1 Kings 9:8

9:8 This temple will become a heap of ruins; ¹  everyone who passes by it will be shocked and will hiss out their scorn, ²  saying, ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?’

1 Kings 9:2

9:2 the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, in the same way he had appeared to him at Gibeon. ³ 

1 Kings 1:19

1:19 He has sacrificed many cattle, steers, and sheep and has invited all the king’s sons, Abiathar the priest, and Joab, the commander of the army, but he has not invited your servant Solomon.

Psalms 74:3-7

74:3 Hurry and look ⁴  at the permanent ruins,

and all the damage the enemy has done to the temple! ⁵ 

74:4 Your enemies roar ⁶  in the middle of your sanctuary; ⁷ 

they set up their battle flags. ⁸ 

74:5 They invade like lumberjacks

swinging their axes in a thick forest. ⁹ 

74:6 And now ¹⁰  they are tearing down ¹¹  all its engravings ¹² 

with axes ¹³  and crowbars. ¹⁴ 

74:7 They set your sanctuary on fire;

they desecrate your dwelling place by knocking it to the ground. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 79:1

Psalm 79 ¹⁶ 

A psalm of Asaph.

79:1 O God, foreigners ¹⁷  have invaded your chosen land; ¹⁸ 

they have polluted your holy temple

and turned Jerusalem ¹⁹  into a heap of ruins.

Isaiah 64:10-11

64:10 Your chosen ²⁰  cities have become a desert;

Zion has become a desert,

Jerusalem ²¹  is a desolate ruin.

64:11 Our holy temple, our pride and joy, ²² 

the place where our ancestors praised you,

has been burned with fire;

all our prized possessions have been destroyed. ²³ 

Jeremiah 7:14

7:14 So I will destroy this temple which I have claimed as my own, ²⁴  this temple that you are trusting to protect you. I will destroy this place that I gave to you and your ancestors, ²⁵  just like I destroyed Shiloh. ²⁶ 

Jeremiah 26:9

26:9 How dare you claim the Lord’s authority to prophesy such things! How dare you claim his authority to prophesy that this temple will become like Shiloh and that this city will become an uninhabited ruin!” ²⁷  Then all the people crowded around Jeremiah.

Lamentations 1:10

י (Yod)

1:10 An enemy grabbed ²⁸ 

all her valuables. ²⁹ 

Indeed she watched in horror ³⁰  as Gentiles ³¹ 

invaded her holy temple ³²  –

those whom you ³³  had commanded:

“They must not enter ³⁴  your assembly place.” ³⁵ 

Lamentations 2:7

ז (Zayin)

2:7 The Lord ³⁶  rejected ³⁷  his altar

and abhorred his temple. ³⁸ 

He handed over to the enemy ³⁹ 

her palace walls;

the enemy ⁴⁰  shouted ⁴¹  in the Lord’s temple

as if it were a feast day. ⁴² 

Micah 3:12

3:12 Therefore, because of you, ⁴³  Zion will be plowed up like ⁴⁴  a field,

Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,

and the Temple Mount ⁴⁵  will become a hill overgrown with brush! ⁴⁶ 

Luke 21:5-6

The Signs of the End of the Age

21:5 Now ⁴⁷  while some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned ⁴⁸  with beautiful stones and offerings, ⁴⁹  Jesus ⁵⁰  said, 21:6 “As for these things that you are gazing at, the days will come when not one stone will be left on another. ⁵¹  All will be torn down!” ⁵² 

Acts 6:13-14

6:13 They brought forward false witnesses who said, “This man does not stop saying things against this holy place ⁵³  and the law. ⁵⁴  6:14 For we have heard him saying that Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place and change the customs ⁵⁵  that Moses handed down to us.”

[9:8]  ¹ tn Heb “and this house will be high [or elevated].” The statement makes little sense in this context, which predicts the desolation that judgment will bring. Some treat the clause as concessive, “Even though this temple is lofty [now].” Others, following the lead of several ancient versions, emend the text to, “this temple will become a heap of ruins.”

[9:8]  ² tn Heb “hiss,” or perhaps “whistle.” This refers to a derisive sound one would make when taunting an object of ridicule.

[9:2]  ³ sn In the same way he had appeared to him at Gibeon. See 1 Kgs 3:5.

[74:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “lift up your steps to,” which may mean “run, hurry.”

[74:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “everything [the] enemy has damaged in the holy place.”

[74:4]  ⁶ tn This verb is often used of a lion’s roar, so the psalmist may be comparing the enemy to a raging, devouring lion.

[74:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “your meeting place.”

[74:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “they set up their banners [as] banners.” The Hebrew noun אוֹת (’ot, “sign”) here refers to the enemy army’s battle flags and banners (see Num 2:12).

[74:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “it is known like one bringing upwards, in a thicket of wood, axes.” The Babylonian invaders destroyed the woodwork in the temple.

[74:6]  ¹⁰ tn This is the reading of the Qere (marginal reading). The Kethib (consonantal text) has “and a time.”

[74:6]  ¹¹ tn The imperfect verbal form vividly describes the act as underway.

[74:6]  ¹² tn Heb “its engravings together.”

[74:6]  ¹³ tn This Hebrew noun occurs only here in the OT (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 49-50).

[74:6]  ¹⁴ tn This Hebrew noun occurs only here in the OT. An Akkadian cognate refers to a “pickaxe” (cf. NEB “hatchet and pick”; NIV “axes and hatchets”; NRSV “hatchets and hammers”).

[74:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to the ground they desecrate the dwelling place of your name.”

[79:1]  ¹⁶ sn Psalm 79. The author laments how the invading nations have destroyed the temple and city of Jerusalem. He asks God to forgive his people and to pour out his vengeance on those who have mistreated them.

[79:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “nations.”

[79:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “have come into your inheritance.”

[79:1]  ¹⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[64:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “holy” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT); NIV “sacred.”

[64:10]  ²¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[64:11]  ²² tn Heb “our source of pride.”

[64:11]  ²³ tn Or “all that we valued has become a ruin.”

[7:14]  ²⁴ tn Heb “over which my name is called.” For this nuance of this idiom cf. BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph.2.d(4) and see the usage in 2 Sam 12:28.

[7:14]  ²⁵ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 22, 25, 26).

[7:14]  ²⁶ tn Heb “I will do to this house which I…in which you put…and to this place which…as I did to Shiloh.”

[26:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Why have you prophesied in the Lord’s name, saying, ‘This house will become like Shiloh and this city will become a ruin without inhabitant?’” It is clear from the context here and in 7:1-15 that the emphasis is on “in the Lord’s name” and that the question is rhetorical. The question is not a quest for information but an accusation, a remonstrance. (For this figure see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 953-54, who calls a question like this a rhetorical question of remonstrance or expostulation. For good examples see Pss 11:1; 50:16.) For the significance of “prophesying in the Lord’s name” see the study note on 14:14. The translation again utilizes the indirect quote to eliminate one level of embedded quotation.

[1:10]  ²⁸ tn Heb “stretched out his hand.” The war imagery is of seizure of property; the anthropomorphic element pictures rape. This is an idiom that describes greedy actions (BDB 831 s.v. פָרַשׂ), meaning “to seize” (HALOT 976 s.v. 2).

[1:10]  ²⁹ tc The Kethib is written מַחֲמוֹדֵּיהֶם (makhamodehem, “her desired things”); the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss read מַחֲמַדֵּיהֶם (makhamaddehem, “her desirable things”). The Qere reading should be adopted.

[1:10]  ³⁰ tn Heb “she watched” or “she saw.” The verb רָאָה (ra’ah, “to see”) has a broad range of meanings, including “to see” a spectacle causing grief (Gen 21:16; 44:34; Num 11:15; 2 Kgs 22:20; 2 Chr 34:28; Esth 8:6) or abhorrence (Isa 66:24). The words “in horror” are added to “she watched” to bring out this nuance.

[1:10]  ³¹ sn The syntax of the sentence is interrupted by the insertion of the following sentence, “they invaded…,” then continued with “whom…” The disruption of the syntax is a structural device intended to help convey the shock of the situation.

[1:10]  ³² tn Heb “her sanctuary.” The term מִקְדָּשָׁהּ (miqdashah, “her sanctuary”) refers to the temple. Anthropomorphically, translating as “her sacred place” would also allow for the rape imagery.

[1:10]  ³³ sn Lam 1-2 has two speaking voices: a third person voice reporting the horrific reality of Jerusalem’s suffering and Jerusalem’s voice. See W. F. Lanahan, “The Speaking Voice in the Book of Lamentations” JBL 93 (1974): 41-49. The reporting voice has been addressing the listener, referring to the Lord in the third person. Here he switches to a second person address to God, also changing the wording of the following command to second person. The revulsion of the Reporter is so great that he is moved to address God directly.

[1:10]  ³⁴ tn Heb “enter.” The Hebrew term בּוֹא (bo’) is also a sexual metaphor.

[1:10]  ³⁵ tn The noun קָהָל (qahal, “assembly”) does not refer here to the collective group of people assembled to worship the Lord, but to the place of their assembly: the temple. This is an example of a synecdoche of the people contained (= assembly) for the container (= temple). The intent is to make the violation feel more personal than someone walking into a building.

[2:7]  ³⁶ tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”), which occurs near the end of this verse. See the tc note at 1:14.

[2:7]  ³⁷ tn The Heb verb זָנַח (zanakh) is a rejection term often used in military contexts. Emphasizing emotion, it may mean “to spurn.” In military contexts it may be rendered “to desert.”

[2:7]  ³⁸ tn Heb “His sanctuary.” The term מִקְדָּשׁוֹ (miqdasho, “His sanctuary”) refers to the temple (e.g., 1 Chr 22:19; 2 Chr 36:17; Ps 74:7; Isa 63:18; Ezek 48:21; Dan 8:11) (BDB 874 s.v. מִקְדָּשׁ).

[2:7]  ³⁹ tn Heb “He delivered into the hand of the enemy.” The verb הִסְגִּיר (hisgir), Hiphil perfect 3rd person masculine singular from סָגַר (sagar), means “to give into someone’s control: to deliver” (Deut 23:16; Josh 20:5; 1 Sam 23:11, 20; 30:15; Job 16:11; Pss 31:9; 78:48, 50, 62; Lam 2:7; Amos 1:6, 9; Obad 14).

[2:7]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “they.”

[2:7]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “they gave voice” (קוֹל נָתְנוּ, kol natno). The verb נָתַן (natan, “to give”) with the noun קוֹל (kol, “voice, sound”) is an idiom meaning: “to utter a sound, make a noise, raise the voice” (e.g., Gen 45:2; Prov 2:3; Jer 4:16; 22:20; 48:34) (HALOT 734 s.v. נתן 12; BDB 679 s.v. נָתַן 1.x). Contextually, this describes the shout of victory by the Babylonians celebrating their conquest of Jerusalem.

[2:7]  ⁴² tn Heb “as on the day of an appointed time.” The term מוֹעֵד (mo’ed, “appointed time”) refers to the religious festivals that were celebrated at appointed times in the Hebrew calendar (BDB 417 s.v. 1.b). In contrast to making festivals neglected (forgotten) in v 6, the enemy had a celebration which was entirely out of place.

[3:12]  ⁴³ tn The plural pronoun refers to the leaders, priests, and prophets mentioned in the preceding verse.

[3:12]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “into” (an adverbial accusative of result).

[3:12]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “the mountain of the house” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).

[3:12]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “a high place of overgrowth.”

[21:5]  ⁴⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[21:5]  ⁴⁸ sn The Jerusalem temple was widely admired around the world. See Josephus, Ant. 15.11 (15.380-425); J. W. 5.5 (5.184-227) and Tacitus, History 5.8, who called it “immensely opulent.” Josephus compared it to a beautiful snowcapped mountain.

[21:5]  ⁴⁹ tn For the translation of ἀνάθημα (anaqhma) as “offering” see L&N 53.18.

[21:5]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:6]  ⁵¹ sn With the statement days will come when not one stone will be left on another Jesus predicted the total destruction of the temple, something that did occur in a.d. 70.

[21:6]  ⁵² tn Grk “the days will come when not one stone will be left on another that will not be thrown down.”

[6:13]  ⁵³ sn This holy place is a reference to the temple.

[6:13]  ⁵⁴ sn The law refers to the law of Moses. It elaborates the nature of the blasphemy in v. 11. To speak against God’s law in Torah was to blaspheme God (Deut 28:15-19). On the Jewish view of false witnesses, see Exod 19:16-18; 20:16; m. Sanhedrin 3.6; 5.1-5. Stephen’s speech in Acts 7 may indicate why the temple was mentioned.

[6:14]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “practices.”