1 Samuel 15:23

15:23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,

and presumption is like the evil of idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,

he has rejected you as ¹  king.”

Jeremiah 6:30

6:30 They are regarded as ‘rejected silver’ ² 

because the Lord rejects them.”

Ezekiel 22:18-22

22:18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become slag to me. All of them are like bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace; ³  they are the worthless slag of silver. 22:19 Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘Because all of you ⁴  have become slag, look out! – I am about to gather you in the middle of Jerusalem. ⁵  22:20 As silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin are gathered in a furnace so that the fire can melt them, so I will gather you in my anger and in my rage. I will deposit you there ⁶  and melt you. 22:21 I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my fury, and you will be melted in it. 22:22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted in it, and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out my anger on you.’”

Malachi 3:2-3

3:2 Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can keep standing when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire, ⁷  like a launderer’s soap. 3:3 He will act like a refiner and purifier of silver and will cleanse the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will offer the Lord a proper offering.

Matthew 3:12

3:12 His winnowing fork ⁸  is in his hand, and he will clean out his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the storehouse, ⁹  but the chaff he will burn up with inextinguishable fire.” ¹⁰ 

Matthew 7:23

7:23 Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’ ¹¹ 

Matthew 13:40-42

13:40 As ¹²  the weeds are collected and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 13:41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom everything that causes sin as well as all lawbreakers. ¹³  13:42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, ¹⁴  where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 13:49-50

13:49 It will be this way at the end of the age. Angels will come and separate the evil from the righteous 13:50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, ¹⁵  where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

[15:23]  ¹ tn Or “from [being].”

[6:30]  ² tn This translation is intended to reflect the wordplay in the Hebrew text where the same root word is repeated in the two lines.

[22:18]  ³ tn For similar imagery, see Isa 1:21-26; Jer 6:27-30.

[22:19]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew second person pronoun is masculine plural here and in vv. 19b-21, indicating that the people are being addressed.

[22:19]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[22:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “I will put.” No object is supplied in the Hebrew, prompting many to emend the text to “I will blow.” See BHS and verse 21.

[3:2]  ⁷ sn The refiner’s fire was used to purify metal and refine it by melting it and allowing the dross, which floated to the top, to be scooped off.

[3:12]  ⁸ sn A winnowing fork was a pitchfork-like tool used to toss threshed grain in the air so that the wind blew away the chaff, leaving the grain to fall to the ground. The note of purging is highlighted by the use of imagery involving sifting though threshed grain for the useful kernels.

[3:12]  ⁹ tn Or “granary,” “barn” (referring to a building used to store a farm’s produce rather than a building to house livestock).

[3:12]  ¹⁰ sn The image of fire that cannot be extinguished is from the OT: Job 20:26; Isa 34:8-10; 66:24.

[7:23]  ¹¹ tn Grk “workers of lawlessness.”

[13:40]  ¹² tn Grk “Therefore as.” Here οὖν (oun) has not been translated.

[13:41]  ¹³ tn Grk “the ones who practice lawlessness.”

[13:42]  ¹⁴ sn A quotation from Dan 3:6.

[13:50]  ¹⁵ sn An allusion to Dan 3:6.