Ezekiel 28:13

28:13 You were in Eden, the garden of God. ¹ 

Every precious stone was your covering,

the ruby, topaz, and emerald,

the chrysolite, onyx, and jasper,

the sapphire, turquoise, and beryl; ² 

your settings and mounts were made of gold.

On the day you were created they were prepared.

Isaiah 14:11

14:11 Your splendor ³  has been brought down to Sheol,

as well as the sound of your stringed instruments. ⁴ 

You lie on a bed of maggots,

with a blanket of worms over you. ⁵ 

Isaiah 22:2

22:2 The noisy city is full of raucous sounds;

the town is filled with revelry. ⁶ 

Your slain were not cut down by the sword;

they did not die in battle. ⁷ 

Isaiah 23:7

23:7 Is this really your boisterous city ⁸ 

whose origins are in the distant past, ⁹ 

and whose feet led her to a distant land to reside?

Isaiah 23:16

23:16 “Take the harp,

go through the city,

forgotten prostitute!

Play it well,

play lots of songs,

so you’ll be noticed!” ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 24:8-9

24:8 The happy sound ¹¹  of the tambourines stops,

the revelry of those who celebrate comes to a halt,

the happy sound of the harp ceases.

24:9 They no longer sing and drink wine; ¹² 

the beer tastes bitter to those who drink it.

Jeremiah 7:34

7:34 I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, or the glad celebration of brides and grooms throughout the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. For the whole land will become a desolate wasteland.”

Jeremiah 16:9

16:9 For I, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all, tell you what will happen. ¹³  I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, to the glad celebration of brides and grooms in this land. You and the rest of the people will live to see this happen.’” ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 25:10

25:10 I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, to the glad celebration of brides and grooms in these lands. ¹⁵  I will put an end to the sound of people grinding meal. I will put an end to lamps shining in their houses. ¹⁶ 

Hosea 2:11

2:11 I will put an end to all her celebration:

her annual religious festivals,

monthly new moon celebrations,

and weekly Sabbath festivities –

all her appointed festivals.

Amos 6:4-7

6:4 They lie around on beds decorated with ivory, ¹⁷ 

and sprawl out on their couches.

They eat lambs from the flock,

and calves from the middle of the pen.

6:5 They sing ¹⁸  to the tune of ¹⁹  stringed instruments; ²⁰ 

like David they invent ²¹  musical instruments.

6:6 They drink wine from sacrificial bowls, ²² 

and pour the very best oils on themselves. ²³ 

Yet they are not concerned over ²⁴  the ruin ²⁵  of Joseph.

6:7 Therefore they will now be the first to go into exile, ²⁶ 

and the religious banquets ²⁷  where they sprawl on couches ²⁸  will end.

James 5:1-5

Warning to the Rich

5:1 Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud ²⁹  over the miseries that are coming on you. 5:2 Your riches have rotted and your clothing has become moth-eaten. 5:3 Your gold and silver have rusted and their rust will be a witness against you. It will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have hoarded treasure! ³⁰  5:4 Look, the pay you have held back from the workers who mowed your fields cries out against you, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5:5 You have lived indulgently and luxuriously on the earth. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. ³¹ 

Revelation 18:22-23

18:22 And the sound of the harpists, musicians,

flute players, and trumpeters

will never be heard in you ³²  again.

No ³³  craftsman ³⁴  who practices any trade

will ever be found in you again;

the noise of a mill ³⁵  will never be heard in you again.

18:23 Even the light from a lamp

will never shine in you again!

The voices of the bridegroom and his bride

will never be heard in you again.

For your merchants were the tycoons of the world,

because all the nations ³⁶  were deceived by your magic spells! ³⁷ 

[28:13]  ¹ sn The imagery of the lament appears to draw upon an extrabiblical Eden tradition about the expulsion of the first man (see v. 14 and the note there) from the garden due to his pride. The biblical Eden tradition speaks of cherubs placed as guardians at the garden entrance following the sin of Adam and Eve (Gen 3:24), but no guardian cherub like the one described in verse 14 is depicted or mentioned in the biblical account. Ezekiel’s imagery also appears to reflect Mesopotamian and Canaanite mythology at certain points. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:119-20.

[28:13]  ² tn The exact identification of each gemstone is uncertain. The list should be compared to that of the priest in Exod 28:17-20, which lists twelve stones in rows of three. The LXX apparently imports the Exod 28 list. See reference to the types of stones in L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.

[14:11]  ³ tn Or “pride” (NCV, CEV); KJV, NIV, NRSV “pomp.”

[14:11]  ⁴ tn Or “harps” (NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[14:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “under you maggots are spread out, and worms are your cover.”

[22:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “the boisterous town.” The phrase is parallel to “the noisy city” in the preceding line.

[22:2]  ⁷ sn Apparently they died from starvation during the siege that preceded the final conquest of the city. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:409.

[23:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “Is this to you, boisterous one?” The pronoun “you” is masculine plural, like the imperatives in v. 6, so it is likely addressed to the Egyptians and residents of the coast. “Boisterous one” is a feminine singular form, probably referring to the personified city of Tyre.

[23:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “in the days of antiquity [is] her beginning.”

[23:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “so you will be remembered.”

[24:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the joy” (again later in this verse).

[24:9]  ¹² tn Heb “with a song they do not drink wine.”

[16:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “For thus says Yahweh of armies the God of Israel.” The introductory formula which appears three times in vv. 1-9 (vv. 1, 3, 5) has been recast for smoother English style.

[16:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “before your eyes and in your days.” The pronouns are plural including others than Jeremiah.

[25:10]  ¹⁵ sn Compare Jer 7:24 and 16:9 for this same dire prediction limited to Judah and Jerusalem.

[25:10]  ¹⁶ sn The sound of people grinding meal and the presence of lamps shining in their houses were signs of everyday life. The Lord is going to make these lands desolate (v. 11) destroying all signs of life. (The statement is, of course, hyperbolic or poetic exaggeration; even after the destruction of Jerusalem many people were left in the land.) For these same descriptions of everyday life applying to the end of life see the allegory in Eccl 12:3-6.

[6:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “beds of ivory.”

[6:5]  ¹⁸ tn The meaning of the Hebrew verb פָּרַט (parat), which occurs only here in the OT, is unclear. Some translate “strum,” “pluck,” or “improvise.”

[6:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “upon the mouth of,” that is, “according to.”

[6:5]  ²⁰ sn The stringed instruments mentioned here are probably harps (cf. NIV, NRSV) or lutes (cf. NEB).

[6:5]  ²¹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew phrase חָשְׁבוּ לָהֶם (khoshvu lahem) is uncertain. Various options include: (1) “they think their musical instruments are like David’s”; (2) “they consider themselves musicians like David”; (3) “they esteem musical instruments highly like David”; (4) “they improvise [new songs] for themselves [on] instruments like David”; (5) “they invent musical instruments like David.” However, the most commonly accepted interpretation is that given in the translation (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 206-7).

[6:6]  ²² sn Perhaps some religious rite is in view, or the size of the bowls is emphasized (i.e., bowls as large as sacrificial bowls).

[6:6]  ²³ tn Heb “with the best of oils they anoint [themselves].”

[6:6]  ²⁴ tn Or “not sickened by.”

[6:6]  ²⁵ sn The ruin of Joseph may refer to the societal disintegration in Israel, or to the effects of the impending judgment.

[6:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “they will go into exile at the head of the exiles.”

[6:7]  ²⁷ sn Religious banquets. This refers to the מַרְזֵחַ (marzeakh), a type of pagan religious banquet popular among the upper class of Israel at this time and apparently associated with mourning. See P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 137-61; J. L. McLaughlin, The “Marzeah” in the Prophetic Literature (VTSup). Scholars debate whether at this banquet the dead were simply remembered or actually venerated in a formal, cultic sense.

[6:7]  ²⁸ tn Heb “of the sprawled out.” See v. 4.

[5:1]  ²⁹ tn Or “wail”; Grk “crying aloud.”

[5:3]  ³⁰ tn Or “hoarded up treasure for the last days”; Grk “in the last days.”

[5:5]  ³¹ sn James’ point seems to be that instead of seeking deliverance from condemnation, they have defied God’s law (fattened your hearts) and made themselves more likely objects of his judgment (in a day of slaughter).

[18:22]  ³² tn The shift to a second person pronoun here corresponds to the Greek text.

[18:22]  ³³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[18:22]  ³⁴ tn On this term BDAG 1001 s.v. τεχνίτης states, “craftsperson, artisan, designer…Of a silversmith Ac 19:24, 25 v.l., 38….Of a potter 2 Cl 8:2 (metaph., cp. Ath. 15:2). πᾶς τεχνίτης πάσης τέχνης Rv 18:22.”

[18:22]  ³⁵ tn This is a different Greek word (μύλος, mulos) from the one for the millstone in v. 21 (μύλινος, mulinos). See L&N 7.68.

[18:23]  ³⁶ tn Or “all the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[18:23]  ³⁷ tn On the term φαρμακεία (farmakeia, “magic spells”) see L&N 53.100: “the use of magic, often involving drugs and the casting of spells upon people – ‘to practice magic, to cast spells upon, to engage in sorcery, magic, sorcery.’ φαρμακεία: ἐν τῇ φαρμακείᾳ σου ἐπλανήθησαν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ‘with your magic spells you deceived all the peoples (of the world)’ Re 18:23.”