Exodus 22:28

22:28 “You must not blaspheme ¹  God ²  or curse the ruler of your people.

Ecclesiastes 10:6-7

10:6 Fools ³  are placed in many positions of authority, ⁴ 

while wealthy men sit in lowly positions.

10:7 I have seen slaves ⁵  on horseback

and princes walking on foot ⁶  like slaves.

Ecclesiastes 10:20

10:20 Do not curse a king even in your thoughts,

and do not curse the rich ⁷  while in your bedroom; ⁸ 

for a bird ⁹  might report what you are thinking, ¹⁰ 

or some winged creature ¹¹  might repeat your ¹²  words. ¹³ 

Acts 23:5

23:5 Paul replied, ¹⁴  “I did not realize, ¹⁵  brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You must not speak evil about a ruler of your people.’” ¹⁶ 

Jude 1:8

1:8 Yet these men, ¹⁷  as a result of their dreams, ¹⁸  defile the flesh, reject authority, ¹⁹  and insult ²⁰  the glorious ones. ²¹ 

Jude 1:10

1:10 But these men do not understand the things they slander, and they are being destroyed by the very things that, like irrational animals, they instinctively comprehend. ²² 

[22:28]  ¹ tn The two verbs in this verse are synonyms: קָלַל (qalal) means “to treat lightly, curse,” and אָרַר (’arar) means “to curse.”

[22:28]  ² tn The word אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) is “gods” or “God.” If taken as the simple plural, it could refer to the human judges, as it has in the section of laws; this would match the parallelism in the verse. If it was taken to refer to God, then the idea of cursing God would be more along the line of blasphemy. B. Jacob says that the word refers to functioning judges, and that would indirectly mean God, for they represented the religious authority, and the prince the civil authority (Exodus, 708).

[10:6]  ³ tn Heb “folly.”

[10:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “high places.”

[10:7]  ⁵ tn Or “servants,” so KJV, ASV, NCV, NLT (also in the following line).

[10:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “upon the earth.”

[10:20]  ⁷ tn Perhaps the referent is people who are in authority because of their wealth.

[10:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “in chambers of your bedroom.”

[10:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “a bird of the air.”

[10:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “might carry the voice.” The article is used here with the force of a possessive pronoun.

[10:20]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew phrase בַּעַל הַכְּנָפַיִם (ba’al hakkÿnafayim, “possessor of wings”) is an idiom for a winged creature, that is, a bird (e.g., Prov 1:17; see HALOT 143 s.v. בַּעַל A.6; BDB 127 s.v. בַּעַל 5.a). The term בַּעַל (“master; possessor”) is the construct governing the attributive genitive הַכְּנָפַיִם (“wings”); see IBHS 149-51 §9.5.3b.

[10:20]  ¹² tn The term “your” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

[10:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “tell the matter.”

[23:5]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “said.”

[23:5]  ¹⁵ tn Or “know.”

[23:5]  ¹⁶ sn A quotation from Exod 22:28. This text defines a form of blasphemy. Paul, aware of the fact that he came close to crossing the line, backed off out of respect for the law.

[1:8]  ¹⁷ tn The reference is now to the false teachers.

[1:8]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “dreaming.” The participle ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι (enupniazomenoi, “dreaming”) is adverbial to the pronoun οὗτοι (|outoi, “these”), though the particular relationship is not clear. It could mean, “while dreaming,” “by dreaming,” or “because of dreaming.” This translation has adopted the last option as Jude’s meaning, partially for syntactical reasons (the causal participle usually precedes the main verb) and partially for contextual reasons (these false teachers must derive their authority from some source, and the dreams provide the most obvious base). The participle ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι was sometimes used of apocalyptic visions, both of true and false prophets. This seems to be the meaning here.

[1:8]  ¹⁹ tn Most likely, the authority of the Lord is in view. This verse, then, echoes the indictment of v. 4: “they deny our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

[1:8]  ²⁰ tn The construction with the three verbs (“defile, “reject,” and “insult”) involves the particles μέν, δέ, δέ (men, de, de). A more literal (and pedantic) translation would be: “on the one hand, they defile the flesh, on the other hand, they reject authority, and on another hand, they insult the glorious ones.”

[1:8]  ²¹ sn The glorious ones refers to angelic beings rather than mere human beings, just as in 2 Pet 2:10 (on which this passage apparently depends). Whether the angelic beings are good or evil, however, is difficult to tell (hence, the translation is left ambiguous). However, both in 2 Pet 2:11 and here, in Jude 9, the wicked angels seem to be in view (for not even Michael insults them).

[1:10]  ²² tn Or “they should naturally comprehend.” The present tense in this context may have a conative force.