Discovery BoxNumbers 15:25-31
Context15:25 And the priest is to make atonement 1 for the whole community of the Israelites, and they will be forgiven, 2 because it was unintentional and they have brought their offering, an offering made by fire to the Lord, and their purification offering before the Lord, for their unintentional offense. 15:26 And the whole community 3 of the Israelites and the resident foreigner who lives among them will be forgiven, since all the people were involved in the unintentional offense.
15:27 “‘If any person 4 sins unintentionally, then he must bring a yearling female goat for a purification offering. 15:28 And the priest must make atonement for the person who sins unintentionally – when he sins unintentionally before the Lord – to make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven. 15:29 You must have one law for the person who sins unintentionally, both for the native-born among the Israelites and for the resident foreigner who lives among them.
15:30 “‘But the person 5 who acts defiantly, 6 whether native-born or a resident foreigner, insults 7 the Lord. 8 That person 9 must be cut off 10 from among his people. 15:31 Because he has despised 11 the word of the Lord and has broken 12 his commandment, that person 13 must be completely cut off. 14 His iniquity will be on him.’” 15
Numbers 15:1
Context15:1 16 The Lord spoke to Moses:
Numbers 3:14
Context3:14 Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai:
Ezekiel 24:13
Context24:13 You mix uncleanness with obscene conduct. 17
I tried to cleanse you, 18 but you are not clean.
You will not be cleansed from your uncleanness 19
until I have exhausted my anger on you.
John 8:21-24
Context8:21 Then Jesus 20 said to them again, 21 “I am going away, and you will look for me 22 but will die in your sin. 23 Where I am going you cannot come.” 8:22 So the Jewish leaders 24 began to say, 25 “Perhaps he is going to kill himself, because he says, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’” 8:23 Jesus replied, 26 “You people 27 are from below; I am from above. You people are from this world; I am not from this world. 8:24 Thus I told you 28 that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am he, 29 you will die in your sins.”
Hebrews 10:26-27
Context10:26 For if we deliberately keep on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins is left for us, 30 10:27 but only a certain fearful expectation of judgment and a fury 31 of fire that will consume God’s enemies. 32
Revelation 22:11-12
Context22:11 The evildoer must continue to do evil, 33 and the one who is morally filthy 34 must continue to be filthy. The 35 one who is righteous must continue to act righteously, and the one who is holy must continue to be holy.”
22:12 (Look! I am coming soon,
and my reward is with me to pay 36 each one according to what he has done!
[15:25] 1 tn The verb is the Piel perfect with vav (ו) consecutive (וְכִפֶּר, vÿkhipper) to continue the instruction of the passage: “the priest shall make atonement,” meaning the priest is to make atonement for the sin (thus the present translation). This verb means “to expiate,” “to atone for,” “to pacify.” It describes the ritual events by which someone who was separated from the holy
[15:25] 2 tn Or “they will be forgiven.”
[15:26] 3 tn Again, rather than translate literally “and it shall be forgiven [to] them” (all the community), one could say, “they (all the community) will be forgiven.” The meaning is the same.
[15:27] 4 tn The Hebrew text hasוְאִם־נֶפֶשׁ אַחַת (vÿ’im-nefesh ’akhat), sometime translated “and if any soul.” But the word describes the whole person, the soul in the body; it refers here to the individual who sins.
[15:30] 6 tn The sin is described literally as acting “with a high hand” – בְּיָד רָמָה (bÿyad ramah). The expression means that someone would do something with deliberate defiance, with an arrogance in spite of what the
[15:30] 7 tn The verb occurs only in the Piel; it means “to blaspheme,” “to revile.”
[15:30] 8 tn The word order in the Hebrew text places “Yahweh” first for emphasis – it is the
[15:30] 10 tn The clause begins with “and” because the verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. As discussed with Num 9:13, to be cut off could mean excommunication from the community, death by the community, or death by divine intervention.
[15:31] 11 tn The verb בָּזָה (bazah, “to despise”) means to treat something as worthless, to treat it with contempt, to look down the nose at something as it were.
[15:31] 12 tn The verb פָּרַר (parar, “to break”) can mean to nullify, break, or violate a covenant.
[15:31] 14 tn The construction uses the Niphal imperfect with the modifying Niphal infinitive absolute. The infinitive makes the sentence more emphatic. If the imperfect tense is taken as an instruction imperfect, then the infinitive makes the instruction more binding. If it is a simple future, then the future is certain. In either case, there is no exclusion from being cut off.
[15:31] 15 sn The point is that the person’s iniquity remains with him – he must pay for his sin. The judgment of God in such a case is both appropriate and unavoidable.
[15:1] 16 sn The wilderness wandering officially having begun, these rules were then given for the people to be used when they finally entered the land. That they would be provided here would be of some encouragement to the nation after their great failure. God still spoke of a land that was to be their land, even though they had sinned greatly. This chapter collects a number of religious rules. The first 16 verses deal with rulings for sacrifices. Then, vv. 17-36 concerns sins of omission. Finally, rules concerning tassels are covered (vv. 37-41). For additional reading, see G. B. Gray, Sacrifice in the Old Testament (Oxford: Clarendon, 1925); B. A. Levine, In the Presence of the
[24:13] 17 tn Heb “in your uncleanness (is) obscene conduct.”
[24:13] 18 tn Heb “because I cleansed you.” In this context (see especially the very next statement), the statement must refer to divine intention and purpose. Despite God’s efforts to cleanse his people, they resisted him and remained morally impure.
[24:13] 19 tn The Hebrew text adds the word “again.”
[8:21] 20 tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[8:21] 21 tn The expression οὖν πάλιν (oun palin) indicates some sort of break in the sequence of events, but it is not clear how long. The author does not mention the interval between 8:12-20 and this next recorded dialogue. The feast of Tabernacles is past, and the next reference to time is 10:22, where the feast of the Dedication is mentioned. The interval is two months, and these discussions could have taken place at any time within that interval, as long as one assumes something of a loose chronological framework. However, if the material in the Fourth Gospel is arranged theologically or thematically, such an assumption would not apply.
[8:21] 22 tn Grk “you will seek me.”
[8:21] 23 tn The expression ἐν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ὑμῶν ἀποθανεῖσθε (en th Jamartia Jumwn apoqaneisqe) is similar to an expression found in the LXX at Ezek 3:18, 20 and Prov 24:9. Note the singular of ἁμαρτία (the plural occurs later in v. 24). To die with one’s sin unrepented and unatoned would be the ultimate disaster to befall a person. Jesus’ warning is stern but to the point.
[8:22] 24 tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.) Here the phrase refers to the Jewish authorities or leaders in Jerusalem. It was the Pharisees who had begun this line of questioning in John 8:13, and there has been no clear change since then in the identity of Jesus’ opponents.
[8:22] 25 tn The imperfect verb has been translated with ingressive force (“began to say”) because the comments that follow were occasioned by Jesus’ remarks in the preceding verse about his upcoming departure.
[8:23] 26 tn Grk “And he said to them.”
[8:23] 27 tn The word “people” is supplied in English to clarify the plural Greek pronoun and verb.
[8:24] 28 tn Grk “thus I said to you.”
[8:24] 29 tn Grk “unless you believe that I am.” In this context there is an implied predicate nominative (“he”) following the “I am” phrase. What Jesus’ hearers had to acknowledge is that he was who he claimed to be, i.e., the Messiah (cf. 20:31). This view is also reflected in English translations like NIV (“if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be”), NLT (“unless you believe that I am who I say I am”), and CEV (“if you don’t have faith in me for who I am”). For a different view that takes this “I am” and the one in 8:28 as nonpredicated (i.e., absolute), see R. E. Brown, John (AB), 1:533-38. Such a view refers sees the nonpredicated “I am” as a reference to the divine Name revealed in Exod 3:14, and is reflected in English translations like NAB (“if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins”) and TEV (“you will die in your sins if you do not believe that ‘I Am Who I Am’”).
[10:26] 30 tn Grk “is left,” with “for us” implied by the first half of the verse.
[10:27] 31 tn Grk “zeal,” recalling God’s jealous protection of his holiness and honor (cf. Exod 20:5).
[10:27] 32 tn Grk “the enemies.”
[22:11] 33 tn Grk “must do evil still.”
[22:11] 34 tn For this translation see L&N 88.258; the term refers to living in moral filth.
[22:11] 35 tn Grk “filthy, and the.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in Greek, but because of the length and complexity of the construction a new sentence was started in the translation.
[22:12] 36 tn The Greek term may be translated either “pay” or “pay back” and has something of a double meaning here. However, because of the mention of “wages” (“reward,” another wordplay with two meanings) in the previous clause, the translation “pay” for ἀποδοῦναι (apodounai) was used here.
