Isaiah 30:6

30:6 This is a message ¹  about the animals in the Negev:

Through a land of distress and danger,

inhabited by lionesses and roaring lions, ² 

by snakes and darting adders, ³ 

they transport ⁴  their wealth on the backs of donkeys,

their riches on the humps of camels,

to a nation that cannot help them. ⁵ 

Matthew 3:7

3:7 But when he saw many Pharisees ⁶  and Sadducees ⁷  coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

Acts 28:3-6

28:3 When Paul had gathered a bundle of brushwood ⁸  and was putting it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand. 28:4 When the local people ⁹  saw the creature hanging from Paul’s ¹⁰  hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer! Although he has escaped from the sea, Justice herself ¹¹  has not allowed him to live!” ¹²  28:5 However, ¹³  Paul ¹⁴  shook ¹⁵  the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm. 28:6 But they were expecting that he was going to swell up ¹⁶  or suddenly drop dead. So after they had waited ¹⁷  a long time and had seen ¹⁸  nothing unusual happen ¹⁹  to him, they changed their minds ²⁰  and said he was a god. ²¹ 

[30:6]  ¹ tn Traditionally, “burden” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “oracle.”

[30:6]  ² tc Heb “[a land of] a lioness and a lion, from them.” Some emend מֵהֶם (mehem, “from them”) to מֵהֵם (mehem), an otherwise unattested Hiphil participle from הָמַם (hamam, “move noisily”). Perhaps it would be better to take the initial mem (מ) as enclitic and emend the form to הֹמֶה (homeh), a Qal active participle from הָמָה (hamah, “to make a noise”); cf. J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:542, n. 9.

[30:6]  ³ tn Heb “flying fiery one.” See the note at 14:29.

[30:6]  ⁴ tn Or “carry” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[30:6]  ⁵ sn This verse describes messengers from Judah transporting wealth to Egypt in order to buy Pharaoh’s protection through a treaty.

[3:7]  ⁶ sn Pharisees were members of one of the most important and influential religious and political parties of Judaism in the time of Jesus. There were more Pharisees than Sadducees (according to Josephus, Ant. 17.2.4 [17.42] there were more than 6,000 Pharisees at about this time). Pharisees differed with Sadducees on certain doctrines and patterns of behavior. The Pharisees were strict and zealous adherents to the laws of the OT and to numerous additional traditions such as angels and bodily resurrection.

[3:7]  ⁷ sn The Sadducees controlled the official political structures of Judaism at this time, being the majority members of the Sanhedrin. They were known as extremely strict on law and order issues (Josephus, J. W. 2.8.2 [2.119], 2.8.14 [2.164-166]; Ant. 13.5.9 [13.171-173], 13.10.6 [13.293-298], 18.1.2 [18.11], 18.1.4 [18.16-17], 20.9.1 [20.199]; Life 2 [10-11]). See also Matt 16:1-12; 22:23-34; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-38; Acts 5:17; 23:6-8.

[28:3]  ⁸ tn Or “sticks.”

[28:4]  ⁹ tn Although this is literally βάρβαροι (barbaroi; “foreigners, barbarians”) used for non-Greek or non-Romans, as BDAG 166 s.v. βάρβαρος 2.b notes, “Of the inhabitants of Malta, who apparently spoke in their native language Ac 28:2, 4 (here β. certainly without derogatory tone…).”

[28:4]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “his”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:4]  ¹¹ tn That is, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live. BDAG 250 s.v. δίκη 2 states, “Justice personified as a deity Ac 28:4”; L&N 12.27, “a goddess who personifies justice in seeking out and punishing the guilty – ‘the goddess Justice.’ ἡ δίκη ζῆν οὐκ εἴασεν ‘the goddess Justice would not let him live’ Ac 28:4.” Although a number of modern English translations have rendered δίκη (dikh) “justice,” preferring to use an abstraction, in the original setting it is almost certainly a reference to a pagan deity. In the translation, the noun “justice” was capitalized and the reflexive pronoun “herself” was supplied to make the personification clear. This was considered preferable to supplying a word like ‘goddess’ in connection with δίκη.

[28:4]  ¹² sn The entire scene is played out initially as a kind of oracle from the gods resulting in the judgment of a guilty person (Justice herself has not allowed him to live). Paul’s survival of this incident without ill effects thus spoke volumes about his innocence.

[28:5]  ¹³ tn BDAG 737 s.v. οὖν 4 indicates the particle has an adversative sense here: “but, however.”

[28:5]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:5]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “shaking the creature off…he suffered no harm.” The participle ἀποτινάξας (apotinaxa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[28:6]  ¹⁶ tn Or “going to burn with fever.” According to BDAG 814 s.v. πίμπρημι, either meaning (“swell up” or “burn with fever”) is possible for Acts 28:6.

[28:6]  ¹⁷ tn The participle προσδοκώντων (prosdokwntwn) has been taken temporally.

[28:6]  ¹⁸ tn The participle θεωρούντων (qewrountwn) has been taken temporally.

[28:6]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “happening.” The participle γινόμενον (ginomenon) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[28:6]  ²⁰ tn Grk “changing their minds.” The participle μεταβαλόμενοι (metabalomenoi) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[28:6]  ²¹ sn And said he was a god. The reaction is like Acts 14:11-19 where the crowd wanted to make Paul and Barnabas into gods. The providence of God had protected Paul again.