”) forms a contrast with “find” in the previous verse, and so has its basic meaning of “failing to find, miss.” So it is talking about the one who misses wisdom, as opposed to the one who finds it.

⁴ tn The Qal active participle functions verbally here. The word stresses both social and physical harm and violence.

⁵ tn Heb “his soul.”

⁶ tn The basic idea of the verb שָׂנֵא (sane’, “to hate”) is that of rejection. Its antonym is also used in the line, “love,” which has the idea of choosing. So not choosing (i.e., hating) wisdom amounts to choosing (i.e., loving) death.

⁷ tn Heb “And/But unto this people you shall say…” “But” is suggested here by the unusual word order which offsets what they are to say to Zedekiah (v. 3).

⁸ tn Heb “these people.”

⁹ tn Heb “Behold I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

¹¹ sn The verbs are again plural referring to the king and his royal advisers.

¹² tn Heb “…drive you out and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying lies.”

¹³ tn Grk “Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out courageously and said.” The redundancy is removed in the translation and the verb “replied” is used in keeping with the logical sequence of events. The theme of boldness reappears: Acts 4:24-30; 9:27-28.

¹⁴ tn Grk “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken.” For smoothness and simplicity of English style, the passive construction has been converted to active voice in the translation.

¹⁵ tn Or “and consider yourselves unworthy.”

¹⁶ tn Grk “behold, we.” In this context ἰδού (idou) is not easily translated into English.

¹⁷ sn This turning to the Gentiles would be a shocking rebuke to 1st century Jews who thought they alone were the recipients of the promise.