Hebrews 12:29

12:29 For our God is indeed a devouring fire. ¹ 

Numbers 16:35

16:35 Then a fire ²  went out from the Lord and devoured the 250 men who offered incense.

Psalms 21:9

21:9 You burn them up like a fiery furnace ³  when you appear; ⁴ 

the Lord angrily devours them; ⁵ 

the fire consumes them.

Jeremiah 4:4

4:4 Just as ritual circumcision cuts away the foreskin

as an external symbol of dedicated covenant commitment,

you must genuinely dedicate yourselves to the Lord

and get rid of everything that hinders your commitment to me, ⁶ 

people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem.

If you do not, ⁷  my anger will blaze up like a flaming fire against you

that no one will be able to extinguish.

That will happen because of the evil you have done.”

Ezekiel 36:5

36:5 therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Surely I have spoken in the fire of my zeal against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who with great joy and utter contempt have made my land their property and prey, because of its pasture.’

Ezekiel 38:19

38:19 In my zeal, in the fire of my fury, ⁸  I declare that on that day there will be a great earthquake ⁹  in the land of Israel.

Joel 2:30

2:30 I will produce portents both in the sky ¹⁰  and on the earth –

blood, fire, and columns of smoke.

Nahum 1:5-6

1:5 The mountains tremble before him, ¹¹ 

the hills convulse; ¹² 

the earth is laid waste ¹³  before him,

the world and all its inhabitants ¹⁴  are laid waste. ¹⁵ 

1:6 No one can withstand ¹⁶  his indignation! ¹⁷ 

No one can resist ¹⁸  his fierce anger! ¹⁹ 

His wrath is poured out like volcanic fire,

boulders are broken up ²⁰  as he approaches. ²¹ 

Zephaniah 1:18

1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them

in the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.

The whole earth ²²  will be consumed by his fiery wrath. ²³ 

Indeed, ²⁴  he will bring terrifying destruction ²⁵  on all who live on the earth.” ²⁶ 

Zephaniah 3:8

3:8 Therefore you must wait patiently ²⁷  for me,” says the Lord,

“for the day when I attack and take plunder. ²⁸ 

I have decided ²⁹  to gather nations together

and assemble kingdoms,

so I can pour out my fury on them –

all my raging anger.

For ³⁰  the whole earth will be consumed

by my fiery anger.

Malachi 4:1

4:1 (3:19) ³¹  “For indeed the day ³²  is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant evildoers will be chaff. The coming day will burn them up,” says the Lord who rules over all. “It ³³  will not leave even a root or branch.

Matthew 3:10

3:10 Even now the ax is laid at ³⁴  the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

Matthew 3:12

3:12 His winnowing fork ³⁵  is in his hand, and he will clean out his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the storehouse, ³⁶  but the chaff he will burn up with inextinguishable fire.” ³⁷ 

Matthew 13:42

13:42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, ³⁸  where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 13:50

13:50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, ³⁹  where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 25:41

25:41 “Then he will say ⁴⁰  to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels!

Mark 9:43-49

9:43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off! It is better for you to enter into life crippled than to have ⁴¹  two hands and go into hell, ⁴²  to the unquenchable fire. 9:44 [[EMPTY]] ⁴³  9:45 If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off! It is better to enter life lame than to have ⁴⁴  two feet and be thrown into hell. 9:46 [[EMPTY]] ⁴⁵  9:47 If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out! ⁴⁶  It is better to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than to have ⁴⁷  two eyes and be thrown into hell, 9:48 where their worm never dies and the fire is never quenched. 9:49 Everyone will be salted with fire. ⁴⁸ 

Luke 16:24

16:24 So ⁴⁹  he called out, ⁵⁰  ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus ⁵¹  to dip the tip of his finger ⁵²  in water and cool my tongue, because I am in anguish ⁵³  in this fire.’ ⁵⁴ 

Luke 16:2

16:2 So ⁵⁵  he called the manager ⁵⁶  in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? ⁵⁷  Turn in the account of your administration, ⁵⁸  because you can no longer be my manager.’

Luke 1:8

1:8 Now ⁵⁹  while Zechariah ⁶⁰  was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, ⁶¹ 

James 5:3

5:3 Your gold and silver have rusted and their rust will be a witness against you. It will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have hoarded treasure! ⁶² 

Revelation 20:15

20:15 If ⁶³  anyone’s name ⁶⁴  was not found written in the book of life, that person ⁶⁵  was thrown into the lake of fire.

[12:29]  ¹ sn A quotation from Deut 4:24; 9:3.

[16:35]  ² tn For a discussion of the fire of the Lord, see J. C. H. Laughlin, “The Strange Fire of Nadab and Abihu,” JBL 95 (1976): 559-65.

[21:9]  ³ tn Heb “you make them like a furnace of fire.” Although many modern translations retain the literal Hebrew, the statement is elliptical. The point is not that he makes them like a furnace, but like an object burned in a furnace (cf. NEB, “at your coming you shall plunge them into a fiery furnace”).

[21:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “at the time of your face.” The “face” of the king here refers to his angry presence. See Lam 4:16.

[21:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “the Lord, in his anger he swallows them, and fire devours them.” Some take “the Lord” as a vocative, in which case he is addressed in vv. 8-9a. But this makes the use of the third person in v. 9b rather awkward, though the king could be the subject (see vv. 1-7).

[4:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord and remove the foreskin of your heart.” The translation is again an attempt to bring out the meaning of a metaphor. The mention of the “foreskin of the heart” shows that the passage is obviously metaphorical and involves heart attitude, not an external rite.

[4:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “lest.”

[38:19]  ⁸ sn The phrase “in the fire of my fury” occurs in Ezek 21:31; 22:21, 31.

[38:19]  ⁹ tn Or “shaking.”

[2:30]  ¹⁰ tn Or “in the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[1:5]  ¹¹ tn Or “because of him.” The Hebrew preposition מִמֶּנּוּ (mimmenu) is taken in a causal sense (“because of him”) by NASB, NJPS; however, it is taken in a locative sense (“before him”) by KJV, NKJV, NRSV, NIV. On the other hand, the LXX rendered it in a separative sense: ἀπ' αὐτοῦ (ap autou, “from him”). The parallelism between 1:5a and 1:5b seems to favor the locative nuance: “The mountains quake before him (מִמֶּנּוּ), the earth is laid waste before him (מִפָּנָיו, mifanayv).”

[1:5]  ¹² tn Traditionally, “the hills melt.” English versions typically render הִתְמֹגָגוּ (hitmogagu) as “melt” (KJV, NRSV, NIV, NJPS) or “dissolve” (NASB). The LXX renders it ἐσαλεύθησαν (esaleuqhsan, “are shaken”). The Hebrew root has a range of meanings: (1) “to melt,” of courage (Ps 107:26) or troops retreating (“melting away” in fear) in battle (1 Sam 14:16); (2) “to dissolve,” of mountains dissolving due to erosion (Amos 9:13); (3) “to quake, shake apart,” of mountains quaking, swaying backwards and forwards, coming apart, and collapsing in an earthquake (Amos 9:5; Pss 46:6 [7]; 75:3 [4]). The latter fits the imagery of v. 5 (violent earthquakes): the earth trembles in fear at the approach of the Divine Warrior (e.g., Hab 3:6).

[1:5]  ¹³ tn Or “is upheaved”; or “heaves.” There is debate whether the originally unpointed Hebrew verb וַתִּשָּׂא (vattissa’) should be vocalized as וְתִּשָּׂא (vÿttissa’; NASB “is upheaved”; NRSV, NJPS “heaves”) from the root נָשָׂא (nasa’, “to lift up”) or as וַתִּשָּׁא (vattisha’, “is devastated, laid waste”) from the root שֹׁאָה (sho’ah, “to devastate, lay waste”). The vocalization וְתִּשָּׂא is attested in the Masoretic tradition and the Greek versions: Origen (“was raised up”), Symmachus (“was moved”), and Aquila (“shivered”). However, וְתִּשָּׂא demands an intransitive (“heaves”) or passive (“is upheaved”) sense which is not attested for the Qal stem. The vocalization וַתִּשָּׁא (“is devastated, laid waste”) is supported by the Syriac and Vulgate. The revocalization of the MT וְתִּשָּׂא (“is lifted up”) to וַתִּשָּׁא (“is devastated”) is suggested by the BHS editors and several Hebrew lexicons (HALOT 726 s.v. נשׁא; BDB 670-71 s.v. נָשָׂא). The revocalization involves only the difference between the form שׂ (sin) and שׁ (shin) and is followed in the present translation.

[1:5]  ¹⁴ sn The phrase “the world and all its inhabitants” is used to stress the universal dimensions of God’s revelation of his glory and his acts of judgment (e.g., Pss 33:8; 98:7; Isa 18:3; 26:9, 18; Lam 4:12).

[1:5]  ¹⁵ tn The words “are laid waste” are not in the Hebrew text, but are an implied repetition from the previous line.

[1:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “stand before” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT). The Hebrew verb עָמַד (’amad, “stand”) here denotes “to resist, withstand.” It is used elsewhere of warriors taking a stand in battle to hold their ground against enemies (Judg 2:14; Josh 10:8; 21:44; 23:9; 2 Kgs 10:4; Dan 11:16; Amos 2:15). It is also used of people trying to protect their lives from enemy attack (Esth 8:11; 9:16). Like a mighty warrior, the Lord will attack his enemies, but none will be able to make a stand against him; none will be able to hold their ground against him; and none will be able to protect themselves from his onslaught (Pss 76:7[8]; 147:17; Mal 3:2).

[1:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Who can stand before his indignation?” The rhetorical question expects a negative answer; it is translated here as an emphatic denial. The Hebrew noun זַעַם (za’am, “indignation, curse”) connotes the angry wrath or indignant curse of God (Isa 10:5, 25; 13:5; 26:20; 30:27; Jer 10:10; 15:17; 50:25; Ezek 21:36; 22:24, 31; Hab 3:12; Zeph 3:8; Pss 38:4; 69:25; 78:49; 102:11; Lam 2:6; Dan 8:19; 11:36). It depicts anger expressed in the form of punishment (HALOT 276 s.v.; TWOT 1:247).

[1:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Who can rise up against…?” The verb יָקוּם (yaqum, “arise”) is here a figurative expression connoting resistance. Although the adversative sense of בְּ (bet) with יָקוּם (yaqum, “against him”) is attested, denoting hostile action taken against one’s enemy (Mic 7:6; Ps 27:12), the locative sense (“before him”) is preferred due to the parallelism with לִפְנֵי (lifney, “before him”).

[1:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Who can rise up against the heat of his anger?” The rhetorical question expects a negative answer which is translated as an emphatic denial to clarify the point.

[1:6]  ²⁰ tn Or “burst into flames.” The Niphal perfect נִתְּצוּ (nittÿtsu) from נָתַץ (natats, “to break up, throw down”) may denote “are broken up” or “are thrown down.” The BHS editors suggest emending the MT’s נִתְּצוּ (nittÿtsu) to נִצְּתּוּ (nitsÿtu, Niphal perfect from יָצַת [yatsat, “to burn, to kindle, to burst into flames”]): “boulders burst into flames.” This merely involves the simple transposition of the second and third consonants. This emendation is supported by a few Hebrew mss (cited in BHS apparatus). It is supported contextually by fire and heat motifs in 1:5-6. The same metathesis of נִתְּצוּ and נִצְּתּוּ occurs in Jer 4:26.

[1:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “before him” (so NAB, NIV, TEV).

[1:18]  ²² tn Or “land” (cf. NEB). This same word also occurs at the end of the present verse.

[1:18]  ²³ tn Or “passion”; traditionally, “jealousy.”

[1:18]  ²⁴ tn Or “for.”

[1:18]  ²⁵ tn Heb “complete destruction, even terror, he will make.”

[1:18]  ²⁶ tn It is not certain where the Lord’s words end and the prophet’s words begin. It is possible that Zephaniah begins speaking in the middle of v. 17 or at the beginning of v. 18 (note the third person pronouns referring to the Lord).

[3:8]  ²⁷ tn The second person verb form (“you must wait patiently”) is masculine plural, indicating that a group is being addressed. Perhaps the humble individuals addressed earlier (see 2:3) are in view. Because of Jerusalem’s sin, they must patiently wait for judgment to pass before their vindication arrives.

[3:8]  ²⁸ tn Heb “when I arise for plunder.” The present translation takes עַד (’ad) as “plunder.” Some, following the LXX, repoint the term עֵד (’ed) and translate, “as a witness” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV). In this case the Lord uses a legal metaphor to picture himself as testifying against his enemies. Adele Berlin takes לְעַד (lÿ’ad) in a temporal sense (“forever”) and translates “once and for all” (Zephaniah [AB 25A], 133).

[3:8]  ²⁹ tn Heb “for my decision is.”

[3:8]  ³⁰ tn Or “certainly.”

[4:1]  ³¹ sn Beginning with 4:1, the verse numbers through 4:6 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 4:1 ET = 3:19 HT, 4:2 ET = 3:20 HT, etc., through 4:6 ET = 3:24 HT. Thus the book of Malachi in the Hebrew Bible has only three chapters, with 24 verses in ch. 3.

[4:1]  ³² sn This day is the well-known “day of the Lord” so pervasive in OT eschatological texts (see Joel 2:30-31; Amos 5:18; Obad 15). For the believer it is a day of grace and salvation; for the sinner, a day of judgment and destruction.

[4:1]  ³³ tn Heb “so that it” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons a new sentence was begun here in the translation.

[3:10]  ³⁴ sn Laid at the root. That is, placed and aimed, ready to begin cutting.

[3:12]  ³⁵ sn A winnowing fork was a pitchfork-like tool used to toss threshed grain in the air so that the wind blew away the chaff, leaving the grain to fall to the ground. The note of purging is highlighted by the use of imagery involving sifting though threshed grain for the useful kernels.

[3:12]  ³⁶ tn Or “granary,” “barn” (referring to a building used to store a farm’s produce rather than a building to house livestock).

[3:12]  ³⁷ sn The image of fire that cannot be extinguished is from the OT: Job 20:26; Isa 34:8-10; 66:24.

[13:42]  ³⁸ sn A quotation from Dan 3:6.

[13:50]  ³⁹ sn An allusion to Dan 3:6.

[25:41]  ⁴⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[9:43]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “than having.”

[9:43]  ⁴² sn The word translated hell is “Gehenna” (γέεννα, geenna), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36). This Greek term also occurs in vv. 45, 47.

[9:44]  ⁴³ tc Most later mss have 9:44 here and 9:46 after v. 45: “where their worm never dies and the fire is never quenched” (identical with v. 48). Verses 44 and 46 are present in A D Θ Ë¹³ Ï lat sy^p,h, but lacking in important Alexandrian mss and several others (א B C L W Δ Ψ 0274 ˹ 28 565 892 2427 pc co). This appears to be a scribal addition from v. 48 and is almost certainly not an original part of the Greek text of Mark. The present translation follows NA²⁷ in omitting the verse number, a procedure also followed by a number of other modern translations.

[9:45]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “than having.”

[9:46]  ⁴⁵ tc See tc note at the end of v. 43.

[9:47]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “throw it out.”

[9:47]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “than having.”

[9:49]  ⁴⁸ tc The earliest mss ([א] B L [W] Δ 0274 Ë^1,13 28* 565 700 pc sy^s sa) have the reading adopted by the translation. Codex Bezae (D) and several Itala read “Every sacrifice will be salted with salt.” The majority of other mss (A C Θ Ψ [2427] Ï lat sy^p,h) have both readings, “Everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be salted with salt.” An early scribe may have written the LXX text of Lev 2:13 (“Every sacrifice offering of yours shall be salted with salt”) in the margin of his ms. At a later stage, copyists would either replace the text with this marginal note or add the note to the text. The longer reading thus seems to be the result of the conflation of the Alexandrian reading “salted with fire” and the Western reading “salted with salt.” The reading adopted by the text enjoys the best support and explains the other readings in the ms tradition.

[16:24]  ⁴⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous actions in the narrative.

[16:24]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “calling out he said”; this is redundant in contemporary English style and has been simplified to “he called out.”

[16:24]  ⁵¹ sn The rich man had not helped Lazarus before, when he lay outside his gate (v. 2), but he knew him well enough to know his name. This is why the use of the name Lazarus in the parable is significant. (The rich man’s name, on the other hand, is not mentioned, because it is not significant for the point of the story.)

[16:24]  ⁵² sn The dipping of the tip of his finger in water is evocative of thirst. The thirsty are in need of God’s presence (Ps 42:1-2; Isa 5:13). The imagery suggests the rich man is now separated from the presence of God.

[16:24]  ⁵³ tn Or “in terrible pain” (L&N 24.92).

[16:24]  ⁵⁴ sn Fire in this context is OT imagery; see Isa 66:24.

[16:2]  ⁵⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the reports the man received about his manager.

[16:2]  ⁵⁶ tn Grk “him”; the referent (the manager) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:2]  ⁵⁷ sn Although phrased as a question, the charges were believed by the owner, as his dismissal of the manager implies.

[16:2]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “stewardship”; the Greek word οἰκονομία (oikonomia) is cognate with the noun for the manager (οἰκονόμος, oikonomo").

[1:8]  ⁵⁹ tn Grk “Now it happened that.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[1:8]  ⁶⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Zechariah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:8]  ⁶¹ tn Grk “serving as priest in the order of his division before God.”

[5:3]  ⁶² tn Or “hoarded up treasure for the last days”; Grk “in the last days.”

[20:15]  ⁶³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[20:15]  ⁶⁴ tn The word “name” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[20:15]  ⁶⁵ tn Grk “he”; the pronoun has been intensified by translating as “that person.”