Matthew 25:41

25:41 “Then he will say ¹  to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels!

Isaiah 27:10-11

27:10 For the fortified city ²  is left alone;

it is a deserted settlement

and abandoned like the desert.

Calves ³  graze there;

they lie down there

and eat its branches bare. ⁴ 

27:11 When its branches get brittle, ⁵  they break;

women come and use them for kindling. ⁶ 

For these people lack understanding, ⁷ 

therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;

the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

Ezekiel 15:4-7

15:4 No! ⁸  It is thrown in the fire for fuel; when the fire has burned up both ends of it and it is charred in the middle, will it be useful for anything? 15:5 Indeed! If it was not made into anything useful when it was whole, how much less can it be made into anything when the fire has burned it up and it is charred?

15:6 “Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Like the wood of the vine is among the trees of the forest which I have provided as fuel for the fire – so I will provide the residents of Jerusalem ⁹  as fuel. ¹⁰  15:7 I will set ¹¹  my face against them – although they have escaped from the fire, ¹²  the fire will still consume them! Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them.

Malachi 4:1

4:1 (3:19) ¹³  “For indeed the day ¹⁴  is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant evildoers will be chaff. The coming day will burn them up,” says the Lord who rules over all. “It ¹⁵  will not leave even a root or branch.

John 15:6

15:6 If anyone does not remain ¹⁶  in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, ¹⁷  and are burned up. ¹⁸ 

[25:41]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[27:10]  ² sn The identity of this city is uncertain. The context suggests that an Israelite city, perhaps Samaria or Jerusalem, is in view. For discussions of interpretive options see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:496-97, and Paul L. Redditt, “Once Again, the City in Isaiah 24-27,” HAR 10 (1986), 332.

[27:10]  ³ tn The singular form in the text is probably collective.

[27:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “and destroy her branches.” The city is the antecedent of the third feminine singular pronominal suffix. Apparently the city is here compared to a tree. See also v. 11.

[27:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “are dry” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[27:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “women come [and] light it.” The city is likened to a dead tree with dried up branches that is only good for firewood.

[27:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “for not a people of understanding [is] he.”

[15:4]  ⁸ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws one’s attention to something. Sometimes it may be translated as a verb of perception; here it is treated as a particle that fits the context (so also in v. 5, but with a different English word).

[15:6]  ⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[15:6]  ¹⁰ tn The words “as fuel” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

[15:7]  ¹¹ tn The word translated “set” is the same Hebrew word translated as “provide” in the previous verse.

[15:7]  ¹² sn This escape refers to the exile of Ezekiel and others in 597 b.c. (Ezek 1:2; 2 Kgs 24:10-16).

[4:1]  ¹³ sn Beginning with 4:1, the verse numbers through 4:6 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 4:1 ET = 3:19 HT, 4:2 ET = 3:20 HT, etc., through 4:6 ET = 3:24 HT. Thus the book of Malachi in the Hebrew Bible has only three chapters, with 24 verses in ch. 3.

[4:1]  ¹⁴ sn This day is the well-known “day of the Lord” so pervasive in OT eschatological texts (see Joel 2:30-31; Amos 5:18; Obad 15). For the believer it is a day of grace and salvation; for the sinner, a day of judgment and destruction.

[4:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “so that it” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons a new sentence was begun here in the translation.

[15:6]  ¹⁶ tn Or “reside.”

[15:6]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “they gather them up and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”