Isaiah 26:20-21

26:20 Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms!

Close your doors behind you!

Hide for a little while,

until his angry judgment is over! ¹ 

26:21 For look, the Lord is coming out of the place where he lives, ² 

to punish the sin of those who live on the earth.

The earth will display the blood shed on it;

it will no longer cover up its slain. ³ 

Ezekiel 24:7-14

24:7 For her blood was in it;

she poured it on an exposed rock;

she did not pour it on the ground to cover it up with dust.

24:8 To arouse anger, to take vengeance,

I have placed her blood on an exposed rock so that it cannot be covered up.

24:9 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says:

Woe to the city of bloodshed!

I will also make the pile high.

24:10 Pile up the bones, kindle the fire;

cook the meat well, mix in the spices,

let the bones be charred.

24:11 Set the empty pot on the coals, ⁴ 

until it becomes hot and its copper glows,

until its uncleanness melts within it and its rot ⁵  is consumed.

24:12 It has tried my patience; ⁶ 

yet its thick rot is not removed ⁷  from it.

Subject its rot to the fire! ⁸ 

24:13 You mix uncleanness with obscene conduct. ⁹ 

I tried to cleanse you, ¹⁰  but you are not clean.

You will not be cleansed from your uncleanness ¹¹ 

until I have exhausted my anger on you.

24:14 “‘I the Lord have spoken; judgment ¹²  is coming and I will act! I will not relent, or show pity, or be sorry! ¹³  I will judge you ¹⁴  according to your conduct ¹⁵  and your deeds, declares the sovereign Lord.’”

Matthew 23:37

Judgment on Israel

23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ¹⁶  you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! ¹⁷  How often I have longed ¹⁸  to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but ¹⁹  you would have none of it! ²⁰ 

[26:20]  ¹ tn Heb “until anger passes by.”

[26:21]  ² tn Heb “out of his place” (so KJV, ASV).

[26:21]  ³ sn This implies that rampant bloodshed is one of the reasons for divine judgment. See the note at 24:5.

[24:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “set it upon its coals, empty.”

[24:11]  ⁵ tn Or “rust” (so also in v. 12).

[24:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “(with) toil she has wearied.” The meaning of the statement is unclear in the Hebrew text; some follow the LXX and delete it. The first word in the statement (rendered “toil” in the literal translation above) occurs only here in the OT, and the verb “she has wearied” lacks a stated object. Elsewhere the Hiphil of the verb refers to wearying someone or trying someone’s patience. The feminine subject is apparently the symbolic pot.

[24:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “does not go out.”

[24:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “in fire its rust.” The meaning of the expression is unclear. The translation understands the statement as a command to burn the rust away. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:768.

[24:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “in your uncleanness (is) obscene conduct.”

[24:13]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew text adds the word “again.”

[24:14]  ¹² tn Heb “it”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:14]  ¹³ tn Or perhaps, “change my mind.”

[24:14]  ¹⁴ tc Some medieval Hebrew mss and the major ancient versions read a first person verb here. Most Hebrew mss read have an indefinite subject, “they will judge you,” which could be translated, “you will be judged.”

[24:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “ways.”

[23:37]  ¹⁶ sn The double use of the city’s name betrays intense emotion.

[23:37]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[23:37]  ²⁰ tn Grk “you were not willing.”