2 Corinthians 7:1

Self-Purification

7:1 Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves ¹  from everything that could defile the body ²  and the spirit, and thus accomplish ³  holiness out of reverence for God. ⁴ 

Numbers 16:21

16:21 “Separate yourselves ⁵  from among this community, ⁶  that I may consume them in an instant.”

Numbers 16:26

16:26 And he said to the community, “Move away from the tents of these wicked ⁷  men, and do not touch anything they have, lest you be destroyed because ⁸  of all their sins.” ⁹ 

Numbers 16:45

16:45 “Get away from this community, so that I can consume them in an instant!” But they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground. ¹⁰ 

Ezra 6:21

6:21 The Israelites who were returning from the exile ate it, along with all those who had joined them ¹¹  in separating themselves from the uncleanness of the nations of the land to seek the Lord God of Israel.

Ezra 10:11

10:11 Now give praise to the Lord God of your fathers, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the local residents ¹²  and from these foreign wives.”

Psalms 1:1-3

Book 1
(Psalms 1-41)

Psalm 1 ¹³ 

1:1 How blessed ¹⁴  is the one ¹⁵  who does not follow ¹⁶  the advice ¹⁷  of the wicked, ¹⁸ 

or stand in the pathway ¹⁹  with sinners,

or sit in the assembly ²⁰  of scoffers! ²¹ 

1:2 Instead ²²  he finds pleasure in obeying the Lord’s commands; ²³ 

he meditates on ²⁴  his commands ²⁵  day and night.

1:3 He is like ²⁶  a tree planted by flowing streams; ²⁷ 

it ²⁸  yields ²⁹  its fruit at the proper time, ³⁰ 

and its leaves never fall off. ³¹ 

He succeeds in everything he attempts. ³² 

Proverbs 9:6

9:6 Abandon your foolish ways ³³  so that you may live, ³⁴ 

and proceed ³⁵  in the way of understanding.”

Isaiah 52:11

52:11 Leave! Leave! Get out of there!

Don’t touch anything unclean!

Get out of it!

Stay pure, you who carry the Lord’s holy items! ³⁶ 

Jeremiah 51:6

51:6 Get out of Babylonia quickly, you foreign people. ³⁷ 

Flee to save your lives.

Do not let yourselves be killed because of her sins.

For it is time for the Lord to wreak his revenge.

He will pay Babylonia ³⁸  back for what she has done. ³⁹ 

Acts 2:40

2:40 With many other words he testified ⁴⁰  and exhorted them saying, “Save yourselves from this perverse ⁴¹  generation!”

Revelation 18:4

18:4 Then ⁴²  I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, so you will not take part in her sins and so you will not receive her plagues,

[7:1]  ¹ tn Or “purify ourselves.”

[7:1]  ² tn Grk “from every defilement of the flesh.”

[7:1]  ³ tn Grk “accomplishing.” The participle has been translated as a finite verb due to considerations of contemporary English style, and “thus” has been supplied to indicate that it represents a result of the previous cleansing.

[7:1]  ⁴ tn Grk “in the fear of God.”

[16:21]  ⁵ tn The verb is הִבָּדְלוּ (hibbadÿlu), the Niphal imperative of בָּדַל (badal). This is the same word that was just used when Moses reminded the Levites that they had been separated from the community to serve the Lord.

[16:21]  ⁶ sn The group of people siding with Korah is meant, and not the entire community of the people of Israel. They are an assembly of rebels, their “community” consisting in their common plot.

[16:26]  ⁷ tn The word רָשָׁע (rasha’) has the sense of a guilty criminal. The word “wicked” sometimes gives the wrong connotation. These men were opposing the Lord, and so were condemned as criminals – they were guilty. The idea of “wickedness” therefore applies in that sense.

[16:26]  ⁸ tn The preposition bet (בְּ) in this line is causal – “on account of their sins.”

[16:26]  ⁹ sn The impression is that the people did not hear what the Lord said to Moses, but only what Moses said to the people as a result. They saw the brilliant cloud, and perhaps heard the sound of his voice, but the relaying of the instructions indicates they did not hear the actual instruction from the Lord himself.

[16:45]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they fell on their faces.”

[6:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “who had separated from the uncleanness of the nations of the land to them.”

[10:11]  ¹² tn Heb “the peoples of the land.”

[1:1]  ¹³ sn Psalm 1. In this wisdom psalm the author advises his audience to reject the lifestyle of the wicked and to be loyal to God. The psalmist contrasts the destiny of the wicked with that of the righteous, emphasizing that the wicked are eventually destroyed while the godly prosper under the Lord’s protective care.

[1:1]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see v. 3; Pss 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).

[1:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man.” Hebrew wisdom literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender and age specific “man” with the more neutral “one.” (Generic “he” is employed in vv. 2-3). Since the godly man described in the psalm is representative of followers of God (note the plural form צַדִּיקִים [tsadiqim, “righteous, godly”] in vv. 5-6), one could translate the collective singular with the plural “those” both here and in vv. 2-3, where singular pronouns and verbal forms are utilized in the Hebrew text (cf. NRSV). However, here the singular form may emphasize that godly individuals are usually outnumbered by the wicked. Retaining the singular allows the translation to retain this emphasis.

[1:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “walk in.” The three perfect verbal forms in v. 1 refer in this context to characteristic behavior. The sequence “walk–stand–sit” envisions a progression from relatively casual association with the wicked to complete identification with them.

[1:1]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew noun translated “advice” most often refers to the “counsel” or “advice” one receives from others. To “walk in the advice of the wicked” means to allow their evil advice to impact and determine one’s behavior.

[1:1]  ¹⁸ tn In the psalms the Hebrew term רְשָׁעִים (rÿsha’im, “wicked”) describes people who are proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander (Ps 50:16-20), and cheat others (Ps 37:21).

[1:1]  ¹⁹ tn “Pathway” here refers to the lifestyle of sinners. To “stand in the pathway of/with sinners” means to closely associate with them in their sinful behavior.

[1:1]  ²⁰ tn Here the Hebrew term מוֹשַׁב (moshav), although often translated “seat” (cf. NEB, NIV), appears to refer to the whole assembly of evildoers. The word also carries the semantic nuance “assembly” in Ps 107:32, where it is in synonymous parallelism with קָהָל (qahal, “assembly”).

[1:1]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew word refers to arrogant individuals (Prov 21:24) who love conflict (Prov 22:10) and vociferously reject wisdom and correction (Prov 1:22; 9:7-8; 13:1; 15:12). To “sit in the assembly” of such people means to completely identify with them in their proud, sinful plans and behavior.

[1:2]  ²² tn Here the Hebrew expression כִּי־אִם (ki-’im, “instead”) introduces a contrast between the sinful behavior depicted in v. 1 and the godly lifestyle described in v. 2.

[1:2]  ²³ tn Heb “his delight [is] in the law of the Lord.” In light of the following line, which focuses on studying the Lord’s law, one might translate, “he finds pleasure in studying the Lord’s commands.” However, even if one translates the line this way, it is important to recognize that mere study and intellectual awareness are not ultimately what bring divine favor. Study of the law is metonymic here for the correct attitudes and behavior that should result from an awareness of and commitment to God’s moral will; thus “obeying” has been used in the translation rather than “studying.”

[1:2]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form draws attention to the characteristic behavior described here and lends support to the hyperbolic adverbial phrase “day and night.” The verb הָגָה (hagag) means “to recite quietly; to meditate” and refers metonymically to intense study and reflection.

[1:2]  ²⁵ tn Or “his law.”

[1:3]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries the same characteristic force as the imperfect in the preceding verse. According to the psalmist, the one who studies and obeys God’s commands typically prospers.

[1:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “channels of water.”

[1:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “which.”

[1:3]  ²⁹ tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal forms in v. 3 draw attention to the typical nature of the actions/states they describe.

[1:3]  ³⁰ tn Heb “in its season.”

[1:3]  ³¹ tn Or “fade”; “wither.”

[1:3]  ³² tn Heb “and all which he does prospers”; or “and all which he does he causes to prosper.” (The simile of the tree does not extend to this line.) It is not certain if the Hiphil verbal form (יַצְלִיחַ, yatsliakh) is intransitive-exhibitive (“prospers”) or causative (“causes to prosper”) here. If the verb is intransitive, then כֹּל (kol, “all, everything”) is the subject. If the verb is causative, then the godly individual or the Lord himself is the subject and כֹּל is the object. The wording is reminiscent of Josh 1:8, where the Lord tells Joshua: “This law scroll must not leave your lips! You must memorize it day and night so you can carefully obey all that is written in it. Then you will prosper (literally, “cause your way to prosper”) and be successful.”

[9:6]  ³³ tn There are two ways to take this word: either as “fools” or as “foolish ways.” The spelling for “foolishness” in v. 13 differs from this spelling, and so some have taken that as an indicator that this should be “fools.” But this could still be an abstract plural here as in 1:22. Either the message is to forsake fools (i.e., bad company; cf. KJV, TEV) or forsake foolishness (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT).

[9:6]  ³⁴ tn The two imperatives are joined with vav; this is a volitive sequence in which result or consequence is expressed.

[9:6]  ³⁵ tn The verb means “go straight, go on, advance” or “go straight on in the way of understanding” (BDB 80 s.v. אָשַׁר).

[52:11]  ³⁶ tn Heb “the vessels of the Lord” (so KJV, NAB).

[51:6]  ³⁷ tn The words “you foreign people” are not in the text and many think the referent is the exiles of Judah. While this is clearly the case in v. 45 the referent seems broader here where the context speaks of every man going to his own country (v. 9).

[51:6]  ³⁸ tn Heb “her.”

[51:6]  ³⁹ tn Heb “paying to her a recompense [i.e., a payment in kind].”

[2:40]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “warned.”

[2:40]  ⁴¹ tn Or “crooked” (in a moral or ethical sense). See Luke 3:5.

[18:4]  ⁴² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.