Numbers 16:28-35

16:28 Then Moses said, “This is how ¹  you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will. ²  16:29 If these men die a natural death, ³  or if they share the fate ⁴  of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. 16:30 But if the Lord does something entirely new, ⁵  and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up ⁶  along with all that they have, and they ⁷  go down alive to the grave, ⁸  then you will know that these men have despised the Lord!”

16:31 When he had finished ⁹  speaking ¹⁰  all these words, the ground that was under them split open, 16:32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, along with their households, and all Korah’s men, and all their goods. 16:33 They and all that they had went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed over them. So they perished from among the community. 16:34 All the Israelites ¹¹  who were around them fled at their cry, ¹²  for they said, “What if ¹³  the earth swallows us too?” 16:35 Then a fire ¹⁴  went out from the Lord and devoured the 250 men who offered incense.

Numbers 16:2

16:2 and rebelled against Moses, along with some of the Israelites, 250 leaders ¹⁵  of the community, chosen from the assembly, ¹⁶  famous men. ¹⁷ 

Numbers 1:10-12

1:10 from the sons of Joseph:

from Ephraim, Elishama son of Ammihud;

from Manasseh, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur;

1:11 from Benjamin, Abidan son of Gideoni;

1:12 from Dan, Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai;

Psalms 18:8

18:8 Smoke ascended from ¹⁸  his nose; ¹⁹ 

fire devoured as it came from his mouth; ²⁰ 

he hurled down fiery coals. ²¹ 

Isaiah 11:4

11:4 He will treat the poor fairly, ²² 

and make right decisions ²³  for the downtrodden of the earth. ²⁴ 

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, ²⁵ 

and order the wicked to be executed. ²⁶ 

Jeremiah 1:10

1:10 Know for certain that ²⁷  I hereby give you the authority to announce to nations and kingdoms that they will be ²⁸  uprooted and torn down, destroyed and demolished, rebuilt and firmly planted.” ²⁹ 

Jeremiah 5:14

5:14 Because of that, ³⁰  the Lord, the God who rules over all, ³¹  said to me, ³² 

“Because these people have spoken ³³  like this, ³⁴ 

I will make the words that I put in your mouth like fire.

And I will make this people like wood

which the fiery judgments you speak will burn up.” ³⁵ 

Ezekiel 43:3

43:3 It was like the vision I saw when he ³⁶  came to destroy the city, and the vision I saw by the Kebar River. I threw myself face down.

Hosea 6:5

6:5 Therefore, I will certainly cut ³⁷  you into pieces at the hands of the prophets; ³⁸ 

I will certainly kill you ³⁹  in fulfillment of my oracles of judgment; ⁴⁰ 

for ⁴¹  my judgment ⁴²  will come forth like the light of the dawn. ⁴³ 

Zechariah 1:6

1:6 But have my words and statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, not outlived your fathers? ⁴⁴  Then they paid attention ⁴⁵  and confessed, ‘The Lord who rules over all has indeed done what he said he would do to us, because of our sinful ways.’”

Zechariah 2:8

2:8 For the Lord who rules over all says to me that for his own glory ⁴⁶  he has sent me to the nations that plundered you – for anyone who touches you touches the pupil ⁴⁷  of his ⁴⁸  eye.

Acts 9:4-5

9:4 He ⁴⁹  fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, ⁵⁰  why are you persecuting me?” ⁵¹  9:5 So he said, “Who are you, Lord?” He replied, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting!

[16:28]  ¹ tn Heb “in this.”

[16:28]  ² tn The Hebrew text simply has כִּי־לֹא מִלִּבִּי (ki-lo’ millibbi, “for not from my heart”). The heart is the center of the will, the place decisions are made (see H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament). Moses is saying that the things he has done have not come “from the will of man” so to speak – and certainly not from some secret desire on his part to seize power.

[16:29]  ³ tn Heb “if like the death of every man they die.”

[16:29]  ⁴ tn The noun is פְּקֻדָּה (pÿquddah, “appointment, visitation”). The expression refers to a natural death, parallel to the first expression.

[16:30]  ⁵ tn The verb בָּרָא (bara’) is normally translated “create” in the Bible. More specifically it means to fashion or make or do something new and fresh. Here the verb is joined with its cognate accusative to underscore that this will be so different everyone will know it is of God.

[16:30]  ⁶ tn The figures are personifications. But they vividly describe the catastrophe to follow – which was very much like a mouth swallowing them.

[16:30]  ⁷ tn The word is “life” or “lifetime”; it certainly means their lives – they themselves. But the presence of this word suggest more. It is an accusative specifying the state of the subject – they will go down alive to Sheol.

[16:30]  ⁸ tn The word “Sheol” in the Bible can be used four different ways: the grave, the realm of the departed [wicked] spirits or Hell, death in general, or a place of extreme danger (one that will lead to the grave if God does not intervene). The usage here is certainly the first, and very likely the second as well. A translation of “pit” would not be inappropriate. Since they will go down there alive, it is likely that they will sense the deprivation and the separation from the land above. See H. W. Robinson, Inspiration and Revelation in the Old Testament; N. J. Tromp, Primitive Conceptions of Death and the Netherworld in the Old Testament (BibOr 21), 21-23; and A. Heidel, The Gilgamesh Epic, especially ch. 3.

[16:31]  ⁹ tn The initial temporal clause is standard: It begins with the temporal indicator “and it was,” followed here by the Piel infinitive construct with the preposition and the subjective genitive suffix. “And it happened when he finished.”

[16:31]  ¹⁰ tn The infinitive construct with the preposition lamed (ל) functions here as the direct object of the preceding infinitive. It tells what he finished.

[16:34]  ¹¹ tn Heb “all Israel.”

[16:34]  ¹² tn Heb “voice.”

[16:34]  ¹³ tn Heb “lest.”

[16:35]  ¹⁴ tn For a discussion of the fire of the Lord, see J. C. H. Laughlin, “The Strange Fire of Nadab and Abihu,” JBL 95 (1976): 559-65.

[16:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “princes” (so KJV, ASV).

[16:2]  ¹⁶ tn These men must have been counselors or judges of some kind.

[16:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “men of name,” or “men of renown.”

[18:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “within”; or “[from] within.” For a discussion of the use of the preposition -בְּ (bÿ) here, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 163-64.

[18:8]  ¹⁹ tn Or “in his anger.” The noun אַף (’af) can carry the abstract meaning “anger,” but the parallelism (note “from his mouth”) suggests the more concrete meaning “nose” here. See also v. 15, “the powerful breath of your nose.”

[18:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “fire from his mouth devoured.” In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not an imperfect. Note the two perfect verbal forms in the verse.

[18:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “coals burned from him.” Perhaps the psalmist pictures God’s fiery breath igniting coals (cf. Job 41:21), which he then hurls as weapons (cf. Ps 120:4).

[11:4]  ²² tn Heb “with justice” (so NAB) or “with righteousness” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[11:4]  ²³ tn Heb “make decisions with rectitude”; cf. ASV, NRSV “and decide with equity.”

[11:4]  ²⁴ tn Or “land” (NAB, NCV, CEV). It is uncertain if the passage is picturing universal dominion or focusing on the king’s rule over his covenant people. The reference to God’s “holy mountain” in v. 9 and the description of renewed Israelite conquests in v. 14 suggest the latter, though v. 10 seems to refer to a universal kingdom (see 2:2-4).

[11:4]  ²⁵ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and he will strike the earth with the scepter of his mouth.” Some have suggested that in this context אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) as an object of judgment seems too broad in scope. The parallelism is tighter if one emends the word to ץ(י)עָרִ (’arits, “potentate, tyrant”). The phrase “scepter of his mouth” refers to the royal (note “scepter”) decrees that he proclaims with his mouth. Because these decrees will have authority and power (see v. 2) behind them, they can be described as “striking” the tyrants down. Nevertheless, the MT reading may not need emending. Isaiah refers to the entire “earth” as the object of God’s judgment in several places without specifying the wicked as the object of the judgment (Isa 24:17-21; 26:9, 21; 28:22; cf. 13:11).

[11:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and by the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.” The “breath of his lips” refers to his speech, specifically in this context his official decrees that the wicked oppressors be eliminated from his realm. See the preceding note.

[1:10]  ²⁷ tn Heb “See!” The Hebrew imperative of the verb used here (רָאָה, ra’ah) functions the same as the particle in v. 9. See the translator’s note there.

[1:10]  ²⁸ tn Heb “I appoint you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot….” The phrase refers to the Lord giving Jeremiah authority as a prophet to declare what he, the Lord, will do; it does not mean that Jeremiah himself will do these things. The expression involves a figure of speech where the subject of a declaration is stated instead of the declaration about it. Compare a similar use of the same figure in Gen 41:13.

[1:10]  ²⁹ sn These three pairs represent the twofold nature of Jeremiah’s prophecies, prophecies of judgment and restoration. For the further programmatic use of these pairs for Jeremiah’s ministry see 18:7-10 and 31:27-28.

[5:14]  ³⁰ tn Heb “Therefore.”

[5:14]  ³¹ tn Heb “The Lord God of armies.” See the translator’s note at 2:19.

[5:14]  ³² tn The words, “to me” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection. They are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:14]  ³³ tn Heb “you have spoken.” The text here דַּבֶּרְכֶם (dabberkhem, “you have spoken”) is either a case of a scribal error for דַּבֶּרָם (dabberam, “they have spoken”) or an example of the rapid shift in addressee which is common in Jeremiah.

[5:14]  ³⁴ tn Heb “this word.”

[5:14]  ³⁵ tn Heb “like wood and it [i.e., the fire I put in your mouth] will consume them.”

[43:3]  ³⁶ tc Heb “I.” The reading is due to the confusion of yod (י, indicating a first person pronoun) and vav (ו, indicating a third person pronoun). A few medieval Hebrew mss, Theodotion’s Greek version, and the Latin Vulgate support a third person pronoun here.

[6:5]  ³⁷ tn The two suffix conjugation verbs חָצַבְתִּי (khatsavti, Qal perfect 1st person common singular from חָצַב, khatsav, “to cut into pieces”) and הֲרַגְתִּים (haragtim, Qal perfect 1st person common singular + 3rd person masculine plural suffix from הָרַג, harag, “to kill”) are used in reference to future-time events. These are examples of the so-called “prophetic perfect” which emphasizes the certainty of the future event (e.g., Num 24:17; Josh 10:19; Isa 8:23; 9:1). For this function of the perfect, see IBHS 480-81 §30.1d. Most English versions, however, render these as past tenses.

[6:5]  ³⁸ tn Heb “by the prophets” (so KJV, NRSV). The prophets are pictured as the executioners of Israel and Judah because they announced their imminent destruction. The prophetic word was endowed with the power of fulfillment.

[6:5]  ³⁹ tn Heb “them.” The shift from the 2nd person masculine singular referents (“your” and “you”) in 6:4-5 to the 3rd person masculine plural referent (“them”) is an example of enallage, a poetic device used for emphasis.

[6:5]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “with the words of my mouth” (so NIV); TEV “with my message of judgment and destruction.”

[6:5]  ⁴¹ tn The disjunctive vav prefixed to the noun (וּמִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ, umishpatekha) has an explanatory function.

[6:5]  ⁴² tc The MT reads וּמִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ אוֹר יֵצֵא (umishpatekha ’or yetse’, “and your judgments [are] a light [which] goes forth”) which is enigmatic and syntactically awkward (cf. KJV, NASB). The LXX reads καὶ τὸ κρίμα μου ὡς φώς (kai to krima mou {ws fos, “my judgment goes forth like light”) which reflects וּמִשְׁפָּטִי כָאוֹר יֵצֵא (umishpati kha’or yetse’, “my judgment goes forth like the light”) and posits only a simple misdivision of words. This is reflected in the Syriac Peshitta and Aramaic Targum and is followed by the present translation (so also NCV, NRSV). See D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:238.

[6:5]  ⁴³ tn The noun אוֹר (’or, “light”) is used here in reference to the morning light or dawn (e.g., Judg 16:2; 19:26; 1 Sam 14:36; 25:34, 36; 2 Sam 17:22; 23:4; 2 Kgs 7:9; Neh 8:3; Job 24:14; Prov 4:18; Mic 2:1; cf. CEV, NLT) rather than lightning (cf. NIV). This continues the early morning imagery used throughout 6:2-5.

[1:6]  ⁴⁴ tc BHS suggests אֶתְכֶם (’etkhem, “you”) for the MT אֲבֹתֵיכֶם (’avotekhem, “your fathers”) to harmonize with v. 4. In v. 4 the ancestors would not turn but in v. 6 they appear to have done so. The subject in v. 6, however, is to be construed as Zechariah’s own listeners.

[1:6]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “they turned” (so ASV). Many English versions have “they repented” here; cf. CEV “they turned back to me.”

[2:8]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “After glory has he sent me” (similar KJV, NASB). What is clearly in view is the role of Zechariah who, by faithful proclamation of the message, will glorify the Lord.

[2:8]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “gate” (בָּבָה, bavah) of the eye, that is, pupil. The rendering of this term by KJV as “apple” has created a well-known idiom in the English language, “the apple of his eye” (so ASV, NIV). The pupil is one of the most vulnerable and valuable parts of the body, so for Judah to be considered the “pupil” of the Lord’s eye is to raise her value to an incalculable price (cf. NLT “my most precious possession”).

[2:8]  ⁴⁸ tc A scribal emendation (tiqqun sopherim) has apparently altered an original “my eye” to “his eye” in order to allow the prophet to be the speaker throughout vv. 8-9. This alleviates the problem of the Lord saying, in effect, that he has sent himself on the mission to the nations.

[9:4]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “and he.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.

[9:4]  ⁵⁰ tn The double vocative suggests emotion.

[9:4]  ⁵¹ sn Persecuting me. To persecute the church is to persecute Jesus.