Isaiah 48:22

48:22 There will be no prosperity for the wicked,” says the Lord.

Isaiah 57:20-21

57:20 But the wicked are like a surging sea

that is unable to be quiet;

its waves toss up mud and sand.

57:21 There will be no prosperity,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

Isaiah 65:13-15

65:13 So this is what the sovereign Lord says:

“Look, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry!

Look, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty!

Look, my servants will rejoice, but you will be humiliated!

65:14 Look, my servants will shout for joy as happiness fills their hearts! ¹ 

But you will cry out as sorrow fills your hearts; ² 

you will wail because your spirits will be crushed. ³ 

65:15 Your names will live on in the curse formulas of my chosen ones. ⁴ 

The sovereign Lord will kill you,

but he will give his servants another name.

Isaiah 65:20

65:20 Never again will one of her infants live just a few days ⁵ 

or an old man die before his time. ⁶ 

Indeed, no one will die before the age of a hundred, ⁷ 

anyone who fails to reach ⁸  the age of a hundred will be considered cursed.

Psalms 1:3-5

1:3 He is like ⁹  a tree planted by flowing streams; ¹⁰ 

it ¹¹  yields ¹²  its fruit at the proper time, ¹³ 

and its leaves never fall off. ¹⁴ 

He succeeds in everything he attempts. ¹⁵ 

1:4 Not so with the wicked!

Instead ¹⁶  they are like wind-driven chaff. ¹⁷ 

1:5 For this reason ¹⁸  the wicked cannot withstand ¹⁹  judgment, ²⁰ 

nor can sinners join the assembly of the godly. ²¹ 

Psalms 11:5-6

11:5 The Lord approves of ²²  the godly, ²³ 

but he ²⁴  hates ²⁵  the wicked and those who love to do violence. ²⁶ 

11:6 May the Lord rain down ²⁷  burning coals ²⁸  and brimstone ²⁹  on the wicked!

A whirlwind is what they deserve! ³⁰ 

Ecclesiastes 8:13

8:13 But it will not go well with the wicked,

nor will they ³¹  prolong their ³²  days like a shadow, ³³ 

because they ³⁴  do not stand in fear ³⁵  before God.

[65:14]  ¹ tn Heb “from the good of the heart.”

[65:14]  ² tn Heb “from the pain of the heart.”

[65:14]  ³ tn Heb “from the breaking of the spirit.”

[65:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “you will leave your name for an oath to my chosen ones.”

[65:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “and there will not be from there again a nursing infant of days,” i.e., one that lives just a few days.

[65:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “or an old [man] who does not fill out his days.”

[65:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “for the child as a son of one hundred years will die.” The point seems to be that those who die at the age of a hundred will be considered children, for the average life span will be much longer than that. The category “child” will be redefined in light of the expanded life spans that will characterize this new era.

[65:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “the one who misses.” חָטָא (khata’) is used here in its basic sense of “miss the mark.” See HALOT 305 s.v. חטא. Another option is to translate, “and the sinner who reaches the age of a hundred will be cursed.”

[1:3]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries the same characteristic force as the imperfect in the preceding verse. According to the psalmist, the one who studies and obeys God’s commands typically prospers.

[1:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “channels of water.”

[1:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “which.”

[1:3]  ¹² tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal forms in v. 3 draw attention to the typical nature of the actions/states they describe.

[1:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “in its season.”

[1:3]  ¹⁴ tn Or “fade”; “wither.”

[1:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and all which he does prospers”; or “and all which he does he causes to prosper.” (The simile of the tree does not extend to this line.) It is not certain if the Hiphil verbal form (יַצְלִיחַ, yatsliakh) is intransitive-exhibitive (“prospers”) or causative (“causes to prosper”) here. If the verb is intransitive, then כֹּל (kol, “all, everything”) is the subject. If the verb is causative, then the godly individual or the Lord himself is the subject and כֹּל is the object. The wording is reminiscent of Josh 1:8, where the Lord tells Joshua: “This law scroll must not leave your lips! You must memorize it day and night so you can carefully obey all that is written in it. Then you will prosper (literally, “cause your way to prosper”) and be successful.”

[1:4]  ¹⁶ tn Here the Hebrew expression כִּי־אִם (ki-’im, “instead,” cf. v. 2) introduces a contrast between the prosperity of the godly depicted in v. 3 and the destiny of the wicked described in v. 4.

[1:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “[they are] like the chaff which [the] wind blows about.” The Hebrew imperfect verbal form draws attention to the typical nature of the action described.

[1:5]  ¹⁸ tn Or “Therefore.”

[1:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “arise in,” but the verb is used metonymically here in the sense of “stand”; “endure,” as in 1 Sam 13:14 and Job 8:15. The negated Hebrew imperfect verbal form is here taken as indicating incapability or lack of potential, though one could understand the verb form as indicating what is typical (“do not withstand”) or what will happen (“will not withstand”).

[1:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the judgment.” The article indicates a judgment that is definite in the mind of the speaker. In the immediate context this probably does not refer to the “final judgment” described in later biblical revelation, but to a temporal/historical judgment which the author anticipates. Periodically during the OT period, God would come in judgment, removing the wicked from the scene, while preserving a godly remnant (see Gen 6-9; Ps 37; Hab 3).

[1:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “and sinners in the assembly (or “circle”) of [the] godly.” The negative particle and verb from the preceding line are assumed by ellipsis here (“will not arise/stand”).

[11:5]  ²² tn Heb “examines,” the same verb used in v. 4b. But here it is used in a metonymic sense of “examine and approve” (see Jer 20:12).

[11:5]  ²³ tn The singular form is used here in a collective or representative sense. Note the plural form “pure (of heart)” in v. 2.

[11:5]  ²⁴ tn Heb “his [very] being.” A נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being, soul”) is also attributed to the Lord in Isa 1:14, where a suffixed form of the noun appears as the subject of the verb “hate.” Both there and here the term is used of the seat of one’s emotions and passions.

[11:5]  ²⁵ sn He hates the wicked. The Lord “hates” the wicked in the sense that he despises their wicked character and deeds, and actively opposes and judges them for their wickedness. See Ps 5:5.

[11:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the wicked [one] and the lover of violence.” The singular form is used here in a collective or representative sense. Note the plural form רְשָׁעִים (rÿsha’im, “wicked [ones]”) in vv. 2 and 6.

[11:6]  ²⁷ tn The verb form is a jussive, indicating that the statement is imprecatory (“May the Lord rain down”), not indicative (“The Lord rains down”; see also Job 20:23). The psalmist appeals to God to destroy the wicked, rather than simply stating his confidence that God will do so. In this way the psalmist seeks to activate divine judgment by appealing to God’s just character. For an example of the power of such a curse, see Judg 9:7-57.

[11:6]  ²⁸ tc The MT reads “traps, fire, and brimstone,” but the image of God raining traps, or snares, down from the sky is bizarre and does not fit the fire and storm imagery of this verse. The noun פַּחִים (pakhim, “traps, snares”) should be emended to פַּחֲמֵי (pakhamey, “coals of [fire]”). The rare noun פֶּחָם (pekham, “coal”) occurs in Prov 26:21 and Isa 44:12; 54:16.

[11:6]  ²⁹ sn The image of God “raining down” brimstone on the objects of his judgment also appears in Gen 19:24 and Ezek 38:22.

[11:6]  ³⁰ tn Heb “[may] a wind of rage [be] the portion of their cup.” The precise meaning of the rare noun זִלְעָפוֹת (zil’afot) is uncertain. It may mean “raging heat” (BDB 273 s.v. זַלְעָפָה) or simply “rage” (HALOT 272 s.v. זַלְעָפָה). If one understands the former sense, then one might translate “hot wind” (cf. NEB, NRSV). The present translation assumes the latter nuance, “a wind of rage” (the genitive is attributive) referring to a “whirlwind” symbolic of destructive judgment. In this mixed metaphor, judgment is also compared to an allotted portion of a beverage poured into one’s drinking cup (see Hab 2:15-16).

[8:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “he.”

[8:13]  ³² tn The word “their” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

[8:13]  ³³ tn The phrase “like a shadow” (כַּצֵּל, katsel) modifies the verb (“prolong”) rather than the noun (“days”). Several English versions misconstrue the line: “he will not prolong his days, [which are] like a shadow” (KJV, ASV); “the man who does not fear God is like a shadow” (NEB); and “he will not prolong his shadowy days” (NAB). It should be rendered “he will not prolong his days like a shadow” (RSV, NRSV, NASB, MLB, NIV). Unlike a shadow that lengthens at sunset, the wicked do not normally live long.

[8:13]  ³⁴ tn Heb “he.”

[8:13]  ³⁵ tn Heb “they do not fear.”