Numbers 23:19

23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie,

nor a human being, ¹  that he should change his mind.

Has he said, and will he not do it?

Or has he spoken, and will he not make it happen? ² 

Proverbs 10:24

10:24 What the wicked fears ³  will come on him;

what the righteous desire ⁴  will be granted. ⁵ 

Zechariah 1:6

1:6 But have my words and statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, not outlived your fathers? ⁶  Then they paid attention ⁷  and confessed, ‘The Lord who rules over all has indeed done what he said he would do to us, because of our sinful ways.’”

Matthew 24:35

24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. ⁸ 

¹ tn Heb “son of man.”

² tn The verb is the Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “to cause to rise; to make stand”). The meaning here is more of the sense of fulfilling the promises made.

³ tn Heb “the dread of the wicked.” The noun רָשָׁע (rasha’, “wicked”) is a subjective genitive. The noun מְגוֹרַת (mÿgorat) refers to “the feared thing,” that is, what the wicked dread. The wicked are afraid of the consequences of their sinful actions; however, they cannot escape these consequences.

⁴ tn Heb “the desire of the righteous.” The noun צַדִּיק (tsadiq, “righteous”) is a subjective genitive.

⁵ tn Heb “it will give.” When used without an expressed subject, the verb יִתֵּן (yitten) has a passive nuance: “it will be granted.”

⁶ tc BHS suggests אֶתְכֶם (’etkhem, “you”) for the MT אֲבֹתֵיכֶם (’avotekhem, “your fathers”) to harmonize with v. 4. In v. 4 the ancestors would not turn but in v. 6 they appear to have done so. The subject in v. 6, however, is to be construed as Zechariah’s own listeners.

⁷ tn Heb “they turned” (so ASV). Many English versions have “they repented” here; cf. CEV “they turned back to me.”

⁸ 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.