Isaiah 1:5

1:5 ¹ Why do you insist on being battered?

Why do you continue to rebel? ² 

Your head has a massive wound, ³ 

your whole body is weak. ⁴ 

Isaiah 1:2

Obedience, not Sacrifice

1:2 Listen, O heavens,

pay attention, O earth! ⁵ 

For the Lord speaks:

“I raised children, ⁶  I brought them up, ⁷ 

but ⁸  they have rebelled ⁹  against me!

Isaiah 36:14-16

36:14 This is what the king says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you! 36:15 Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will certainly rescue us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” 36:16 Don’t listen to Hezekiah!’ For this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. ¹⁰  Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,

Jeremiah 2:30-31

2:30 “It did no good for me to punish your people.

They did not respond to such correction.

You slaughtered your prophets

like a voracious lion.” ¹¹ 

2:31 You people of this generation,

listen to what the Lord says.

“Have I been like a wilderness to you, Israel?

Have I been like a dark and dangerous land to you? ¹² 

Why then do you ¹³  say, ‘We are free to wander. ¹⁴ 

We will not come to you any more?’

Jeremiah 6:29-30

6:29 The fiery bellows of judgment burn fiercely.

But there is too much dross to be removed. ¹⁵ 

The process of refining them has proved useless. ¹⁶ 

The wicked have not been purged.

6:30 They are regarded as ‘rejected silver’ ¹⁷ 

because the Lord rejects them.”

Ezekiel 24:13

24:13 You mix uncleanness with obscene conduct. ¹⁸ 

I tried to cleanse you, ¹⁹  but you are not clean.

You will not be cleansed from your uncleanness ²⁰ 

until I have exhausted my anger on you.

Matthew 23:37

Judgment on Israel

23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ²¹  you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! ²²  How often I have longed ²³  to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but ²⁴  you would have none of it! ²⁵ 

Acts 7:51-60

7:51 “You stubborn ²⁶  people, with uncircumcised ²⁷  hearts and ears! ²⁸  You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors ²⁹  did! 7:52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors ³⁰  not persecute? ³¹  They ³²  killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One, ³³  whose betrayers and murderers you have now become! ³⁴  7:53 You ³⁵  received the law by decrees given by angels, ³⁶  but you did not obey ³⁷  it.” ³⁸ 

Stephen is Killed

7:54 When they heard these things, they became furious ³⁹  and ground their teeth ⁴⁰  at him. 7:55 But Stephen, ⁴¹  full ⁴²  of the Holy Spirit, looked intently ⁴³  toward heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing ⁴⁴  at the right hand of God. 7:56 “Look!” he said. ⁴⁵  “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 7:57 But they covered their ears, ⁴⁶  shouting out with a loud voice, and rushed at him with one intent. 7:58 When ⁴⁷  they had driven him out of the city, they began to stone him, ⁴⁸  and the witnesses laid their cloaks ⁴⁹  at the feet of a young man named Saul. 7:59 They ⁵⁰  continued to stone Stephen while he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 7:60 Then he fell ⁵¹  to his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” ⁵²  When ⁵³  he had said this, he died. ⁵⁴ 

[1:5]  ¹ sn In vv. 5-9 Isaiah addresses the battered nation (5-8) and speaks as their representative (9).

[1:5]  ² tn Heb “Why are you still beaten? [Why] do you continue rebellion?” The rhetorical questions express the prophet’s disbelief over Israel’s apparent masochism and obsession with sin. The interrogative construction in the first line does double duty in the parallelism. H. Wildberger (Isaiah, 1:18) offers another alternative by translating the two statements with one question: “Why do you still wish to be struck that you persist in revolt?”

[1:5]  ³ tn Heb “all the head is ill”; NRSV “the whole head is sick”; CEV “Your head is badly bruised.”

[1:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “and all the heart is faint.” The “heart” here stands for bodily strength and energy, as suggested by the context and usage elsewhere (see Jer 8:18; Lam 1:22).

[1:2]  ⁵ sn The personified heavens and earth are summoned to God’s courtroom as witnesses against God’s covenant people. Long before this Moses warned the people that the heavens and earth would be watching their actions (see Deut 4:26; 30:19; 31:28; 32:1).

[1:2]  ⁶ tn Or “sons” (NAB, NASB).

[1:2]  ⁷ sn The normal word pair for giving birth to and raising children is יָלַד (yalad, “to give birth to”) and גָּדַל (gadal, “to grow, raise”). The pair גָּדַל and רוּם (rum, “to raise up”) probably occur here to highlight the fact that Yahweh made something important of Israel (cf. R. Mosis, TDOT 2:403).

[1:2]  ⁸ sn Against the backdrop of Yahweh’s care for his chosen people, Israel’s rebellion represents abhorrent treachery. The conjunction prefixed to a nonverbal element highlights the sad contrast between Yahweh’s compassionate care for His people and Israel’s thankless rebellion.

[1:2]  ⁹ sn To rebel carries the idea of “covenant treachery.” Although an act of פֶּשַׁע (pesha’, “rebellion”) often signifies a breach of the law, the legal offense also represents a violation of an existing covenantal relationship (E. Carpenter and M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 3:707).

[36:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “make with me a blessing and come out to me.”

[2:30]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Your sword devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.” However, the reference to the sword in this and many similar idioms is merely idiomatic for death by violent means.

[2:31]  ¹² tn Heb “a land of the darkness of Yah [= thick or deep darkness].” The idea of danger is an added connotation of the word in this context.

[2:31]  ¹³ tn Heb “my people.”

[2:31]  ¹⁴ tn Or more freely, “free to do as we please.” There is some debate about the meaning of this verb (רוּד, rud) because its usage is rare and its meaning is debated in the few passages where it does occur. The key to its meaning may rest in the emended text (reading וְרַדְתִּי [vÿradti] for וְיָרַדְתִּי [vÿyaradti]) in Judg 11:37 where it refers to the roaming of Jephthah’s daughter on the mountains of Israel.

[6:29]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed by the fire.” The translation tries to clarify a metaphor involving ancient metallurgy. In the ancient refining process lead was added as a flux to remove impurities from silver ore in the process of oxidizing the lead. Jeremiah says that the lead has been used up and the impurities have not been removed. The translation is based on the recognition of an otherwise unused verb root meaning “blow” (נָחַר [nakhar]; cf. BDB 1123 s.v. I חָרַר and HALOT 651 s.v. נָחַר) and the Masoretes’ suggestion that the consonants מאשׁתם be read מֵאֵשׁ תַּם (me’esh tam) rather than as מֵאֶשָּׁתָם (me’eshatam, “from their fire”) from an otherwise unattested noun אֶשָּׁה (’eshah).

[6:29]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “The refiner refines them in vain.”

[6:30]  ¹⁷ tn This translation is intended to reflect the wordplay in the Hebrew text where the same root word is repeated in the two lines.

[24:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “in your uncleanness (is) obscene conduct.”

[24:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “because I cleansed you.” In this context (see especially the very next statement), the statement must refer to divine intention and purpose. Despite God’s efforts to cleanse his people, they resisted him and remained morally impure.

[24:13]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew text adds the word “again.”

[23:37]  ²¹ sn The double use of the city’s name betrays intense emotion.

[23:37]  ²² tn Although the opening address (“Jerusalem, Jerusalem”) is direct (second person), the remainder of this sentence in the Greek text is third person (“who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her”). The following sentences then revert to second person (“your… you”), so to keep all this consistent in English, the third person pronouns in the present verse were translated as second person (“you who kill… sent to you”).

[23:37]  ²³ sn How often I have longed to gather your children. Jesus, like a lamenting prophet, speaks for God here, who longed to care tenderly for Israel and protect her.

[23:37]  ²⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[23:37]  ²⁵ tn Grk “you were not willing.”

[7:51]  ²⁶ sn Traditionally, “stiff-necked people.” Now the critique begins in earnest.

[7:51]  ²⁷ tn The term ἀπερίτμητοι (aperitmhtoi, “uncircumcised”) is a NT hapax legomenon (occurs only once). See BDAG 101-2 s.v. ἀπερίτμητος and Isa 52:1.

[7:51]  ²⁸ tn Or “You stubborn and obstinate people!” (The phrase “uncircumcised hearts and ears” is another figure for stubbornness.)

[7:51]  ²⁹ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:52]  ³⁰ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:52]  ³¹ sn Which…persecute. The rhetorical question suggests they persecuted them all.

[7:52]  ³² tn Grk “And they.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[7:52]  ³³ sn The Righteous One is a reference to Jesus Christ.

[7:52]  ³⁴ sn Whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. The harsh critique has OT precedent (1 Kgs 19:10-14; Neh 9:26; 2 Chr 36:16).

[7:53]  ³⁵ tn Grk “whose betrayers and murderers you have now become, who received the law” The two consecutive relative clauses make for awkward English style, so the second was begun as a new sentence with the pronoun “You” supplied in place of the Greek relative pronoun to make a complete sentence in English.

[7:53]  ³⁶ tn Traditionally, “as ordained by angels,” but εἰς (eis) with the accusative here should be understood as instrumental (a substitute for ἐν [en]); so BDAG 291 s.v. εἰς 9, BDF §206. Thus the phrase literally means “received the law by the decrees [orders] of angels” with the genitive understood as a subjective genitive, that is, the angels gave the decrees.

[7:53]  ³⁷ tn The Greek word φυλάσσω (fulassw, traditionally translated “keep”) in this context connotes preservation of and devotion to an object as well as obedience.

[7:53]  ³⁸ tn Or “did not obey it.”

[7:54]  ³⁹ tn This verb, which also occurs in Acts 5:33, means “cut to the quick” or “deeply infuriated” (BDAG 235 s.v. διαπρίω).

[7:54]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “they gnashed their teeth.” This idiom is a picture of violent rage (BDAG 184 s.v. βρύχω). See also Ps 35:16.

[7:55]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Stephen) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:55]  ⁴² tn Grk “being full,” but the participle ὑπάρχων (Juparcwn) has not been translated since it would be redundant in English.

[7:55]  ⁴³ tn Grk “looking intently toward heaven, saw.” The participle ἀτενίσας (atenisa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[7:55]  ⁴⁴ sn The picture of Jesus standing (rather than seated) probably indicates his rising to receive his child. By announcing his vision, Stephen thoroughly offended his audience, who believed no one could share God’s place in heaven. The phrase is a variation on Ps 110:1.

[7:56]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “And he said, ‘Look!’” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, καί (kai) has not been translated here; a new sentence is begun instead.

[7:57]  ⁴⁶ sn They covered their ears to avoid hearing what they considered to be blasphemy.

[7:58]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “And when.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, καί (kai) has not been translated here; a new sentence is begun instead.

[7:58]  ⁴⁸ sn They began to stone him. The irony of the scene is that the people do exactly what the speech complains about in v. 52.

[7:58]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “outer garments.”

[7:59]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “And they.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, καί (kai) has not been translated here; a new sentence is begun instead.

[7:60]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “Then falling to his knees he cried out.” The participle θείς (qeis) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[7:60]  ⁵² sn The remarks Lord Jesus, receive my spirit and Lord, do not hold this sin against them recall statements Jesus made on the cross (Luke 23:34, 46).

[7:60]  ⁵³ tn Grk “And when.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, καί (kai) has not been translated here; a new sentence is begun instead.

[7:60]  ⁵⁴ tn The verb κοιμάω (koimaw) literally means “sleep,” but it is often used in the Bible as a euphemism for the death of a believer.