Isaiah 51:6-7

51:6 Look up at the sky!

Look at the earth below!

For the sky will dissipate ¹  like smoke,

and the earth will wear out like clothes;

its residents will die like gnats.

But the deliverance I give ²  is permanent;

the vindication I provide ³  will not disappear. ⁴ 

51:7 Listen to me, you who know what is right,

you people who are aware of my law! ⁵ 

Don’t be afraid of the insults of men;

don’t be discouraged because of their abuse!

Psalms 46:2

46:2 For this reason we do not fear ⁶  when the earth shakes, ⁷ 

and the mountains tumble into the depths of the sea, ⁸ 

Matthew 5:18

5:18 I ⁹  tell you the truth, ¹⁰  until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter ¹¹  will pass from the law until everything takes place.

Matthew 16:18

16:18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades ¹²  will not overpower it.

Matthew 24:35

24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. ¹³ 

Romans 11:29

11:29 For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.

Romans 11:2

11:2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew! Do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?

Romans 3:10-13

3:10 just as it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one,

3:11 there is no one who understands,

there is no one who seeks God.

3:12 All have turned away,

together they have become worthless;

there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.” ¹⁴ 

3:13 “Their throats are open graves, ¹⁵ 

they deceive with their tongues,

the poison of asps is under their lips.” ¹⁶ 

¹ tn Heb “will be torn in pieces.” The perfect indicates the certitude of the event, from the Lord’s rhetorical perspective.

² tn Heb “my deliverance.” The same Hebrew word can also be translated “salvation” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); cf. CEV “victory.”

³ tn Heb “my righteousness [or “vindication”].”

⁴ tn Heb “will not be shattered [or “dismayed”].”

⁵ tn Heb “people (who have) my law in their heart.”

⁶ tn The imperfect is taken in a generalizing sense (cf. NEB) because the situation described in vv. 2-3 is understood as symbolizing typical world conditions. In this case the imperfect draws attention to the typical nature of the response. The covenant community characteristically responds with confidence, not fear. Another option is to take the situation described as purely hypothetical. In this case one might translate, “We will not fear, even though the earth should shake” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

⁷ tn The Hiphil infinitival form is normally taken to mean “when [the earth] is altered,” being derived from מוּר (mur, “to change”). In this case the Hiphil would be intransitive, as in Ps 15:4. HALOT 560 s.v. II מור emends the form to a Niphal and derives it from a homonymic root מוּר attested in Arabic with the meaning “shake.”

⁸ tn Heb “heart of the seas.” The plural may be used for emphasis, pointing to the deepest sea. Note that the next verse uses a singular pronoun (“its waters,” “its swelling”) in referring back to the plural noun.

⁹ tn Grk “For I tell.” Here an explanatory γάρ (gar) has not been translated.

¹⁰ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

¹¹ tn Grk “Not one iota or one serif.”

¹² tn Or “and the power of death” (taking the reference to the gates of Hades as a metonymy).

¹³ 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.

¹⁴ sn Verses 10-12 are a quotation from Ps 14:1-3.

¹⁵ tn Grk “their throat is an opened grave.”

¹⁶ sn A quotation from Pss 5:9; 140:3.