Deuteronomy 29:17

29:17 You have seen their detestable things ¹  and idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold.) ² 

Deuteronomy 29:1

Narrative Interlude

29:1 (28:69) ³  These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb. ⁴ 

Deuteronomy 11:5-7

11:5 They did not see ⁵  what he did to you in the desert before you reached this place, 11:6 or what he did to Dathan and Abiram, ⁶  sons of Eliab the Reubenite, ⁷  when the earth opened its mouth in the middle of the Israelite camp ⁸  and swallowed them, their families, ⁹  their tents, and all the property they brought with them. ¹⁰  11:7 I am speaking to you ¹¹  because you are the ones who saw all the great deeds of the Lord!

Deuteronomy 11:2

11:2 Bear in mind today that I am not speaking ¹²  to your children who have not personally experienced the judgments ¹³  of the Lord your God, which revealed ¹⁴  his greatness, strength, and power. ¹⁵ 

Deuteronomy 23:13

23:13 You must have a spade among your other equipment and when you relieve yourself ¹⁶  outside you must dig a hole with the spade ¹⁷  and then turn and cover your excrement. ¹⁸ 

Deuteronomy 23:2

23:2 A person of illegitimate birth ¹⁹  may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation no one related to him may do so. ²⁰ 

Deuteronomy 33:2

33:2 He said:

A Historical Review

The Lord came from Sinai

and revealed himself ²¹  to Israel ²²  from Seir.

He appeared in splendor ²³  from Mount Paran,

and came forth with ten thousand holy ones. ²⁴ 

With his right hand he gave a fiery law ²⁵  to them.

Isaiah 44:19

44:19 No one thinks to himself,

nor do they comprehend or understand and say to themselves:

‘I burned half of it in the fire –

yes, I baked bread over the coals;

I roasted meat and ate it.

With the rest of it should I make a disgusting idol?

Should I bow down to dry wood?’ ²⁶ 

Ezekiel 7:20

7:20 They rendered the beauty of his ornaments into pride, ²⁷  and with it they made their abominable images – their detestable idols. Therefore I will render it filthy to them.

Daniel 11:31

11:31 His forces ²⁸  will rise up and profane the fortified sanctuary, ²⁹  stopping the daily sacrifice. In its place they will set up ³⁰  the abomination that causes desolation.

Matthew 24:15

The Abomination of Desolation

24:15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation ³¹  – spoken about by Daniel the prophet – standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),

Revelation 17:4-5

17:4 Now ³²  the woman was dressed in purple and scarlet clothing, ³³  and adorned with gold, ³⁴  precious stones, and pearls. She held ³⁵  in her hand a golden cup filled with detestable things and unclean things from her sexual immorality. ³⁶  17:5 On ³⁷  her forehead was written a name, a mystery: ³⁸  “Babylon the Great, the Mother of prostitutes and of the detestable things of the earth.”

[29:17]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term שִׁקּוּץ (shiquts) refers to anything out of keeping with the nature and character of Yahweh and therefore to be avoided by his people Israel. It is commonly used with or as a synonym for תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “detestable, abhorrent”; 2 Kgs 23:13; Jer 16:18; Ezek 5:11; 7:20; 11:18, 21; see note on the term “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25). See M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 4:243-46.

[29:17]  ² tn The Hebrew text includes “which were with them.” Verses 16-17 constitute a parenthetical comment.

[29:1]  ³ sn Beginning with 29:1, the verse numbers through 29:29 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 29:1 ET = 28:69 HT, 29:2 ET = 29:1 HT, 29:3 ET = 29:2 HT, etc., through 29:29 ET = 29:28 HT. With 30:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[29:1]  ⁴ sn Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai (which some English versions substitute here for clarity, cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[11:5]  ⁵ tn See note on these same words in v. 3.

[11:6]  ⁶ sn Dathan and Abiram. These two (along with others) had challenged Moses’ leadership in the desert with the result that the earth beneath them opened up and they and their families disappeared (Num 16:1-3, 31-35).

[11:6]  ⁷ tn Or “the descendant of Reuben”; Heb “son of Reuben.”

[11:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the midst of all Israel” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV); NASB “among all Israel.” In the Hebrew text these words appear at the end of the verse, but they are logically connected with the verbs. To make this clear the translation places the phrase after the first verb.

[11:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “their houses,” referring to all who lived in their household. Cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “households.”

[11:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and all the substance which was at their feet.”

[11:7]  ¹¹ tn On the addition of these words in the translation see note on “They did not see” in v. 3.

[11:2]  ¹² tn Heb “that not.” The words “I am speaking” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[11:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the Lord.” The collocation of the verbs “know” and “see” indicates that personal experience (knowing by seeing) is in view. The term translated “discipline” (KJV, ASV “chastisement”) may also be rendered “instruction,” but vv. 2b-6 indicate that the referent of the term is the various acts of divine judgment the Israelites had witnessed.

[11:2]  ¹⁴ tn The words “which revealed” have been supplied in the translation to show the logical relationship between the terms that follow and the divine judgments. In the Hebrew text the former are in apposition to the latter.

[11:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “his strong hand and his stretched-out arm.”

[23:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “sit.” This expression is euphemistic.

[23:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “with it”; the referent (the spade mentioned at the beginning of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “what comes from you,” a euphemism.

[23:2]  ¹⁹ tn Or “a person born of an illegitimate marriage.”

[23:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “enter the assembly of the Lord.” The phrase “do so” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[33:2]  ²¹ tn Or “rose like the sun” (NCV, TEV).

[33:2]  ²² tc Heb “to him.” The LXX reads “to us” (לָנוּ [lanu] for לָמוֹ [lamo]), the reading of the MT is acceptable since it no doubt has in mind Israel as a collective singular.

[33:2]  ²³ tn Or “he shone forth” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[33:2]  ²⁴ tc With slight alteration (מִמְרִבַת קָדֵשׁ [mimrivat qadesh] for the MT’s מֵרִבְבֹת קֹדֶשׁ [merivvot qodesh]) the translation would be “from Meribah Kadesh” (cf. NAB, NLT; see Deut 32:51). However, the language of holy war in the immediate context favors the reading of the MT, which views the Lord as accompanied by angelic hosts.

[33:2]  ²⁵ tc The mispointed Hebrew term אֵשְׁדָּת (’eshdat) should perhaps be construed as אֵשְׁהַת (’eshhat) with Smr.

[44:19]  ²⁶ tn There is no formal interrogative sign here, but the context seems to indicate these are rhetorical questions. See GKC 473 §150.a.

[7:20]  ²⁷ tc The MT reads “he set up the beauty of his ornament as pride.” The verb may be repointed as plural without changing the consonantal text. The Syriac reads “their ornaments” (plural), implying עֶדְיָם (’edyam) rather than עֶדְיוֹ (’edyo) and meaning “they were proud of their beautiful ornaments.” This understands “ornaments” in the common sense of women’s jewelry, which then were used to make idols. The singular suffix “his ornaments” would refer to using items from the temple treasury to make idols. D. I. Block points out the foreshadowing of Ezek 16:17 which, with Rashi and the Targum, supports the understanding that this is a reference to temple items. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:265.

[11:31]  ²⁸ tn Heb “arms.”

[11:31]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the sanctuary, the fortress.”

[11:31]  ³⁰ tn Heb “will give.”

[24:15]  ³¹ sn The reference to the abomination of desolation is an allusion to Dan 9:27. Though some have seen the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy in the actions of Antiochus IV (or a representative of his) in 167 b.c., the words of Jesus seem to indicate that Antiochus was not the final fulfillment, but that there was (from Jesus’ perspective) still another fulfillment yet to come. Some argue that this was realized in a.d. 70, while others claim that it refers specifically to Antichrist and will not be fully realized until the period of the great tribulation at the end of the age (cf. Mark 13:14, 19, 24; Rev 3:10).

[17:4]  ³² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the detailed description of the woman, which is somewhat parenthetical in nature.

[17:4]  ³³ tn The word “clothing” is supplied to clarify that the words “purple” and “scarlet” refer to cloth or garments rather than colors.

[17:4]  ³⁴ tn Grk “gilded with gold” (an instance of semantic reinforcement, see L&N 49.29).

[17:4]  ³⁵ tn Grk “pearls, having in her hand.” Due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[17:4]  ³⁶ tc Several mss (including 1611 1854 2053 Ï^K pc) read “sexual immorality on/of the earth” (πορνείας τῆς γῆς, porneia" th" gh") instead of “her sexual immorality.” Other mss (א sy^h** [co]) read “her sexual immorality and the earth’s” (πορνείας αὐτῆς καὶ τῆς γῆς, porneia" aujth" kai th" gh"). The translation is a rendering of πορνείας αὐτῆς, found in {A 1006 2344 al}. It seems that the first reading “sexuality immorality on/of the earth” was a scribal mistake in which letters may have been confused (auths would have been read as thsghs), or was perhaps influenced by the presence of “of the world” (τῆς γῆς) at the end of v. 5. The original wording seems to be “her sexual immorality”; codex א has conflated the two readings.

[17:5]  ³⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[17:5]  ³⁸ tn Some translations consider the word μυστήριον (musthrion, “mystery”) a part of the name written (“Mystery Babylon the Great,” so KJV, NIV), but the gender of both ὄνομα (onoma, “name”) and μυστήριον are neuter, while the gender of “Babylon” is feminine. This strongly suggests that μυστήριον should be understood as an appositive to ὄνομα (“a name, i.e., a mystery”).