Proverbs 6:15

6:15 Therefore, his disaster will come suddenly;

in an instant ¹  he will be broken, and there will be no remedy.

Proverbs 28:18

28:18 The one who walks blamelessly will be delivered, ² 

but whoever is perverse in his ways will fall ³  at once. ⁴ 

Isaiah 30:13-14

30:13 So this sin will become your downfall.

You will be like a high wall

that bulges and cracks and is ready to collapse;

it crumbles suddenly, in a flash. ⁵ 

30:14 It shatters in pieces like a clay jar,

so shattered to bits that none of it can be salvaged. ⁶ 

Among its fragments one cannot find a shard large enough ⁷ 

to scoop a hot coal from a fire ⁸ 

or to skim off water from a cistern.” ⁹ 

Zechariah 7:11-14

7:11 “But they refused to pay attention, turning away stubbornly and stopping their ears so they could not hear. 7:12 Indeed, they made their heart as hard as diamond, ¹⁰  so that they could not obey the Torah and the other words the Lord who rules over all had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore, the Lord who rules over all had poured out great wrath.

7:13 “‘It then came about that just as I ¹¹  cried out, but they would not obey, so they will cry out, but I will not listen,’ the Lord Lord who rules over all had said. 7:14 ‘Rather, I will sweep them away in a storm into all the nations they are not familiar with.’ Thus the land had become desolate because of them, with no one crossing through or returning, for they had made the fruitful ¹²  land a waste.”

Zechariah 7:1

The Hypocrisy of False Fasting

7:1 In King Darius’ fourth year, on the fourth day of Kislev, the ninth month, ¹³  the word of the Lord came to Zechariah.

Zechariah 5:3

5:3 The speaker went on to say, “This is a curse ¹⁴  traveling across the whole earth. For example, according to the curse whoever steals ¹⁵  will be removed from the community; or on the other hand (according to the curse) whoever swears falsely will suffer the same fate.”

[6:15]  ¹ tn This word is a substantive that is used here as an adverbial accusative – with suddenness, at an instant.

[28:18]  ² tn The form is the Niphal imperfect of יָשַׁע (yasha’, “will be saved”). In all probability this refers to deliverance from misfortune. Some render it “kept safe” (NIV) or “will be safe” (NRSV, TEV). It must be interpreted in contrast to the corrupt person who will fall.

[28:18]  ³ tn The Qal imperfect יִפּוֹל (yipol) is given a future translation in this context, as is the previous verb (“will be delivered”) because the working out of divine retribution appears to be coming suddenly in the future. The idea of “falling” could be a metonymy of adjunct (with the falling accompanying the ruin that comes to the person), or it may simply be a comparison between falling and being destroyed. Cf. NCV “will suddenly be ruined”; NLT “will be destroyed.”

[28:18]  ⁴ tn The last word in the verse, בְּאֶחָת (bÿ’ekhat), means “in one [= at once (?)].” This may indicate a sudden fall, for falling “in one” (the literal meaning) makes no sense. W. McKane wishes to emend the text to read “into a pit” based on v. 10b (Proverbs [OTL], 622); this emendation is followed by NAB, NRSV.

[30:13]  ⁵ tn The verse reads literally, “So this sin will become for you like a breach ready to fall, bulging on a high wall, the breaking of which comes suddenly, in a flash.” Their sin produces guilt and will result in judgment. Like a wall that collapses their fall will be swift and sudden.

[30:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “Its shattering is like the shattering of a jug of [i.e., “made by”] potters, [so] shattered one cannot save [any of it].”

[30:14]  ⁷ tn The words “large enough” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[30:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “to remove fire from the place of kindling.”

[30:14]  ⁹ tn On the meaning of גֶבֶא (geveh, “cistern”) see HALOT 170 s.v.

[7:12]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew term שָׁמִיר (shamir) means literally “hardness” and since it is said in Ezek 3:9 to be harder than flint, many scholars suggest that it refers to diamond. It is unlikely that diamond was known to ancient Israel, however, so probably a hard stone like emery or corundum is in view. The translation nevertheless uses “diamond” because in modern times it has become proverbial for its hardness. A number of English versions use “flint” here (e.g., NASB, NIV).

[7:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he.” Since the third person pronoun refers to the Lord, it has been translated as a first person pronoun (“I”) to accommodate English style, which typically does not exhibit switches between persons of pronouns in the same immediate context as Hebrew does.

[7:14]  ¹² tn Or “desirable”; traditionally “pleasant” (so many English versions; cf. TEV “This good land”).

[7:1]  ¹³ sn The fourth day of Kislev, the ninth month would be December 7, 518 b.c., 22 months after the previous eight visions.

[5:3]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew word translated “curse” (אָלָה, ’alah) alludes to the covenant sanctions that attend the violation of God’s covenant with Israel (cf. Deut 29:12, 14, 20-21).

[5:3]  ¹⁵ sn Stealing and swearing falsely (mentioned later in this verse) are sins against mankind and God respectively and are thus violations of the two major parts of the Ten Commandments. These two stipulations (commandments 8 and 3) represent the whole law.