Isaiah 24:17

24:17 Terror, pit, and snare

are ready to overtake you inhabitants of the earth! ¹ 

Daniel 12:10

12:10 Many will be purified, made clean, and refined, but the wicked will go on being wicked. None of the wicked will understand, though the wise will understand.

Zechariah 13:9

13:9 Then I will bring the remaining third into the fire;

I will refine them like silver is refined

and will test them like gold is tested.

They will call on my name and I will answer;

I will say, ‘These are my people,’

and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’” ² 

James 3:12

3:12 Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, ³  or a vine produce figs? Neither can a salt water spring produce fresh water.

James 3:1

The Power of the Tongue

3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, ⁴  because you know that we will be judged more strictly. ⁵ 

James 4:12

4:12 But there is only one who is lawgiver and judge – the one who is able to save and destroy. On the other hand, who are you to judge your neighbor? ⁶ 

¹ tn Heb “[are] upon you, O inhabitant of the earth.” The first line of v. 17 provides another classic example of Hebrew wordplay. The names of the three instruments of judgment (פָח,פַחַת,פַּחַד [pakhad, fakhat, fakh]) all begin with the letters פח (peh-khet) and the first two end in dental consonants (ת/ד, tet/dalet). Once again the repetition of sound draws attention to the statement and contributes to the theme of the inescapability of judgment. As their similar-sounding names suggest, terror, pit, and snare are allies in destroying the objects of divine wrath.

² sn The expression I will say ‘It is my people,’ and they will say ‘the Lord is my God’ is reminiscent of the restoration of Israel predicted by Hosea, who said that those who had been rejected as God’s people would be reclaimed and once more become his sons and daughters (Hos 2:23).

³ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

⁴ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

⁵ tn Grk “will receive a greater judgment.”

⁶ tn Grk “who judges your neighbor.”