2 Chronicles 30:27

30:27 The priests and Levites got up and pronounced blessings on the people. The Lord responded favorably to them ¹  as their prayers reached his holy dwelling place in heaven.

Jeremiah 27:18

27:18 I also told them, ²  “If they are really prophets and the Lord is speaking to them, ³  let them pray earnestly to the Lord who rules over all. ⁴  Let them plead with him not to let the valuable articles that are still left in the Lord’s temple, in the royal palace, and in Jerusalem be taken away ⁵  to Babylon.

Joel 1:13-14

1:13 Get dressed ⁶  and lament, you priests!

Wail, you who minister at the altar!

Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God,

because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings

to the temple of your God anymore. ⁷ 

1:14 Announce a holy fast; ⁸ 

proclaim a sacred assembly.

Gather the elders and ⁹  all the inhabitants of the land

to the temple of the Lord your God,

and cry out to the Lord.

Joel 2:17

2:17 Let the priests, those who serve the Lord, weep

from the vestibule all the way back to the altar. ¹⁰ 

Let them say, “Have pity, O Lord, on your people;

please do not turn over your inheritance to be mocked,

to become a proverb ¹¹  among the nations.

Why should it be said ¹²  among the peoples,

“Where is their God?”

Zechariah 3:1-5

Vision Four: The Priest

3:1 Next I saw Joshua the high priest ¹³  standing before the angel of the Lord, with Satan ¹⁴  standing at his right hand to accuse him. 3:2 The Lord ¹⁵  said to Satan, “May the Lord rebuke you, Satan! May the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, ¹⁶  rebuke you! Isn’t this man like a burning stick snatched from the fire?” 3:3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes ¹⁷  as he stood there before the angel. 3:4 The angel ¹⁸  spoke up to those standing all around, “Remove his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “I have freely forgiven your iniquity and will dress you ¹⁹  in fine clothing.” 3:5 Then I spoke up, “Let a clean turban be put on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood nearby.

John 9:31

9:31 We know that God doesn’t listen to ²⁰  sinners, but if anyone is devout ²¹  and does his will, God ²²  listens to ²³  him. ²⁴ 

Hebrews 7:26-27

7:26 For it is indeed fitting for us to have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separate from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 7:27 He has no need to do every day what those priests do, to offer sacrifices first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people, since he did this in offering himself once for all.

[30:27]  ¹ tn Heb “and it was heard with their voice.” BDB 1034 s.v. שָׁמַע Niph.4 interprets this to mean “hearing was granted to their voice.” It is possible that the name יְהוָה (yÿhvah, “the Lord”) has been accidentally omitted.

[27:18]  ² tn The words “I also told them” are not in the text, but it is obvious from the fact that the Lord is spoken about in the third person in vv. 18, 19, 21 that he is not the speaker. This is part of Jeremiah’s own speech to the priests and the people (v. 16). These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[27:18]  ³ tn Heb “the word of the Lord is with them.”

[27:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[27:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “…speaking to them, let them entreat the Lord…so that the valuable articles…will not go to Babylon.” The long original sentence has been broken up for the sake of English style.

[1:13]  ³ tn Heb “put on.” There is no object present in the Hebrew text, but many translations assume “sackcloth” to be the understood object of the verb “put on.” Its absence in the Hebrew text of v. 13 is probably due to metrical considerations. The meter here is 3 + 3, and that has probably influenced the prophet’s choice of words.

[1:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “for grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.”

[1:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “consecrate a fast” (so NASB).

[1:14]  ⁵ tc The conjunction “and” does not appear in MT or LXX, but does appear in some Qumran texts (4QXII^c and 4QXII^g).

[2:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “between the vestibule and the altar.” The vestibule was located at the entrance of the temple and the altar was located at the other end of the building. So “between the vestibule and the altar” is a merism referring to the entire structure. The priestly lament permeates the entire house of worship.

[2:17]  ⁶ tn For the MT reading לִמְשָׁל (limshol, an infinitive, “to rule”), one should instead read לְמָשָׁל (lÿmashal, a noun, “to a byword”). While the consonantal Hebrew text permits either, the context suggests that the concern here is more one of not wanting to appear abandoned by God to ongoing economic depression rather than one of concern over potential political subjection of Israel (cf. v. 19). The possibility that the form in the MT is an infinitive construct of the denominative verb II מָשַׁל (mashal, “to utter a proverb”) does not seem likely because of the following preposition (Hebrew בְּ [bÿ], rather than עַל [’al]).

[2:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “Why will they say?”

[3:1]  ⁶ sn Joshua the high priest mentioned here is the son of the priest Jehozadak, mentioned also in Hag 1:1 (cf. Ezra 2:2; 3:2, 8; 4:3; 5:2; 10:18; Neh 7:7; 12:1, 7, 10, 26). He also appears to have been the grandfather of the high priest contemporary with Nehemiah ca. 445 b.c. (Neh 12:10).

[3:1]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew term הַשָּׂטָן (hassatan, “the satan”) suggests not so much a personal name (as in almost all English translations) but an epithet, namely, “the adversary.” This evil being is otherwise thus described in Job 1 and 2 and 1 Chr 21:1. In this last passage the article is dropped and “the satan” becomes “Satan,” a personal name.

[3:2]  ⁷ sn The juxtaposition of the messenger of the Lord in v. 1 and the Lord in v. 2 shows that here, at least, they are one and the same. See Zech 1:11, 12 where they are distinguished from each other.

[3:2]  ⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:3]  ⁸ sn The Hebrew word צוֹאִים (tso’im) means “excrement.” This disgusting figure of speech suggests Joshua’s absolute disqualification for priestly service in the flesh, but v. 2 speaks of his having been rescued from that deplorable state by God’s grace. He is like a burning stick pulled out of the fire before it is consumed. This is a picture of cleansing, saving grace.

[3:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the angel, cf. v. 1) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:4]  ¹⁰ tn The occurrence of the infinitive absolute here for an expected imperfect 1st person common singular (or even imperative 2nd person masculine plural or preterite 3rd person masculine plural) is well-attested elsewhere. Most English translations render this as 1st person singular (“and I will clothe”), but cf. NAB “Take off…and clothe him.”

[9:31]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “God does not hear.”

[9:31]  ¹¹ tn Or “godly.”

[9:31]  ¹² tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:31]  ¹³ tn Or “hears.”

[9:31]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “this one.”