Malachi 3:13-15

Resistance to the Lord through Self-sufficiency

3:13 “You have criticized me sharply,” ¹  says the Lord, “but you ask, ‘How have we criticized you?’ 3:14 You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. How have we been helped ²  by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord who rules over all? ³  3:15 So now we consider the arrogant to be happy; indeed, those who practice evil are successful. ⁴  In fact, those who challenge ⁵  God escape!’”

Matthew 12:36

12:36 I ⁶  tell you that on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every worthless word they speak.

Luke 16:2

16:2 So ⁷  he called the manager ⁸  in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? ⁹  Turn in the account of your administration, ¹⁰  because you can no longer be my manager.’

Romans 14:12

14:12 Therefore, each of us will give an account of himself to God. ¹¹ 

Jude 1:14-15

1:14 Now Enoch, the seventh in descent beginning with Adam, ¹²  even prophesied of them, ¹³  saying, “Look! The Lord is coming ¹⁴  with thousands and thousands ¹⁵  of his holy ones, 1:15 to execute judgment on ¹⁶  all, and to convict every person ¹⁷  of all their thoroughly ungodly deeds ¹⁸  that they have committed, ¹⁹  and of all the harsh words that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” ²⁰ 

[3:13]  ¹ tn Heb “your words are hard [or “strong”] against me”; cf. NIV “said harsh things against me”; TEV, NLT “said terrible things about me.”

[3:14]  ² tn Heb “What [is the] profit”; NIV “What did we gain.”

[3:14]  ³ sn The people’s public display of self-effacing piety has gone unrewarded by the Lord. The reason, of course, is that it was blatantly hypocritical.

[3:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “built up” (so NASB); NIV, NRSV “prosper”; NLT “get rich.”

[3:15]  ⁵ tn Or “test”; NRSV, CEV “put God to the test.”

[12:36]  ⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[16:2]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the reports the man received about his manager.

[16:2]  ⁸ tn Grk “him”; the referent (the manager) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:2]  ⁹ sn Although phrased as a question, the charges were believed by the owner, as his dismissal of the manager implies.

[16:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “stewardship”; the Greek word οἰκονομία (oikonomia) is cognate with the noun for the manager (οἰκονόμος, oikonomo").

[14:12]  ¹¹ tc ‡ The words “to God” are absent from some mss (B F G 6 630 1739 1881 pc) but are found in א A C D Ψ 0209 33 Ï lat sy co. External evidence somewhat favors their inclusion since Alexandrian, Western, and Byzantine mss are well represented. From an internal standpoint, however, it is easy to see the words as a scribal gloss intended to clarify the referent, especially as a reinforcement to the quotation of Isa 45:23 in v. 11. Not only that, but the abrupt ending of the verse without “to God” is harsh, both in Greek and in English. In this instance, the internal considerations seem overwhelming on the side of the omission. At the same time, English stylistic needs require the words and they have been put into the translation, even though they are most likely not original. NA²⁷ places the words in brackets, indicating doubt as to their authenticity.

[1:14]  ¹² tn Grk “the seventh from Adam.”

[1:14]  ¹³ tn Grk “against them.” The dative τούτοις (toutois) is a dativus incommodi (dative of disadvantage).

[1:14]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “has come,” a proleptic aorist.

[1:14]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “ten thousands.” The word μυριάς (muria"), from which the English myriad is derived, means “ten thousand.” In the plural it means “ten thousands.” This would mean, minimally, 20,000 (a multiple of ten thousand). At the same time, the term was often used in apocalyptic literature to represent simply a rather large number, without any attempt to be specific.

[1:15]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “against” (κατά [kata] + genitive). English usage is satisfied with “on” at this point, but the parallel is lost in the translation to some degree, for the end of v. 15 says that this judgment is meted out on these sinners because they spoke against him (κατά + genitive).

[1:15]  ¹⁷ tn Or “soul.”

[1:15]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “of all their works of ungodliness.” The adverb “thoroughly” is part of the following verb “have committed.” See note on verb “committed” later in this verse.

[1:15]  ¹⁹ tn The verb in Greek does not simply mean “have committed,” but “have committed in an ungodly way.” The verb ἀσεβέω (asebew) is cognate to the noun ἀσέβεια (asebeia, “ungodliness”). There is no easy way to express this in English, since English does not have a single word that means the same thing. Nevertheless, the tenor of v. 15 is plainly seen, regardless of the translation.

[1:15]  ²⁰ sn An apparent quotation from 1 En. 1:9. There is some doubt as to whether Jude is actually quoting from the text of 1 Enoch; the text here in Jude differs in some respects from the extant text of this pseudepigraphic book. It is sometimes suggested that Jude may instead have been quoting from oral tradition which had roots older than the written text.