Discovery BoxHaggai 1:4-11
Context1:4 “Is it right for you to live in richly paneled houses 1 while my temple is in ruins? 2 1:5 Here then is what the Lord who rules over all says: ‘Think carefully about what you are doing. 3 1:6 You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but are never filled. You drink, but are still thirsty. You put on clothes, but are not warm. Those who earn wages end up with holes in their money bags.’” 4
1:7 “Moreover, the Lord who rules over all says: ‘Pay close attention to these things also. 5 1:8 Go up to the hill country and bring back timber to build 6 the temple. 7 Then I will be pleased and honored,’ 8 says the Lord. 1:9 ‘You expected a large harvest, but instead 9 there was little, and when you brought it home it disappeared right away. 10 Why?’ asks the Lord who rules over all. ‘Because my temple remains in ruins, thanks to each of you favoring his own house! 11 1:10 This is why the sky 12 has held back its dew and the earth its produce. 13 1:11 Moreover, I have called for a drought that will affect the fields, the hill country, the grain, new wine, fresh olive oil, and everything that grows from the ground; it also will harm people, animals, and everything they produce.’” 14
Proverbs 15:8
Context15:8 The Lord abhors 15 the sacrifices 16 of the wicked, 17
but the prayer 18 of the upright pleases him. 19
Proverbs 21:4
Context21:4 Haughty eyes and a proud heart –
the agricultural product 20 of the wicked is sin.
Proverbs 21:27
Context21:27 The wicked person’s sacrifice 21 is an abomination;
how much more 22 when he brings it with evil intent! 23
Proverbs 28:9
Context28:9 The one who turns away his ear 24 from hearing the law,
even his prayer 25 is an abomination. 26
Isaiah 1:11-15
Context1:11 “Of what importance to me are your many sacrifices?” 27
says the Lord.
“I am stuffed with 28 burnt sacrifices
of rams and the fat from steers.
The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats
I do not want. 29
1:12 When you enter my presence,
do you actually think I want this –
animals trampling on my courtyards? 30
1:13 Do not bring any more meaningless 31 offerings;
I consider your incense detestable! 32
You observe new moon festivals, Sabbaths, and convocations,
but I cannot tolerate sin-stained celebrations! 33
1:14 I hate your new moon festivals and assemblies;
they are a burden
that I am tired of carrying.
1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I look the other way; 34
when you offer your many prayers,
I do not listen,
because your hands are covered with blood. 35
Titus 1:15
Context1:15 All is pure to those who are pure. But to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their minds and consciences are corrupted.
Jude 1:23
Context1:23 save 36 others by snatching them out of the fire; have mercy 37 on others, coupled with a fear of God, 38 hating even the clothes stained 39 by the flesh. 40
[1:4] 1 sn Richly paneled houses. Paneling is otherwise known in the OT only in connection with the temple (1 Kgs 6:9) and the royal palace (2 Kgs 7:3, 7). It implies decoration and luxury (cf. NCV “fancy houses”; TEV “well-built houses”; NLT “luxurious houses”). The impropriety of the people living in such lavish accommodations while the temple lay unfinished is striking.
[1:4] 2 tn Heb “Is it time for you, [yes] you, to live in paneled houses, while this house is in ruins”; NASB “lies desolate”; NIV “remains a ruin.”
[1:5] 3 tn Heb “Set your heart upon your ways” (see 2:15, 18); traditionally “Consider your ways” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB).
[1:6] 4 tn Some translate “pockets” (so NLT) but the Hebrew word צְרוֹר (tsÿror) refers to a bag, pouch, or purse of money (BDB 865 s.v. צְרוֹר; HALOT 1054 s.v. צְרוֹר 1). Because coinage had been invented by the Persians and was thus in use in Haggai’s day, this likely is a money bag or purse rather than pouches or pockets in the clothing. Since in contemporary English “purse” (so NASB, NIV, NCV) could be understood as a handbag, the present translation uses “money bags.”
[1:7] 5 tn Heb “Set your heart upon your ways”; see v. 5.
[1:8] 6 tn Heb “and build the house” (so NIV, NRSV), with “house” referring specifically to the temple here.
[1:8] 7 sn The temple was built primarily of stone, so the timber here refers to interior paneling (see v. 4) and perhaps to scaffolding (see Ezra 5:8; 6:4).
[1:8] 8 tn The Hebrew verb אֶכָּבְדָ (’ekkavda) appears to be a defectively written cohortative (“that I may be glorified”). The cohortatives (note that the preceding אֶרְצֶה, ’ertseh, “I will be pleased,” may also be taken as cohortative) indicate purpose/result (cf. NIV, NRSV “so that”; CEV “so”) following the imperatives of v. 8a (“go up,” “bring back,” “build”).
[1:9] 9 tn Heb “look!” (הִנֵּה, hinneh). The term, an interjection, draws attention to the point being made.
[1:9] 10 tn Heb “I blew it away” (so NRSV, TEV, NLT). The imagery here suggests that human achievements are so fragile and temporal that a mere breath from God can destroy them (see Ezek 22:20, 21; and Isa 40:7 with נָשַׁב, nashav).
[1:9] 11 tn Heb “and each of you runs to his own house”; NIV “is busy with”; TEV “is busy working on”; NCV “work hard for.”
[1:10] 12 tn The Hebrew text has “over you” (so KJV), but this is redundant in contemporary English and has been left untranslated.
[1:10] 13 sn This linkage of human sin to natural disaster is reminiscent of the curse brought upon the earth by Adam’s disobedience (Gen 3:17-19; see Rom 8:20-22).
[1:11] 14 tn Heb “all the labor of hands” (similar KJV, NASB, NIV); cf. NAB “all that is produced by hand.”
[15:8] 15 tn Heb “an abomination of the
[15:8] 16 tn Heb “sacrifice” (so many English versions).
[15:8] 17 sn The sacrifices of the wicked are hated by the
[15:8] 18 sn J. H. Greenstone notes that if God will accept the prayers of the upright, he will accept their sacrifices; for sacrifice is an outer ritual and easily performed even by the wicked, but prayer is a private and inward act and not usually fabricated by unbelievers (Proverbs, 162).
[15:8] 19 tn Heb “[is] his pleasure.” The 3rd person masculine singular suffix functions as a subjective genitive: “he is pleased.” God is pleased with the prayers of the upright.
[21:4] 20 tn Heb “the tillage [נִר, nir] of the wicked is sin” (so NAB). The subject picks up the subjects of the first half of the verse, indicating they are equal – the tillage consists of the arrogance and pride. The word “tillage” is figurative, of course, signifying that the agricultural product (the point of the comparison) of the wicked is sin. The relationship between the ideas is then problematic. Are pride and arrogance what the wicked produce? Some (ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV) have followed the LXX and Tg. Prov 21:4 to read “lamp” instead (נֵר, ner), but that does not solve the difficulty of the relationship between the expressions. It does, however, say that the life ( = lamp), which is arrogance and pride, is sin.
[21:27] 21 tn Heb “the sacrifice of the wicked” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). This is a subjective genitive. The foundational clause states that ritual acts of worship brought by the wicked (thus a subjective genitive) are detestable to God. The “wicked” refers here to people who are not members of the covenant (no faith) and are not following after righteousness (no acceptable works). But often they participate in sanctuary ritual, which amounts to hypocrisy.
[21:27] 22 sn This rhetorical device shows that if the act is abomination, the wicked heart is an even greater sin. It argues from the lesser to the greater.
[21:27] 23 tn The noun זִמָּה (zimmah) means “plan; device; wickedness”; here it indicates that the person is coming to the ritual with “sinful purpose.” Some commentators suggest that this would mean he comes with the sacrifice as a bribe to pacify his conscience for a crime committed, over which he has little remorse or intent to cease (cf. NLT “with ulterior motives”). In this view, people in ancient Israel came to think that sacrifices could be given for any reason without genuine submission to God.
[28:9] 24 sn The expression “turn away the ear from hearing” uses a metonymy to mean that this individual will not listen – it indicates a deliberate refusal to follow the instruction of the law.
[28:9] 25 sn It is hard to imagine how someone who willfully refuses to obey the law of God would pray according to the will of God. Such a person is more apt to pray for some physical thing or make demands on God. (Of course a prayer of repentance would be an exception and would not be an abomination to the
[28:9] 26 sn C. H. Toy says, “If a man, on his part, is deaf to instruction, then God, on his part, is deaf to prayer” (Proverbs [ICC], 499). And W. McKane observes that one who fails to attend to God’s law is a wicked person, even if he is a man of prayer (Proverbs [OTL], 623).
[1:11] 27 tn Heb “Why to me the multitude of your sacrifices?” The sarcastic rhetorical question suggests that their many sacrifices are of no importance to the Lord. This phrase answers the possible objection that an Israelite could raise in response to God’s indictment: “But we are offering the sacrifices you commanded!”
[1:11] 28 tn The verb שָׂבַע (sava’, “be satisfied, full”) is often used of eating and/or drinking one’s fill. See BDB 959 s.v. שָׂבַע. Here sacrifices are viewed, in typical ancient Near Eastern fashion, as food for the deity. God here declares that he has eaten and drunk, as it were, his fill.
[1:11] 29 sn In the chiastic structure of the verse, the verbs at the beginning and end highlight God’s displeasure, while the heaping up of references to animals, fat, and blood in the middle lines hints at why God wants no more of their sacrifices. They have, as it were, piled the food on his table and he needs no more.
[1:12] 30 tn Heb “When you come to appear before me, who requires this from your hand, trampling of my courtyards?” The rhetorical question sarcastically makes the point that God does not require this parade of livestock. The verb “trample” probably refers to the eager worshipers and their sacrificial animals walking around in the temple area.
[1:13] 31 tn Or “worthless” (NASB, NCV, CEV); KJV, ASV “vain.”
[1:13] 32 sn Notice some of the other practices that Yahweh regards as “detestable”: homosexuality (Lev 18:22-30; 20:13), idolatry (Deut 7:25; 13:15), human sacrifice (Deut 12:31), eating ritually unclean animals (Deut 14:3-8), sacrificing defective animals (Deut 17:1), engaging in occult activities (Deut 18:9-14), and practicing ritual prostitution (1 Kgs 14:23).
[1:13] 33 tn Heb “sin and assembly” (these two nouns probably represent a hendiadys). The point is that their attempts at worship are unacceptable to God because the people’s everyday actions in the socio-economic realm prove they have no genuine devotion to God (see vv. 16-17).
[1:15] 34 tn Heb “I close my eyes from you.”
[1:15] 35 sn This does not just refer to the blood of sacrificial animals, but also the blood, as it were, of their innocent victims. By depriving the poor and destitute of proper legal recourse and adequate access to the economic system, the oppressors have, for all intents and purposes, “killed” their victims.
[1:23] 37 tn Grk “and have mercy.”
[1:23] 38 tn Grk “with fear.” But as this contrasts with ἀφόβως (afobw") in v. 12 (without reverence), the posture of the false teachers, it most likely refers to reverence for God.
[1:23] 39 sn The imagery here suggests that the things close to the sinners are contaminated by them, presumably during the process of sinning.
[1:23] 40 tn Grk “hating even the tunic spotted by the flesh.” The “flesh” in this instance could refer to the body or to the sin nature. It makes little difference in one sense: Jude is thinking primarily of sexual sins, which are borne of the sin nature and manifest themselves in inappropriate deeds done with the body. At the same time, he is not saying that the body is intrinsically bad, a view held by the opponents of Christianity. Hence, it is best to see “flesh” as referring to the sin nature here and the language as metaphorical.
