Genesis 13:12-13

13:12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled among the cities of the Jordan plain ¹  and pitched his tents next to Sodom. 13:13 (Now ²  the people ³  of Sodom were extremely wicked rebels against the Lord.) ⁴ 

Numbers 16:26

16:26 And he said to the community, “Move away from the tents of these wicked ⁵  men, and do not touch anything they have, lest you be destroyed because ⁶  of all their sins.” ⁷ 

Job 9:23

9:23 If a scourge brings sudden death, ⁸ 

he mocks ⁹  at the despair ¹⁰  of the innocent. ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 2:17-19

2:17 You have brought all this on yourself, Israel, ¹² 

by deserting the Lord your God when he was leading you along the right path. ¹³ 

2:18 What good will it do you ¹⁴  then ¹⁵  to go down to Egypt

to seek help from the Egyptians? ¹⁶ 

What good will it do you ¹⁷  to go over to Assyria

to seek help from the Assyrians? ¹⁸ 

2:19 Your own wickedness will bring about your punishment.

Your unfaithful acts will bring down discipline on you. ¹⁹ 

Know, then, and realize how utterly harmful ²⁰ 

it was for you to reject me, the Lord your God, ²¹ 

to show no respect for me,” ²² 

says the Lord God who rules over all. ²³ 

Jeremiah 2:1

The Lord Recalls Israel’s Earlier Faithfulness

2:1 The Lord spoke to me. He said:

Jeremiah 6:9-11

6:9 This is what the Lord who rules over all ²⁴  said to me: ²⁵ 

“Those who remain in Israel will be

like the grapes thoroughly gleaned ²⁶  from a vine.

So go over them again, as though you were a grape harvester

passing your hand over the branches one last time.” ²⁷ 

6:10 I answered, ²⁸ 

“Who would listen

if I spoke to them and warned them? ²⁹ 

Their ears are so closed ³⁰ 

that they cannot hear!

Indeed, ³¹  what the Lord says is offensive to them.

They do not like it at all. ³² 

6:11 I am as full of anger as you are, Lord, ³³ 

I am tired of trying to hold it in.”

The Lord answered, ³⁴ 

“Vent it, then, ³⁵  on the children who play in the street

and on the young men who are gathered together.

Husbands and wives are to be included, ³⁶ 

as well as the old and those who are advanced in years.

Revelation 3:19

3:19 All those ³⁷  I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent!

Revelation 18:4

18:4 Then ³⁸  I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, so you will not take part in her sins and so you will not receive her plagues,

[13:12]  ¹ tn Or “the cities of the plain”; Heb “[the cities of] the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

[13:13]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “men.” However, this is generic in sense; it is unlikely that only the male residents of Sodom were sinners.

[13:13]  ⁴ 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”).

[16:26]  ⁵ tn The word רָשָׁע (rasha’) has the sense of a guilty criminal. The word “wicked” sometimes gives the wrong connotation. These men were opposing the Lord, and so were condemned as criminals – they were guilty. The idea of “wickedness” therefore applies in that sense.

[16:26]  ⁶ tn The preposition bet (בְּ) in this line is causal – “on account of their sins.”

[16:26]  ⁷ sn The impression is that the people did not hear what the Lord said to Moses, but only what Moses said to the people as a result. They saw the brilliant cloud, and perhaps heard the sound of his voice, but the relaying of the instructions indicates they did not hear the actual instruction from the Lord himself.

[9:23]  ⁸ tc The LXX contains a paraphrase: “for the worthless die, but the righteous are laughed to scorn.”

[9:23]  ⁹ sn This bold anthropomorphism means that by his treatment of the despair of the innocent, God is in essence mocking them.

[9:23]  ¹⁰ tn The term מַסַּת (massat), a hapax legomenon, was translated “trial” in the older versions; but it is not from נָסָה (nasah, “to tempt; to test; to try”), but from מָסַס (masas, “to flow”). It is used in the Niphal to speak of the heart “melting” in suffering. So the idea behind this image is that of despair. This is the view that most interpreters adopt; it requires no change of the text whatsoever.

[9:23]  ¹¹ sn Job uses this word to refute Eliphaz; cf. 4:7.

[2:17]  ¹² tn Heb “Are you not bringing this on yourself.” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.

[2:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “at the time of leading you in the way.”

[2:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “What to you to the way.”

[2:18]  ¹⁵ tn The introductory particle וְעַתָּה (vÿ’attah, “and now”) carries a logical, not temporal, connotation here (cf. BDB 274 s.v. עַתָּה 2.b).

[2:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to drink water from the Shihor [a branch of the Nile].” The reference is to seeking help through political alliance with Egypt as opposed to trusting in God for help. This is an extension of the figure in 2:13.

[2:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “What to you to the way.”

[2:18]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to drink water from the River [a common designation in biblical Hebrew for the Euphrates River].” This refers to seeking help through political alliance. See the preceding note.

[2:19]  ¹⁹ tn Or “teach you a lesson”; Heb “rebuke/chide you.”

[2:19]  ²⁰ tn Heb “how evil and bitter.” The reference is to the consequences of their acts. This is a figure of speech (hendiadys) where two nouns or adjectives joined by “and” introduce a main concept modified by the other noun or adjective.

[2:19]  ²¹ tn Heb “to leave the Lord your God.” The change in person is intended to ease the problem of the rapid transition, which is common in Hebrew style but not in English, from third to first person between this line and the next.

[2:19]  ²² tn Heb “and no fear of me was on you.”

[2:19]  ²³ tn Heb “the Lord Yahweh, [the God of] hosts.” For the title Lord God see the study note on 1:6. For the title “who rules over all” see the following study note. The title “the Lord who rules over all” is a way of rendering the title “Yahweh of armies.” It is an abbreviation of a longer title “Yahweh the God of armies” which occurs five times in Jeremiah (see, e.g., 44:7). The abbreviated title occurs seventy-seven times in the book of Jeremiah. On thirty-two occasions it is further qualified by the title “the God of Israel,” showing his special relation to Israel. On six occasions it is preceded by the title “Lord” (see, e.g., 46:10) and twice it is preceded by the title “the King” (see, e.g., 51:17). Both titles emphasize his sovereignty. Twice it is said that he is the maker of all things (10:16; 51:19), and once it is said that he made the earth and the people and animals on it and gives them into the control of whomever he wishes (27:4-5). On two occasions it is emphasized that he also made the heavenly elements and controls the natural elements of wind, rain, thunder, and hail (31:35; 51:14-16). All this is consistent with usage elsewhere where the “armies” over which he has charge are identified as (1) the angels which surround his throne (Isa 6:3, 5; 1 Kgs 22:19) and which he sends to protect his servants (2 Kgs 6:17), (2) the natural forces of thunder, rain, and hail (Isa 29:6; Josh 10:11; Judg 5:4, 5) through which he sends the enemy into panic and “gums” up their chariot wheels, (3) the armies of Israel (1 Sam 17:45) which he leads into battle (Num 10:34-35; Josh 5:14, 15) and for whom he fights as a mighty warrior (Exod 15:3; Isa 42:13; Ps 24:8), and even (4) the armies of the nations which he musters against his disobedient people (Isa 13:14). This title is most commonly found in the messenger formula “Thus says…” introducing both oracles of judgment (on Israel [e.g., 9:7, 15] and on the nations [e.g. 46:19; 50:18]; and see in general 25:29-32). It emphasizes his sovereignty as the king and creator, the lord of creation and of history, and the just judge who sees and knows all (11:20; 20:12) and judges each person and nation according to their actions (Jer 32:18-19). In the first instance (in the most dominant usage) this will involve the punishment of his own people through the agency of the Babylonians (cf., e.g., 25:8-9). But it will also include the punishment of all nations, including Babylon itself (cf. Jer 25:17-26, 32-38), and will ultimately result in the restoration of his people and a new relation with them (30:8; 31:35-37).

[6:9]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[6:9]  ²⁵ tn The words “to me” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “They will thoroughly glean those who are left in Israel like a vine.” That is, they will be carried off by judgment. It is not necessary to read the verb forms here as two imperatives or an infinitive absolute followed by an imperative as some English versions and commentaries do. This is an example of a third plural verb used impersonally and translated as a passive (cf. GKC 460 §144.g).

[6:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Pass your hand back over the branches like a grape harvester.” The translation is intended to clarify the metaphor that Jeremiah should try to rescue some from the coming destruction.

[6:10]  ²⁸ tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:10]  ²⁹ tn Or “To whom shall I speak? To whom shall I give warning? Who will listen?” Heb “Unto whom shall I speak and give warning that they may listen?”

[6:10]  ³⁰ tn Heb “are uncircumcised.”

[6:10]  ³¹ tn Heb “Behold!”

[6:10]  ³² tn Heb “They do not take pleasure in it.”

[6:11]  ³³ tn Heb “I am full of the wrath of the Lord.”

[6:11]  ³⁴ tn These words are not in the text but are implicit from the words that follow. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:11]  ³⁵ tn Heb “Pour it out.”

[6:11]  ³⁶ tn Heb “are to be captured.”

[3:19]  ³⁷ tn The Greek pronoun ὅσος (Josos) means “as many as” and can be translated “All those” or “Everyone.”

[18:4]  ³⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.