Exodus 12:32

12:32 Also, take your flocks and your herds, just as you have requested, and leave. But bless me also.” ¹ 

Isaiah 23:18

23:18 Her profits and earnings will be set apart for the Lord. They will not be stored up or accumulated, for her profits will be given to those who live in the Lord’s presence and will be used to purchase large quantities of food and beautiful clothes. ² 

Isaiah 60:5-10

60:5 Then you will look and smile, ³ 

you will be excited and your heart will swell with pride. ⁴ 

For the riches of distant lands ⁵  will belong to you

and the wealth of nations will come to you.

60:6 Camel caravans will cover your roads, ⁶ 

young camels from Midian and Ephah.

All the merchants of Sheba ⁷  will come,

bringing gold and incense

and singing praises to the Lord. ⁸ 

60:7 All the sheep of Kedar will be gathered to you;

the rams of Nebaioth will be available to you as sacrifices. ⁹ 

They will go up on my altar acceptably, ¹⁰ 

and I will bestow honor on my majestic temple.

60:8 Who are these who float along ¹¹  like a cloud,

who fly like doves to their shelters? ¹² 

60:9 Indeed, the coastlands ¹³  look eagerly for me,

the large ships ¹⁴  are in the lead,

bringing your sons from far away,

along with their silver and gold,

to honor the Lord your God, ¹⁵ 

the Holy One of Israel, ¹⁶  for he has bestowed honor on you.

60:10 Foreigners will rebuild your walls;

their kings will serve you.

Even though I struck you down in my anger,

I will restore my favor and have compassion on you. ¹⁷ 

Hosea 5:6

The Futility of Sacrificial Ritual without Moral Obedience

5:6 Although they bring their flocks and herds ¹⁸ 

to seek ¹⁹  the favor of the Lord, ²⁰ 

They will not find him –

he has withdrawn himself from them!

Zechariah 14:20

14:20 On that day the bells of the horses will bear the inscription “Holy to the Lord.” The cooking pots in the Lord’s temple ²¹  will be as holy as the bowls in front of the altar. ²² 

Acts 2:44-45

2:44 All who believed were together and held ²³  everything in common, 2:45 and they began selling ²⁴  their property ²⁵  and possessions and distributing the proceeds ²⁶  to everyone, as anyone had need.

Acts 2:2

2:2 Suddenly ²⁷  a sound ²⁸  like a violent wind blowing ²⁹  came from heaven ³⁰  and filled the entire house where they were sitting.

Colossians 1:5

1:5 Your faith and love have arisen ³¹  from the hope laid up ³²  for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel ³³ 

[12:32]  ¹ tn The form is the Piel perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive (וּבֵרַכְתֶּם, uverakhtem); coming in the sequence of imperatives this perfect tense would be volitional – probably a request rather than a command.

[23:18]  ² tn Heb “for eating to fullness and for beautiful covering[s].”

[60:5]  ³ tn Or “shine,” or “be radiant” (NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[60:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “and it will tremble and be wide, your heart.”

[60:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “the wealth of the sea,” i.e., wealth that is transported from distant lands via the sea.

[60:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “an abundance of camels will cover you.”

[60:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “all of them, from Sheba.”

[60:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “and they will announce the praises of the Lord.”

[60:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “will serve you,” i.e., be available as sacrifices (see the next line). Another option is to understood these “rams” as symbolic of leaders who will be subject to the people of Zion. See v. 10.

[60:7]  ¹⁰ tc Heb “they will go up on acceptance [on] my altar.” Some have suggested that the preposition עַל (’al) is dittographic (note the preceding יַעֲלוּ [ya’alu]). Consequently, the form should be emended to לְרָצוֹן (lÿratson, “acceptably”; see BDB 953 s.v. רָצוֹן). However, the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has both לרצון followed by the preposition על, which would argue against deleted the preposition. As the above translation seeks to demonstrate, the preposition עַל (’al) indicates a norm (“in accordance with acceptance” or “acceptably”; IBHS 218 §11.2.13e, n. 111) and the “altar” functions as an objective accusative with a verb of motion (cf. Gen 49:4; Lev 2:2; Num 13:17; J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 2:534, n. 14).

[60:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “fly” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NAB, NIV “fly along.”

[60:8]  ¹² tn Heb “to their windows,” i.e., to the openings in their coops. See HALOT 83 s.v. אֲרֻבָּה.

[60:9]  ¹³ tn Or “islands” (NIV); CEV “distant islands”; TEV “distant lands.”

[60:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the ships of Tarshish.” See the note at 2:16.

[60:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to the name of the Lord your God.”

[60:9]  ¹⁶ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[60:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “in my favor I will have compassion on you.”

[5:6]  ¹⁸ sn The terms flocks and herds are used figuratively for animal sacrifices (metonymy of association). Hosea describes the futility of seeking God’s favor with mere ritual sacrifice without the prerequisite moral obedience (e.g., 1 Sam 15:24; Ps 50:6-8; 51:17-18; Isa 1:12; Mic 6:6-8).

[5:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “they go out to seek the Lord”; NCV “to worship the Lord”; NLT “to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

[5:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the Lord”; the phrase “the favor of” does not appear in Hebrew here, but is supplied for the sake of clarity. It is implied by the metonymical (cause-effect) reference to the Lord, the source of favor and forgiveness.

[14:20]  ²¹ tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).

[14:20]  ²² sn In the glory of the messianic age there will be no differences between the sacred (the bowls before the altar) and the profane (the cooking pots in the Lord’s temple) – all will be dedicated to his use.

[2:44]  ²³ tn Grk “had.”

[2:45]  ²⁴ tn The imperfect verb has been translated as an ingressive (“began…”). Since in context this is a description of the beginning of the community of believers, it is more likely that these statements refer to the start of various activities and practices that the early church continued for some time.

[2:45]  ²⁵ tn It is possible that the first term for property (κτήματα, kthmata) refers to real estate (as later usage seems to indicate) while the second term (ὑπάρξεις, Juparxeis) refers to possessions in general, but it may also be that the two terms are used together for emphasis, simply indicating that all kinds of possessions were being sold. However, if the first term is more specifically a reference to real estate, it foreshadows the incident with Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11.

[2:45]  ²⁶ tn Grk “distributing them” (αὐτά, auta). The referent (the proceeds of the sales) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:2]  ²⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated for stylistic reasons. It occurs as part of the formula καὶ ἐγένετο (kai egeneto) which is often left untranslated in Luke-Acts because it is redundant in contemporary English. Here it is possible (and indeed necessary) to translate ἐγένετο as “came” so that the initial clause of the English translation contains a verb; nevertheless the translation of the conjunction καί is not necessary.

[2:2]  ²⁸ tn Or “a noise.”

[2:2]  ²⁹ tn While φέρω (ferw) generally refers to movement from one place to another with the possible implication of causing the movement of other objects, in Acts 2:2 φέρομαι (feromai) should probably be understood in a more idiomatic sense of “blowing” since it is combined with the noun for wind (πνοή, pnoh).

[2:2]  ³⁰ tn Or “from the sky.” The Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven” depending on the context.

[1:5]  ³¹ tn Col 1:3-8 form one long sentence in the Greek text and have been divided at the end of v. 4 and v. 6 and within v. 6 for clarity, in keeping with the tendency in contemporary English toward shorter sentences. Thus the phrase “Your faith and love have arisen from the hope” is literally “because of the hope.” The perfect tense “have arisen” was chosen in the English to reflect the fact that the recipients of the letter had acquired this hope at conversion in the past, but that it still remains and motivates them to trust in Christ and to love one another.

[1:5]  ³² tn BDAG 113 s.v. ἀπόκειμαι 2 renders ἀποκειμένην (apokeimenhn) with the expression “reserved” in this verse.

[1:5]  ³³ tn The term “the gospel” (τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, tou euangeliou) is in apposition to “the word of truth” (τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθείας, tw logw th" alhqeia") as indicated in the translation.