James 5:4

5:4 Look, the pay you have held back from the workers who mowed your fields cries out against you, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

Genesis 42:21

42:21 They said to one other, ¹  “Surely we’re being punished ²  because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was ³  when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress ⁴  has come on us!”

Jude 1:7

1:7 So also ⁵  Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, ⁶  since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire ⁷  in a way similar to ⁸  these angels, ⁹  are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

Job 22:6-10

22:6 “For you took pledges ¹⁰  from your brothers

for no reason,

and you stripped the clothing from the naked. ¹¹ 

22:7 You gave the weary ¹²  no water to drink

and from the hungry you withheld food.

22:8 Although you were a powerful man, ¹³  owning land, ¹⁴ 

an honored man ¹⁵  living on it, ¹⁶ 

22:9 you sent widows away empty-handed,

and the arms ¹⁷  of the orphans you crushed. ¹⁸ 

22:10 That is why snares surround you,

and why sudden fear terrifies you,

Proverbs 21:13

21:13 The one who shuts his ears ¹⁹  to the cry ²⁰  of the poor,

he too will cry out and will not be answered. ²¹ 

Isaiah 27:11

27:11 When its branches get brittle, ²²  they break;

women come and use them for kindling. ²³ 

For these people lack understanding, ²⁴ 

therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;

the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

Matthew 5:7

5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Matthew 6:15

6:15 But if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive you your sins.

Matthew 7:1-2

Do Not Judge

7:1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. ²⁵  7:2 For by the standard you judge you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the measure you receive. ²⁶ 

Matthew 18:28-35

18:28 After ²⁷  he went out, that same slave found one of his fellow slaves who owed him one hundred silver coins. ²⁸  So ²⁹  he grabbed him by the throat and started to choke him, ³⁰  saying, ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ ³¹  18:29 Then his fellow slave threw himself down and begged him, ³²  ‘Be patient with me, and I will repay you.’ 18:30 But he refused. Instead, he went out and threw him in prison until he repaid the debt. 18:31 When ³³  his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were very upset and went and told their lord everything that had taken place. 18:32 Then his lord called the first slave ³⁴  and said to him, ‘Evil slave! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me! 18:33 Should you not have shown mercy to your fellow slave, just as I showed it to you?’ 18:34 And in anger his lord turned him over to the prison guards to torture him ³⁵  until he repaid all he owed. 18:35 So also my heavenly Father will do to you, if each of you does not forgive your ³⁶  brother ³⁷  from your heart.”

Matthew 25:41-46

25:41 “Then he will say ³⁸  to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels! 25:42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. 25:43 I was a stranger and you did not receive me as a guest, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 25:44 Then they too will answer, ³⁹  ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not give you whatever you needed?’ 25:45 Then he will answer them, ⁴⁰  ‘I tell you the truth, ⁴¹  just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.’ 25:46 And these will depart into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Luke 16:25

16:25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, ⁴²  remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus likewise bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. ⁴³ 

[42:21]  ¹ tn Heb “a man to his neighbor.”

[42:21]  ² tn Or “we are guilty”; the Hebrew word can also refer to the effect of being guilty, i.e., “we are being punished for guilt.”

[42:21]  ³ tn Heb “the distress of his soul.”

[42:21]  ⁴ sn The repetition of the Hebrew noun translated distress draws attention to the fact that they regard their present distress as appropriate punishment for their refusal to ignore their brother when he was in distress.

[1:7]  ⁵ tn Grk “as.”

[1:7]  ⁶ tn Grk “the towns [or cities] surrounding them.”

[1:7]  ⁷ tn Grk “strange flesh.” This phrase has been variously interpreted. It could refer to flesh of another species (such as angels lusting after human flesh). This would aptly describe the sin of the angels, but not easily explain the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. It could refer to the homosexual practices of the Sodomites, but a difficulty arises from the use of ἕτερος ({etero"; “strange,” “other”). When this is to be distinguished from ἄλλος (allos, “another”) it suggests “another of a different kind.” If so, would that properly describe homosexual behavior? In response, the language could easily be compact: “pursued flesh other than what was normally pursued.” However, would this find an analogy in the lust of angels (such would imply that angels normally had sexual relations of some sort, but cf. Matt 22:30)? Another alternative is that the focus of the parallel is on the activity of the surrounding cities and the activity of the angels. This is especially plausible since the participles ἐκπορνεύσασαι (ekporneusasai, “having indulged in sexual immorality”) and ἀπελθοῦσαι (apelqousai, “having pursued”) have concord with “cities” (πόλεις, poleis), a feminine plural noun, rather than with Sodom and Gomorrah (both masculine nouns). If so, then their sin would not necessarily have to be homosexuality. However, most likely the feminine participles are used because of constructio ad sensum (construction according to sense). That is, since both Sodom and Gomorrah are cities, the feminine is used to imply that all the cities are involved. The connection with angels thus seems to be somewhat loose: Both angels and Sodom and Gomorrah indulged in heinous sexual immorality. Thus, whether the false teachers indulge in homosexual activity is not the point; mere sexual immorality is enough to condemn them.

[1:7]  ⁸ tn Or “in the same way as.”

[1:7]  ⁹ tn “Angels” is not in the Greek text; but the masculine demonstrative pronoun most likely refers back to the angels of v. 6.

[22:6]  ¹⁰ tn The verb חָבַל (khaval) means “to take pledges.” In this verse Eliphaz says that Job not only took as pledge things the poor need, like clothing, but he did it for no reason.

[22:6]  ¹¹ tn The “naked” here refers to people who are poorly clothed. Otherwise, a reading like the NIV would be necessary: “you stripped the clothes…[leaving them] naked.” So either he made them naked by stripping their garments off, or they were already in rags.

[22:7]  ¹² tn The term עָיֵף (’ayef) can be translated “weary,” “faint,” “exhausted,” or “tired.” Here it may refer to the fainting because of thirst – that would make a good parallel to the second part.

[22:8]  ¹³ tn The idiom is “a man of arm” (= “powerful”; see Ps 10:15). This is in comparison to the next line, “man of face” (= “dignity; high rank”; see Isa 3:5).

[22:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and a man of arm, to whom [was] land.” The line is in contrast to the preceding one, and so the vav here introduces a concessive clause.

[22:8]  ¹⁵ tn The expression is unusual: “the one lifted up of face.” This is the “honored one,” the one to whom the dignity will be given.

[22:8]  ¹⁶ tn Many commentators simply delete the verse or move it elsewhere. Most take it as a general reference to Job, perhaps in apposition to the preceding verse.

[22:9]  ¹⁷ tn The “arms of the orphans” are their helps or rights on which they depended for support.

[22:9]  ¹⁸ tn The verb in the text is Pual: יְדֻכָּא (yÿdukka’, “was [were] crushed”). GKC 388 §121.b would explain “arms” as the complement of a passive imperfect. But if that is too difficult, then a change to Piel imperfect, second person, will solve the difficulty. In its favor is the parallelism, the use of the second person all throughout the section, and the reading in all the versions. The versions may have simply assumed the easier reading, however.

[21:13]  ¹⁹ sn The imagery means “pay no attention to” the cry for help or “refuse to help,” so it is a metonymy of cause for the effect.

[21:13]  ²⁰ sn “Cry” here would be a metonymy of effect for the cause, the cause being the great needs of the poor.

[21:13]  ²¹ sn The proverb is teaching that those who show mercy will receive mercy. It involves the principle of talionic justice – those who refuse the needs of others will themselves be refused when they need help (so Luke 16:19-31).

[27:11]  ²² tn Heb “are dry” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[27:11]  ²³ tn Heb “women come [and] light it.” The city is likened to a dead tree with dried up branches that is only good for firewood.

[27:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “for not a people of understanding [is] he.”

[7:1]  ²⁵ sn The point of the statement do not judge so that you will not be judged is that the standards we apply to others God applies to us. The passive verbs in this verse look to God’s action.

[7:2]  ²⁶ tn Grk “by [the measure] with which you measure it will be measured to you.”

[18:28]  ²⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[18:28]  ²⁸ tn Grk “one hundred denarii.” The denarius was a silver coin worth about a day’s wage for a laborer; this would be about three month’s pay.

[18:28]  ²⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so.” A new sentence was started at this point in the translation in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[18:28]  ³⁰ tn Grk “and he grabbed him and started choking him.”

[18:28]  ³¹ tn The word “me” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[18:29]  ³² tn Grk “begged him, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant here in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[18:31]  ³³ tn Grk “Therefore when.” Here οὖν (oun) has not been translated.

[18:32]  ³⁴ tn Grk “him”; the referent (the first slave mentioned in v. 24) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:34]  ³⁵ tn Grk “handed him over to the torturers,” referring specifically to guards whose job was to torture prisoners who were being questioned. According to L&N 37.126, it is difficult to know for certain in this instance whether the term actually envisions torture as a part of the punishment or is simply a hyperbole. However, in light of the following verse and Jesus’ other warning statements in Matthew about “fiery hell,” “the outer darkness,” etc., it is best not to dismiss this as mere imagery.

[18:35]  ³⁶ tn Grk “his.” The pronoun has been translated to follow English idiom (the last pronoun of the verse [“from your heart”] is second person plural in the original).

[18:35]  ³⁷ tn Here the term “brother” means “fellow believer” or “fellow Christian” (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 2.a), whether male or female. Concerning the familial connotations, see also the note on the first occurrence of this term in v. 15.

[25:41]  ³⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[25:44]  ³⁹ tn Grk “Then they will answer, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[25:45]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “answer them, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[25:45]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[16:25]  ⁴² tn The Greek term here is τέκνον (teknon), which could be understood as a term of endearment.

[16:25]  ⁴³ tn Or “in terrible pain” (L&N 24.92). Here is the reversal Jesus mentioned in Luke 6:20-26.