Isaiah 65:3-5

65:3 These people continually and blatantly offend me ¹ 

as they sacrifice in their sacred orchards ² 

and burn incense on brick altars. ³ 

65:4 They sit among the tombs ⁴ 

and keep watch all night long. ⁵ 

They eat pork, ⁶ 

and broth ⁷  from unclean sacrificial meat is in their pans.

65:5 They say, ‘Keep to yourself!

Don’t get near me, for I am holier than you!’

These people are like smoke in my nostrils,

like a fire that keeps burning all day long.

Isaiah 65:2

65:2 I spread out my hands all day long

to my rebellious people,

who lived in a way that is morally unacceptable,

and who did what they desired. ⁸ 

Isaiah 33:6-7

33:6 He is your constant source of stability; ⁹ 

he abundantly provides safety and great wisdom; ¹⁰ 

he gives all this to those who fear him. ¹¹ 

33:7 Look, ambassadors ¹²  cry out in the streets;

messengers sent to make peace ¹³  weep bitterly.

Ezekiel 8:4-6

8:4 Then I perceived that the glory of the God of Israel was there, as in the vision I had seen earlier in the valley.

8:5 He said to me, “Son of man, look up toward ¹⁴  the north.” So I looked up toward the north, and I noticed to the north of the altar gate was this statue of jealousy at the entrance.

8:6 He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing – the great abominations that the people ¹⁵  of Israel are practicing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see greater abominations than these!”

Ezekiel 8:17-18

8:17 He said to me, “Do you see, son of man? Is it a trivial thing that the house of Judah commits these abominations they are practicing here? For they have filled the land with violence and provoked me to anger still further. Look, they are putting the branch to their nose! ¹⁶  8:18 Therefore I will act with fury! My eye will not pity them nor will I spare ¹⁷  them. When they have shouted in my ears, I will not listen to them.”

Habakkuk 1:13

1:13 You are too just ¹⁸  to tolerate ¹⁹  evil;

you are unable to condone ²⁰  wrongdoing.

So why do you put up with such treacherous people? ²¹ 

Why do you say nothing when the wicked devour ²²  those more righteous than they are? ²³ 

Habakkuk 1:1

Habakkuk Complains to the Lord

1:1 The following is the message ²⁴  which God revealed to Habakkuk the prophet: ²⁵ 

Colossians 1:22

1:22 but now he has reconciled you ²⁶  by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him –

[65:3]  ¹ tn Heb “the people who provoke me to anger to my face continually.”

[65:3]  ² tn Or “gardens” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[65:3]  ³ tn Or perhaps, “on tiles.”

[65:4]  ⁴ sn Perhaps the worship of underworld deities or dead spirits is in view.

[65:4]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “and in the watches they spend the night.” Some understand נְּצוּרִים (nÿtsurim) as referring to “secret places” or “caves,” while others emend the text to וּבֵין צוּרִים (uven tsurim, “between the rocky cliffs”).

[65:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “the flesh of the pig”; KJV, NAB, NASB “swine’s flesh.”

[65:4]  ⁷ tc The marginal reading (Qere), supported by the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, reads מְרַק (mÿraq, “broth”), while the consonantal text (Kethib) has פְרַק (feraq, “fragment”).

[65:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “who walked [in] the way that is not good, after their thoughts.”

[33:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he is the stability of your times.”

[33:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a rich store of deliverance, wisdom, and knowledge.”

[33:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the fear of the Lord, it is his treasure.”

[33:7]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “messengers of peace,” apparently those responsible for negotiating the agreements that have been broken (see v. 8).

[8:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “lift your eyes (to) the way of.”

[8:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “house.”

[8:17]  ¹⁶ tn It is not clear what the practice of “holding a branch to the nose” indicates. A possible parallel is the Syrian relief of a king holding a flower to his nose as he worships the stars (ANEP 281). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:145-46. The LXX glosses the expression as “Behold, they are like mockers.”

[8:18]  ¹⁷ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.

[1:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “[you] are too pure of eyes.” God’s “eyes” here signify what he looks at with approval. His “eyes” are “pure” in that he refuses to tolerate any wrongdoing in his presence.

[1:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “to see.” Here “see” is figurative for “tolerate,” “put up with.”

[1:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “to look at.” Cf. NEB “who canst not countenance wrongdoing”; NASB “You can not look on wickedness with favor.”

[1:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “Why do you look at treacherous ones?” The verb בָּגַד (bagad, “be treacherous”) is often used of those who are disloyal or who violate agreements. See S. Erlandsson, TDOT 1:470-73.

[1:13]  ²² tn Or “swallow up.”

[1:13]  ²³ tn Heb “more innocent than themselves.”

[1:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “The burden” (so KJV, ASV). The Hebrew term מַשָּׂא (masa’), usually translated “oracle” (NAB, NEB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) or “utterance” (BDB 672 s.v. III מַשָּׂא), in prophetic literature is a technical term introducing a message from the Lord (see Zech 9:1; 12:1; Mal 1:1). Since it derives from a verb meaning “to carry,” its original nuance was that of a burdensome message, that is, one with ominous content.

[1:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “The message [traditionally, “burden”] which Habakkuk the prophet saw.”

[1:22]  ²⁶ tc Some of the better representatives of the Alexandrian and Western texts have a passive verb here instead of the active ἀποκατήλλαξεν (apokathllaxen, “he has reconciled”): ἀποκατηλλάγητε (apokathllaghte) in (Ì⁴⁶) B, ἀποκατήλλακται [sic] (apokathllaktai) in 33, and ἀποκαταλλαγέντες (apokatallagente") in D* F G. Yet the active verb is strongly supported by א A C D² Ψ 048 075 [0278] 1739 1881 Ï lat sy. Internally, the passive creates an anacoluthon in that it looks back to the accusative ὑμᾶς (Juma", “you”) of v. 21 and leaves the following παραστῆσαι (parasthsai) dangling (“you were reconciled…to present you”). The passive reading is certainly the harder reading. As such, it may well explain the rise of the other readings. At the same time, it is possible that the passive was produced by scribes who wanted some symmetry between the ποτε (pote, “at one time”) of v. 21 and the νυνὶ δέ (nuni de, “but now”) of v. 22: Since a passive periphrastic participle is used in v. 21, there may have a temptation to produce a corresponding passive form in v. 22, handling the ὑμᾶς of v. 21 by way of constructio ad sensum. Since παραστῆσαι occurs ten words later, it may not have been considered in this scribal modification. Further, the Western reading (ἀποκαταλλαγέντες) hardly seems to have arisen from ἀποκατηλλάγητε (contra TCGNT 555). As difficult as this decision is, the preferred reading is the active form because it is superior externally and seems to explain the rise of all forms of the passive readings.