Proverbs 19:1

19:1 Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity ¹ 

than one who is perverse in his speech ²  and is a fool. ³ 

Proverbs 23:33

23:33 Your eyes will see strange things, ⁴ 

and your mind will speak perverse things.

Isaiah 59:3

59:3 For your hands are stained with blood

and your fingers with sin;

your lips speak lies,

your tongue utters malicious words.

Isaiah 59:1

Injustice Brings Alienation from God

59:1 Look, the Lord’s hand is not too weak ⁵  to deliver you;

his ear is not too deaf to hear you. ⁶ 

Isaiah 5:13

5:13 Therefore my ⁷  people will be deported ⁸ 

because of their lack of understanding.

Their ⁹  leaders will have nothing to eat, ¹⁰ 

their ¹¹  masses will have nothing to drink. ¹² 

Isaiah 6:5

6:5 I said, “Too bad for me! I am destroyed, ¹³  for my lips are contaminated by sin, ¹⁴  and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. ¹⁵  My eyes have seen the king, the Lord who commands armies.” ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 6:2

6:2 Seraphs ¹⁷  stood over him; each one had six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, ¹⁸  and they used the remaining two to fly.

Isaiah 2:18

2:18 The worthless idols will be completely eliminated. ¹⁹ 

Jude 1:15-16

1:15 to execute judgment on ²⁰  all, and to convict every person ²¹  of all their thoroughly ungodly deeds ²²  that they have committed, ²³  and of all the harsh words that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” ²⁴  1:16 These people are grumblers and ²⁵  fault-finders who go ²⁶  wherever their desires lead them, ²⁷  and they give bombastic speeches, ²⁸  enchanting folks ²⁹  for their own gain. ³⁰ 

[19:1]  ¹ sn People should follow honesty even if it leads to poverty (e.g., Prov 18:23; 19:22).

[19:1]  ² tn Heb “lips.” The term “lips” is a metonymy for what one says with his lips. The expression “perverse in his lips” refers to speech that is morally perverted. Some medieval Hebrew mss, the Syriac, and Tg. Prov 19:1 have “his ways” rather than “his lips” (e.g., Prov 28:6); cf. NAB.

[19:1]  ³ tc The Syriac and Tg. Prov 19:1 read “rich” instead of MT “fool.” This makes tighter antithetical parallelism than MT and is followed by NAB. However, the MT makes sense as it stands; this is an example of metonymical parallelism. The MT reading is also supported by the LXX. The Hebrew construction uses וְהוּא (vÿhu’), “and he [is],” before “fool.” This may be rendered “one who is perverse while a fool” or “a fool at the same time.”

[23:33]  ⁴ tn The feminine plural of זָר (zar, “strange things”) refers to the trouble one has in seeing and speaking when drunk.

[59:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[59:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “or his ear too heavy [i.e., “dull”] to hear.”

[5:13]  ⁷ sn It is not certain if the prophet or the Lord is speaking at this point.

[5:13]  ⁸ tn The suffixed (perfect) form of the verb is used; in this way the coming event is described for rhetorical effect as occurring or as already completed.

[5:13]  ⁹ tn The third masculine singular suffix refers back to “my people.”

[5:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Their glory will be men of hunger.” כָּבוֹד (kavod, “glory”) is in opposition to הָמוֹן (hamon, “masses”) and refers here to the rich and prominent members of the nation. Some prefer to repoint מְתֵי (mÿtey, “men of”) as מִתֵי (mitey, “dead ones of”).

[5:13]  ¹¹ tn The third masculine singular suffix refers back to “my people.”

[5:13]  ¹² tn Heb “and their masses will be parched [by] thirst.”

[6:5]  ¹³ tn Isaiah uses the suffixed (perfect) form of the verb for rhetorical purposes. In this way his destruction is described as occurring or as already completed. Rather than understanding the verb as derived from דָּמַה (damah, “be destroyed”), some take it from a proposed homonymic root דמה, which would mean “be silent.” In this case, one might translate, “I must be silent.”

[6:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a man unclean of lips am I.” Isaiah is not qualified to praise the king. His lips (the instruments of praise) are “unclean” because he has been contaminated by sin.

[6:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and among a nation unclean of lips I live.”

[6:5]  ¹⁶ tn Perhaps in this context, the title has a less militaristic connotation and pictures the Lord as the ruler of the heavenly assembly. See the note at 1:9.

[6:2]  ¹⁷ tn Hebrew שָׂרָף (saraf, “seraph”) literally means “burning one,” perhaps suggesting that these creatures had a fiery appearance (cf. TEV, CEV “flaming creatures”; NCV “heavenly creatures of fire”). Elsewhere in the OT the word “seraph” refers to poisonous snakes (Num 21:6; Deut 8:15; Isa 14:29; 30:6). Perhaps they were called “burning ones” because of their appearance or the effect of their venomous bites, which would cause a victim to burn up with fever. It is possible that the seraphs seen by Isaiah were at least partially serpentine in appearance. Though it might seem strange for a snake-like creature to have wings, two of the texts where “seraphs” are snakes describe them as “flying” (Isa 14:29; 30:6), perhaps referring to their darting movements. See the note at 14:29.

[6:2]  ¹⁸ sn Some understand “feet” here as a euphemistic reference to the genitals.

[2:18]  ¹⁹ tc The verb “pass away” is singular in the Hebrew text, despite the plural subject (“worthless idols”) that precedes. The verb should be emended to a plural; the final vav (ו) has been accidentally omitted by haplography (note the vav at the beginning of the immediately following form).

[1:15]  ²⁰ tn Grk “against” (κατά [kata] + genitive). English usage is satisfied with “on” at this point, but the parallel is lost in the translation to some degree, for the end of v. 15 says that this judgment is meted out on these sinners because they spoke against him (κατά + genitive).

[1:15]  ²¹ tn Or “soul.”

[1:15]  ²² tn Grk “of all their works of ungodliness.” The adverb “thoroughly” is part of the following verb “have committed.” See note on verb “committed” later in this verse.

[1:15]  ²³ tn The verb in Greek does not simply mean “have committed,” but “have committed in an ungodly way.” The verb ἀσεβέω (asebew) is cognate to the noun ἀσέβεια (asebeia, “ungodliness”). There is no easy way to express this in English, since English does not have a single word that means the same thing. Nevertheless, the tenor of v. 15 is plainly seen, regardless of the translation.

[1:15]  ²⁴ sn An apparent quotation from 1 En. 1:9. There is some doubt as to whether Jude is actually quoting from the text of 1 Enoch; the text here in Jude differs in some respects from the extant text of this pseudepigraphic book. It is sometimes suggested that Jude may instead have been quoting from oral tradition which had roots older than the written text.

[1:16]  ²⁵ tn “And” is not in Greek, but is supplied for the sake of English style.

[1:16]  ²⁶ tn Or “going.” Though the participle is anarthrous, so also is the subject. Thus, the participle could be either adverbial or adjectival.

[1:16]  ²⁷ tn Grk “(who go/going) according to their own lusts.”

[1:16]  ²⁸ tn Grk “and their mouth speaks bombastic things.”

[1:16]  ²⁹ sn Enchanting folks (Grk “awing faces”) refers to the fact that the speeches of these false teachers are powerful and seductive.

[1:16]  ³⁰ tn Or “to their own advantage.”