Isaiah 47:14

47:14 Look, they are like straw,

which the fire burns up;

they cannot rescue themselves

from the heat ¹  of the flames.

There are no coals to warm them,

no firelight to enjoy. ² 

Psalms 31:12

31:12 I am forgotten, like a dead man no one thinks about; ³ 

I am regarded as worthless, like a broken jar. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 48:38

48:38 On all the housetops in Moab

and in all its public squares

there will be nothing but mourning.

For I will break Moab like an unwanted jar.

I, the Lord, affirm it! ⁵ 

Luke 4:2

4:2 where for forty days he endured temptations ⁶  from the devil. He ⁷  ate nothing ⁸  during those days, and when they were completed, ⁹  he was famished.

Ezekiel 15:3-8

15:3 Can wood be taken from it to make anything useful? Or can anyone make a peg from it to hang things on? 15:4 No! ¹⁰  It is thrown in the fire for fuel; when the fire has burned up both ends of it and it is charred in the middle, will it be useful for anything? 15:5 Indeed! If it was not made into anything useful when it was whole, how much less can it be made into anything when the fire has burned it up and it is charred?

15:6 “Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Like the wood of the vine is among the trees of the forest which I have provided as fuel for the fire – so I will provide the residents of Jerusalem ¹¹  as fuel. ¹²  15:7 I will set ¹³  my face against them – although they have escaped from the fire, ¹⁴  the fire will still consume them! Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them. 15:8 I will make ¹⁵  the land desolate because they have acted unfaithfully, declares the sovereign Lord.”

¹ tn Heb “hand,” here a metaphor for the strength or power of the flames.

² tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “there is no coal [for?] their food, light to sit before it.” Some emend לַחְמָם (lakhmam, “their food”) to לְחֻמָּם (lÿkhummam, “to warm them”; see HALOT 328 s.v. חמם). This statement may allude to Isa 44:16, where idolaters are depicted warming themselves over a fire made from wood, part of which was used to form idols. The fire of divine judgment will be no such campfire; its flames will devour and destroy.

³ tn Heb “I am forgotten, like a dead man, from [the] heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the center of one’s thoughts.

⁴ tn Heb “I am like a broken jar.” One throws away a broken jar without a second thought because it is considered worthless and useless.

⁵ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

⁶ tn Grk “in the desert, for forty days being tempted.” The participle πειραζόμενος (peirazomeno") has been translated as an adverbial clause in English to avoid a run-on sentence with a second “and.” Here the present participle suggests a period of forty days of testing. Three samples of the end of the testing are given in the following verses.

⁷ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

⁸ sn The reference to Jesus eating nothing could well be an idiom meaning that he ate only what the desert provided; see Exod 34:28. A desert fast simply meant eating only what one could obtain in the desert. The parallel in Matt 4:2 speaks only of Jesus fasting.

⁹ tn The Greek word here is συντελεσθείσων (suntelesqeiswn) from the verb συντελέω (suntelew).

¹⁰ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws one’s attention to something. Sometimes it may be translated as a verb of perception; here it is treated as a particle that fits the context (so also in v. 5, but with a different English word).

¹¹ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹² tn The words “as fuel” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

¹³ tn The word translated “set” is the same Hebrew word translated as “provide” in the previous verse.

¹⁴ sn This escape refers to the exile of Ezekiel and others in 597 b.c. (Ezek 1:2; 2 Kgs 24:10-16).

¹⁵ tn The word translated “make” is the same Hebrew word translated as “provide” in v. 6.