Exodus 19:6

19:6 and you will be to me ¹  a kingdom of priests ²  and a holy nation.’ ³  These are the words that you will speak to the Israelites.”

Ezra 9:2

9:2 Indeed, they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race ⁴  has become intermingled with the local residents. Worse still, the leaders and the officials have been at the forefront of all of this!”

Isaiah 1:11-16

1:11 “Of what importance to me are your many sacrifices?” ⁵ 

says the Lord.

“I am stuffed with ⁶  burnt sacrifices

of rams and the fat from steers.

The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats

I do not want. ⁷ 

1:12 When you enter my presence,

do you actually think I want this –

animals trampling on my courtyards? ⁸ 

1:13 Do not bring any more meaningless ⁹  offerings;

I consider your incense detestable! ¹⁰ 

You observe new moon festivals, Sabbaths, and convocations,

but I cannot tolerate sin-stained celebrations! ¹¹ 

1:14 I hate your new moon festivals and assemblies;

they are a burden

that I am tired of carrying.

1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,

I look the other way; ¹² 

when you offer your many prayers,

I do not listen,

because your hands are covered with blood. ¹³ 

1:16 ¹⁴ Wash! Cleanse yourselves!

Remove your sinful deeds ¹⁵ 

from my sight.

Stop sinning!

Jeremiah 7:3-12

7:3 The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹⁶  says: Change the way you have been living and do what is right. ¹⁷  If you do, I will allow you to continue to live in this land. ¹⁸  7:4 Stop putting your confidence in the false belief that says, ¹⁹  “We are safe! ²⁰  The temple of the Lord is here! The temple of the Lord is here! The temple of the Lord is here!” ²¹  7:5 You must change ²²  the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly. ²³  7:6 Stop oppressing foreigners who live in your land, children who have lost their fathers, and women who have lost their husbands. ²⁴  Stop killing innocent people ²⁵  in this land. Stop paying allegiance to ²⁶  other gods. That will only bring about your ruin. ²⁷  7:7 If you stop doing these things, ²⁸  I will allow you to continue to live in this land ²⁹  which I gave to your ancestors as a lasting possession. ³⁰ 

7:8 “‘But just look at you! ³¹  You are putting your confidence in a false belief ³²  that will not deliver you. ³³  7:9 You steal. ³⁴  You murder. You commit adultery. You lie when you swear on oath. You sacrifice to the god Baal. You pay allegiance to ³⁵  other gods whom you have not previously known. 7:10 Then you come and stand in my presence in this temple I have claimed as my own ³⁶  and say, “We are safe!” You think you are so safe that you go on doing all those hateful sins! ³⁷  7:11 Do you think this temple I have claimed as my own ³⁸  is to be a hideout for robbers? ³⁹  You had better take note! ⁴⁰  I have seen for myself what you have done! says the Lord. 7:12 So, go to the place in Shiloh where I allowed myself to be worshiped ⁴¹  in the early days. See what I did to it ⁴²  because of the wicked things my people Israel did.

Matthew 3:9-10

3:9 and don’t think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! 3:10 Even now the ax is laid at ⁴³  the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

Romans 2:28-29

2:28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh, 2:29 but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart ⁴⁴  by the Spirit ⁴⁵  and not by the written code. ⁴⁶  This person’s ⁴⁷  praise is not from people but from God.

[19:6]  ¹ tn Or “for me” (NIV, NRSV), or, if the lamed (ל) preposition has a possessive use, “my kingdom” (so NCV).

[19:6]  ² tn The construction “a kingdom of priests” means that the kingdom is made up of priests. W. C. Kaiser (“Exodus,” EBC 2:417) offers four possible renderings of the expression: 1) apposition, viz., “kings, that is, priests; 2) as a construct with a genitive of specification, “royal priesthood”; 3) as a construct with the genitive being the attribute, “priestly kingdom”; and 4) reading with an unexpressed “and” – “kings and priests.” He takes the latter view that they were to be kings and priests. (Other references are R. B. Y. Scott, “A Kingdom of Priests (Exodus xix. 6),” OTS 8 [1950]: 213-19; William L. Moran, “A Kingdom of Priests,” The Bible in Current Catholic Thought, 7-20). However, due to the parallelism of the next description which uses an adjective, this is probably a construct relationship. This kingdom of God will be composed of a priestly people. All the Israelites would be living wholly in God’s service and enjoying the right of access to him. And, as priests, they would have the duty of representing God to the nations, following what they perceived to be the duties of priests – proclaiming God’s word, interceding for people, and making provision for people to find God through atonement (see Deut 33:9,10).

[19:6]  ³ tn They are also to be “a holy nation.” They are to be a nation separate and distinct from the rest of the nations. Here is another aspect of their duty. It was one thing to be God’s special possession, but to be that they had to be priestly and holy. The duties of the covenant will specify what it would mean to be a holy nation. In short, they had to keep themselves free from everything that characterized pagan people (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 171). So it is a bilateral covenant: they received special privileges but they must provide special services by the special discipline. See also H. Kruse, “Exodus 19:5 and the Mission of Israel,” North East Asian Journal of Theology 24/25 (1980): 239-42.

[9:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “the holy seed,” referring to the Israelites as God’s holy people.

[1:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “Why to me the multitude of your sacrifices?” The sarcastic rhetorical question suggests that their many sacrifices are of no importance to the Lord. This phrase answers the possible objection that an Israelite could raise in response to God’s indictment: “But we are offering the sacrifices you commanded!”

[1:11]  ⁶ tn The verb שָׂבַע (sava’, “be satisfied, full”) is often used of eating and/or drinking one’s fill. See BDB 959 s.v. שָׂבַע. Here sacrifices are viewed, in typical ancient Near Eastern fashion, as food for the deity. God here declares that he has eaten and drunk, as it were, his fill.

[1:11]  ⁷ sn In the chiastic structure of the verse, the verbs at the beginning and end highlight God’s displeasure, while the heaping up of references to animals, fat, and blood in the middle lines hints at why God wants no more of their sacrifices. They have, as it were, piled the food on his table and he needs no more.

[1:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “When you come to appear before me, who requires this from your hand, trampling of my courtyards?” The rhetorical question sarcastically makes the point that God does not require this parade of livestock. The verb “trample” probably refers to the eager worshipers and their sacrificial animals walking around in the temple area.

[1:13]  ⁹ tn Or “worthless” (NASB, NCV, CEV); KJV, ASV “vain.”

[1:13]  ¹⁰ sn Notice some of the other practices that Yahweh regards as “detestable”: homosexuality (Lev 18:22-30; 20:13), idolatry (Deut 7:25; 13:15), human sacrifice (Deut 12:31), eating ritually unclean animals (Deut 14:3-8), sacrificing defective animals (Deut 17:1), engaging in occult activities (Deut 18:9-14), and practicing ritual prostitution (1 Kgs 14:23).

[1:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “sin and assembly” (these two nouns probably represent a hendiadys). The point is that their attempts at worship are unacceptable to God because the people’s everyday actions in the socio-economic realm prove they have no genuine devotion to God (see vv. 16-17).

[1:15]  ¹² tn Heb “I close my eyes from you.”

[1:15]  ¹³ sn This does not just refer to the blood of sacrificial animals, but also the blood, as it were, of their innocent victims. By depriving the poor and destitute of proper legal recourse and adequate access to the economic system, the oppressors have, for all intents and purposes, “killed” their victims.

[1:16]  ¹⁴ sn Having demonstrated the people’s guilt, the Lord calls them to repentance, which will involve concrete action in the socio-economic realm, not mere emotion.

[1:16]  ¹⁵ sn This phrase refers to Israel’s covenant treachery (cf. Deut 28:10; Jer 4:4; 21:12; 23:2, 22; 25:5; 26:3; 44:22; Hos 9:15; Ps 28:4). In general, the noun ַמעַלְלֵיכֶם (ma’alleykhem) can simply be a reference to deeds, whether good or bad. However, Isaiah always uses it with a negative connotation (cf. 3:8, 10).

[7:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God Israel.”

[7:3]  ¹⁷ tn Or “Make good your ways and your actions.” J. Bright’s translation (“Reform the whole pattern of your conduct”; Jeremiah [AB], 52) is excellent.

[7:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “place” but this might be misunderstood to refer to the temple.

[7:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Stop trusting in lying words which say.”

[7:4]  ²⁰ tn The words “We are safe!” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[7:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these (i.e., these buildings).” Elsewhere triple repetition seems to mark a kind of emphasis (cf. Isa 6:3; Jer 22:29; Ezek 21:27 [32 HT]). The triple repetition that follows seems to be Jeremiah’s way of mocking the (false) sense of security that people had in the invincibility of Jerusalem because God dwelt in the temple. They appeared to be treating the temple as some kind of magical charm. A similar feeling had grown up around the ark in the time of the judges (cf. 1 Sam 3:3) and the temple and city of Jerusalem in Micah’s day (cf. Mic 3:11). It is reflected also in some of the Psalms (cf., e.g., Ps 46, especially v. 5).

[7:5]  ²² tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

[7:5]  ²³ tn Heb “you must do justice between a person and his fellow/neighbor.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

[7:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Stop oppressing foreigner, orphan, and widow.”

[7:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Stop shedding innocent blood.”

[7:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “going/following after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom involved here.

[7:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “going after other gods to your ruin.”

[7:7]  ²⁸ tn The translation uses imperatives in vv. 5-6 followed by the phrase, “If you do all this,” to avoid the long and complex sentence structure of the Hebrew sentence which has a series of conditional clauses in vv. 5-6 followed by a main clause in v. 7.

[7:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “live in this place, in this land.”

[7:7]  ³⁰ tn Heb “gave to your fathers [with reference to] from ancient times even unto forever.”

[7:8]  ³¹ tn Heb “Behold!”

[7:8]  ³² tn Heb “You are trusting in lying words.” See the similar phrase in v. 4 and the note there.

[7:8]  ³³ tn Heb “not profit [you].”

[7:9]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Will you steal…then say, ‘We are safe’?” Verses 9-10 are one long sentence in the Hebrew text.

[7:9]  ³⁵ tn Heb “You go/follow after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom involved here.

[7:10]  ³⁶ tn Heb “over which my name is called.” For this nuance of this idiom cf. BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph.2.d(4) and see the usage in 2 Sam 12:28.

[7:10]  ³⁷ tn Or “‘We are safe!’ – safe, you think, to go on doing all those hateful things.” Verses 9-10 are all one long sentence in the Hebrew text. It has been broken up for English stylistic reasons. Somewhat literally it reads “Will you steal…then come and stand…and say, ‘We are safe’ so as to/in order to do…” The Hebrew of v. 9 has a series of infinitives which emphasize the bare action of the verb without the idea of time or agent. The effect is to place a kind of staccato like emphasis on the multitude of their sins all of which are violations of one of the Ten Commandments. The final clause in v. 8 expresses purpose or result (probably result) through another infinitive. This long sentence is introduced by a marker (ה interrogative in Hebrew) introducing a rhetorical question in which God expresses his incredulity that they could do these sins, come into the temple and claim the safety of his protection, and then go right back out and commit the same sins. J. Bright (Jeremiah [AB], 52) catches the force nicely: “What? You think you can steal, murder…and then come and stand…and say, ‘We are safe…’ just so that you can go right on…”

[7:11]  ³⁸ tn Heb “over which my name is called.” For this nuance of this idiom cf. BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph.2.d(4) and see the usage in 2 Sam 12:28.

[7:11]  ³⁹ tn Heb “Is this house…a den/cave of robbers in your eyes?”

[7:11]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “Behold!”

[7:12]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “where I caused my name to dwell.” The translation does not adequately represent the theology of the Lord’s deliberate identification with a place where he chose to manifest his presence and desired to be worshiped (cf. Exod 20:25; Deut 16:2, 6, 11).

[7:12]  ⁴² sn The place in Shiloh…see what I did to it. This refers to the destruction of Shiloh by the Philistines circa 1050 b.c. (cf. Ps 78:60). The destruction of Shiloh is pertinent to the argument. The presence of the tabernacle and ark of the covenant did not prevent Shiloh from being destroyed when Israel sinned. The people of Israel used the ark as a magic charm but it did not prevent them from being defeated or the ark being captured (1 Sam 4:3, 11, 21-22).

[3:10]  ⁴³ sn Laid at the root. That is, placed and aimed, ready to begin cutting.

[2:29]  ⁴⁴ sn On circumcision is of the heart see Lev 26:41; Deut 10:16; Jer 4:4; Ezek 44:9.

[2:29]  ⁴⁵ tn Some have taken the phrase ἐν πνεύματι (en pneumati, “by/in [the] S/spirit”) not as a reference to the Holy Spirit, but referring to circumcision as “spiritual and not literal” (RSV).

[2:29]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “letter.”

[2:29]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “whose.” The relative pronoun has been replaced by the phrase “this person’s” and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started in the translation.