1 Corinthians 10:11

10:11 These things happened to them as examples and were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come.

Zephaniah 3:6-7

The Lord’s Judgment will Purify

3:6 “I destroyed ¹  nations;

their walled cities ²  are in ruins.

I turned their streets into ruins;

no one passes through them.

Their cities are desolate; ³ 

no one lives there. ⁴ 

3:7 I thought, ⁵  ‘Certainly you will respect ⁶  me!

Now you will accept correction!’

If she had done so, her home ⁷  would not be destroyed ⁸ 

by all the punishments I have threatened. ⁹ 

But they eagerly sinned

in everything they did. ¹⁰ 

Hebrews 4:11

4:11 Thus we must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following the same pattern of disobedience.

Hebrews 4:2

4:2 For we had good news proclaimed to us just as they did. But the message they heard did them no good, since they did not join in ¹¹  with those who heard it in faith. ¹² 

Hebrews 2:6

2:6 Instead someone testified somewhere:

“What is man that you think of him ¹³  or the son of man that you care for him?

Jude 1:7

1:7 So also ¹⁴  Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, ¹⁵  since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire ¹⁶  in a way similar to ¹⁷  these angels, ¹⁸  are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

[3:6]  ¹ tn Heb “cut off.”

[3:6]  ² tn Heb “corner towers”; NEB, NRSV “battlements.”

[3:6]  ³ tn This Hebrew verb (צָדָה, tsadah) occurs only here in the OT, but its meaning is established from the context and from an Aramaic cognate.

[3:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “so that there is no man, without inhabitant.”

[3:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “said.”

[3:7]  ⁶ tn Or “fear.” The second person verb form (“you will respect”) is feminine singular, indicating that personified Jerusalem is addressed.

[3:7]  ⁷ tn Or “dwelling place.”

[3:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “cut off.”

[3:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “all which I have punished her.” The precise meaning of this statement and its relationship to what precedes are unclear.

[3:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “But they got up early, they made corrupt all their actions.” The phrase “they got up early” probably refers to their eagerness to engage in sinful activities.

[4:2]  ¹¹ tn Or “they were not united.”

[4:2]  ¹² tc A few mss (א and a few versional witnesses) have the nominative singular participle συγκεκερασμένος (sunkekerasmeno", “since it [the message] was not combined with faith by those who heard it”), a reading that refers back to the ὁ λόγος (Jo logo", “the message”). There are a few other variants here (e.g., συγκεκεραμμένοι [sunkekerammenoi] in 104, συγκεκεραμένους [sunkekeramenou"] in 1881 Ï), but the accusative plural participle συγκεκερασμένους (sunkekerasmenou"), found in Ì^13vid,46 A B C D* Ψ 0243 0278 33 81 1739 2464 pc, has by far the best external credentials. This participle agrees with the previous ἐκείνους (ekeinou", “those”), a more difficult construction grammatically than the nominative singular. Thus, both on external and internal grounds, συγκεκερασμένους is preferred.

[2:6]  ¹³ tn Grk “remember him.”

[1:7]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “as.”

[1:7]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “the towns [or cities] surrounding them.”

[1:7]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “strange flesh.” This phrase has been variously interpreted. It could refer to flesh of another species (such as angels lusting after human flesh). This would aptly describe the sin of the angels, but not easily explain the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. It could refer to the homosexual practices of the Sodomites, but a difficulty arises from the use of ἕτερος ({etero"; “strange,” “other”). When this is to be distinguished from ἄλλος (allos, “another”) it suggests “another of a different kind.” If so, would that properly describe homosexual behavior? In response, the language could easily be compact: “pursued flesh other than what was normally pursued.” However, would this find an analogy in the lust of angels (such would imply that angels normally had sexual relations of some sort, but cf. Matt 22:30)? Another alternative is that the focus of the parallel is on the activity of the surrounding cities and the activity of the angels. This is especially plausible since the participles ἐκπορνεύσασαι (ekporneusasai, “having indulged in sexual immorality”) and ἀπελθοῦσαι (apelqousai, “having pursued”) have concord with “cities” (πόλεις, poleis), a feminine plural noun, rather than with Sodom and Gomorrah (both masculine nouns). If so, then their sin would not necessarily have to be homosexuality. However, most likely the feminine participles are used because of constructio ad sensum (construction according to sense). That is, since both Sodom and Gomorrah are cities, the feminine is used to imply that all the cities are involved. The connection with angels thus seems to be somewhat loose: Both angels and Sodom and Gomorrah indulged in heinous sexual immorality. Thus, whether the false teachers indulge in homosexual activity is not the point; mere sexual immorality is enough to condemn them.

[1:7]  ¹⁷ tn Or “in the same way as.”

[1:7]  ¹⁸ tn “Angels” is not in the Greek text; but the masculine demonstrative pronoun most likely refers back to the angels of v. 6.