Discovery BoxJudges 17:13
Context17:13 Micah said, “Now I know God will make me rich, 1 because I have this Levite as my priest.”
Psalms 115:8
Context115:8 Those who make them will end up 2 like them,
as will everyone who trusts in them.
Isaiah 44:18-20
Context44:18 They do not comprehend or understand,
for their eyes are blind and cannot see;
their minds do not discern. 3
44:19 No one thinks to himself,
nor do they comprehend or understand and say to themselves:
‘I burned half of it in the fire –
yes, I baked bread over the coals;
I roasted meat and ate it.
With the rest of it should I make a disgusting idol?
Should I bow down to dry wood?’ 4
his deceived mind misleads him.
He cannot rescue himself,
nor does he say, ‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’ 6
Jeremiah 50:38
Context50:38 A drought will come upon her land;
her rivers and canals will be dried up. 7
All of this will happen because her land is filled with idols. 8
Her people act like madmen because of 9 those idols they fear. 10
Jeremiah 51:17
Context51:17 All idolaters will prove to be stupid and ignorant.
Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made.
For the image he forges is merely a sham.
There is no breath in any of those idols.
Ezekiel 23:5
Context23:5 “Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was mine. 11 She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians 12 – warriors 13
Habakkuk 2:18-19
Context2:18 What good 14 is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? 15
What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? 16
Why would its creator place his trust in it 17
and make 18 such mute, worthless things?
2:19 The one who says to wood, ‘Wake up!’ is as good as dead 19 –
he who says 20 to speechless stone, ‘Awake!’
Can it give reliable guidance? 21
It is overlaid with gold and silver;
it has no life’s breath inside it.
Acts 19:26
Context19:26 And you see and hear that this Paul has persuaded 22 and turned away 23 a large crowd, 24 not only in Ephesus 25 but in practically all of the province of Asia, 26 by saying 27 that gods made by hands are not gods at all. 28
Revelation 17:2
Context17:2 with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality and the earth’s inhabitants got drunk with the wine of her immorality.” 29
[17:13] 1 tn Heb “do good for me.”
[115:8] 2 tn Heb “will be.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a prayer, “may those who make them end up like them.”
[44:18] 3 tn Heb “for their eyes are smeared over so they cannot see, so their heart cannot be wise.”
[44:19] 4 tn There is no formal interrogative sign here, but the context seems to indicate these are rhetorical questions. See GKC 473 §150.a.
[44:20] 5 tn Or perhaps, “he eats on an ash heap.”
[44:20] 6 tn Heb “Is it not a lie in my right hand?”
[50:38] 7 tc Heb “a drought against her waters and they will dry up.” Several of the commentaries and modern English versions accept the emendation proposed by BHS and read here “sword” (חֶרֶב [kherev] in place of חֹרֶב [khorev], the change of only one vowel) in keeping with the rest of the context. According to BHS this reading is supported by the Lucianic and Hexaplaric recensions of the LXX (the Greek version) and the Syriac version. In this case the drying up of the waters (of the canals) is attributed to neglect brought about by war conditions. However, it is just as likely that these versions are influenced by the repetition of the word “sword” as the Hebrew and the other versions are influenced by the concept of “drying up” of the waters to read “drought.” Hence the present translation, along with the majority of modern English versions, retains the Hebrew “drought.”
[50:38] 8 tn Heb “for it is a land of idols.” The “for,” however, goes back to the whole context not just to the preceding prediction (cf. BDB 473-74 s.v. כִּי 1.c and compare usage in Isa 21:6 listed there).
[50:38] 9 tc Or “Her people boast in.” This translation is based on the reading of the majority of Hebrew
[50:38] 10 tn Heb “by the terrors.” However, as HALOT 40 s.v. אֵימָה indicates these are “images that cause terror” (a substitution of the effect for the cause). The translation of this line follows the interpretation of the majority of modern English versions and all the commentaries consulted. NIV, NCV, and God’s Word reflect a different syntax, understanding the subject to be the idols just mentioned rather than “her people” which is supplied here for the sake of clarity (the Hebrew text merely says “they.”) Following that lead, one could render “but those idols will go mad with terror.” This makes excellent sense in the context which often refers to effects (vv. 36b, d, 37c, 38b) of the war that is coming. However, that interpretation does not fit as well with the following “therefore/so,” which basically introduces a judgment or consequence after an accusation of sin.
[23:5] 11 tn Heb “while she was under me.” The expression indicates that Oholah is viewed as the Lord’s wife. See Num 5:19-20, 29.
[23:5] 13 tn The term apparently refers to Assyrian military officers; it is better construed with the description that follows. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:738.
[2:18] 14 tn Or “of what value.”
[2:18] 15 tn Heb “so that the one who forms it fashions it?” Here כִּי (ki) is taken as resultative after the rhetorical question. For other examples of this use, see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §450.
[2:18] 16 tn Heb “or a metal image, a teacher of lies.” The words “What good is” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line. “Teacher of lies” refers to the false oracles that the so-called god would deliver through a priest. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 126.
[2:18] 17 tn Heb “so that the one who forms his image trusts in it?” As earlier in the verse, כִּי (ki) is resultative.
[2:19] 19 tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who says.” On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.
[2:19] 20 tn The words “he who says” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line.
[2:19] 21 tn Though the Hebrew text has no formal interrogative marker here, the context indicates that the statement should be taken as a rhetorical question anticipating the answer, “Of course not!” (so also NIV, NRSV).
[19:26] 22 tn Grk “persuading.” The participle πείσας (peisa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
[19:26] 24 tn BDAG 472 s.v. ἱκανός 3.a has “of pers. ὄχλος a large crowd…Ac 11:24, 26; 19:26.”
[19:26] 25 map For location see JP1 D2; JP2 D2; JP3 D2; JP4 D2.
[19:26] 26 tn Grk “Asia”; see the note on this word in v. 22.
[19:26] 27 tn The participle λέγων (legwn) has been regarded as indicating instrumentality.
[19:26] 28 tn The words “at all” are not in the Greek text but are implied.
[17:2] 29 tn This is the same word translated “sexual immorality” earlier in the verse, but here the qualifier “sexual” has not been repeated for stylistic reasons.
