33:14 Sinners are afraid in Zion;
panic 3 grips the godless. 4
They say, 5 ‘Who among us can coexist with destructive fire?
Who among us can coexist with unquenchable 6 fire?’
31:14 then what will I do when God confronts me in judgment; 7
when he intervenes, 8
how will I respond to him?
5:31 The prophets prophesy lies.
The priests exercise power by their own authority. 9
And my people love to have it this way.
But they will not be able to help you when the time of judgment comes! 10
24:13 You mix uncleanness with obscene conduct. 11
I tried to cleanse you, 12 but you are not clean.
You will not be cleansed from your uncleanness 13
until I have exhausted my anger on you.
24:14 “‘I the Lord have spoken; judgment 14 is coming and I will act! I will not relent, or show pity, or be sorry! 15 I will judge you 16 according to your conduct 17 and your deeds, declares the sovereign Lord.’”
1 tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV).
2 sn This probably refers to the coastal region of Philistia (cf. TEV).
3 tn Or “trembling” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “shake with fear.”
4 tn Or “the defiled”; TEV “The sinful people of Zion”; NLT “The sinners in Jerusalem.”
5 tn The words “they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
6 tn Or “perpetual”; or “everlasting” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).
7 tn Heb “arises.” The LXX reads “takes vengeance,” an interpretation that is somewhat correct but unnecessary. The verb “to rise” would mean “to confront in judgment.”
8 tn The verb פָקַד (paqad) means “to visit,” but with God as the subject it means any divine intervention for blessing or cursing, anything God does that changes a person’s life. Here it is “visit to judge.”
9 tn Heb “they shall rule at their hands.” Since the word “hand” can be used figuratively for authority or mean “side” and the pronoun “them” can refer to the priests themselves or the prophets, the following translations have also been suggested: “the priests rule under their [the prophets’] directions,” or “the priests rule in league with them [the prophets].” From the rest of the book it would appear that the prophets did not exercise authority over the priests nor did they exercise the same authority over the people that the priests did. Hence it probably mean “by their own hand/power/authority.”
10 tn Heb “But what will you do at its end?” The rhetorical question implies a negative answer: “Nothing!”
11 tn Heb “in your uncleanness (is) obscene conduct.”
12 tn Heb “because I cleansed you.” In this context (see especially the very next statement), the statement must refer to divine intention and purpose. Despite God’s efforts to cleanse his people, they resisted him and remained morally impure.
13 tn The Hebrew text adds the word “again.”
14 tn Heb “it”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15 tn Or perhaps, “change my mind.”
16 tc Some medieval Hebrew
17 tn Heb “ways.”
18 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.
19 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated; nor is it translated before each of the following categories, since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.
20 tn Grk “chiliarchs.” A chiliarch was normally a military officer commanding a thousand soldiers, but here probably used of higher-ranking commanders like generals (see L&N 55.15; cf. Rev 6:15).
21 tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.
22 tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
23 tn It is difficult to say where this quotation ends. The translation ends it after “withstand it” at the end of v. 17, but it is possible that it should end here, after “Lamb” at the end of v. 16. If it ends after “Lamb,” v. 17 is a parenthetical explanation by the author.