Numbers 25:11-13

25:11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites, when he manifested such zeal ¹  for my sake among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in my zeal. ²  25:12 Therefore, announce: ³  ‘I am going to give ⁴  to him my covenant of peace. ⁵  25:13 So it will be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of a permanent priesthood, because he has been zealous for his God, ⁶  and has made atonement ⁷  for the Israelites.’”

Psalms 69:9

69:9 Certainly ⁸  zeal for ⁹  your house ¹⁰  consumes me;

I endure the insults of those who insult you. ¹¹ 

Psalms 119:139

119:139 My zeal ¹²  consumes ¹³  me,

for my enemies forget your instructions. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 59:17

59:17 He wears his desire for justice ¹⁵  like body armor, ¹⁶ 

and his desire to deliver is like a helmet on his head. ¹⁷ 

He puts on the garments of vengeance ¹⁸ 

and wears zeal like a robe.

John 2:17

2:17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal ¹⁹  for your house will devour me.” ²⁰ 

John 2:1

Turning Water into Wine

2:1 Now on the third day there was a wedding at Cana ²¹  in Galilee. ²²  Jesus’ mother ²³  was there,

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²⁴  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Titus 2:14

2:14 He ²⁵  gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, ²⁶  who are eager to do good. ²⁷ 

Revelation 3:19

3:19 All those ²⁸  I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent!

[25:11]  ¹ tn Heb “he was zealous with my zeal.” The repetition of forms for “zeal” in the line stresses the passion of Phinehas. The word “zeal” means a passionate intensity to protect or preserve divine or social institutions.

[25:11]  ² tn The word for “zeal” now occurs a third time. While some English versions translate this word here as “jealousy” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV), it carries the force of God’s passionate determination to defend his rights and what is right about the covenant and the community and parallels the “zeal” that Phinehas had just demonstrated.

[25:12]  ³ tn Heb “say.”

[25:12]  ⁴ tn Here too the grammar expresses an imminent future by using the particle הִנְנִי (hinni) before the participle נֹתֵן (noten) – “here I am giving,” or “I am about to give.”

[25:12]  ⁵ tn Or “my pledge of friendship” (NAB), or “my pact of friendship” (NJPS). This is the designation of the leadership of the priestly ministry. The terminology is used again in the rebuke of the priests in Mal 2.

[25:13]  ⁶ tn The motif is reiterated here. Phinehas was passionately determined to maintain the rights of his God by stopping the gross sinful perversions.

[25:13]  ⁷ sn The atonement that he made in this passage refers to the killing of the two obviously blatant sinners. By doing this he dispensed with any animal sacrifice, for the sinners themselves died. In Leviticus it was the life of the substitutionary animal that was taken in place of the sinners that made atonement. The point is that sin was punished by death, and so God was free to end the plague and pardon the people. God’s holiness and righteousness have always been every bit as important as God’s mercy and compassion, for without righteousness and holiness mercy and compassion mean nothing.

[69:9]  ⁸ tn Or “for.” This verse explains that the psalmist’s suffering is due to his allegiance to God.

[69:9]  ⁹ tn Or “devotion to.”

[69:9]  ¹⁰ sn God’s house, the temple, here represents by metonymy God himself.

[69:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the insults of those who insult you fall upon me.”

[119:139]  ¹² tn or “zeal.”

[119:139]  ¹³ tn Heb “destroys,” in a hyperbolic sense.

[119:139]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your words.”

[59:17]  ¹⁵ tn Or “righteousness” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NCV “goodness.”

[59:17]  ¹⁶ tn Or “a breastplate” (traditional; so many English versions); TEV “a coat of armour.”

[59:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and [as] a helmet deliverance on his head.”

[59:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and he puts on the clothes of vengeance [as] a garment.”

[2:17]  ¹⁹ tn Or “Fervent devotion to your house.”

[2:17]  ²⁰ sn A quotation from Ps 69:9.

[2:1]  ²¹ map For location see Map1 C3; Map2 D2; Map3 C5.

[2:1]  ²² sn Cana in Galilee was not a very well-known place. It is mentioned only here, in 4:46, and 21:2, and nowhere else in the NT. Josephus (Life 16 [86]) says he once had his quarters there. The probable location is present day Khirbet Cana, 8 mi (14 km) north of Nazareth, or Khirbet Kenna, 4 mi (7 km) northeast of Nazareth.

[2:1]  ²³ tn Grk “in Galilee, and Jesus’ mother.”

[1:1]  ²⁴ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[2:14]  ²⁵ tn Grk “who” (as a continuation of the previous clause).

[2:14]  ²⁶ tn Or “a people who are his very own.”

[2:14]  ²⁷ tn Grk “for good works.”

[3:19]  ²⁸ tn The Greek pronoun ὅσος (Josos) means “as many as” and can be translated “All those” or “Everyone.”