Genesis 7:4

7:4 For in seven days ¹  I will cause it to rain ²  on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the ground every living thing that I have made.”

Genesis 18:17

18:17 Then the Lord said, “Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? ³ 

Genesis 18:20-21

18:20 So the Lord said, “The outcry against ⁴  Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so blatant ⁵  18:21 that I must go down ⁶  and see if they are as wicked as the outcry suggests. ⁷  If not, ⁸  I want to know.”

Psalms 73:16-19

73:16 When I tried to make sense of this,

it was troubling to me. ⁹ 

73:17 Then I entered the precincts of God’s temple, ¹⁰ 

and understood the destiny of the wicked. ¹¹ 

73:18 Surely ¹²  you put them in slippery places;

you bring them down ¹³  to ruin.

73:19 How desolate they become in a mere moment!

Terrifying judgments make their demise complete! ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 12:1-3

12:1 Lord, you have always been fair

whenever I have complained to you. ¹⁵ 

However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. ¹⁶ 

Why are wicked people successful? ¹⁷ 

Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?

12:2 You plant them like trees and they put down their roots. ¹⁸ 

They grow prosperous and are very fruitful. ¹⁹ 

They always talk about you,

but they really care nothing about you. ²⁰ 

12:3 But you, Lord, know all about me.

You watch me and test my devotion to you. ²¹ 

Drag these wicked men away like sheep to be slaughtered!

Appoint a time when they will be killed! ²² 

Matthew 24:38

24:38 For in those days before the flood, people ²³  were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark.

Romans 2:5

2:5 But because of your stubbornness ²⁴  and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed! ²⁵ 

[7:4]  ¹ tn Heb “for seven days yet,” meaning “after [or “in”] seven days.”

[7:4]  ² tn The Hiphil participle מַמְטִיר (mamtir, “cause to rain”) here expresses the certainty of the act in the imminent future.

[18:17]  ³ tn The active participle here refers to an action that is imminent.

[18:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “the outcry of Sodom,” which apparently refers to the outcry for divine justice from those (unidentified persons) who observe its sinful ways.

[18:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “heavy.”

[18:21]  ⁶ tn The cohortative indicates the Lord’s resolve.

[18:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “[if] according to the outcry that has come to me they have done completely.” Even the Lord, who is well aware of the human capacity to sin, finds it hard to believe that anyone could be as bad as the “outcry” against Sodom and Gomorrah suggests.

[18:21]  ⁸ sn The short phrase if not provides a ray of hope and inspires Abraham’s intercession.

[73:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “and [when] I pondered to understand this, troubling it [was] in my eyes.”

[73:17]  ¹⁰ tn The plural of the term מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdash) probably refers to the temple precincts (see Ps 68:35; Jer 51:51).

[73:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I discerned their end.” At the temple the psalmist perhaps received an oracle of deliverance announcing his vindication and the demise of the wicked (see Ps 12) or heard songs of confidence (for example, Ps 11), wisdom psalms (for example, Pss 1, 37), and hymns (for example, Ps 112) that describe the eventual downfall of the proud and wealthy.

[73:18]  ¹² tn The use of the Hebrew term אַךְ (’akh, “surely”) here literarily counteracts its use in v. 13. The repetition draws attention to the contrast between the two statements, the first of which expresses the psalmist’s earlier despair and the second his newly discovered confidence.

[73:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “cause them to fall.”

[73:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they come to an end, they are finished, from terrors.”

[12:1]  ¹⁵ tn Or “Lord, you are fair when I present my case before you.”

[12:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “judgments” or “matters of justice.” For the nuance of “complain to,” “fair,” “disposition of justice” assumed here, see BDB 936 s.v. רִיב Qal.4 (cf. Judg 21:22); BDB 843 s.v. צַדִּיק 1.d (cf. Ps 7:12; 11:7); BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 1.f (cf. Isa 26:8; Ps 10:5; Ezek 7:27).

[12:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Why does the way [= course of life] of the wicked prosper?”

[12:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “You planted them and they took root.”

[12:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “they grow and produce fruit.” For the nuance “grow” for the verb which normally means “go, walk,” see BDB 232 s.v. חָלַךְ Qal.I.3 and compare Hos 14:7.

[12:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “You are near in their mouths, but far from their kidneys.” The figure of substitution is being used here, “mouth” for “words” and “kidneys” for passions and affections. A contemporary equivalent might be, “your name is always on their lips, but their hearts are far from you.”

[12:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “You, Lord, know me. You watch me and you test my heart toward you.”

[12:3]  ²² tn Heb “set aside for them a day of killing.”

[24:38]  ²³ tn Grk “they,” but in an indefinite sense, “people.”

[2:5]  ²⁴ tn Grk “hardness.” Concerning this imagery, see Jer 4:4; Ezek 3:7; 1 En. 16:3.

[2:5]  ²⁵ tn Grk “in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”