2 Kings 2:23-24

2:23 He went up from there to Bethel. ¹  As he was traveling up the road, some young boys ²  came out of the city and made fun of him, saying, “Go on up, baldy! Go on up, baldy!” 2:24 When he turned around and saw them, he called God’s judgment down on them. ³  Two female bears came out of the woods and ripped forty-two of the boys to pieces.

Numbers 16:28-30

16:28 Then Moses said, “This is how ⁴  you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will. ⁵  16:29 If these men die a natural death, ⁶  or if they share the fate ⁷  of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. 16:30 But if the Lord does something entirely new, ⁸  and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up ⁹  along with all that they have, and they ¹⁰  go down alive to the grave, ¹¹  then you will know that these men have despised the Lord!”

Numbers 16:1

The Rebellion of Korah

16:1 ¹² Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, who were Reubenites, ¹³  took men ¹⁴ 

Numbers 18:1

Responsibilities of the Priests

18:1 ¹⁵ The Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your tribe ¹⁶  with you must bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, ¹⁷  and you and your sons with you must bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

Numbers 22:28

22:28 Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?”

Numbers 22:2

22:2 Balak son of Zippor saw all that the Israelites had done to the Amorites.

Numbers 36:1

Women and Land Inheritance

36:1 Then the heads of the family groups ¹⁸  of the Gileadites, the descendant of Machir, the descendant of Manasseh, who were from the Josephite families, approached and spoke before Moses ¹⁹  and the leaders who were the heads of the Israelite families. ²⁰ 

Psalms 105:15

105:15 saying, ²¹  “Don’t touch my chosen ²²  ones!

Don’t harm my prophets!”

Matthew 21:41

21:41 They said to him, “He will utterly destroy those evil men! Then he will lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his portion at the harvest.”

Matthew 23:34-37

23:34 “For this reason I ²³  am sending you prophets and wise men and experts in the law, ²⁴  some of whom you will kill and crucify, ²⁵  and some you will flog ²⁶  in your synagogues ²⁷  and pursue from town to town, 23:35 so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, ²⁸  whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 23:36 I tell you the truth, ²⁹  this generation will be held responsible for all these things! ³⁰ 

Judgment on Israel

23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ³¹  you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! ³²  How often I have longed ³³  to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but ³⁴  you would have none of it! ³⁵ 

Acts 5:3-10

5:3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled ³⁶  your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself part of the proceeds from the sale of ³⁷  the land? 5:4 Before it was sold, ³⁸  did it not ³⁹  belong to you? And when it was sold, was the money ⁴⁰  not at your disposal? How have you thought up this deed in your heart? ⁴¹  You have not lied to people ⁴²  but to God!”

5:5 When Ananias heard these words he collapsed and died, and great fear gripped ⁴³  all who heard about it. 5:6 So the young men came, ⁴⁴  wrapped him up, ⁴⁵  carried him out, and buried ⁴⁶  him. 5:7 After an interval of about three hours, ⁴⁷  his wife came in, but she did not know ⁴⁸  what had happened. 5:8 Peter said to her, “Tell me, were the two of you ⁴⁹  paid this amount ⁵⁰  for the land?” Sapphira ⁵¹  said, “Yes, that much.” 5:9 Peter then told her, “Why have you agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out!” 5:10 At once ⁵²  she collapsed at his feet and died. So when the young men came in, they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

[2:23]  ¹ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[2:23]  ² tn The word נַעַר (na’ar), here translated “boy,” can refer to a broad age range, including infants as well as young men. But the qualifying term “young” (or “small”) suggests these youths were relatively young. The phrase in question (“young boy”) occurs elsewhere in 1 Sam 20:35; 1 Kgs 3:7 (used by Solomon in an hyperbolic manner); 11:17; 2 Kgs 5:14; and Isa 11:6.

[2:24]  ³ tn Heb “he cursed them in the name of the Lord.” A curse was a formal appeal to a higher authority (here the Lord) to vindicate one’s cause through judgment. As in chapter one, this account makes it clear that disrespect for the Lord’s designated spokesmen can be deadly, for it is ultimately rejection of the Lord’s authority.

[16:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “in this.”

[16:28]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text simply has כִּי־לֹא מִלִּבִּי (ki-lo’ millibbi, “for not from my heart”). The heart is the center of the will, the place decisions are made (see H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament). Moses is saying that the things he has done have not come “from the will of man” so to speak – and certainly not from some secret desire on his part to seize power.

[16:29]  ⁶ tn Heb “if like the death of every man they die.”

[16:29]  ⁷ tn The noun is פְּקֻדָּה (pÿquddah, “appointment, visitation”). The expression refers to a natural death, parallel to the first expression.

[16:30]  ⁸ tn The verb בָּרָא (bara’) is normally translated “create” in the Bible. More specifically it means to fashion or make or do something new and fresh. Here the verb is joined with its cognate accusative to underscore that this will be so different everyone will know it is of God.

[16:30]  ⁹ tn The figures are personifications. But they vividly describe the catastrophe to follow – which was very much like a mouth swallowing them.

[16:30]  ¹⁰ tn The word is “life” or “lifetime”; it certainly means their lives – they themselves. But the presence of this word suggest more. It is an accusative specifying the state of the subject – they will go down alive to Sheol.

[16:30]  ¹¹ tn The word “Sheol” in the Bible can be used four different ways: the grave, the realm of the departed [wicked] spirits or Hell, death in general, or a place of extreme danger (one that will lead to the grave if God does not intervene). The usage here is certainly the first, and very likely the second as well. A translation of “pit” would not be inappropriate. Since they will go down there alive, it is likely that they will sense the deprivation and the separation from the land above. See H. W. Robinson, Inspiration and Revelation in the Old Testament; N. J. Tromp, Primitive Conceptions of Death and the Netherworld in the Old Testament (BibOr 21), 21-23; and A. Heidel, The Gilgamesh Epic, especially ch. 3.

[16:1]  ¹² sn There are three main movements in the story of ch. 16. The first is the rebellion itself (vv. 1-19). The second is the judgment (vv. 20-35). Third is the atonement for the rebels (vv. 36-50). The whole chapter is a marvelous account of a massive rebellion against the leaders that concludes with reconciliation. For further study see G. Hort, “The Death of Qorah,” ABR 7 (1959): 2-26; and J. Liver, “Korah, Dathan and Abiram,” Studies in the Bible (ScrHier 8), 189-217.

[16:1]  ¹³ tc The MT reading is plural (“the sons of Reuben”); the Smr and LXX have the singular (“the son of Reuben”).

[16:1]  ¹⁴ tn In the Hebrew text there is no object for the verb “took.” The translation presented above supplies the word “men.” However, it is possible that the MT has suffered damage here. The LXX has “and he spoke.” The Syriac and Targum have “and he was divided.” The editor of BHS suggests that perhaps the MT should be emended to “and he arose.”

[18:1]  ¹⁵ sn This chapter and the next may have been inserted here to explain how the priests are to function because in the preceding chapter Aaron’s position was affirmed. The chapter seems to fall into four units: responsibilities of priests (vv. 1-7), their portions (vv. 8-19), responsibilities of Levites (vv. 20-24), and instructions for Levites (vv. 25-32).

[18:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “your father’s house.”

[18:1]  ¹⁷ sn The responsibility for the sanctuary included obligations relating to any violation of the sanctuary. This was stated to forestall any further violations of the sanctuary. The priests were to pay for any ritual errors, primarily if any came too near. Since the priests and Levites come near all the time, they risk violating ritual laws more than any. So, with the great privileges come great responsibilities. The bottom line is that they were responsible for the sanctuary.

[36:1]  ¹⁸ tn The expression is “the heads of the fathers by the family of the Gileadites.”

[36:1]  ¹⁹ tn The Greek and the Syriac add “and before Eleazar the priest.”

[36:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “heads of the fathers.”

[105:15]  ²¹ tn The word “saying” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[105:15]  ²² tn Heb “anointed.”

[23:34]  ²³ tn Grk “behold I am sending.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[23:34]  ²⁴ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:34]  ²⁵ sn See the note on crucified in 20:19.

[23:34]  ²⁶ tn BDAG 620 s.v. μαστιγόω 1.a states, “of flogging as a punishment decreed by the synagogue (Dt 25:2f; s. the Mishna Tractate Sanhedrin-Makkoth, edited w. notes by SKrauss ’33) w. acc. of pers. Mt 10:17; 23:34.”

[23:34]  ²⁷ sn See the note on synagogues in 4:23.

[23:35]  ²⁸ sn Spelling of this name (Βαραχίου, Baraciou) varies among the English versions: “Barachiah” (RSV, NRSV); “Berechiah” (NASB); “Berachiah” (NIV).

[23:36]  ²⁹ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[23:36]  ³⁰ tn Grk “all these things will come on this generation.”

[23:37]  ³¹ sn The double use of the city’s name betrays intense emotion.

[23:37]  ³² tn Although the opening address (“Jerusalem, Jerusalem”) is direct (second person), the remainder of this sentence in the Greek text is third person (“who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her”). The following sentences then revert to second person (“your… you”), so to keep all this consistent in English, the third person pronouns in the present verse were translated as second person (“you who kill… sent to you”).

[23:37]  ³³ sn How often I have longed to gather your children. Jesus, like a lamenting prophet, speaks for God here, who longed to care tenderly for Israel and protect her.

[23:37]  ³⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[23:37]  ³⁵ tn Grk “you were not willing.”

[5:3]  ³⁶ sn This is a good example of the Greek verb fill (πληρόω, plhrow) meaning “to exercise control over someone’s thought and action” (cf. Eph 5:18).

[5:3]  ³⁷ tn The words “from the sale of” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to clarify the meaning, since the phrase “proceeds from the land” could possibly be understood as crops rather than money from the sale.

[5:4]  ³⁸ tn Grk “Remaining to you.”

[5:4]  ³⁹ tn The negative interrogative particle οὐχί (ouci) expects a positive reply to this question and the following one (“And when it was sold, was it not at your disposal?”).

[5:4]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “it”; the referent of the pronoun (the money generated from the sale of the land) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:4]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “How is it that you have [or Why have you] placed this deed in your heart?” Both of these literal translations differ from the normal way of expressing the thought in English.

[5:4]  ⁴² tn Grk “to men.” If Peter’s remark refers only to the apostles, the translation “to men” would be appropriate. But if (as is likely) the action was taken to impress the entire congregation (who would presumably have witnessed the donation or been aware of it) then the more general “to people” is more appropriate, since the audience would have included both men and women.

[5:5]  ⁴³ tn Or “fear came on,” “fear seized”; Grk “fear happened to.”

[5:6]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “arose.”

[5:6]  ⁴⁵ tn The translation “wrapped up” for συνέστειλαν (sunesteilan) is suggested by L&N 79.119, but another interpretation is possible. The same verb could also be translated “removed” (see L&N 15.200), although that sense appears somewhat redundant and out of sequence with the following verb and participle (“carried him out and buried him”).

[5:6]  ⁴⁶ sn Buried. Same day burial was a custom in the Jewish world of the first century (cf. also Deut 21:23).

[5:7]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “It happened that after an interval of about three hours.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[5:7]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “came in, not knowing.” The participle has been translated with concessive or adversative force: “although she did not know.” In English, the adversative conjunction (“but”) conveys this nuance more smoothly.

[5:8]  ⁴⁹ tn The words “the two of” are not in the Greek text, but have been supplied to indicate that the verb (ἀπέδοσθε, apedosqe) is plural and thus refers to both Ananias and Sapphira.

[5:8]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “so much,” “as much as this.”

[5:8]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “She”; the referent (Sapphira) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:10]  ⁵² tn Grk “And at once.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.