Psalms 28:4

28:4 Pay them back for their evil deeds!

Pay them back for what they do!

Punish them! ¹ 

Jeremiah 11:20

11:20 So I said to the Lord, ² 

“O Lord who rules over all, ³  you are a just judge!

You examine people’s hearts and minds. ⁴ 

I want to see you pay them back for what they have done

because I trust you to vindicate my cause.” ⁵ 

Jeremiah 50:29

50:29 “Call for archers ⁶  to come against Babylon!

Summon against her all who draw the bow!

Set up camp all around the city!

Do not allow anyone to escape!

Pay her back for what she has done.

Do to her what she has done to others.

For she has proudly defied me, ⁷ 

the Holy One of Israel. ⁸ 

Jeremiah 50:2

50:2 “Announce ⁹  the news among the nations! Proclaim it!

Signal for people to pay attention! ¹⁰ 

Declare the news! Do not hide it! Say:

‘Babylon will be captured.

Bel ¹¹  will be put to shame.

Marduk will be dismayed.

Babylon’s idols will be put to shame.

Her disgusting images ¹²  will be dismayed. ¹³ 

Jeremiah 4:14

4:14 “Oh people of Jerusalem, purify your hearts from evil ¹⁴ 

so that you may yet be delivered.

How long will you continue to harbor up

wicked schemes within you?

Revelation 6:10

6:10 They ¹⁵  cried out with a loud voice, ¹⁶  “How long, ¹⁷  Sovereign Master, ¹⁸  holy and true, before you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?”

Revelation 18:6

18:6 Repay her the same way she repaid others; ¹⁹  pay her back double ²⁰  corresponding to her deeds. In the cup she mixed, mix double the amount for her.

¹ tn Heb “Give to them according to their work, and according to the evil of their deeds. According to the work of their hands give to them. Return their due to them.” The highly repetitive style reflects the psalmist’s agitated emotional state and draws attention to his yearning for justice.

² tn The words “So I said to the Lord” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to show the shift in address.

³ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

⁴ tn Heb “Lord of armies, just judge, tester of kidneys and heart.” The sentence has been broken up to avoid a long and complex English sentence. The translation is more in keeping with contemporary English style. In Hebrew thought the “kidneys” were thought of as the seat of the emotions and passions and the “heart” was viewed as the seat of intellect, conscience, and will. The “heart” and the “kidneys” are often used figuratively for the thoughts, emotions, motives, and drives that are thought to be seated in them.

⁵ tn Heb “Let me see your retribution [i.e., see you exact retribution] from them because I reveal my cause [i.e., plea for justice] to you.”

⁶ tn For this word see BDB 914 s.v. III רַב and compare usage in Prov 26:10 and Job 16:12 and compare the usage of the verb in Gen 49:23. Based on this evidence, it is not necessary to emend the form to רֹבִים (rovim) as many commentators contend.

⁷ tn Heb “for she has acted insolently against the Lord.” Once again there is the problem of the Lord speaking about himself in the third person (or the prophet dropping his identification with the Lord). As in several other places the present translation, along with several other modern English versions (TEV, CEV, NIrV), has substituted the first person to maintain consistency with the context.

⁸ sn The Holy One of Israel is a common title for the Lord in the book of Isaiah. It is applied to the Lord only here and in 51:5 in the book of Jeremiah. It is a figure where an attribute of a person is put as a title of a person (compare “your majesty” for a king). It pictures the Lord as the sovereign king who rules over his covenant people and exercises moral authority over them.

⁹ tn The verbs are masculine plural. Jeremiah is calling on other unnamed messengers to spread the news.

¹⁰ tn Heb “Raise a signal flag.”

¹¹ sn Bel was originally the name or title applied to the Sumerian storm god. During the height of Babylon’s power it became a title that was applied to Marduk who was Babylon’s chief deity. As a title it means “Lord.” Here it is a poetical parallel reference to Marduk mentioned in the next line.

¹² tn The Hebrew word used here (גִּלּוּלִים, gillulim) is always used as a disdainful reference to idols. It is generally thought to have originally referred to “dung pellets” (cf. KBL 183 s.v. גִלּוּלִים). It is only one of several terms used in this way, such as “worthless things” (אַלִילִים, ’alilim), “vanities,” or “empty winds” (הֲבָלִים, havalim).

¹³ tn The verbs here are all in the tense that views the actions as though they were already done (the Hebrew prophetic perfect). The verbs in the next verse are a mixture of prophetic perfects and imperfects which announce future actions.

¹⁴ tn Heb “Oh, Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil.”

¹⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

¹⁶ tn Grk “voice, saying”; the participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated here.

¹⁷ tn The expression ἕως πότε (ews pote) was translated “how long.” Cf. BDAG 423 s.v. ἕως 1.b.γ.

¹⁸ tn The Greek term here is δεσπότης (despoths; see L&N 37.63).

¹⁹ tn The word “others” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

²⁰ tn On this term BDAG 252 s.v. διπλόω states, “to double τὰ διπλᾶ pay back double Rv 18:6.”