Discovery BoxJude 1:23-24
Context1:23 save 1 others by snatching them out of the fire; have mercy 2 on others, coupled with a fear of God, 3 hating even the clothes stained 4 by the flesh. 5
1:24 Now to the one who is able to keep you from falling, 6 and to cause you to stand, rejoicing, 7 without blemish 8 before his glorious presence, 9
Psalms 83:3-12
Context83:3 They carefully plot 10 against your people,
and make plans to harm 11 the ones you cherish. 12
83:4 They say, “Come on, let’s annihilate them so they are no longer a nation! 13
Then the name of Israel will be remembered no more.”
83:5 Yes, 14 they devise a unified strategy; 15
they form an alliance 16 against you.
83:6 It includes 17 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites, 18
83:7 Gebal, 19 Ammon, and Amalek,
Philistia and the inhabitants of Tyre. 20
83:8 Even Assyria has allied with them,
lending its strength to the descendants of Lot. 21 (Selah)
83:9 Do to them as you did to Midian 22 –
as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River! 23
83:10 They were destroyed at Endor; 24
their corpses were like manure 25 on the ground.
83:11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, 26
and all their rulers like Zebah and Zalmunna, 27
83:12 who said, 28 “Let’s take over 29 the pastures of God!”
[1:23] 2 tn Grk “and have mercy.”
[1:23] 3 tn Grk “with fear.” But as this contrasts with ἀφόβως (afobw") in v. 12 (without reverence), the posture of the false teachers, it most likely refers to reverence for God.
[1:23] 4 sn The imagery here suggests that the things close to the sinners are contaminated by them, presumably during the process of sinning.
[1:23] 5 tn Grk “hating even the tunic spotted by the flesh.” The “flesh” in this instance could refer to the body or to the sin nature. It makes little difference in one sense: Jude is thinking primarily of sexual sins, which are borne of the sin nature and manifest themselves in inappropriate deeds done with the body. At the same time, he is not saying that the body is intrinsically bad, a view held by the opponents of Christianity. Hence, it is best to see “flesh” as referring to the sin nature here and the language as metaphorical.
[1:24] 6 tn The construction in Greek is a double accusative object-complement. “You” is the object and “free from falling” is the adjectival complement.
[1:24] 7 tn Grk “with rejoicing.” The prepositional clause is placed after “his glorious presence” in Greek, but most likely goes with “cause you to stand.”
[1:24] 8 tn The construction in Greek is a double accusative object-complement. “You” is the object and “without blemish” is the adjectival complement.
[1:24] 9 tn Or “in the presence of his glory,” “before his glory.”
[83:3] 10 tn Heb “they make crafty a plot.”
[83:3] 11 tn Heb “and consult together against.”
[83:3] 12 tn The passive participle of the Hebrew verb צָפַן (tsafan, “to hide”) is used here in the sense of “treasured; cherished.”
[83:4] 13 tn Heb “we will cause them to disappear from [being] a nation.”
[83:5] 15 tn Heb “they consult [with] a heart together.”
[83:5] 16 tn Heb “cut a covenant.”
[83:6] 17 tn The words “it includes” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[83:6] 18 sn The Hagrites are also mentioned in 1 Chr 5:10, 19-20.
[83:7] 19 sn Some identify Gebal with the Phoenician coastal city of Byblos (see Ezek 27:9, where the name is spelled differently), though others locate this site south of the Dead Sea (see BDB 148 s.v. גְּבַל; HALOT 174 s.v. גְּבַל).
[83:7] 20 map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.
[83:8] 21 tn Heb “they are an arm for the sons of Lot.” The “arm” is here a symbol of military might.
[83:9] 22 tn Heb “do to them like Midian.”
[83:9] 23 sn The psalmist alludes here to Gideon’s victory over the Midianites (see Judg 7-8) and to Barak’s victory over Jabin’s army, which was led by his general Sisera (Judg 4-5).
[83:10] 24 sn Endor is not mentioned in the accounts of Gideon’s or Barak’s victories, but both battles took place in the general vicinity of the town. (See Y. Aharoni and M. Avi-Yonah, The Macmillan Bible Atlas, 46, 54.) Because Sisera and Jabin are mentioned in v. 9b, many understand them to be the subject of the verbs in v. 10, though they relate v. 10 to Gideon’s victory, which is referred to in v. 9a, 11. (See, for example, Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible, 263.)
[83:10] 25 tn Heb “they were manure.” In addition to this passage, corpses are compared to manure in 2 Kgs 9:37; Jer 8:2; 9:21; 16:4; 25:33.
[83:11] 26 sn Oreb and Zeeb were the generals of the Midianite army that was defeated by Gideon. The Ephraimites captured and executed both of them and sent their heads to Gideon (Judg 7:24-25).
[83:11] 27 sn Zebah and Zalmunna were the Midianite kings. Gideon captured them and executed them (Judg 8:1-21).
[83:12] 28 tn The translation assumes that “Zebah and Zalmunna” are the antecedents of the relative pronoun (“who [said]”). Another option is to take “their nobles…all their rulers” as the antecedent and to translate, “those who say.”
