Genesis 19:15-17

19:15 At dawn ¹  the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, ²  or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged!” ³  19:16 When Lot ⁴  hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters because the Lord had compassion on them. ⁵  They led them away and placed them ⁶  outside the city. 19:17 When they had brought them outside, they ⁷  said, “Run ⁸  for your lives! Don’t look ⁹  behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! ¹⁰  Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!”

Exodus 9:20-21

9:20 Those ¹¹  of Pharaoh’s servants who feared the word of the Lord hurried to bring their ¹²  servants and livestock into the houses, 9:21 but those ¹³  who did not take ¹⁴  the word of the Lord seriously left their servants and their cattle ¹⁵  in the field.

Proverbs 22:3

22:3 A shrewd person ¹⁶  sees danger ¹⁷  and hides himself,

but the naive keep right on going ¹⁸  and suffer for it. ¹⁹ 

Jeremiah 6:1

The Destruction of Jerusalem Depicted

6:1 “Run for safety, people of Benjamin!

Get out of Jerusalem! ²⁰ 

Sound the trumpet ²¹  in Tekoa!

Light the signal fires at Beth Hakkerem!

For disaster lurks ²²  out of the north;

it will bring great destruction. ²³ 

Jeremiah 37:11-12

Jeremiah is Charged with Deserting, Arrested, and Imprisoned

37:11 The following events also occurred ²⁴  while the Babylonian forces ²⁵  had temporarily withdrawn from Jerusalem ²⁶  because the army of Pharaoh was coming. 37:12 Jeremiah started to leave Jerusalem to go to the territory of Benjamin. He wanted to make sure he got his share of the property that was being divided up among his family there. ²⁷ 

Luke 21:21-22

21:21 Then those who are in Judea must flee ²⁸  to the mountains. Those ²⁹  who are inside the city must depart. Those ³⁰  who are out in the country must not enter it, 21:22 because these are days of vengeance, ³¹  to fulfill ³²  all that is written.

Hebrews 11:7

11:7 By faith Noah, when he was warned about things not yet seen, with reverent regard ³³  constructed an ark for the deliverance of his family. Through faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

[19:15]  ¹ tn Heb “When dawn came up.”

[19:15]  ² tn Heb “who are found.” The wording might imply he had other daughters living in the city, but the text does not explicitly state this.

[19:15]  ³ tn Or “with the iniquity [i.e., punishment] of the city” (cf. NASB, NRSV).

[19:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Lot) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “in the compassion of the Lord to them.”

[19:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “brought him out and placed him.” The third masculine singular suffixes refer specifically to Lot, though his wife and daughters accompanied him (see v. 17). For stylistic reasons these have been translated as plural pronouns (“them”).

[19:17]  ⁷ tn Or “one of them”; Heb “he.” Several ancient versions (LXX, Vulgate, Syriac) read the plural “they.” See also the note on “your” in v. 19.

[19:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “escape.”

[19:17]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew verb translated “look” signifies an intense gaze, not a passing glance. This same verb is used later in v. 26 to describe Lot’s wife’s self-destructive look back at the city.

[19:17]  ¹⁰ tn Or “in the plain”; Heb “in the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

[9:20]  ¹¹ tn The text has “the one fearing.” The singular expression here and throughout vv. 20-21 refers to all who fit the description.

[9:20]  ¹² tn Heb “his” (singular).

[9:21]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew text again has the singular.

[9:21]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “put to his heart.”

[9:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “his servants and his cattle.”

[22:3]  ¹⁶ sn The contrast is between the “shrewd” (prudent) person and the “simpleton.” The shrewd person knows where the dangers and pitfalls are in life and so can avoid them; the naive person is unwary, untrained, and gullible, unable to survive the dangers of the world and blundering into them.

[22:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “evil,” a term that is broad enough to include (1) “sin” as well as (2) any form of “danger” (NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT) or “trouble” (TEV, CEV). The second option is more likely what is meant here: The naive simpleton does not see the danger to be avoided and so suffers for it.

[22:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “go on”; the word “right” is supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning: The naive person, oblivious to impending danger, meets it head on (cf. TEV “will walk right into it”).

[22:3]  ¹⁹ tn The verb עָנַשׁ (’anash) means “to fine” specifically. In the Niphal stem it means “to be fined,” or more generally, “to be punished.” In this line the punishment is the consequence of blundering into trouble – they will pay for it.

[6:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Flee for safety, people of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem.”

[6:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “ram’s horn,” but the modern equivalent is “trumpet” and is more readily understandable.

[6:1]  ²² tn Heb “leans down” or “looks down.” This verb personifies destruction leaning/looking down from its window in the sky, ready to attack.

[6:1]  ²³ tn Heb “[It will be] a severe fracture.” The nation is pictured as a limb being fractured.

[37:11]  ²⁴ tn The words “The following events also occurred” are not in the text. They are a way to introduce the incidents recorded in 37:11-21 without creating a long complex sentence in English like the Hebrew does. The Hebrew of vv. 11-12a reads “And it was/happened while the army of the Chaldeans had taken themselves up from against Jerusalem, Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to take part…” For the rendering “temporarily withdrawn from Jerusalem” see the translator’s note on v. 5. The words “was coming” are not in the text either but are implicit and have been supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness of English expression.

[37:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for the rendering “Babylonian.” The word “forces” is supplied in the translation here for the sake of clarity.

[37:11]  ²⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[37:12]  ²⁷ tn The meaning of this last sentence is somewhat uncertain. The Hebrew expression here occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible and its meaning is debated. The verb is pointed as a shortened form of the Hiphil infinitive construct of חָלַק (khalaq; see GKC 148 §53.q for explanation of the phenomenon and other examples). There are, however, no other examples of the use of this verb in the Hiphil. BDB 324 s.v. חָלַק Hiph defines it as “receive a portion” and explains it as a denominative from חֵלֶק (kheleq, “portion”) but says that the form is dubious. KBL s.v. חָלַק Hif defines it as “take part in dividing” but that does not fit the prepositional phrase that follows (מִשָּׁם, misham, “from there”) as well as “to receive a portion.” The Greek version did not understand this of dividing property but of conducting business. Later revisions of the Greek and the Latin version, however, did understand it of “taking a share.” The translation of BDB has been expanded to better reflect the probable situation. For the meaning of “his family” for the noun עַם (’am) compare the usage in Job 18:19. For a fuller discussion of the probable situation see J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah (NICOT), 633-34.

[21:21]  ²⁸ sn Fleeing to the mountains is a key OT image: Gen 19:17; Judg 6:2; Isa 15:5; Jer 16:16; Zech 14:5.

[21:21]  ²⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[21:21]  ³⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[21:22]  ³¹ tn Or “of punishment.” This is a time of judgment.

[21:22]  ³² tn The passive construction with the infinitive πλησθῆναι (plhsqhnai) has been translated as an active construction for simplicity, in keeping with contemporary English style.

[11:7]  ³³ tn Cf. BDAG 407 s.v. εὐλαβέομαι 2, “out of reverent regard (for God’s command).”