Jeremiah 51:6

51:6 Get out of Babylonia quickly, you foreign people. ¹ 

Flee to save your lives.

Do not let yourselves be killed because of her sins.

For it is time for the Lord to wreak his revenge.

He will pay Babylonia ²  back for what she has done. ³ 

Genesis 19:17

19:17 When they had brought them outside, they ⁴  said, “Run ⁵  for your lives! Don’t look ⁶  behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! ⁷  Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!”

Psalms 11:1

Psalm 11 ⁸ 

For the music director; by David.

11:1 In the Lord I have taken shelter. ⁹ 

How can you say to me, ¹⁰ 

“Flee to a mountain like a bird! ¹¹ 

Proverbs 6:4-5

6:4 Permit no sleep to your eyes ¹² 

or slumber to your eyelids.

6:5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from a snare, ¹³ 

and like a bird from the trap ¹⁴  of the fowler.

Matthew 24:16-18

24:16 then those in Judea must flee ¹⁵  to the mountains. 24:17 The one on the roof ¹⁶  must not come down ¹⁷  to take anything out of his house, 24:18 and the one in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.

Luke 3:7

3:7 So John ¹⁸  said to the crowds ¹⁹  that came out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers! ²⁰  Who warned you to flee ²¹  from the coming wrath?

Luke 17:31-33

17:31 On that day, anyone who is on the roof, ²²  with his goods in the house, must not come down ²³  to take them away, and likewise the person in the field must not turn back. 17:32 Remember Lot’s wife! ²⁴  17:33 Whoever tries to keep ²⁵  his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life ²⁶  will preserve it.

Hebrews 6:18

6:18 so that we who have found refuge in him ²⁷  may find strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us through two unchangeable things, since it is impossible for God to lie.

[51:6]  ¹ tn The words “you foreign people” are not in the text and many think the referent is the exiles of Judah. While this is clearly the case in v. 45 the referent seems broader here where the context speaks of every man going to his own country (v. 9).

[51:6]  ² tn Heb “her.”

[51:6]  ³ tn Heb “paying to her a recompense [i.e., a payment in kind].”

[19:17]  ⁴ tn Or “one of them”; Heb “he.” Several ancient versions (LXX, Vulgate, Syriac) read the plural “they.” See also the note on “your” in v. 19.

[19:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “escape.”

[19:17]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew verb translated “look” signifies an intense gaze, not a passing glance. This same verb is used later in v. 26 to describe Lot’s wife’s self-destructive look back at the city.

[19:17]  ⁷ tn Or “in the plain”; Heb “in the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

[11:1]  ⁸ sn Psalm 11. The psalmist rejects the advice to flee from his dangerous enemies. Instead he affirms his confidence in God’s just character and calls down judgment on evildoers.

[11:1]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew perfect verbal form probably refers here to a completed action with continuing results.

[11:1]  ¹⁰ tn The pronominal suffix attached to נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is equivalent to a personal pronoun. See Ps 6:3.

[11:1]  ¹¹ tc The MT is corrupt here. The Kethib (consonantal text) reads: “flee [masculine plural!] to your [masculine plural!] mountain, bird.” The Qere (marginal reading) has “flee” in a feminine singular form, agreeing grammatically with the addressee, the feminine noun “bird.” Rather than being a second masculine plural pronominal suffix, the ending כֶם- (-khem) attached to “mountain” is better interpreted as a second feminine singular pronominal suffix followed by an enclitic mem (ם). “Bird” may be taken as vocative (“O bird”) or as an adverbial accusative of manner (“like a bird”). Either way, the psalmist’s advisers compare him to a helpless bird whose only option in the face of danger is to fly away to an inaccessible place.

[6:4]  ¹² tn Heb “do not give sleep to your eyes.” The point is to go to the neighbor and seek release from the agreement immediately (cf. NLT “Don’t rest until you do”).

[6:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “from the hand.” Most translations supply “of the hunter.” The word “hand” can signify power, control; so the meaning is that of a gazelle freeing itself from a snare or a trap that a hunter set.

[6:5]  ¹⁴ tc Heb “hand” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV). Some mss and versions have it as “trap,” which may very well represent an interpretation too.

[24:16]  ¹⁵ sn Fleeing to the mountains is a key OT image: Gen 19:17; Judg 6:2; Isa 15:5; Jer 16:16; Zech 14:5.

[24:17]  ¹⁶ sn On the roof. Most of the roofs in the NT were flat roofs made of pounded dirt, sometimes mixed with lime or stones, supported by heavy wooden beams. They generally had an easy means of access, either a sturdy wooden ladder or stone stairway, sometimes on the outside of the house.

[24:17]  ¹⁷ sn The swiftness and devastation of the judgment will require a swift escape. There will be no time to come down from the roof and pick up anything from inside one’s home.

[3:7]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “he”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:7]  ¹⁹ sn The crowds. It is interesting to trace references to “the crowd” in Luke. It is sometimes noted favorably, other times less so. The singular appears 25 times in Luke while the plural occurs 16 times. Matt 3:7 singles out the Sadducees and Pharisees here.

[3:7]  ²⁰ tn Or “snakes.”

[3:7]  ²¹ sn The rebuke “Who warned you to flee…?” compares the crowd to snakes who flee their desert holes when the heat of a fire drives them out.

[17:31]  ²² sn Most of the roofs in the NT were flat roofs made of pounded dirt, sometimes mixed with lime or stones, supported by heavy wooden beams. They generally had an easy means of access, either a sturdy wooden ladder or stone stairway, sometimes on the outside of the house.

[17:31]  ²³ sn The swiftness and devastation of the judgment will require a swift escape. There is no time to come down from one’s roof and pick up anything from inside one’s home.

[17:32]  ²⁴ sn An allusion to Gen 19:26. The warning about Lot’s wife is not to look back and long to be where one used to be. The world is being judged, and the person who delays or turns back will be destroyed.

[17:33]  ²⁵ tn Or “tries to preserve”; Grk “seeks to gain.”

[17:33]  ²⁶ sn Whoever loses his life. Suffering and persecution caused by the world, even to death, cannot stop God from saving (Luke 12:4-6).

[6:18]  ²⁷ tn Grk “have taken refuge”; the basis of that refuge is implied in the preceding verse.