Discovery BoxNumbers 15:30-31
Context15:30 “‘But the person 1 who acts defiantly, 2 whether native-born or a resident foreigner, insults 3 the Lord. 4 That person 5 must be cut off 6 from among his people. 15:31 Because he has despised 7 the word of the Lord and has broken 8 his commandment, that person 9 must be completely cut off. 10 His iniquity will be on him.’” 11
Deuteronomy 29:19-21
Context29:19 When such a person 12 hears the words of this oath he secretly 13 blesses himself 14 and says, “I will have peace though I continue to walk with a stubborn spirit.” 15 This will destroy 16 the watered ground with the parched. 17 29:20 The Lord will be unwilling to forgive him, and his intense anger 18 will rage 19 against that man; all the curses 20 written in this scroll will fall upon him 21 and the Lord will obliterate his name from memory. 22 29:21 The Lord will single him out 23 for judgment 24 from all the tribes of Israel according to all the curses of the covenant written in this scroll of the law.
Jeremiah 3:3
Context3:3 That is why the rains have been withheld,
and the spring rains have not come.
Yet in spite of this you are obstinate as a prostitute. 25
You refuse to be ashamed of what you have done.
Jeremiah 8:12
Context8:12 Are they ashamed because they have done such disgusting things?
No, they are not at all ashamed!
They do not even know how to blush!
So they will die just like others have died. 26
They will be brought to ruin when I punish them,
says the Lord.
Jeremiah 36:23
Context36:23 As soon as Jehudi had read three or four columns 27 of the scroll, the king 28 would cut them off with a penknife 29 and throw them on the fire in the firepot. He kept doing so until the whole scroll was burned up in the fire. 30
Jeremiah 42:15-18
Context42:15 If you people who remain in Judah do that, then listen to what the Lord says. The Lord God of Israel who rules over all 31 says, ‘If you are so determined 32 to go to Egypt that you go and settle there, 42:16 the wars you fear will catch up with you there in the land of Egypt. The starvation you are worried about will follow you there to 33 Egypt. You will die there. 34 42:17 All the people who are determined to go and settle in Egypt will die from war, starvation, or disease. No one will survive or escape the disaster I will bring on them.’ 42:18 For 35 the Lord God of Israel who rules over all 36 says, ‘If you go to Egypt, I will pour out my wrath on you just as I poured out my anger and wrath on the citizens of Jerusalem. 37 You will become an object of horror and ridicule, an example of those who have been cursed and that people use in pronouncing a curse. 38 You will never see this place again.’ 39
Jeremiah 43:4-7
Context43:4 So Johanan son of Kareah, all the army officers, and all the rest of the people did not obey the Lord’s command to stay in the land. 43:5 Instead Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers led off all the Judean remnant who had come back to live in the land of Judah from all the nations where they had been scattered. 40 43:6 They also led off all the men, women, children, and royal princesses 41 that Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, had left with Gedaliah, 42 the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan. This included the prophet Jeremiah and Baruch son of Neriah. 43:7 They went on to Egypt 43 because they refused to obey the Lord, and came to Tahpanhes. 44
Jeremiah 44:16-17
Context44:16 “We will not listen to what you claim the Lord has spoken to us! 45 44:17 Instead we will do everything we vowed we would do. 46 We will sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the goddess called the Queen of Heaven 47 just as we and our ancestors, our kings, and our leaders previously did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and had no troubles. 48
Jeremiah 44:2
Context44:2 “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all 49 says, ‘You have seen all the disaster I brought on Jerusalem 50 and all the towns of Judah. Indeed, they now lie in ruins and are deserted. 51
Jeremiah 2:13-15
Context2:13 “Do so because my people have committed a double wrong:
they have rejected me,
the fountain of life-giving water, 52
and they have dug cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water.”
2:14 “Israel is not a slave, is he?
He was not born into slavery, was he? 53
If not, why then is he being carried off?
2:15 Like lions his enemies roar victoriously over him;
they raise their voices in triumph. 54
They have laid his land waste;
his cities have been burned down and deserted. 55
Jude 1:13
Context1:13 wild sea waves, 56 spewing out the foam of 57 their shame; 58 wayward stars 59 for whom the utter depths of eternal darkness 60 have been reserved.
[15:30] 2 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] 3 tn The verb occurs only in the Piel; it means “to blaspheme,” “to revile.”
[15:30] 4 tn The word order in the Hebrew text places “Yahweh” first for emphasis – it is the
[15:30] 6 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] 7 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] 8 tn The verb פָּרַר (parar, “to break”) can mean to nullify, break, or violate a covenant.
[15:31] 10 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] 11 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.
[29:19] 12 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the subject of the warning in v. 18) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[29:19] 13 tn Heb “in his heart.”
[29:19] 14 tn Or “invokes a blessing on himself.” A formalized word of blessing is in view, the content of which appears later in the verse.
[29:19] 16 tn Heb “thus destroying.” For stylistic reasons the translation begins a new sentence here.
[29:19] 17 tn Heb “the watered with the parched.” The word “ground” is implied. The exact meaning of the phrase is uncertain although it appears to be figurative. This appears to be a proverbial observation employing a figure of speech (a merism) suggesting totality. That is, the Israelite who violates the letter and even spirit of the covenant will harm not only himself but everything he touches – “the watered and the parched.” Cf. CEV “you will cause the rest of Israel to be punished along with you.”
[29:20] 18 tn Heb “the wrath of the
[29:20] 19 tn Heb “smoke,” or “smolder.”
[29:20] 20 tn Heb “the entire oath.”
[29:20] 21 tn Or “will lie in wait against him.”
[29:20] 22 tn Heb “blot out his name from under the sky.”
[29:21] 23 tn Heb “set him apart.”
[29:21] 24 tn Heb “for evil”; NAB “for doom”; NASB “for adversity”; NIV “for disaster”; NRSV “for calamity.”
[3:3] 25 tn Heb “you have the forehead of a prostitute.”
[8:12] 26 tn Heb “They will fall among the fallen.”
[36:23] 27 tn Heb “doors.” This is the only time the word “door” is used in this way but all the commentaries and lexicons agree that it means “columns.” The meaning is figurative based on the similarity of shape.
[36:23] 28 tn Heb “he.” The majority of commentaries and English versions are agreed that “he” is the king. However, since a penknife (Heb “a scribe’s razor”) is used to cut the columns off, it is possible that Jehudi himself did it. However, even if Jehudi himself did it, he was acting on the king’s orders.
[36:23] 29 sn Heb “a scribe’s razor.” There is some irony involved here since a scribe’s razor was used to trim the sheets to be sewn together, scrape them in preparation for writing, and to erase errors. What was normally used to prepare the scroll was used to destroy it.
[36:23] 30 tn Heb “until the whole scroll was consumed upon the fire which was in the fire pot.”
[42:15] 31 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” See the study note on 2:19 for the translation and significance of this title.
[42:15] 32 tn Heb “set your face to.” See Jer 42:17; 44:11; Dan 11:17; 2 Kgs 12:17 (12:18 HT) for parallel usage.
[42:16] 33 tn Or “will follow you right into Egypt,” or “will dog your steps all the way to Egypt”; Heb “cling after.” This is the only case of this verb with this preposition in the Qal stem. However, it is used with this preposition several times in the Hiphil, all with the meaning of “to pursue closely.” See BDB 180 s.v. דָּבַק Hiph.2 and compare Judg 20:45; 1 Sam 14:22; 1 Chr 10:2.
[42:16] 34 tn The repetition of the adverb “there” in the translation of vv. 14, 16 is to draw attention to the rhetorical emphasis on the locale of Egypt in the original text of both v. 14 and v. 16. In v. 14 they say, “to the land of Egypt we will go…and there we will live.” In v. 16 God says, “wars…there will catch up with you…the hunger…there will follow after you…and there you will die.” God rhetorically denies their focus on Egypt as a place of safety and of relative prosperity. That can only be found in Judah under the protective presence of the
[42:18] 36 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” See the study note on 2:19 for the translation and significance of this title.
[42:18] 37 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[42:18] 38 tn See the study note on 24:9 and the usage in 29:22 for the meaning and significance of this last phrase.
[42:18] 39 tn Or “land.” The reference is, of course, to the land of Judah.
[43:5] 40 sn These are the people who are referred to in Jer 40:11-12.
[43:6] 41 tn Heb “the daughters of the king.” See the translator’s note on 41:10.
[43:6] 42 sn This refers to the group mentioned in Jer 40:7 and 41:10. The two groups together constituted all the people who were at Mizpah when Gedaliah was murdered, had been taken captive by Ishmael, had been rescued by Johanan and the other army officers, and had consulted Jeremiah at Geruth Chimham.
[43:7] 43 sn This had been their intention all along (41:17). Though they consulted the
[43:7] 44 sn Tahpanhes was an important fortress city on the northern border of Egypt in the northeastern Nile delta. It is generally equated with the Greek city of Daphne. It has already been mentioned in 2:16 in conjunction with Memphis (the Hebrew name is “Noph”) as a source of soldiers who did violence to the Israelites in the past.
[44:16] 45 tn Heb “the word [or message] you have spoken to us in the name of the
[44:17] 46 tn Heb “that went out of our mouth.” I.e., everything we said, promised, or vowed.
[44:17] 47 tn Heb “sacrifice to the Queen of Heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.” The expressions have been combined to simplify and shorten the sentence. The same combination also occurs in vv. 18, 19.
[44:17] 48 tn Heb “saw [or experienced] no disaster/trouble/harm.”
[44:2] 49 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” Compare 7:3 and see the study note on 2:19 for explanation and translation of this title.
[44:2] 50 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[44:2] 51 tn Heb “Behold, they are in ruins this day and there is no one living in them.”
[2:13] 52 tn It is difficult to decide whether to translate “fresh, running water” which the Hebrew term for “living water” often refers to (e.g., Gen 26:19; Lev 14:5), or “life-giving water” which the idiom “fountain of life” as source of life and vitality often refers to (e.g., Ps 36:9; Prov 13:14; 14:27). The contrast with cisterns, which collected and held rain water, suggests “fresh, running water,” but the reality underlying the metaphor contrasts the
[2:14] 53 tn Heb “Is Israel a slave? Or is he a house born slave?” The questions are rhetorical, expecting a negative answer.
[2:15] 54 tn Heb “Lions shout over him, they give out [raise] their voices.”
[2:15] 55 tn Heb “without inhabitant.”
[1:13] 56 tn Grk “wild waves of the sea.”
[1:13] 57 tn Grk “foaming, causing to foam.” The verb form is intensive and causative. BDAG 360 s.v. ἐπαφρίζω suggests the meaning “to cause to splash up like froth, cause to foam,” or, in this context, “waves casting up their own shameless deeds like (dirty) foam.”
[1:13] 58 tn Grk “shames, shameful things.” It is uncertain whether shameful deeds or shameful words are in view. Either way, the picture has taken a decided turn: Though waterless clouds and fruitless trees may promise good things, but deliver nothing, wild sea-waves are portents of filth spewed forth from the belly of the sea.
[1:13] 59 sn The imagery of a star seems to fit the nautical theme that Jude is developing. Stars were of course the guides to sailors at night, just as teachers are responsible to lead the flock through a benighted world. But false teachers, as wayward stars, are not fixed and hence offer unreliable, even disastrous guidance. They are thus both the dangerous reefs on which the ships could be destroyed and the false guides, leading them into these rocks. There is a special irony that these lights will be snuffed out, reserved for the darkest depths of eternal darkness.
[1:13] 60 tn Grk “utter darkness of darkness for eternity.” See note on the word “utter” in v. 6.
