Discovery BoxIsaiah 57:5
Context57:5 you who practice ritual sex 1 under the oaks and every green tree,
who slaughter children near the streams under the rocky overhangs. 2
Isaiah 57:2
Context57:2 Those who live uprightly enter a place of peace;
they rest on their beds. 3
Isaiah 27:2
Contextsing about a delightful vineyard! 5
Isaiah 28:2-4
Context28:2 Look, the sovereign master 6 sends a strong, powerful one. 7
With the force of a hailstorm or a destructive windstorm, 8
with the might of a driving, torrential rainstorm, 9
he will knock that crown 10 to the ground with his hand. 11
28:3 The splendid crown of Ephraim’s drunkards
will be trampled underfoot.
28:4 The withering flower, its beautiful splendor,
situated at the head of a rich valley,
will be like an early fig before harvest –
as soon as someone notices it,
he grabs it and swallows it. 12
Isaiah 28:23-25
Context28:23 Pay attention and listen to my message! 13
Be attentive and listen to what I have to say! 14
28:24 Does a farmer just keep on plowing at planting time? 15
Does he keep breaking up and harrowing his ground?
28:25 Once he has leveled its surface,
does he not scatter the seed of the caraway plant,
sow the seed of the cumin plant,
and plant the wheat, barley, and grain in their designated places? 16
Isaiah 33:3-7
Context33:3 The nations run away when they hear a loud noise; 17
the nations scatter when you spring into action! 18
33:4 Your plunder 19 disappears as if locusts were eating it; 20
they swarm over it like locusts! 21
indeed, 23 he lives in heaven; 24
he fills Zion with justice and fairness.
33:6 He is your constant source of stability; 25
he abundantly provides safety and great wisdom; 26
he gives all this to those who fear him. 27
33:7 Look, ambassadors 28 cry out in the streets;
messengers sent to make peace 29 weep bitterly.
Jeremiah 2:28
Context2:28 But where are the gods you made for yourselves?
Let them save you when you are in trouble.
The sad fact is that 30 you have as many gods
as you have towns, Judah.
Jeremiah 11:13
Context11:13 This is in spite of the fact that 31 the people of Judah have as many gods as they have towns 32 and the citizens of Jerusalem have set up as many altars to sacrifice to that disgusting god, Baal, as they have streets in the city!’ 33
Ezekiel 16:23-25
Context16:23 “‘After all of your evil – “Woe! Woe to you!” declares the sovereign Lord – 16:24 you built yourself a chamber 34 and put up a pavilion 35 in every public square. 16:25 At the head of every street you erected your pavilion and you disgraced 36 your beauty when you spread 37 your legs to every passerby and multiplied your promiscuity.
Hosea 12:11
Context12:11 Is there idolatry 38 in Gilead? 39
Certainly its inhabitants 40 will come to nothing! 41
Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal?
Surely their altars will be like stones heaped up on a plowed field!
Acts 17:16
Context17:16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, 42 his spirit was greatly upset 43 because he saw 44 the city was full of idols.
[57:5] 1 tn Heb “inflame yourselves”; NRSV “burn with lust.” This verse alludes to the practice of ritual sex that accompanied pagan fertility rites.
[57:5] 2 sn This apparently alludes to the practice of child sacrifice (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).
[57:2] 3 tn Heb “he enters peace, they rest on their beds, the one who walks straight ahead of himself.” The tomb is here viewed in a fairly positive way as a place where the dead are at peace and sleep undisturbed.
[27:2] 4 tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV).
[27:2] 5 tn Heb “vineyard of delight,” or “vineyard of beauty.” Many medieval
[28:2] 6 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 16, 22 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
[28:2] 7 tn Heb “Look, a strong and powerful [one] belongs to the Lord.”
[28:2] 8 tn Heb “like a rainstorm of hail, a wind of destruction.”
[28:2] 9 tn Heb “like a rainstorm of mighty, overflowing waters.”
[28:2] 10 tn The words “that crown” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The object of the verb is unexpressed in the Hebrew text.
[28:2] 11 tn Or “by [his] power.”
[28:4] 12 tn Heb “which the one seeing sees, while still it is in his hand he swallows it.”
[28:23] 13 tn Heb “to my voice.”
[28:23] 14 tn Heb “to my word”; cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV “hear my speech.”
[28:24] 15 tn Heb “All the day does the plowman plow in order to plant?” The phrase “all the day” here has the sense of “continually, always.” See BDB 400 s.v. יוֹם.
[28:25] 16 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “place wheat [?], and barley [?], and grain in its territory.” The term שׂוֹרָה (shorah) is sometimes translated “[in] its place,” but the word is unattested elsewhere. It is probably due to dittography of the immediately following שְׂעֹרָה (sÿo’rah, “barley”). The meaning of נִסְמָן (nisman) is also uncertain. It may be due to dittography of the immediately following כֻסֶּמֶת (kussemet, “grain”).
[33:3] 17 tn Heb “at the sound of tumult the nations run away.”
[33:3] 18 tn Heb “because of your exaltation the nations scatter.”
[33:4] 19 tn The pronoun is plural; the statement is addressed to the nations who have stockpiled plunder from their conquests of others.
[33:4] 20 tn Heb “and your plunder is gathered, the gathering of the locust.”
[33:4] 21 tn Heb “like a swarm of locusts swarming on it.”
[33:5] 22 tn Or “elevated”; NCV, NLT “is very great.”
[33:5] 23 tn Or “for” (KJV, NASB, NIV).
[33:5] 24 tn Heb “on high” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “in the heavens.”
[33:6] 25 tn Heb “and he is the stability of your times.”
[33:6] 26 tn Heb “a rich store of deliverance, wisdom, and knowledge.”
[33:6] 27 tn Heb “the fear of the Lord, it is his treasure.”
[33:7] 28 tn The meaning of the Hebrew word is unknown. Proposals include “heroes” (cf. KJV, ASV “valiant ones”; NASB, NIV “brave men”); “priests,” “residents [of Jerusalem].” The present translation assumes that the term is synonymous with “messengers of peace,” with which it corresponds in the parallel structure of the verse.
[33:7] 29 tn Heb “messengers of peace,” apparently those responsible for negotiating the agreements that have been broken (see v. 8).
[2:28] 30 tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki, “for, indeed”) contextually.
[11:13] 31 tn This is again an attempt to render the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) contextually. The nuance is a little hard to establish due to the nature of the rhetoric of the passage which utilizes the figure of apostrophe where the
[11:13] 33 tn Heb “For [or Indeed] the number of your [sing.] cities are your [sing.] gods, Judah, and the number of the streets of Jerusalem [or perhaps (your) streets, Jerusalem] you [plur.] have set up altars to the shameful thing, altars to sacrifice to Baal.” This passage involves a figure of speech where the speaker turns from describing something about someone to addressing him/her directly (a figure called apostrophe). This figure is not common in contemporary English literature or conversation and translating literally would lead to confusion on the part of some readers. Hence, the translation retains the third person in keeping with the rest of the context. The shift from singular “your cities” to plural “you have set up” is interpreted contextually to refer to a shift in addressing Judah to addressing the citizens of Jerusalem whose streets are being talked about. The appositional clause, “altars to sacrifice to Baal” has been collapsed with the preceding clause to better identify what the shameful thing is and to eliminate a complex construction. The length of this sentence runs contrary to the usual practice of breaking up long complex sentences in Hebrew into shorter equivalent ones in English. However, breaking up this sentence and possibly losing the connecting link with the preceding used to introduce it might lead to misunderstanding.
[16:24] 34 tn The Hebrew גֶּב (gev) may represent more than one word, each rare in the Old Testament. It may refer to a “mound” or to “rafters.” The LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate interpret this as a brothel.
[16:24] 35 tn Or “lofty place” (NRSV). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:229, and B. Lang, Frau Weisheit, 137.
[16:25] 36 tn Heb “treated as if abominable,” i.e., repudiated.
[16:25] 37 tn The only other occurrence of the Hebrew root is found in Prov 13:3 in reference to the talkative person who habitually “opens wide” his lips.
[12:11] 38 tn The noun אָוֶן (’aven) has a broad range of meanings which includes: (1) “wickedness, sin, injustice” (2) “deception, nothingness,” and (3) “idolatry, idolatrous cult” (HALOT 22 s.v. אָוֶן; BDB 19 s.v. אָוֶן). While any of these meanings would fit the present context, the second-half of the verse refers to cultic sins, suggesting that Hosea is denouncing Gilead for its idolatry. Cf. NLT “Gilead is filled with sinners who worship idols.”
[12:11] 39 tn The introductory deictic particle אִם (’im) functions as an interrogative and introduces an interrogative clause: “Is there…?” (see HALOT 60 s.v. אִם 5; BDB 50 s.v. אִם 2). The LXX assumed that אִם was being used in its more common function as a conditional particle: “If there….”
[12:11] 40 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the inhabitants of Gilead) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[12:11] 41 tn The noun שָׁוְא (shav’, “emptiness, nothing”), which describes the imminent judgment of the people of Gilead, creates a wordplay in Hebrew with the noun אָוֶן (’aven, “nothingness” = idolatry). Because Gilead worshiped “nothingness” (idols), it would become “nothing” (i.e., be destroyed).
[17:16] 42 map For location see JP1 C2; JP2 C2; JP3 C2; JP4 C2.
[17:16] 43 tn Grk “greatly upset within him,” but the words “within him” were not included in the translation because they are redundant in English. See L&N 88.189. The term could also be rendered “infuriated.”
[17:16] 44 tn Or “when he saw.” The participle θεωροῦντος (qewrounto") has been translated as a causal adverbial participle; it could also be translated as temporal.
