Matthew 21:43

21:43 For this reason I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people ¹  who will produce its fruit.

Isaiah 5:4-7

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?

5:5 Now I will inform you

what I am about to do to my vineyard:

I will remove its hedge and turn it into pasture, ² 

I will break its wall and allow animals to graze there. ³ 

5:6 I will make it a wasteland;

no one will prune its vines or hoe its ground, ⁴ 

and thorns and briers will grow there.

I will order the clouds

not to drop any rain on it.

5:7 Indeed ⁵  Israel ⁶  is the vineyard of the Lord who commands armies,

the people ⁷  of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight.

He waited for justice, but look what he got – disobedience! ⁸ 

He waited for fairness, but look what he got – cries for help! ⁹ 

Mark 12:9

12:9 What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy ¹⁰  those tenants and give the vineyard to others. ¹¹ 

Luke 10:42

10:42 but one thing ¹²  is needed. Mary has chosen the best ¹³  part; it will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 12:20-21

12:20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life ¹⁴  will be demanded back from ¹⁵  you, but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ ¹⁶  12:21 So it is with the one who stores up riches for himself, ¹⁷  but is not rich toward God.”

Luke 16:2

16:2 So ¹⁸  he called the manager ¹⁹  in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? ²⁰  Turn in the account of your administration, ²¹  because you can no longer be my manager.’

Luke 16:25

16:25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, ²²  remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus likewise bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. ²³ 

Revelation 2:5

2:5 Therefore, remember from what high state ²⁴  you have fallen and repent! Do ²⁵  the deeds you did at the first; ²⁶  if not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place – that is, if you do not repent. ²⁷ 

Revelation 3:15-16

3:15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. ²⁸  I wish you were either cold or hot! 3:16 So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going ²⁹  to vomit ³⁰  you out of my mouth!

[21:43]  ¹ tn Or “to a nation” (so KJV, NASB, NLT).

[5:5]  ² tn Heb “and it will become [a place for] grazing.” בָּעַר (ba’ar, “grazing”) is a homonym of the more often used verb “to burn.”

[5:5]  ³ tn Heb “and it will become a trampled place” (NASB “trampled ground”).

[5:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “it will not be pruned or hoed” (so NASB); ASV and NRSV both similar.

[5:7]  ⁵ tn Or “For” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[5:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “the house of Israel” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[5:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “men,” but in a generic sense.

[5:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “but, look, disobedience.” The precise meaning of מִשְׂפָּח (mishpakh), which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain. Some have suggested a meaning “bloodshed.” The term is obviously chosen for its wordplay value; it sounds very much like מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat, “justice”). The sound play draws attention to the point being made; the people have not met the Lord’s expectations.

[5:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “but, look, a cry for help.” The verb (“he waited”) does double duty in the parallelism. צְעָקָה (tsa’qah) refers to the cries for help made by the oppressed. It sounds very much like צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “fairness”). The sound play draws attention to the point being made; the people have not met the Lord’s expectations.

[12:9]  ¹⁰ sn The statement that the owner will come and destroy those tenants is a promise of judgment; see Luke 13:34-35; 19:41-44.

[12:9]  ¹¹ sn The warning that the owner would give the vineyard to others suggests that the care of the promise and the nation’s hope would be passed to others. This eventually looks to Gentile inclusion; see Eph 2:11-22.

[10:42]  ¹² tc Or, with some mss (̳ [א] B C² L 070^vid ˹ 33 [579] pc), “few things are needed – or only one” (as well as other variants). The textual problem here is a difficult one to decide. The shorter reading is normally preferred, but it is not altogether clear how the variants would arise from it. However, the reading followed in the translation has good support (with some internal variations) from a number of witnesses (Ì^45,75 A C* W Θ Ψ Ë¹³ Ï lat sa).

[10:42]  ¹³ tn Or “better”; Grk “good.” This is an instance of the positive adjective used in place of the superlative adjective. According to ExSyn 298, this could also be treated as a positive for comparative (“better”).

[12:20]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “your soul,” but ψυχή (yuch) is frequently used of one’s physical life. It clearly has that meaning in this context.

[12:20]  ¹⁵ tn Or “required back.” This term, ἀπαιτέω (apaitew), has an economic feel to it and is often used of a debt being called in for repayment (BDAG 96 s.v. 1).

[12:20]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” The words “for yourself” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[12:21]  ¹⁷ sn It is selfishness that is rebuked here, in the accumulation of riches for himself. Recall the emphasis on the first person pronouns throughout the parable.

[16:2]  ¹⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the reports the man received about his manager.

[16:2]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (the manager) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:2]  ²⁰ sn Although phrased as a question, the charges were believed by the owner, as his dismissal of the manager implies.

[16:2]  ²¹ tn Or “stewardship”; the Greek word οἰκονομία (oikonomia) is cognate with the noun for the manager (οἰκονόμος, oikonomo").

[16:25]  ²² tn The Greek term here is τέκνον (teknon), which could be understood as a term of endearment.

[16:25]  ²³ tn Or “in terrible pain” (L&N 24.92). Here is the reversal Jesus mentioned in Luke 6:20-26.

[2:5]  ²⁴ tn Grk “from where,” but status is in view rather than physical position. On this term BDAG 838 s.v. πόθεν 1 states, “from what place? from where?…In imagery μνημόνευε πόθεν πέπτωκες remember from what (state) you have fallen Rv 2:5.”

[2:5]  ²⁵ tn Grk “and do” (a continuation of the previous sentence in the Greek text). For stylistic reasons in English a new sentence was started here in the translation. The repeated mention of repenting at the end of the verse suggests that the intervening material (“do the deeds you did at first”) specifies how the repentance is to be demonstrated.

[2:5]  ²⁶ tn Or “you did formerly.”

[2:5]  ²⁷ tn Although the final clause is somewhat awkward, it is typical of the style of Revelation.

[3:15]  ²⁸ sn Laodicea was near two other towns, each of which had a unique water source. To the north was Hierapolis which had a natural hot spring, often used for medicinal purposes. To the east was Colossae which had cold, pure waters. In contrast to these towns, Laodicea had no permanent supply of good water. Efforts to pipe water to the city from nearby springs were successful, but it would arrive lukewarm. The metaphor in the text is not meant to relate spiritual fervor to temperature. This would mean that Laodicea would be commended for being spiritually cold, but it is unlikely that Jesus would commend this. Instead, the metaphor condemns Laodicea for not providing spiritual healing (being hot) or spiritual refreshment (being cold) to those around them. It is a condemnation of their lack of works and lack of witness.

[3:16]  ²⁹ tn Or “I intend.”

[3:16]  ³⁰ tn This is the literal meaning of the Greek verb ἐμέω (emew). It is usually translated with a much weaker term like “spit out” due to the unpleasant connotations of the English verb “vomit,” as noted by L&N 23.44. The situation confronting the Laodicean church is a dire one, however, and such a term is necessary if the modern reader is to understand the gravity of the situation.