Genesis 13:13

13:13 (Now ¹  the people ²  of Sodom were extremely wicked rebels against the Lord.) ³ 

Genesis 15:16

15:16 In the fourth generation ⁴  your descendants ⁵  will return here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit.” ⁶ 

Numbers 16:38

16:38 As for the censers of these men who sinned at the cost of their lives, ⁷  they must be made ⁸  into hammered sheets for covering the altar, because they presented them before the Lord and sanctified them. They will become a sign to the Israelites.”

Job 31:3

31:3 Is it not misfortune for the unjust,

and disaster for those who work iniquity?

Proverbs 10:29

10:29 The way of the Lord ⁹  is like ¹⁰  a stronghold for the upright, ¹¹ 

but it is destruction ¹²  to evildoers. ¹³ 

Proverbs 13:21

13:21 Calamity ¹⁴  pursues sinners,

but prosperity rewards the righteous. ¹⁵ 

[13:13]  ¹ tn Here is another significant parenthetical clause in the story, signaled by the vav (וו) disjunctive (translated “now”) on the noun at the beginning of the clause.

[13:13]  ² tn Heb “men.” However, this is generic in sense; it is unlikely that only the male residents of Sodom were sinners.

[13:13]  ³ tn Heb “wicked and sinners against the Lord exceedingly.” The description of the sinfulness of the Sodomites is very emphatic. First, two nouns are used to form a hendiadys: “wicked and sinners” means “wicked sinners,” the first word becoming adjectival. The text is saying these were no ordinary sinners; they were wicked sinners, the type that cause pain for others. Then to this phrase is added “against the Lord,” stressing their violation of the laws of heaven and their culpability. Finally, to this is added מְאֹד (mÿ’od, “exceedingly,” translated here as “extremely”).

[15:16]  ⁴ sn The term generation is being used here in its widest sense to refer to a full life span. When the chronological factors are considered and the genealogies tabulated, there are four hundred years of bondage. This suggests that in this context a generation is equivalent to one hundred years.

[15:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “they”; the referent (“your descendants”) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[15:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “is not yet complete.”

[16:38]  ⁷ tn The expression is “in/by/against their life.” That they sinned against their life means that they brought ruin to themselves.

[16:38]  ⁸ tn The form is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. But there is no expressed subject for “and they shall make them,” and so it may be treated as a passive (“they shall [must] be made”).

[10:29]  ⁹ sn The “way of the Lord” is an idiom for God’s providential administration of life; it is what the Lord does (“way” being a hypocatastasis).

[10:29]  ¹⁰ tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[10:29]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for the one with integrity” (לַתֹּם, latom).

[10:29]  ¹² tn Or “ruin” (so NIV).

[10:29]  ¹³ tn Heb “those who practice iniquity.”

[13:21]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “evil.” The term רָעָה (ra’ah, “evil”) here functions in a metonymical sense meaning “calamity.” “Good” is the general idea of good fortune or prosperity; the opposite, “evil,” is likewise “misfortune” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV) or calamity.

[13:21]  ¹⁵ sn This statement deals with recompense in absolute terms. It is this principle, without allowing for any of the exceptions that Proverbs itself acknowledges, that Job’s friends applied (incorrectly) to his suffering.