Jeremiah 36:2

36:2 “Get a scroll. ¹  Write on it everything I have told you to say ²  about Israel, Judah, and all the other nations since I began to speak to you in the reign of Josiah until now. ³ 

Ezekiel 2:6-7

2:6 But you, son of man, do not fear them, and do not fear their words – even though briers ⁴  and thorns ⁵  surround you and you live among scorpions – do not fear their words and do not be terrified of the looks they give you, ⁶  for they are a rebellious house! 2:7 You must speak my words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.

Matthew 10:16

Persecution of Disciples

10:16 “I ⁷  am sending you out like sheep surrounded by wolves, ⁸  so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

Matthew 10:28

10:28 Do ⁹  not be afraid of those who kill the body ¹⁰  but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. ¹¹ 

¹ sn Heb “a roll [or scroll] of a document.” Scrolls consisted of pieces of leather or parchment sewn together and rolled up on wooden rollers. The writing was written from right to left and from top to bottom in columns and the scroll unrolled from the left roller and rolled onto the right one as the scroll was read. The scroll varied in length depending on the contents. This scroll was probably not all that long since it was read three times in a single day (vv. 10-11, 15-16, 21-23).

² sn The intent is hardly that of giving a verbatim report of everything that the Lord had told him to say or of everything that he had actually said. What the scroll undoubtedly contained was a synopsis of Jeremiah’s messages as constructed from his memory.

³ sn This refers to the messages that Jeremiah delivered during the last eighteen years of Josiah, the three month reign of Jehoahaz and the first four years of Jehoiakim’s reign (the period between Josiah’s thirteenth year [cf. 1:2] and the fourth year of Jehoiakim [v. 1]). The exact content of this scroll is unknown since many of the messages in the present book are undated. It is also not known what relation this scroll had to the present form of the book of Jeremiah, since this scroll was destroyed and another one written that contained more than this one did (cf. v. 32). Since Jeremiah continued his ministry down to the fall of Jerusalem in 587/6 b.c. (1:2) and beyond (cf. Jer 40-44) much more was added to those two scrolls even later.

⁴ tn The Hebrew term occurs only here in the OT.

⁵ tn The Hebrew term is found elsewhere in the OT only in Ezek 28:24.

⁶ tn Heb “of their faces.”

⁷ tn Grk “Behold I.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

⁸ sn This imagery of wolves is found in intertestamental Judaism; see Pss. Sol. 8:23, 30.

⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

¹⁰ sn Judaism had a similar exhortation in 4 Macc 13:14-15.

¹¹ sn See the note on the word hell in 5:22.