Isaiah 5:21

5:21 Those who think they are wise are as good as dead, ¹ 

those who think they possess understanding. ² 

Isaiah 47:10-13

47:10 You were complacent in your evil deeds; ³ 

you thought, ⁴  ‘No one sees me.’

Your self-professed ⁵  wisdom and knowledge lead you astray,

when you say, ‘I am unique! No one can compare to me!’ ⁶ 

47:11 Disaster will overtake you;

you will not know how to charm it away. ⁷ 

Destruction will fall on you;

you will not be able to appease it.

Calamity will strike you suddenly,

before you recognize it. ⁸ 

47:12 Persist ⁹  in trusting ¹⁰  your amulets

and your many incantations,

which you have faithfully recited ¹¹  since your youth!

Maybe you will be successful ¹²  –

maybe you will scare away disaster. ¹³ 

47:13 You are tired out from listening to so much advice. ¹⁴ 

Let them take their stand –

the ones who see omens in the sky,

who gaze at the stars,

who make monthly predictions –

let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you! ¹⁵ 

Jude 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Jude, ¹⁶  a slave ¹⁷  of Jesus Christ and brother of James, ¹⁸  to those who are called, wrapped in the love of ¹⁹  God the Father and kept for ²⁰  Jesus Christ.

Jeremiah 2:28

2:28 But where are the gods you made for yourselves?

Let them save you when you are in trouble.

The sad fact is that ²¹  you have as many gods

as you have towns, Judah.

Jeremiah 2:1

The Lord Recalls Israel’s Earlier Faithfulness

2:1 The Lord spoke to me. He said:

Colossians 1:20

1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, ²²  whether things on earth or things in heaven.

[5:21]  ¹ tn Heb “Woe [to] the wise in their own eyes.” See the note at v. 8.

[5:21]  ² tn Heb “[who] before their faces are understanding.”

[47:10]  ³ tn Heb “you trusted in your evil”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “wickedness.”

[47:10]  ⁴ tn Or “said”; NAB “said to yourself”’ NASB “said in your heart.”

[47:10]  ⁵ tn The words “self-professed” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[47:10]  ⁶ tn See the note at v. 8.

[47:11]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text has שַׁחְרָהּ (shakhrah), which is either a suffixed noun (“its dawning,” i.e., origin) or infinitive (“to look early for it”). Some have suggested an emendation to שַׁחֲדָהּ (shakhadah), a suffixed infinitive from שָׁחַד (shakhad, “[how] to buy it off”; see BDB 1005 s.v. שָׁחַד). This forms a nice parallel with the following couplet. The above translation is based on a different etymology of the verb in question. HALOT 1466 s.v. III שׁחר references a verbal root with these letters (שׁחד) that refers to magical activity.

[47:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “you will not know”; NIV “you cannot foresee.”

[47:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “stand” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “Stand fast.”

[47:12]  ¹⁰ tn The word “trusting” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See v. 9.

[47:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in that which you have toiled.”

[47:12]  ¹² tn Heb “maybe you will be able to profit.”

[47:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “maybe you will cause to tremble.” The object “disaster” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See the note at v. 9.

[47:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “you are tired because of the abundance of your advice.”

[47:13]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “let them stand and rescue you – the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make known by months – from those things which are coming upon you.”

[1:1]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “Judas,” traditionally “Jude” in English versions to distinguish him from the one who betrayed Jesus. The word “From” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ¹⁷ tn Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). At the same time, perhaps “servant” is apt in that the δοῦλος of Jesus Christ took on that role voluntarily, unlike a slave. The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  ¹⁸ sn Although Jude was half-brother of Jesus, he humbly associates himself with James, his full brother. By first calling himself a slave of Jesus Christ, it is evident that he wants no one to place stock in his physical connections. At the same time, he must identify himself further: Since Jude was a common name in the 1st century (two of Jesus’ disciples were so named, including his betrayer), more information was needed, that is to say, brother of James.

[1:1]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “loved in.” The perfect passive participle suggests that the audience’s relationship to God is not recent; the preposition ἐν (en) before πατρί (patri) could be taken as sphere or instrument (agency is unlikely, however). Another possible translation would be “dear to God.”

[1:1]  ²⁰ tn Or “by.” Datives of agency are quite rare in the NT (and other ancient Greek), almost always found with a perfect verb. Although this text qualifies, in light of the well-worn idiom of τηρέω (threw) in eschatological contexts, in which God or Christ keeps the believer safe until the parousia (cf. 1 Thess 5:23; 1 Pet 1:4; Rev 3:10; other terms meaning “to guard,” “to keep” are also found in similar eschatological contexts [cf. 2 Thess 3:3; 2 Tim 1:12; 1 Pet 1:5; Jude 24]), it is probably better to understand this verse as having such an eschatological tinge. It is at the same time possible that Jude’s language was intentionally ambiguous, implying both ideas (“kept by Jesus Christ [so that they might be] kept for Jesus Christ”). Elsewhere he displays a certain fondness for wordplays; this may be a hint of things to come.

[2:28]  ²¹ tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki, “for, indeed”) contextually.

[1:20]  ²² tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì⁴⁶ א A C D¹ Ψ 048^vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.