Job 24:14

24:14 Before daybreak ¹  the murderer rises up;

he kills the poor and the needy;

in the night he is ²  like a thief. ³ 

Proverbs 4:16

4:16 For they cannot sleep unless they cause harm; ⁴ 

they are robbed of sleep ⁵  until they make someone stumble. ⁶ 

Hosea 7:6

7:6 They approach him, all the while plotting against him.

Their hearts are like an oven;

their anger smolders all night long,

but in the morning it bursts into a flaming fire.

Micah 2:1

Land Robbers Will Lose their Land

2:1 Those who devise sinful plans are as good as dead, ⁷ 

those who dream about doing evil as they lie in bed. ⁸ 

As soon as morning dawns they carry out their plans, ⁹ 

because they have the power to do so.

Zephaniah 3:3

3:3 Her princes ¹⁰  are as fierce as roaring lions; ¹¹ 

her rulers ¹²  are as hungry as wolves in the desert, ¹³ 

who completely devour their prey by morning. ¹⁴ 

John 18:28

Jesus Brought Before Pilate

18:28 Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the Roman governor’s residence. ¹⁵  (Now it was very early morning.) ¹⁶  They ¹⁷  did not go into the governor’s residence ¹⁸  so they would not be ceremonially defiled, but could eat the Passover meal.

Acts 23:12

The Plot to Kill Paul

23:12 When morning came, ¹⁹  the Jews formed ²⁰  a conspiracy ²¹  and bound themselves with an oath ²²  not to eat or drink anything ²³  until they had killed Paul.

[24:14]  ¹ tn The text simply has לָאוֹר (la’or, “at light” or “at daylight”), probably meaning just at the time of dawn.

[24:14]  ² tn In a few cases the jussive is used without any real sense of the jussive being present (see GKC 323 §109.k).

[24:14]  ³ sn The point is that he is like a thief in that he works during the night, just before the daylight, when the advantage is all his and the victim is most vulnerable.

[4:16]  ⁴ sn The verb is רָעַע (ra’a’), which means “to do evil; to harm.” The verse is using the figure of hyperbole to stress the preoccupation of some people with causing trouble. R. L. Alden says, “How sick to find peace only at the price of another man’s misfortune” (Proverbs, 47).

[4:16]  ⁵ sn Heb “their sleep is robbed/seized”; these expressions are metonymical for their restlessness in plotting evil.

[4:16]  ⁶ sn The Hiphil imperfect (Kethib) means “cause to stumble.” This idiom (from hypocatastasis) means “bring injury/ruin to someone” (BDB 505-6 s.v. כָּשַׁל Hiph.1).

[2:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “Woe to those who plan sin.” The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “woe”; “ah”) was a cry used in mourning the dead.

[2:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “those who do evil upon their beds.”

[2:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “at the light of morning they do it.”

[3:3]  ¹⁰ tn Or “officials.”

[3:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “her princes in her midst are roaring lions.” The metaphor has been translated as a simile (“as fierce as”) for clarity.

[3:3]  ¹² tn Traditionally “judges.”

[3:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “her judges [are] wolves of the evening,” that is, wolves that prowl at night. The translation assumes an emendation to עֲרָבָה (’aravah, “desert”). For a discussion of this and other options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 128. The metaphor has been translated as a simile (“as hungry as”) for clarity.

[3:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they do not gnaw [a bone] at morning.” The precise meaning of the line is unclear. The statement may mean these wolves devour their prey so completely that not even a bone is left to gnaw by the time morning arrives. For a discussion of this and other options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 129.

[18:28]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “to the praetorium.”

[18:28]  ¹⁶ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[18:28]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “And they.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[18:28]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “into the praetorium.”

[23:12]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “when it was day.”

[23:12]  ²⁰ tn Grk “forming a conspiracy, bound.” The participle ποιήσαντες (poihsantes) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[23:12]  ²¹ tn L&N 30.72 has ‘some Jews formed a conspiracy’ Ac 23:12”; BDAG 979 s.v. συστροφή 1 has “Judeans came together in a mob 23:12. But in the last pass. the word may also mean – 2. the product of a clandestine gathering, plot, conspiracy” (see also Amos 7:10; Ps 63:3).

[23:12]  ²² tn Or “bound themselves under a curse.” BDAG 63 s.v. ἀναθεματίζω 1 has “trans. put under a curse τινά someone…pleonastically ἀναθέματι ἀ. ἑαυτόν Ac 23:14…ἀ. ἑαυτόν vss. 12, 21, 13 v.l.” On such oaths see m. Shevi’it 3:1-5. The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[23:12]  ²³ tn The word “anything” 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.