Ezekiel 2:10

2:10 He unrolled it before me, and it had writing on the front ¹  and back; ²  written on it were laments, mourning, and woe.

Ezekiel 13:3

13:3 This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit but have seen nothing!

Ezekiel 13:18

13:18 and say ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to those who sew bands ³  on all their wrists ⁴  and make headbands ⁵  for heads of every size to entrap people’s lives! ⁶  Will you entrap my people’s lives, yet preserve your own lives?

Ezekiel 24:6

24:6 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says:

Woe to the city of bloodshed,

the pot whose rot ⁷  is in it,

whose rot has not been removed ⁸  from it!

Empty it piece by piece.

No lot has fallen on it. ⁹ 

Jeremiah 13:27

13:27 People of Jerusalem, ¹⁰  I have seen your adulterous worship,

your shameless prostitution to, and your lustful pursuit of, other gods. ¹¹ 

I have seen your disgusting acts of worship ¹² 

on the hills throughout the countryside.

You are doomed to destruction! ¹³ 

How long will you continue to be unclean?’”

Zephaniah 3:1

Jerusalem is Corrupt

3:1 The filthy, ¹⁴  stained city is as good as dead;

the city filled with oppressors is finished! ¹⁵ 

Matthew 11:21

11:21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! ¹⁶  Woe to you, Bethsaida! If ¹⁷  the miracles ¹⁸  done in you had been done in Tyre ¹⁹  and Sidon, ²⁰  they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

Matthew 23:13-29

23:13 “But woe to you, experts in the law ²¹  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! ²²  You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! ²³  For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in.

23:14 [[EMPTY]] ²⁴ 

23:15 “Woe to you, experts in the law ²⁵  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You cross land and sea to make one convert, ²⁶  and when you get one, ²⁷  you make him twice as much a child of hell ²⁸  as yourselves!

23:16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple is bound by nothing. ²⁹  But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound by the oath.’ 23:17 Blind fools! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 23:18 And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar is bound by nothing. ³⁰  But if anyone swears by the gift on it he is bound by the oath.’ 23:19 You are blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 23:20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 23:21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and the one who dwells in it. 23:22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and the one who sits on it.

23:23 “Woe to you, experts in the law ³¹  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth ³²  of mint, dill, and cumin, ³³  yet you neglect what is more important in the law – justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You ³⁴  should have done these things without neglecting the others. 23:24 Blind guides! You strain out a gnat yet swallow a camel! ³⁵ 

23:25 “Woe to you, experts in the law ³⁶  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 23:26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, ³⁷  so that the outside may become clean too!

23:27 “Woe to you, experts in the law ³⁸  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean. ³⁹  23:28 In the same way, on the outside you look righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

23:29 “Woe to you, experts in the law ⁴⁰  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You ⁴¹  build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves ⁴²  of the righteous.

Revelation 8:13

8:13 Then ⁴³  I looked, and I heard an ⁴⁴  eagle ⁴⁵  flying directly overhead, ⁴⁶  proclaiming with a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe to those who live on the earth because of the remaining sounds of the trumpets of the three angels who are about to blow them!” ⁴⁷ 

Revelation 12:12

12:12 Therefore you heavens rejoice, and all who reside in them!

But ⁴⁸  woe to the earth and the sea

because the devil has come down to you!

He ⁴⁹  is filled with terrible anger,

for he knows that he only has a little time!”

[2:10]  ¹ tn Heb “on the face.”

[2:10]  ² sn Written on the front and back. While it was common for papyrus scrolls to have writing on both sides the same was not true for leather scrolls.

[13:18]  ³ sn The wristbands mentioned here probably represented magic bands or charms. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:413.

[13:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “joints of the hands.” This may include the elbow and shoulder joints.

[13:18]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew term occurs in the Bible only here and in v. 21. It has also been understood as a veil or type of head covering. D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:414) suggests that given the context of magical devices, the expected parallel to the magical arm bands, and the meaning of this Hebrew root (סָפַח [safakh, “to attach” or “join”]), it may refer to headbands or necklaces on which magical amulets were worn.

[13:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “human lives” or “souls” (three times in v. 18 and twice in v. 19).

[24:6]  ⁷ tn Or “rust.”

[24:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “has not gone out.”

[24:6]  ⁹ tn Here “lot” may refer to the decision made by casting lots; it is not chosen at all.

[13:27]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Jerusalem.” This word has been pulled up from the end of the verse to help make the transition. The words “people of” have been supplied in the translation here to ease the difficulty mentioned earlier of sustaining the personification throughout.

[13:27]  ¹¹ tn Heb “[I have seen] your adulteries, your neighings, and your shameless prostitution.” The meanings of the metaphorical references have been incorporated in the translation for the sake of clarity for readers of all backgrounds.

[13:27]  ¹² tn Heb “your disgusting acts.” This word is almost always used of idolatry or of the idols themselves. See BDB 1055 s.v. שִׁקֻּוּץ and Deut 29:17 and Jer 4:1; 7:30.

[13:27]  ¹³ tn Heb “Woe to you!”

[3:1]  ¹⁴ tn The present translation assumes מֹרְאָה (mor’ah) is derived from רֹאִי (ro’i,“excrement”; see Jastrow 1436 s.v. רֳאִי). The following participle, “stained,” supports this interpretation (cf. NEB “filthy and foul”; NRSV “soiled, defiled”). Another option is to derive the form from מָרָה (marah, “to rebel”); in this case the term should be translated “rebellious” (cf. NASB, NIV “rebellious and defiled”). This idea is supported by v. 2. For discussion of the two options, see HALOT 630 s.v. I מרא and J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 206.

[3:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Woe, soiled and stained one, oppressive city.” The verb “is finished” is supplied in the second line. On the Hebrew word הוֹי (hoy, “ah, woe”), see the note on the word “dead” in 2:5.

[11:21]  ¹⁶ sn Chorazin was a town of Galilee that was probably fairly small in contrast to Bethsaida and is otherwise unattested. Bethsaida was declared a polis by the tetrarch Herod Philip, sometime after a.d. 30.

[11:21]  ¹⁷ tn This introduces a second class (contrary to fact) condition in the Greek text.

[11:21]  ¹⁸ tn Or “powerful deeds.”

[11:21]  ¹⁹ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[11:21]  ²⁰ sn Tyre and Sidon are two other notorious OT cities (Isa 23; Jer 25:22; 47:4). The remark is a severe rebuke, in effect: “Even the sinners of the old era would have responded to the proclamation of the kingdom, unlike you!”

[23:13]  ²¹ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:13]  ²² tn Grk “Woe to you…because you…” The causal particle ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated here for rhetorical effect (and so throughout this chapter).

[23:13]  ²³ tn Grk “because you are closing the kingdom of heaven before people.”

[23:14]  ²⁴ tc The most important mss (א B D L Z Θ Ë¹ 33 892* pc and several versional witnesses) do not have 23:14 “Woe to you experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You devour widows’ property, and as a show you pray long prayers! Therefore you will receive a more severe punishment.” Part or all of the verse is contained (either after v. 12 or after v. 13) in W 0102 0107 ˹³ Ï and several versions, but it is almost certainly not original. The present translation follows NA²⁷ in omitting the verse number as well, a procedure also followed by a number of other modern translations. Note also that Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47 are very similar in wording and are not disputed textually.

[23:15]  ²⁵ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:15]  ²⁶ tn Or “one proselyte.”

[23:15]  ²⁷ tn Grk “when he becomes [one].”

[23:15]  ²⁸ tn Grk “a son of Gehenna.” Expressions constructed with υἱός (Juios) followed by a genitive of class or kind denote a person belonging to the class or kind specified by the following genitive (L&N 9.4). Thus the phrase here means “a person who belongs to hell.”

[23:16]  ²⁹ tn Grk “Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing.”

[23:18]  ³⁰ tn Grk “Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing.”

[23:23]  ³¹ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:23]  ³² tn Or “you tithe mint.”

[23:23]  ³³ sn Cumin (alternately spelled cummin) was an aromatic herb native to the Mediterranean region. Its seeds were used for seasoning.

[23:23]  ³⁴ tc ‡ Many witnesses (B C K L W Δ 0102 33 565 892 pm) have δέ (de, “but”) after ταῦτα (tauta, “these things”), while many others lack it (א D Γ Θ Ë^1,13 579 700 1241 1424 pm). Since asyndeton was relatively rare in Koine Greek, the conjunction may be an intentional alteration, and is thus omitted from the present translation. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[23:24]  ³⁵ tn Grk “Blind guides who strain out a gnat yet who swallow a camel!”

[23:25]  ³⁶ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:26]  ³⁷ tc A very difficult textual problem is found here. The most important Alexandrian and Byzantine, as well as significant Western, witnesses (א B C L W 0102 0281 ˹³ 33 Ï lat co) have “and the dish” (καὶ τῆς παροψίδος, kai th" paroyido") after “cup,” while few important witnesses (D Θ Ë¹ 700 and some versional and patristic authorities) omit the phrase. On the one hand, scribes sometimes tended to eliminate redundancy; since “and the dish” is already present in v. 25, it may have been deleted in v. 26 by well-meaning scribes. On the other hand, as B. M. Metzger notes, the singular pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou, “its”) with τὸ ἐκτός (to ekto", “the outside”) in some of the same witnesses that have the longer reading (viz., B* ˹³ al) hints that their archetype lacked the words (TCGNT 50). Further, scribes would be motivated both to add the phrase from v. 25 and to change αὐτοῦ to the plural pronoun αὐτῶν (aujtwn, “their”). Although the external evidence for the shorter reading is not compelling in itself, combined with these two prongs of internal evidence, it is to be slightly preferred.

[23:27]  ³⁸ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:27]  ³⁹ sn This was an idiom for hypocrisy – just as the wall was painted on the outside but something different on the inside, so this person was not what he appeared or pretended to be (for discussion of a similar metaphor, see L&N 88.234; BDAG 1010 s.v. τοῖχος). See Deut 28:22; Ezek 13:10-16; Acts 23:3.

[23:29]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:29]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “Because you.” Here ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated.

[23:29]  ⁴² tn Or perhaps “the monuments” (see L&N 7.75-76).

[8:13]  ⁴³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[8:13]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “one eagle.”

[8:13]  ⁴⁵ tc Ï^A reads “angel” (ἀγγέλου, angelou) instead of “eagle” (ἀετοῦ, aetou), a reading strongly supported by {א A 046 Ï^K and several versions}. On external grounds, ἀετοῦ is clearly the superior reading. ἀγγέλου could have arisen inadvertently due to similarities in spelling or sound between ἀετοῦ and ἀγγέλου. It may also have been intentional in order to bring this statement in line with 14:6 where an angel is mentioned as the one flying in midair. This seems a more likely reason, strengthened by the facts that the book only mentions eagles two other times (4:7; 12:14). Further, the immediate as well as broad context is replete with references to angels.

[8:13]  ⁴⁶ tn Concerning the word μεσουράνημα (mesouranhma), L&N 1.10 states, “a point or region of the sky directly above the earth – ‘high in the sky, midpoint in the sky, directly overhead, straight above in the sky.’ εἶδον, καὶ ἤκουσα ἑνὸς ἁετοῦ πετομένου ἐν μεσουρανήματι ‘I looked, and I heard an eagle that was flying overhead in the sky’ Re 8:13.”

[8:13]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “about to sound their trumpets,” but this is redundant in English.

[12:12]  ⁴⁸ tn The word “But” is not in the Greek text, but the contrast is clearly implied. This is a case of asyndeton (lack of a connective).

[12:12]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “and is filled,” a continuation of the previous sentence. Because English tends to use shorter sentences (especially when exclamations are involved), a new sentence was started here in the translation.