Matthew 3:12

3:12 His winnowing fork ¹  is in his hand, and he will clean out his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the storehouse, ²  but the chaff he will burn up with inextinguishable fire.” ³ 

Matthew 13:42-43

13:42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, ⁴  where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 13:43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. ⁵  The one who has ears had better listen! ⁶ 

Matthew 13:49

13:49 It will be this way at the end of the age. Angels will come and separate the evil from the righteous

Psalms 1:5

1:5 For this reason ⁷  the wicked cannot withstand ⁸  judgment, ⁹ 

nor can sinners join the assembly of the godly. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 50:3-5

50:3 Our God approaches and is not silent; ¹¹ 

consuming fire goes ahead of him

and all around him a storm rages. ¹² 

50:4 He summons the heavens above,

as well as the earth, so that he might judge his people. ¹³ 

50:5 He says: ¹⁴ 

“Assemble my covenant people before me, ¹⁵ 

those who ratified a covenant with me by sacrifice!” ¹⁶ 

Ezekiel 20:38

20:38 I will eliminate from among you the rebels and those who revolt ¹⁷  against me. I will bring them out from the land where they have been residing, but they will not come to the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

Ezekiel 34:17-22

34:17 “‘As for you, my sheep, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats. 34:18 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must trample the rest of your pastures with your feet? When you drink clean water, must you muddy the rest of the water by trampling it with your feet? 34:19 As for my sheep, they must eat what you trampled with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet!

34:20 “‘Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says to them: Look, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 34:21 Because you push with your side and your shoulder, and thrust your horns at all the weak sheep until you scatter them abroad, ¹⁸  34:22 I will save my sheep; they will no longer be prey. I will judge between one sheep and another.

Malachi 3:18

3:18 Then once more you will see that I make a distinction between ¹⁹  the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not.

Malachi 3:1

3:1 “I am about to send my messenger, ²⁰  who will clear the way before me. Indeed, the Lord ²¹  you are seeking will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger ²²  of the covenant, whom you long for, is certainly coming,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Colossians 4:5

4:5 Conduct yourselves ²³  with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunities.

[3:12]  ¹ sn A winnowing fork was a pitchfork-like tool used to toss threshed grain in the air so that the wind blew away the chaff, leaving the grain to fall to the ground. The note of purging is highlighted by the use of imagery involving sifting though threshed grain for the useful kernels.

[3:12]  ² tn Or “granary,” “barn” (referring to a building used to store a farm’s produce rather than a building to house livestock).

[3:12]  ³ sn The image of fire that cannot be extinguished is from the OT: Job 20:26; Isa 34:8-10; 66:24.

[13:42]  ⁴ sn A quotation from Dan 3:6.

[13:43]  ⁵ sn An allusion to Dan 12:3.

[13:43]  ⁶ tn The translation “had better listen!” captures the force of the third person imperative more effectively than the traditional “let him hear,” which sounds more like a permissive than an imperative to the modern English reader. This was Jesus’ common expression to listen and heed carefully (cf. Matt 11:15, 13:9; Mark 4:9, 23; Luke 8:8, 14:35).

[1:5]  ⁷ tn Or “Therefore.”

[1:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “arise in,” but the verb is used metonymically here in the sense of “stand”; “endure,” as in 1 Sam 13:14 and Job 8:15. The negated Hebrew imperfect verbal form is here taken as indicating incapability or lack of potential, though one could understand the verb form as indicating what is typical (“do not withstand”) or what will happen (“will not withstand”).

[1:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “the judgment.” The article indicates a judgment that is definite in the mind of the speaker. In the immediate context this probably does not refer to the “final judgment” described in later biblical revelation, but to a temporal/historical judgment which the author anticipates. Periodically during the OT period, God would come in judgment, removing the wicked from the scene, while preserving a godly remnant (see Gen 6-9; Ps 37; Hab 3).

[1:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and sinners in the assembly (or “circle”) of [the] godly.” The negative particle and verb from the preceding line are assumed by ellipsis here (“will not arise/stand”).

[50:3]  ¹¹ tn According to GKC 322 §109.e, the jussive (note the negative particle אַל, ’al) is used rhetorically here “to express the conviction that something cannot or should not happen.”

[50:3]  ¹² tn Heb “fire before him devours, and around him it is very stormy.”

[50:4]  ¹³ tn Or perhaps “to testify against his people.”

[50:5]  ¹⁴ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. God’s summons to the defendant follows.

[50:5]  ¹⁵ tn Or “Gather to me my covenant people.” The Hebrew term חָסִיד (khasid, “covenant people”) elsewhere in the psalms is used in a positive sense of God’s loyal followers (see the note at Ps 4:3), but here, as the following line makes clear, the term has a neutral sense and simply refers to those who have outwardly sworn allegiance to God, not necessarily to those whose loyalty is genuine.

[50:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the cutters of my covenant according to sacrifice.” A sacrifice accompanied the covenant-making ceremony and formally ratified the agreement (see Exod 24:3-8).

[20:38]  ¹⁷ tn See the note at 2:3.

[34:21]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “outside.”

[3:18]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “you will see between.” Cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT “see the difference.”

[3:1]  ²⁰ tn In Hebrew the phrase “my messenger” is מַלְאָכִי (mal’akhi), the same form as the prophet’s name (see note on the name “Malachi” in 1:1). However, here the messenger appears to be an eschatological figure who is about to appear, as the following context suggests. According to 4:5, this messenger is “Elijah the prophet,” whom the NT identifies as John the Baptist (Matt 11:10; Mark 1:2) because he came in the “spirit and power” of Elijah (Matt 11:14; 17:11-12; Lk 1:17).

[3:1]  ²¹ tn Here the Hebrew term הָאָדוֹן (ha’adon) is used, not יְהוָה (yÿhvah, typically rendered Lord). Thus the focus is not on the Lord as the covenant God, but on his role as master.

[3:1]  ²² sn This messenger of the covenant may be equated with my messenger (that is, Elijah) mentioned earlier in the verse, or with the Lord himself. In either case the messenger functions as an enforcer of the covenant. Note the following verses, which depict purifying judgment on a people that has violated the Lord’s covenant.

[4:5]  ²³ tn Grk “walk.” The verb περιπατέω (peripatew) is a common NT idiom for one’s lifestyle, behavior, or manner of conduct (L&N 41.11).