Discovery BoxJudges 17:10
Context17:10 Micah said to him, “Stay with me. Become my adviser 1 and priest. I will give you ten pieces of silver per year, plus clothes and food.” 2
Proverbs 30:15
Context30:15 The leech 3 has two daughters: 4
“Give! Give!” 5
There are three things that are never satisfied,
four 6 that never say, “Enough” 7 –
Isaiah 56:11
Context56:11 The dogs have big appetites;
they are never full. 8
They are shepherds who have no understanding;
they all go their own way,
each one looking for monetary gain. 9
Ezekiel 13:19
Context13:19 You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. You have put to death people 10 who should not die and kept alive those who should not live by your lies to my people, who listen to lies!
Hosea 4:3
Context4:3 Therefore the land will mourn,
and all its inhabitants will perish. 11
The wild animals, 12 the birds of the sky,
and even the fish in the sea will perish.
Acts 20:33
Context20:33 I have desired 13 no one’s silver or gold or clothing.
Philippians 3:19
Context3:19 Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, they exult in their shame, and they think about earthly things. 14
Philippians 3:2
Context3:2 Beware of the dogs, 15 beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! 16
Philippians 2:3
Context2:3 Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition 17 or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself.
Philippians 2:15-16
Context2:15 so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without blemish though you live in a crooked and perverse society, in which you shine as lights in the world 18 2:16 by holding on to 19 the word of life so that on the day of Christ I will have a reason to boast that I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.
[17:10] 1 tn Heb “father.” “Father” is here a title of honor that suggests the priest will give advice and protect the interests of the family, primarily by divining God’s will in matters, perhaps through the use of the ephod. (See R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 257; also Gen 45:8, where Joseph, who was a diviner and interpreter of dreams, is called Pharaoh’s “father,” and 2 Kgs 6:21; 13:14, where a prophet is referred to as a “father.” Note also 2 Kgs 8:9, where a king identifies himself as a prophet’s “son.” One of a prophet’s main functions was to communicate divine oracles. Cf. 2 Kgs 8:9ff.; 13:14-19).
[17:10] 2 tn The Hebrew text expands with the phrase: “and the Levite went.” This only makes sense if taken with “to live” in the next verse. Apparently “the Levite went” and “the Levite agreed” are alternative readings which have been juxtaposed in the text.
[30:15] 3 sn The next two verses describe insatiable things, things that are problematic to normal life. The meaning of v. 15a and its relationship to 15b is debated. But the “leech” seems to have been selected to begin the section because it was symbolic of greed – it sucks blood through its two suckers. This may be what the reference to two daughters calling “Give! Give!” might signify (if so, this is an implied comparison, a figure known as hypocatastasis).
[30:15] 4 sn As one might expect, there have been various attempts to identify the “two daughters.” In the Rabbinic literature some identified Alukah (the “leech”) with Sheol, and the two daughters with paradise and hell, one claiming the righteous and the other the unrighteous; others identified Alukah with Gehenna, and the two daughters with heresy and government, neither of which is ever satisfied (Midrash Tehillim quoted by Rashi, a Jewish scholar who lived
[30:15] 5 tn The two imperatives הַב הַב (hav hav, “give, give,” from יָהַב, yahav) correspond to the two daughters, and form their appeal. This would then be a personification – it is as if the leech is crying out, “Give! Give!”
[30:15] 6 sn There is a noticeable rhetorical sequence here: two daughters, three things, four (see W. M. Roth, “The Numerical Sequence x / x +1 in the Old Testament,” VT 12 [1962]: 300-311, and “Numerical Sayings in the Old Testament,” VT 13 [1965]: 86). W. McKane thinks the series builds to a climax with the four, and in the four the barren woman is the focal point, the other three being metaphors for her sexual desire (Proverbs [OTL], 656). This interpretation is a minority view, however, and has not won widespread support.
[30:15] 7 tn Throughout the book of Proverbs הוֹן (hon) means “wealth”; but here it has the nuance of “sufficiency” (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT “satisfied”) or “enough” (BDB 223 s.v.).
[56:11] 5 sn The phrase never full alludes to the greed of the leaders.
[56:11] 6 tn Heb “for his gain from his end.”
[13:19] 7 tn Heb “human lives” or “souls.”
[4:3] 9 tn Or “languish” (so KJV, NRSV); NIV “waste away.”
[4:3] 10 tn Heb “the beasts of the field” (so NAB, NIV).
[20:33] 11 tn Traditionally, “coveted.” BDAG 371 s.v. ἐπιθυμέω 1 has “to have a strong desire to do or secure someth., desire, long for w. gen. of the thing desired…silver, gold, clothing Ac 20:33.” The traditional term “covet” is not in common usage and difficult for many modern English readers to understand. The statement affirms Paul’s integrity. He was not doing this for personal financial gain.
[3:19] 13 tn Grk “whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly and glory is their shame, these who think of earthly things.”
[3:2] 15 sn Dogs is a figurative reference to false teachers whom Paul regards as just as filthy as dogs.
[3:2] 16 tn Grk “beware of the mutilation.”
[2:3] 17 tn Grk “not according to selfish ambition.” There is no main verb in this verse; the subjunctive φρονῆτε (fronhte, “be of the same mind”) is implied here as well. Thus, although most translations supply the verb “do” at the beginning of v. 3 (e.g., “do nothing from selfish ambition”), the idea is even stronger than that: “Don’t even think any thoughts motivated by selfish ambition.”
