Mark 11:14

11:14 He said to it, ¹  “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it. ² 

Job 18:16-17

18:16 Below his roots dry up,

and his branches wither above.

18:17 His memory perishes from the earth,

he has no name in the land. ³ 

Job 20:5-7

20:5 that the elation of the wicked is brief, ⁴ 

the joy of the godless ⁵  lasts but a moment. ⁶ 

20:6 Even though his stature ⁷  reaches to the heavens

and his head touches the clouds,

20:7 he will perish forever, like his own excrement; ⁸ 

those who used to see him will say, ‘Where is he?’

Isaiah 5:4

5:4 What more can I do for my vineyard

beyond what I have already done?

When I waited for it to produce edible grapes,

why did it produce sour ones instead?

Isaiah 40:24

40:24 Indeed, they are barely planted;

yes, they are barely sown;

yes, they barely take root in the earth,

and then he blows on them, causing them to dry up,

and the wind carries them away like straw.

Matthew 13:6

13:6 But when the sun came up, they were scorched, and because they did not have sufficient root, they withered.

Matthew 15:13

15:13 And he replied, ⁹  “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted.

Matthew 21:19-20

21:19 After noticing a fig tree ¹⁰  by the road he went to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. He said to it, “Never again will there be fruit from you!” And the fig tree withered at once. 21:20 When the disciples saw it they were amazed, saying, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?”

John 15:6

15:6 If anyone does not remain ¹¹  in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, ¹²  and are burned up. ¹³ 

Hebrews 6:8

6:8 But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is useless and about to be cursed; ¹⁴  its fate is to be burned.

Jude 1:12

1:12 These men are ¹⁵  dangerous reefs ¹⁶  at your love feasts, ¹⁷  feasting without reverence, ¹⁸  feeding only themselves. ¹⁹  They are ²⁰  waterless ²¹  clouds, carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit ²²  – twice dead, ²³  uprooted;

[11:14]  ¹ tn Grk “And answering, he said to it.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant and has not been translated.

[11:14]  ² sn Mark 11:12-14. The incident of the cursing of the fig tree occurs before he enters the temple for a third time (11:27ff) and is questioned at length by the religious leaders (11:27-12:40). It appears that Mark records the incident as a portent of what is going to happen to the leadership in Jerusalem who were supposed to have borne spiritual fruit but have been found by Messiah at his coming to be barren. The fact that the nation as a whole is indicted is made explicit in chapter 13:1-37 where Jesus speaks of Jerusalem’s destruction and his second coming.

[18:17]  ³ tn Heb “outside.” Cf. ESV, “in the street,” referring to absence from his community’s memory.

[20:5]  ⁴ tn The expression in the text is “quite near.” This indicates that it is easily attained, and that its end is near.

[20:5]  ⁵ tn For the discussion of חָנֵף (khanef, “godless”) see Job 8:13.

[20:5]  ⁶ tn The phrase is “until a moment,” meaning it is short-lived. But see J. Barr, “Hebrew ’ad, especially at Job 1:18 and Neh 7:3,” JSS 27 (1982): 177-88.

[20:6]  ⁷ tn The word שִׂיא (si’) has been connected with the verb נָשָׂא (nasa’, “to lift up”), and so interpreted here as “pride.” The form is parallel to “head” in the next part, and so here it refers to his stature, the part that rises up and is crowned. But the verse does describe the pride of such a person, with his head in the heavens.

[20:7]  ⁸ tn There have been attempts to change the word here to “like a whirlwind,” or something similar. But many argue that there is no reason to remove a coarse expression from Zophar.

[15:13]  ⁹ tn Grk “And answering, he said.”

[21:19]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “one fig tree.”

[15:6]  ¹¹ tn Or “reside.”

[15:6]  ¹² sn Such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire. The author does not tell who it is who does the gathering and throwing into the fire. Although some claim that realized eschatology is so prevalent in the Fourth Gospel that no references to final eschatology appear at all, the fate of these branches seems to point to the opposite. The imagery is almost certainly that of eschatological judgment, and recalls some of the OT vine imagery which involves divine rejection and judgment of disobedient Israel (Ezek 15:4-6, 19:12).

[15:6]  ¹³ tn Grk “they gather them up and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”

[6:8]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “near to a curse.”

[1:12]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “these are the men who are.”

[1:12]  ¹⁶ tn Though σπιλάδες (spilades) is frequently translated “blemishes” or “stains,” such is actually a translation of the Greek word σπίλοι (spiloi). The two words are quite similar, especially in their root or lexical forms (σπιλάς [spila"] and σπίλος [spilos] respectively). Some scholars have suggested that σπιλάδες in this context means the same thing as σπίλοι. But such could be the case only by a stretch of the imagination (see BDAG 938 s.v. σπιλάς for discussion). Others suggest that Jude’s spelling was in error (which also is doubtful). One reason for the tension is that in the parallel passage, 2 Pet 2:13, the term used is indeed σπίλος. And if either Jude used 2 Peter or 2 Peter used Jude, one would expect to see the same word. Jude, however, may have changed the wording for the sake of a subtle wordplay. The word σπιλάς was often used of a mere rock, though it normally was associated with a rock along the shore or one jutting out in the water. Thus, the false teachers would appear as “rocks” – as pillars in the community (cf. Matt 16:18; Gal 2:9), when in reality if a believer got too close to them his faith would get shipwrecked. Some suggest that σπιλάδες here means “hidden rocks.” Though this meaning is attested for the word, it is inappropriate in this context, since these false teachers are anything but hidden. They are dangerous because undiscerning folks get close to them, thinking they are rocks and pillars, when they are really dangerous reefs.

[1:12]  ¹⁷ tc Several witnesses (A C^vid 1243 1846 al), influenced by the parallel in 2 Pet 2:13, read ἀπάταις (apatai", “deceptions”) for ἀγάπαις (agapai", “love-feasts”) in v. 12. However, ἀγάπαις has much stronger and earlier support and should therefore be considered original.

[1:12]  ¹⁸ tn Or “fearlessly.” The term in this context, however, is decidedly negative. The implication is that these false teachers ate the Lord’s Supper without regarding the sanctity of the meal. Cf. 1 Cor 11:17-22.

[1:12]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “shepherding themselves.” The verb ποιμαίνω (poimainw) means “shepherd, nurture [the flock].” But these men, rather than tending to the flock of God, nurture only themselves. They thus fall under the condemnation Paul uttered when writing to the Corinthians: “For when it comes time to eat [the Lord’s Supper,] each one goes ahead with his own meal” (1 Cor 11:21). Above all, the love-feast was intended to be a shared meal in which all ate and all felt welcome.

[1:12]  ²⁰ tn “They are” is not in Greek, but resumes the thought begun at the front of v. 12. There is no period before “They are.” English usage requires breaking this into more than one sentence.

[1:12]  ²¹ tn Cf. 2 Pet 2:17. Jude’s emphasis is slightly different (instead of waterless springs, they are waterless clouds).

[1:12]  ²² sn The imagery portraying the false teachers as autumn trees without fruit has to do with their lack of productivity. Recall the statement to the same effect by Jesus in Matt 7:16-20, in which false prophets will be known by their fruits. Like waterless clouds full of false hope, these trees do not yield any harvest even though it is expected.

[1:12]  ²³ tn Grk “having died twice.”