34:4 All the stars in the sky will fade away, 1
the sky will roll up like a scroll;
all its stars will wither,
like a leaf withers and falls from a vine
or a fig withers and falls from a tree. 2
65:17 For look, I am ready to create
new heavens and a new earth! 3
The former ones 4 will not be remembered;
no one will think about them anymore. 5
3:7 So John 10 said to the crowds 11 that came out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers! 12 Who warned you to flee 13 from the coming wrath? 3:8 Therefore produce 14 fruit 15 that proves your repentance, and don’t begin to say 16 to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ 17 For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! 18 3:9 Even now the ax is laid at the root of the trees, 19 and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be 20 cut down and thrown into the fire.”
3:10 So 21 the crowds were asking 22 him, “What then should we do?”
20:11 Then 23 I saw a large 24 white throne and the one who was seated on it; the earth and the heaven 25 fled 26 from his presence, and no place was found for them.
21:1 Then 27 I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist, 28 and the sea existed no more.
1 tc Heb “and all the host of heaven will rot.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa inserts “and the valleys will be split open,” but this reading may be influenced by Mic 1:4. On the other hand, the statement, if original, could have been omitted by homoioarcton, a scribe’s eye jumping from the conjunction prefixed to “the valleys” to the conjunction prefixed to the verb “rot.”
2 tn Heb “like the withering of a leaf from a vine, and like the withering from a fig tree.”
3 sn This hyperbolic statement likens the coming transformation of Jerusalem (see vv. 18-19) to a new creation of the cosmos.
4 tn Or perhaps, “the former things” (so ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “The events of the past.”
5 tn Heb “and they will not come up on the mind.”
6 sn The words that Jesus predicts here will never pass away. They are more stable and lasting than creation itself. For this kind of image, see Isa 40:8; 55:10-11.
7 sn The words that Jesus predicts here will never pass away. They are more stable and lasting than creation itself! For this kind of image, see Isa 40:8; 55:10-11.
8 sn The words that Jesus predicts here will never pass away. They are more stable and lasting than creation itself. For this kind of image, see Isa 40:8; 55:10-11.
9 sn These two small copper coins were lepta (sing. “lepton”), the smallest and least valuable coins in circulation in Palestine, worth one-half of a quadrans or 1/128 of a denarius, or about six minutes of an average daily wage. This was next to nothing in value.
10 tn Grk “he”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 sn The crowds. It is interesting to trace references to “the crowd” in Luke. It is sometimes noted favorably, other times less so. The singular appears 25 times in Luke while the plural occurs 16 times. Matt 3:7 singles out the Sadducees and Pharisees here.
12 tn Or “snakes.”
13 sn The rebuke “Who warned you to flee…?” compares the crowd to snakes who flee their desert holes when the heat of a fire drives them out.
14 tn The verb here is ποιέω (poiew; see v. 4).
15 tn Grk “fruits.” The plural Greek term καρπούς has been translated with the collective singular “fruit” (so NIV; cf. Matt 3:8 where the singular καρπός is found). Some other translations render the plural καρπούς as “fruits” (e.g., NRSV, NASB, NAB, NKJV).
16 tn In other words, “do not even begin to think this.”
17 sn We have Abraham as our father. John’s warning to the crowds really assumes two things: (1) A number of John’s listeners apparently believed that simply by their physical descent from Abraham, they were certain heirs of the promises made to the patriarch, and (2) God would never judge his covenant people lest he inadvertently place the fulfillment of his promises in jeopardy. In light of this, John tells these people two things: (1) they need to repent and produce fruit in keeping with repentance, for only that saves from the coming wrath, and (2) God will raise up “children for Abraham from these stones” if he wants to. Their disobedience will not threaten the realization of God’s sovereign purposes.
18 sn The point of the statement God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham is that ancestry or association with a tradition tied to the great founder of the Jewish nation is not an automatic source of salvation.
19 sn Even now the ax is laid at the root of the trees. The imagery of an “ax already laid at the root of the trees” is vivid, connoting sudden and catastrophic judgment for the unrepentant and unfruitful. The image of “fire” serves to further heighten the intensity of the judgment referred to. It is John’s way of summoning all people to return to God with all their heart and avoid his unquenchable wrath soon to be poured out. John’s language and imagery is probably ultimately drawn from the OT where Israel is referred to as a fruitless vine (Hos 10:1-2; Jer 2:21-22) and the image of an “ax” is used to indicate God’s judgment (Ps 74:5-6; Jer 46:22).
20 tn Grk “is”; the present tense (ἐκκόπτεται, ekkoptetai) has futuristic force here.
21 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the consequential nature of the people’s response.
22 tn Though this verb is imperfect, in this context it does not mean repeated, ongoing questions, but simply a presentation in vivid style as the following verbs in the other examples are aorist.
23 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.
24 tn Traditionally, “great,” but μέγας (megas) here refers to size rather than importance.
25 tn Or “and the sky.” The same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky,” and context usually determines which is meant. In this apocalyptic scene, however, it is difficult to be sure what referent to assign the term.
26 tn Or “vanished.”
27 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.
28 tn For the translation of ἀπέρχομαι (apercomai; here ἀπῆλθαν [aphlqan]) L&N 13.93 has “to go out of existence – ‘to cease to exist, to pass away, to cease.’”