Jeremiah 15:19-21

15:19 Because of this, the Lord said, ¹ 

“You must repent of such words and thoughts!

If you do, I will restore you to the privilege of serving me. ² 

If you say what is worthwhile instead of what is worthless,

I will again allow you to be my spokesman. ³ 

They must become as you have been.

You must not become like them. ⁴ 

15:20 I will make you as strong as a wall to these people,

a fortified wall of bronze.

They will attack you,

but they will not be able to overcome you.

For I will be with you to rescue you and deliver you,” ⁵ 

says the Lord.

15:21 “I will deliver you from the power of the wicked.

I will free you from the clutches of violent people.”

Jeremiah 26:15

26:15 But you should take careful note of this: If you put me to death, you will bring on yourselves and this city and those who live in it the guilt of murdering an innocent man. For the Lord has sent me to speak all this where you can hear it. That is the truth!” ⁶ 

Numbers 23:19-20

23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie,

nor a human being, ⁷  that he should change his mind.

Has he said, and will he not do it?

Or has he spoken, and will he not make it happen? ⁸ 

23:20 Indeed, I have received a command ⁹  to bless;

he has blessed, ¹⁰  and I cannot reverse it. ¹¹ 

Numbers 24:13

24:13 ‘If Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond ¹²  the commandment ¹³  of the Lord to do either good or evil of my own will, ¹⁴  but whatever the Lord tells me I must speak’?

Job 23:13

23:13 But he is unchangeable, ¹⁵  and who can change ¹⁶  him?

Whatever he ¹⁷  has desired, he does.

Ezekiel 2:4-5

2:4 The people ¹⁸  to whom I am sending you are obstinate and hard-hearted, ¹⁹  and you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says.’ ²⁰  2:5 And as for them, ²¹  whether they listen ²²  or not – for they are a rebellious ²³  house ²⁴  – they will know that a prophet has been among them.

Ezekiel 2:7

2:7 You must speak my words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.

Ezekiel 3:17-19

3:17 “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman ²⁵  for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must give them a warning from me. 3:18 When I say to the wicked, “You will certainly die,” ²⁶  and you do not warn him – you do not speak out to warn the wicked to turn from his wicked deed and wicked lifestyle so that he may live – that wicked person will die for his iniquity, ²⁷  but I will hold you accountable for his death. ²⁸  3:19 But as for you, if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wicked deed and from his wicked lifestyle, he will die for his iniquity but you will have saved your own life. ²⁹ 

Acts 18:6

18:6 When they opposed him ³⁰  and reviled him, ³¹  he protested by shaking out his clothes ³²  and said to them, “Your blood ³³  be on your own heads! I am guiltless! ³⁴  From now on I will go to the Gentiles!”

Acts 20:26-27

20:26 Therefore I declare ³⁵  to you today that I am innocent ³⁶  of the blood of you all. ³⁷  20:27 For I did not hold back from ³⁸  announcing ³⁹  to you the whole purpose ⁴⁰  of God.

[15:19]  ¹ tn Heb “So the Lord said thus.”

[15:19]  ² tn Heb “If you return [ = repent], I will restore [more literally, ‘cause you to return’] that you may stand before me.” For the idiom of “standing before” in the sense of serving see BDB 764 s.v. עָמַד Qal.1.e and compare the usage in 1 Kgs 10:8; 12:8; 17:1; Deut 10:8.

[15:19]  ³ tn Heb “you shall be as my mouth.”

[15:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “They must turn/return to you and you must not turn/return to them.”

[15:20]  ⁵ sn See 1:18. The Lord renews his promise of protection and reiterates his call to Jeremiah.

[26:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “For in truth the Lord has sent me to you to speak in your ears all these words/things.”

[23:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “son of man.”

[23:19]  ¹⁴ tn The verb is the Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “to cause to rise; to make stand”). The meaning here is more of the sense of fulfilling the promises made.

[23:20]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew text simply has “I have received [to] bless.” The infinitive is the object of the verb, telling what he received. Balaam was not actually commanded to bless, but was given the word of blessing so that he was given a divine decree that would bless Israel.

[23:20]  ¹⁸ sn The reference is probably to the first speech, where the Lord blessed Israel. Balaam knows that there is nothing he can do to reverse what God has said.

[23:20]  ¹⁹ tn The verb is the Hiphil of שׁוּב (shuv), meaning “to cause to return.” He cannot return God’s word to him, for it has been given, and it will be fulfilled.

[24:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “I am not able to go beyond.”

[24:13]  ²² tn Heb “mouth.”

[24:13]  ²³ tn Heb “from my heart.”

[23:13]  ²⁵ tc The MT has “But he [is] in one.” Many add the word “mind” to capture the point that God is resolute and unchanging. Some commentators find this too difficult, and so change the text from בְאֶחָד (bÿ’ekhad, here “unchangeable”) to בָחָר (bakhar, “he has chosen”). The wording in the text is idiomatic and should be retained. R. Gordis (Job, 262) translates it “he is one, i.e., unchangeable, fixed, determined.” The preposition בּ (bet) is a bet essentiae – “and he [is] as one,” or “he is one” (see GKC 379 §119.i).

[23:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “cause him to return.”

[23:13]  ²⁷ tn Or “his soul.”

[2:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “sons.” The word choice may reflect treaty idiom, where the relationship between an overlord and his subjects can be described as that of father and son.

[2:4]  ³⁰ tc Heb “stern of face and hard of heart.” The phrases “stern of face” and “hard of heart” are lacking in the LXX.

[2:4]  ³¹ tn The phrase “thus says [the Lord]” occurs 129 times in Ezekiel; the announcement is identical to the way messengers often introduced their messages (Gen 32:5; 45:9; Exod 5:10; Num 20:14; Judg 11:15).

[2:5]  ³³ tn Heb “they”; the phrase “And as for them” has been used in the translation for clarity.

[2:5]  ³⁴ tn The Hebrew word implies obedience rather than mere hearing or paying attention.

[2:5]  ³⁵ tn This Hebrew adjective is also used to describe the Israelites in Num 17:25 and Isa 30:9.

[2:5]  ³⁶ sn The book of Ezekiel frequently refers to the Israelites as a rebellious house (Ezek 2:5, 6, 8; 3:9, 26-27; 12:2-3, 9, 25; 17:12; 24:3).

[3:17]  ³⁷ tn The literal role of a watchman is described in 2 Sam 18:24; 2 Kgs 9:17.

[3:18]  ⁴¹ sn Even though the infinitive absolute is used to emphasize the warning, the warning is still implicitly conditional, as the following context makes clear.

[3:18]  ⁴² tn Or “in his punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and v. 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 18: 17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 33:6, 8, 9; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment for iniquity.”

[3:18]  ⁴³ tn Heb “his blood I will seek from your hand.” The expression “seek blood from the hand” is equivalent to requiring the death penalty (2 Sam 4:11-12).

[3:19]  ⁴⁵ tn Verses 17-19 are repeated in Ezek 33:7-9.

[18:6]  ⁴⁹ tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[18:6]  ⁵⁰ tn The participle βλασφημούντων (blasfhmountwn) has been taken temporally. The direct object (“him”) is implied rather than expressed and could be impersonal (“it,” referring to what Paul was saying rather than Paul himself), but the verb occurs more often in contexts involving defamation or slander against personal beings (not always God). For a very similar context to this one, compare Acts 13:45. The translation “blaspheme” is not used because in contemporary English its meaning is more narrowly defined and normally refers to blasphemy against God (not what Paul’s opponents were doing here). What they were doing was more like slander or defamation of character.

[18:6]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “shaking out his clothes, he said to them.” L&N 16:8 translates Acts 18:6 “when they opposed him and said evil things about him, he protested by shaking the dust from his clothes.” The addition of the verb “protested by” in the translation is necessary to clarify for the modern reader that this is a symbolic action. It is similar but not identical to the phrase in Acts 13:51, where the dust from the feet is shaken off. The participle ἐκτιναξάμενος (ektinaxameno") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[18:6]  ⁵² sn Your blood be on your own heads! By invoking this epithet Paul declared himself not responsible for their actions in rejecting Jesus whom Paul preached (cf. Ezek 33:4; 3:6-21; Matt 23:35; 27:25).

[18:6]  ⁵³ tn Or “innocent.” BDAG 489 s.v. καθαρός 3.a has “guiltless Ac 18:6.”

[20:26]  ⁵³ tn Or “testify.”

[20:26]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “clean, pure,” thus “guiltless” (BDAG 489 s.v. καθαρός 3.a).

[20:26]  ⁵⁵ tn That is, “that if any of you should be lost, I am not responsible” (an idiom). According to L&N 33.223, the meaning of the phrase “that I am innocent of the blood of all of you” is “that if any of you should be lost, I am not responsible.” However, due to the length of this phrase and its familiarity to many modern English readers, the translation was kept closer to formal equivalence in this case. The word “you” is not in the Greek text, but is implied; Paul is addressing the Ephesian congregation (in the person of its elders) in both v. 25 and 27.

[20:27]  ⁵⁷ tn Or “did not avoid.” BDAG 1041 s.v. ὑποστέλλω 2.b has “shrink from, avoid implying fear…οὐ γὰρ ὑπεστειλάμην τοῦ μὴ ἀναγγεῖλαι I did not shrink from proclaiming Ac 20:27”; L&N 13.160 has “to hold oneself back from doing something, with the implication of some fearful concern – ‘to hold back from, to shrink from, to avoid’…‘for I have not held back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God’ Ac 20:27.”

[20:27]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “proclaiming,” “declaring.”

[20:27]  ⁵⁹ tn Or “plan.”