2 Kings 16:10-16

16:10 When King Ahaz went to meet with King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria in Damascus, he saw the altar there. ¹  King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a drawing of the altar and a blueprint for its design. ²  16:11 Uriah the priest built an altar in conformity to the plans King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. ³  Uriah the priest finished it before King Ahaz arrived back from Damascus. ⁴  16:12 When the king arrived back from Damascus and ⁵  saw the altar, he approached it ⁶  and offered a sacrifice on it. ⁷  16:13 He offered his burnt sacrifice and his grain offering. He poured out his libation and sprinkled the blood from his peace offerings on the altar. 16:14 He moved the bronze altar that stood in the Lord’s presence from the front of the temple (between the altar and the Lord’s temple) and put it on the north side of the new ⁸  altar. 16:15 King Ahaz ordered Uriah the priest, “On the large altar ⁹  offer the morning burnt sacrifice, the evening grain offering, the royal burnt sacrifices and grain offering, the burnt sacrifice for all the people of Israel, their grain offering, and their libations. Sprinkle all the blood of the burnt sacrifice and other sacrifices on it. The bronze altar will be for my personal use.” ¹⁰  16:16 So Uriah the priest did exactly as ¹¹  King Ahaz ordered.

Isaiah 24:5

24:5 The earth is defiled by ¹²  its inhabitants, ¹³ 

for they have violated laws,

disregarded the regulation, ¹⁴ 

and broken the permanent treaty. ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 29:13

29:13 The sovereign master ¹⁶  says,

“These people say they are loyal to me; ¹⁷ 

they say wonderful things about me, ¹⁸ 

but they are not really loyal to me. ¹⁹ 

Their worship consists of

nothing but man-made ritual. ²⁰ 

Jeremiah 44:16-17

44:16 “We will not listen to what you claim the Lord has spoken to us! ²¹  44:17 Instead we will do everything we vowed we would do. ²²  We will sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the goddess called the Queen of Heaven ²³  just as we and our ancestors, our kings, and our leaders previously did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and had no troubles. ²⁴ 

Daniel 7:25

7:25 He will speak words against the Most High.

He will harass ²⁵  the holy ones of the Most High continually.

His intention ²⁶  will be to change times established by law. ²⁷ 

They will be delivered into his hand

For a time, times, ²⁸  and half a time.

Daniel 11:36

11:36 “Then the king ²⁹  will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every deity and he will utter presumptuous things against the God of gods. He will succeed until the time of ³⁰  wrath is completed, for what has been decreed must occur. ³¹ 

Matthew 15:3-6

15:3 He answered them, ³²  “And why do you disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition? 15:4 For God said, ³³  ‘Honor your father and mother’ ³⁴  and ‘Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.’ ³⁵  15:5 But you say, ‘If someone tells his father or mother, “Whatever help you would have received from me is given to God,” ³⁶  15:6 he does not need to honor his father.’ ³⁷  You have nullified the word of God on account of your tradition.

Matthew 15:2

15:2 “Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their ³⁸  hands when they eat.” ³⁹ 

Matthew 2:4

2:4 After assembling all the chief priests and experts in the law, ⁴⁰  he asked them where the Christ ⁴¹  was to be born.

[16:10]  ¹ tn Heb “in Damascus.”

[16:10]  ² tn Heb “the likeness of the altar and its pattern for all its work.”

[16:11]  ³ tn Heb “according to all that King Ahaz sent from Damascus.”

[16:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “so Uriah the priest did, until the arrival of King Ahaz from Damascus.”

[16:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the king.”

[16:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “the altar.”

[16:12]  ⁷ tn Or “ascended it.”

[16:14]  ⁸ tn The word “new” is added in the translation for clarification.

[16:15]  ⁹ tn That is, the newly constructed altar.

[16:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for me to seek.” The precise meaning of בָּקַר (baqar), “seek,” is uncertain in this context. For discussion see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 189.

[16:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “according to all which.”

[24:5]  ¹² tn Heb “beneath”; cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV “under”; NAB “because of.”

[24:5]  ¹³ sn Isa 26:21 suggests that the earth’s inhabitants defiled the earth by shedding the blood of their fellow human beings. See also Num 35:33-34, which assumes that bloodshed defiles a land.

[24:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “moved past [the?] regulation.”

[24:5]  ¹⁵ tn Or “everlasting covenant” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “the ancient covenant”; CEV “their agreement that was to last forever.”

[29:13]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai).

[29:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Because these people draw near to me with their mouth.”

[29:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and with their lips they honor me.”

[29:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “but their heart is far from me.” The heart is viewed here as the seat of the will, from which genuine loyalty derives.

[29:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “their fear of me is a commandment of men that has been taught.”

[44:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “the word [or message] you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord.” For an explanation of the rendering of “in the name of the Lord” see the study notes on 10:25 and 23:27.

[44:17]  ²² tn Heb “that went out of our mouth.” I.e., everything we said, promised, or vowed.

[44:17]  ²³ tn Heb “sacrifice to the Queen of Heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.” The expressions have been combined to simplify and shorten the sentence. The same combination also occurs in vv. 18, 19.

[44:17]  ²⁴ tn Heb “saw [or experienced] no disaster/trouble/harm.”

[7:25]  ²⁵ tn Aram “wear out” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV); NASB, NLT “wear down.” The word is a hapax legomenon in biblical Aramaic, but in biblical Hebrew it especially refers to wearing out such things as garments. Here it is translated “harass…continually.”

[7:25]  ²⁶ tn Aram “he will think.”

[7:25]  ²⁷ tn Aram “times and law.” The present translation is based on the understanding that the expression is a hendiadys.

[7:25]  ²⁸ sn Although the word times is vocalized in the MT as a plural, it probably should be regarded as a dual. The Masoretes may have been influenced here by the fact that in late Aramaic (and Syriac) the dual forms fall out of use. The meaning would thus be three and a half “times.”

[11:36]  ²⁹ sn The identity of this king is problematic. If vv. 36-45 continue the description of Antiochus Epiphanes, the account must be viewed as erroneous, since the details do not match what is known of Antiochus’ latter days. Most modern scholars take this view, concluding that this section was written just shortly before the death of Antiochus and that the writer erred on several key points as he tried to predict what would follow the events of his own day. Conservative scholars, however, usually understand the reference to shift at this point to an eschatological figure, viz., the Antichrist. The chronological gap that this would presuppose to be in the narrative is not necessarily a problem, since by all accounts there are many chronological gaps throughout the chapter, as the historical figures intended by such expressions as “king of the north” and “king of the south” repeatedly shift.

[11:36]  ³⁰ tn The words “the time of” are added in the translation for clarification.

[11:36]  ³¹ tn Heb “has been done.” The Hebrew verb used here is the perfect of certitude, emphasizing the certainty of fulfillment.

[15:3]  ³² tn Grk “But answering, he said to them.”

[15:4]  ³³ tc Most mss (א*^,2 C L W 0106 33 Ï) have an expanded introduction here; instead of “For God said,” they read “For God commanded, saying” (ὁ γὰρ θεὸς ἐνετείλατο λέγων, Jo gar qeo" eneteilato legwn). But such expansions are generally motivated readings; in this case, most likely it was due to the wording of the previous verse (“the commandment of God”) that caused early scribes to add to the text. Although it is possible that other witnesses reduced the text to the simple εἶπεν (eipen, “[God] said”) because of perceived redundancy with the statement in v. 3, such is unlikely in light of the great variety and age of these authorities (א¹ B D Θ 073 Ë^1,13 579 700 892 pc lat co, as well as other versions and fathers).

[15:4]  ³⁴ sn A quotation from Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16.

[15:4]  ³⁵ sn A quotation from Exod 21:17; Lev 20:9.

[15:5]  ³⁶ tn Grk “is a gift,” that is, something dedicated to God.

[15:6]  ³⁷ tc The logic of v. 5 would seem to demand that both father and mother are in view in v. 6. Indeed, the majority of mss (C L W Θ 0106 ˹ Ï) have “or his mother” (ἢ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ, h thn mhtera autou) after “honor his father” here. However, there are significant witnesses that have variations on this theme (καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ [kai thn mhtera autou, “and his mother”] in Φ 565 1241 pc and ἢ τὴν μητέρα [“or mother”] in 073 ˹³ 33 579 700 892 pc), which is usually an indication of a predictable addition to the text rather than an authentic reading. Further, the shorter reading (without any mention of “mother”) is found in early and important witnesses (א B D sa). Although it is possible that the shorter reading came about accidentally (due to the repetition of –ερα αὐτοῦ), the evidence more strongly suggests that the longer readings were intentional scribal alterations.

[15:2]  ³⁸ tc ‡ Although most witnesses read the genitive plural pronoun αὐτῶν (autwn, “their”), it may have been motivated by clarification (as it is in the translation above). Several other authorities do not have the pronoun, however (א B Δ 073 ˹ 579 700 892 1424 pc f g¹); the lack of an unintentional oversight as the reason for omission strengthens their combined testimony in this shorter reading. NA²⁷ has the pronoun in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[15:2]  ³⁹ tn Grk “when they eat bread.”

[2:4]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “and scribes of the people.” The traditional rendering of γραμματεύς (grammateu") as “scribe” does not communicate much to the modern English reader, for whom the term might mean “professional copyist,” if it means anything at all. The people referred to here were recognized experts in the law of Moses and in traditional laws and regulations. Thus “expert in the law” comes closer to the meaning for the modern reader.

[2:4]  ⁴¹ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”