Daniel 3:8

3:8 Now ¹  at that time certain ²  Chaldeans came forward and brought malicious accusations against ³  the Jews.

Genesis 43:18

43:18 But the men were afraid when they were brought to Joseph’s house. They said, “We are being brought in because of ⁴  the money that was returned in our sacks last time. ⁵  He wants to capture us, ⁶  make us slaves, and take ⁷  our donkeys!”

Jude 1:4

1:4 For certain men ⁸  have secretly slipped in among you ⁹  – men who long ago ¹⁰  were marked out ¹¹  for the condemnation I am about to describe ¹²  – ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil ¹³  and who deny our only Master ¹⁴  and Lord, ¹⁵  Jesus Christ.

Psalms 37:12-13

37:12 Evil men plot against the godly ¹⁶ 

and viciously attack them. ¹⁷ 

37:13 The Lord laughs in disgust ¹⁸  at them,

for he knows that their day is coming. ¹⁹ 

Psalms 37:32-33

37:32 Evil men set an ambush for the godly

and try to kill them. ²⁰ 

37:33 But the Lord does not surrender the godly,

or allow them to be condemned in a court of law. ²¹ 

Proverbs 29:27

29:27 An unjust person is an abomination to the righteous,

and the one who lives an upright life is an abomination to the wicked. ²² 

Ecclesiastes 4:4

Labor Motivated by Envy

4:4 Then I considered ²³  all the skillful work ²⁴  that is done:

Surely it is nothing more than ²⁵  competition ²⁶  between one person and another. ²⁷ 

This also is profitless – like ²⁸  chasing the wind.

Jeremiah 18:18

Jeremiah Petitions the Lord to Punish Those Who Attack Him

18:18 Then some people ²⁹  said, “Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! ³⁰  There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God’s word. ³¹  Come on! Let’s bring charges against him and get rid of him! ³²  Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says.”

Jeremiah 18:23

18:23 But you, Lord, know

all their plots to kill me.

Do not pardon their crimes!

Do not ignore their sins as though you had erased them! ³³ 

Let them be brought down in defeat before you!

Deal with them while you are still angry! ³⁴ 

Jeremiah 20:10

20:10 I ³⁵  hear many whispering words of intrigue against me.

Those who would cause me terror are everywhere! ³⁶ 

They are saying, “Come on, let’s publicly denounce him!” ³⁷ 

All my so-called friends ³⁸  are just watching for

something that would lead to my downfall. ³⁹ 

They say, “Perhaps he can be enticed into slipping up,

so we can prevail over ⁴⁰  him and get our revenge on him.

Matthew 26:4

26:4 They ⁴¹  planned to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.

Matthew 27:18

27:18 (For he knew that they had handed him over because of envy.) ⁴² 

Luke 20:20

Paying Taxes to Caesar

20:20 Then ⁴³  they watched him carefully and sent spies who pretended to be sincere. ⁴⁴  They wanted to take advantage of what he might say ⁴⁵  so that they could deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction ⁴⁶  of the governor.

Luke 22:2

22:2 The ⁴⁷  chief priests and the experts in the law ⁴⁸  were trying to find some way ⁴⁹  to execute ⁵⁰  Jesus, ⁵¹  for they were afraid of the people. ⁵² 

[3:8]  ¹ tc This expression is absent in Theodotion.

[3:8]  ² tn Aram “men.”

[3:8]  ³ tn Aram “ate the pieces of.” This is a rather vivid idiom for slander.

[43:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “over the matter of.”

[43:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “in the beginning,” that is, at the end of their first visit.

[43:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “to roll himself upon us and to cause himself to fall upon us.” The infinitives here indicate the purpose (as viewed by the brothers) for their being brought to Joseph’s house.

[43:18]  ⁷ tn The word “take” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:4]  ⁸ tn Grk “people.” However, if Jude is indeed arguing that Peter’s prophecy about false teachers has come true, these are most likely men in the original historical and cultural setting. See discussion of this point in the note on the phrase “these men” in 2 Pet 2:12.

[1:4]  ⁹ tn “Among you” is not in the Greek text, but is obviously implied.

[1:4]  ¹⁰ tn Or “in the past.” The adverb πάλαι (palai) can refer to either, though the meaning “long ago” is more common.

[1:4]  ¹¹ tn Grk “written about.”

[1:4]  ¹² tn Grk “for this condemnation.” τοῦτο (touto) is almost surely a kataphoric demonstrative pronoun, pointing to what follows in vv. 5-18. Otherwise, the condemnation is only implied (in v. 3b) or is merely a statement of their sinfulness (“ungodly” in v. 4b), not a judgment of it.

[1:4]  ¹³ tn Grk “debauchery.” This is the same word Peter uses to predict what the false teachers will be like (2 Pet 2:2, 7, 18).

[1:4]  ¹⁴ tc Most later witnesses (P Ψ Ï sy) have θεόν (qeon, “God”) after δεσπότην (despothn, “master”), which appears to be a motivated reading in that it explicitly links “Master” to “God” in keeping with the normal NT pattern (see Luke 2:29; Acts 4:24; 2 Tim 2:21; Rev 6:10). In patristic Greek, δεσπότης (despoth") was used especially of God (cf. BDAG 220 s.v. 1.b.). The earlier and better witnesses (Ì^72,78 א A B C 0251 33 81 323 1241 1739 al co) lack θεόν; the shorter reading is thus preferred on both internal and external grounds.

[1:4]  ¹⁵ tn The terms “Master and Lord” both refer to the same person. The construction in Greek is known as the Granville Sharp rule, named after the English philanthropist-linguist who first clearly articulated the rule in 1798. Sharp pointed out that in the construction article-noun-καί-noun (where καί [kai] = “and”), when two nouns are singular, personal, and common (i.e., not proper names), they always had the same referent. Illustrations such as “the friend and brother,” “the God and Father,” etc. abound in the NT to prove Sharp’s point. For more discussion see ExSyn 270-78. See also Titus 2:13 and 2 Pet 1:1

[37:12]  ¹⁶ tn Or “innocent.” The singular is used here in a representative sense; the typical evildoer and the typical godly individual are in view.

[37:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and gnashes at him with his teeth” (see Ps 35:16). The language may picture the evil men as wild animals. The active participles in v. 12 are used for purposes of dramatic description.

[37:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “laughs.” As the next line indicates, this refers to derisive laughter (see 2:4). The Hebrew imperfect verbal form describes the action from the perspective of an eye-witness who is watching the divine response as it unfolds before his eyes.

[37:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “for he sees that his day is coming.” As the following context makes clear (vv. 15, 17, 19-20), “his day” refers to the time when God will destroy evildoers.

[37:32]  ²⁰ tn Heb “an evil [one] watches the godly [one] and seeks to kill him.” The singular forms are used in a representative sense; the typical evildoer and godly individual are in view. The active participles describe characteristic behavior.

[37:33]  ²¹ tn Heb “the Lord does not abandon him into his hand or condemn him when he is judged.” The imperfects draw attention to the Lord’s characteristic behavior in this regard.

[29:27]  ²² tn Heb “who is upright in the way” (so NASB; KJV and ASV are similar). Here “in the way” refers to the course of a person’s life, hence “who lives an upright life.” Cf. NAB “he who walks uprightly.”

[4:4]  ²³ tn Heb “saw.”

[4:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “all the toil and all the skill.” This Hebrew clause (אֶת־כָּל־עָמָל וְאֵת כָּל־כִּשְׁרוֹן, ’et-kol-’amal vÿ’et kol-kishron) is a nominal hendiadys (a figurative expression in which two independent phrases are used to connote the same thing). The second functions adverbially, modifying the first, which retains its full nominal function: “all the skillful work.”

[4:4]  ²⁵ tn The phrase “nothing more than” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[4:4]  ²⁶ tn The noun קִנְאַה (qin’ah, “competition”) has a wide range of meanings: “zeal; jealousy; envy; rivalry; competition; suffering; animosity; anger; wrath” (HALOT 1110 s.v.; BDB 888 s.v.). Here, as in 9:6, it denotes “rivalry” (BDB 888 s.v. 1) or “competitive spirit” (HALOT 1110 s.v. 1.b). The LXX rendered it ζῆλος (zhlos, “envy; jealousy”). The English versions reflect this broad range: “rivalry” (NEB, NAB, NASB), “envy” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NRSV, MLB, NIV, NJPS), and “jealousy” (Moffatt).

[4:4]  ²⁷ tn Heb “a man and his neighbor.”

[4:4]  ²⁸ tn The word “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[18:18]  ²⁹ tn Heb “They.” The referent is unidentified; “some people” has been used in the translation.

[18:18]  ³⁰ tn Heb “Let us make plans against Jeremiah.” See 18:18 where this has sinister overtones as it does here.

[18:18]  ³¹ tn Heb “Instruction will not perish from priest, counsel from the wise, word from the prophet.”

[18:18]  ³² tn Heb “Let us smite him with our tongues.” It is clear from the context that this involved plots to kill him.

[18:23]  ³³ sn Heb “Do not blot out their sins from before you.” For this anthropomorphic figure which looks at God’s actions as though connected with record books, i.e., a book of wrongdoings to be punished, and a book of life for those who are to live, see e.g., Exod 32:32, 33, Ps 51:1 (51:3 HT); 69:28 (69:29 HT).

[18:23]  ³⁴ tn Heb “in the time of your anger.”

[20:10]  ³⁵ tn It would be difficult to render accurately the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) that introduces this verse without lengthening the English line unduly. It probably means something like “This is true even though I…,” i.e., the particle is concessive (cf. BDB s.v. כִּי 2.c). No other nuance seems appropriate. The particle is left out of the translation, but its presence is acknowledged here.

[20:10]  ³⁶ tn The phrase translated “Those who would cause me terror are everywhere” has already occurred in 6:25 in the context of the terror caused by the enemy from the north and in 20:3 in reference to the curse pronounced on Pashhur who would experience it first hand. Some have seen the phrase here not as Jeremiah’s ejaculation of terror but of his assailant’s taunts of his message or even their taunting nickname for him. But comparison of this passage with the first two lines of Ps 31:13 (31:14 HT) which are word for word the same as these two will show that it refers to the terror inspired by the plots of his enemies to do away with him. It is also clear from the context of that passage and the following context here that the “whispering of many” (the literal translation of “many whispering words of intrigue against me) refers to intrigues to take vengeance on him and do away with him.

[20:10]  ³⁷ tn Heb “Denounce and let us denounce him.” The verb which is translated “denounce” (נָגַד, nagad) does not take an accusative object of person as it does here very often. When it does it usually means to inform someone. The only relevant passage appears to be Job 17:5 where it means something like “denounce.” What is probably involved here are the attempts to portray Jeremiah as a traitor (Jer 26:10) and a false prophet (see his conflict with Hananiah in Jer 28).

[20:10]  ³⁸ tn Heb “the men of my peace [who are concerned about my welfare].” For this phrase compare Ps 41:9 (41:10 HT); Jer 38:22. It is generally agreed that irony is being invoked here, hence “so-called” is supplied in the translation to bring out the irony.

[20:10]  ³⁹ tn Heb “watching my stumbling [for me to stumble].” Metaphorically they were watching for some slip-up that would lead to his downfall. Compare the use in Pss 35:15 and 38:17 (38:18 HT).

[20:10]  ⁴⁰ tn All the text says literally is “Perhaps he can be enticed so that we can prevail over him.” However the word “enticed” needs some qualification. As W. McKane (Jeremiah [ICC], 1:479) notes it should probably be read in the context of the “stumbling” (= “something that would lead to my downfall”). Hence “slipping up” has been supplied as an object. It is vague enough to avoid specifics as the original text does but suggests some reference to “something that would lead to my downfall.”

[26:4]  ⁴¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[27:18]  ⁴² sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[20:20]  ⁴³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[20:20]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “righteous,” but in this context the point is their false sincerity.

[20:20]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “so that they might catch him in some word.”

[20:20]  ⁴⁶ tn This word is often translated “authority” in other contexts, but here, in combination with ἀρχή (arch), it refers to the domain or sphere of the governor’s rule (L&N 37.36).

[22:2]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “And the.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[22:2]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

[22:2]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “were seeking how.”

[22:2]  ⁵⁰ tn The Greek verb here means “to get rid of by execution” (BDAG 64 s.v. ἀναιρέω 2; cf. also L&N 20.71, which states, “to get rid of someone by execution, often with legal or quasi-legal procedures”).

[22:2]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:2]  ⁵² sn The suggestion here is that Jesus was too popular to openly arrest him. The verb were trying is imperfect. It suggests, in this context, that they were always considering the opportunities.