Jude 1:13

1:13 wild sea waves, ¹  spewing out the foam of ²  their shame; ³  wayward stars ⁴  for whom the utter depths of eternal darkness ⁵  have been reserved.

Nehemiah 9:7-15

9:7 “You are the LORD God who chose Abram and brought him forth from Ur of the Chaldeans. You changed his name to Abraham. 9:8 When you perceived that his heart was faithful toward you, you established a ⁶  covenant with him to give his descendants ⁷  the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites. You have fulfilled your promise, ⁸  for you are righteous.

9:9 “You saw the affliction of our ancestors in Egypt, and you heard their cry at the Red Sea. ⁹  9:10 You performed awesome signs ¹⁰  against Pharaoh, against his servants, and against all the people of his land, for you knew that the Egyptians ¹¹  had acted presumptuously ¹²  against them. You made for yourself a name that is celebrated to this day. 9:11 You split the sea before them, and they crossed through ¹³  the sea on dry ground! But you threw their pursuers ¹⁴  into the depths, like a stone into surging ¹⁵  waters. 9:12 You guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and with a pillar of fire by night to illumine for them the path they were to travel.

9:13 “You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven. You provided them with just judgments, true laws, and good statutes and commandments. 9:14 You made known to them your holy Sabbath; you issued commandments, statutes, and law to them through ¹⁶  Moses your servant. 9:15 You provided bread from heaven for them in their time of hunger, and you brought forth water from the rock for them in their time of thirst. You told them to enter in order to possess the land that you had sworn ¹⁷  to give them.

Psalms 44:1

Psalm 44 ¹⁸ 

For the music director; by the Korahites, a well-written song. ¹⁹ 

44:1 O God, we have clearly heard; ²⁰ 

our ancestors ²¹  have told us

what you did ²²  in their days,

in ancient times. ²³ 

[1:13]  ¹ tn Grk “wild waves of the sea.”

[1:13]  ² tn Grk “foaming, causing to foam.” The verb form is intensive and causative. BDAG 360 s.v. ἐπαφρίζω suggests the meaning “to cause to splash up like froth, cause to foam,” or, in this context, “waves casting up their own shameless deeds like (dirty) foam.”

[1:13]  ³ tn Grk “shames, shameful things.” It is uncertain whether shameful deeds or shameful words are in view. Either way, the picture has taken a decided turn: Though waterless clouds and fruitless trees may promise good things, but deliver nothing, wild sea-waves are portents of filth spewed forth from the belly of the sea.

[1:13]  ⁴ sn The imagery of a star seems to fit the nautical theme that Jude is developing. Stars were of course the guides to sailors at night, just as teachers are responsible to lead the flock through a benighted world. But false teachers, as wayward stars, are not fixed and hence offer unreliable, even disastrous guidance. They are thus both the dangerous reefs on which the ships could be destroyed and the false guides, leading them into these rocks. There is a special irony that these lights will be snuffed out, reserved for the darkest depths of eternal darkness.

[1:13]  ⁵ tn Grk “utter darkness of darkness for eternity.” See note on the word “utter” in v. 6.

[9:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “the” (so NAB).

[9:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “seed.”

[9:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “your words.”

[9:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “the Sea of Reeds.” Traditionally this is identified as the Red Sea, and the modern designation has been used in the translation for clarity.

[9:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “signs and wonders.” This phrase is a hendiadys. The second noun functions adjectivally, while the first noun retains its full nominal sense: “awesome signs” or “miraculous signs.”

[9:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Egyptians) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:10]  ¹² tn Or “arrogantly” (so NASB); NRSV “insolently.”

[9:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “in the midst of.”

[9:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “those who pursued them.”

[9:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “mighty.”

[9:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “by the hand of.”

[9:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “had lifted your hand.”

[44:1]  ¹⁸ sn Psalm 44. The speakers in this psalm (the worshiping community within the nation Israel) were disappointed with God. The psalm begins on a positive note, praising God for leading Israel to past military victories. Verses 1-8 appear to be a song of confidence and petition which the people recited prior to battle. But suddenly the mood changes as the nation laments a recent defeat. The stark contrast between the present and the past only heightens the nation’s confusion. Israel trusted in God for victory, but the Lord rejected them and allowed them to be humiliated in battle. If Israel had been unfaithful to God, their defeat would make sense, but the nation was loyal to the Lord. Comparing the Lord to a careless shepherd, the nation urges God to wake up and to extend his compassion to his suffering people.

[44:1]  ¹⁹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 42.

[44:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “with our ears we have heard.”

[44:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 2; the same Hebrew word may be translated either “fathers” or “ancestors” depending on the context.

[44:1]  ²² tn Heb “the work you worked.”

[44:1]  ²³ tn Heb “in the days of old.” This refers specifically to the days of Joshua, during Israel’s conquest of the land, as vv. 2-3 indicate.