Amos 4:11

4:11 “I overthrew some of you the way God ¹  overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. ² 

You were like a burning stick ³  snatched from the flames.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

Zechariah 3:2

3:2 The Lord ⁴  said to Satan, “May the Lord rebuke you, Satan! May the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, ⁵  rebuke you! Isn’t this man like a burning stick snatched from the fire?”

Zechariah 3:1

Vision Four: The Priest

3:1 Next I saw Joshua the high priest ⁶  standing before the angel of the Lord, with Satan ⁷  standing at his right hand to accuse him.

Zechariah 4:1

Vision Five: The Menorah

4:1 The angelic messenger ⁸  who had been speaking with me then returned and woke me, as a person is wakened from sleep.

Jude 1:23

1:23 save ⁹  others by snatching them out of the fire; have mercy ¹⁰  on others, coupled with a fear of God, ¹¹  hating even the clothes stained ¹²  by the flesh. ¹³ 

[4:11]  ¹ tn Several English versions substitute the first person pronoun (“I”) here for stylistic reasons (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[4:11]  ² tn Heb “like God’s overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.” The divine name may be used in an idiomatic superlative sense here, in which case one might translate, “like the great [or “disastrous”] overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.”

[4:11]  ³ tn Heb “like that which is burning.”

[3:2]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[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.

[4:1]  ⁸ tn See the note on the expression “angelic messenger” in 1:9.

[1:23]  ⁹ tn Grk “and save.”

[1:23]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “and have mercy.”

[1:23]  ¹¹ tn Grk “with fear.” But as this contrasts with ἀφόβως (afobw") in v. 12 (without reverence), the posture of the false teachers, it most likely refers to reverence for God.

[1:23]  ¹² sn The imagery here suggests that the things close to the sinners are contaminated by them, presumably during the process of sinning.

[1:23]  ¹³ tn Grk “hating even the tunic spotted by the flesh.” The “flesh” in this instance could refer to the body or to the sin nature. It makes little difference in one sense: Jude is thinking primarily of sexual sins, which are borne of the sin nature and manifest themselves in inappropriate deeds done with the body. At the same time, he is not saying that the body is intrinsically bad, a view held by the opponents of Christianity. Hence, it is best to see “flesh” as referring to the sin nature here and the language as metaphorical.