Psalms 107:34

107:34 and a fruitful land into a barren place, ¹ 

because of the sin of its inhabitants.

Psalms 107:2

107:2 Let those delivered by the Lord speak out, ² 

those whom he delivered ³  from the power ⁴  of the enemy,

Psalms 2:7

2:7 The king says, ⁵  “I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me: ⁶ 

‘You are my son! ⁷  This very day I have become your father!

Jude 1:7

1:7 So also ⁸  Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, ⁹  since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire ¹⁰  in a way similar to ¹¹  these angels, ¹²  are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

Revelation 14:10-11

14:10 that person ¹³  will also drink of the wine of God’s anger ¹⁴  that has been mixed undiluted in the cup of his wrath, and he will be tortured with fire and sulfur ¹⁵  in front of the holy angels and in front of the Lamb. 14:11 And the smoke from their ¹⁶  torture will go up ¹⁷  forever and ever, and those who worship the beast and his image will have ¹⁸  no rest day or night, along with ¹⁹  anyone who receives the mark of his name.”

Revelation 18:9

18:9 Then ²⁰  the kings of the earth who committed immoral acts with her and lived in sensual luxury ²¹  with her will weep and wail for her when they see the smoke from the fire that burns her up. ²² 

Revelation 18:18

18:18 and began to shout ²³  when they saw the smoke from the fire that burned her up, ²⁴  “Who is like the great city?”

Revelation 19:3

19:3 Then ²⁵  a second time the crowd shouted, “Hallelujah!” The smoke rises from her forever and ever. ²⁶ 

Revelation 21:8

21:8 But to the cowards, unbelievers, detestable persons, murderers, the sexually immoral, and those who practice magic spells, ²⁷  idol worshipers, ²⁸  and all those who lie, their place ²⁹  will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. ³⁰  That ³¹  is the second death.”

[107:34]  ¹ tn Heb “a salty land.”

[107:2]  ² tn Or “let the redeemed of the Lord say [so].”

[107:2]  ³ tn Or “redeemed.”

[107:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “hand.”

[2:7]  ⁵ tn The words “the king says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The speaker is the Lord’s chosen king.

[2:7]  ⁶ tn Or “I will relate the decree. The Lord said to me” (in accordance with the Masoretic accentuation).

[2:7]  ⁷ sn ‘You are my son!’ The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 89:26-27). The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty. See M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 184-203, for general discussion and some striking extra-biblical parallels.

[1:7]  ⁸ tn Grk “as.”

[1:7]  ⁹ tn Grk “the towns [or cities] surrounding them.”

[1:7]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “strange flesh.” This phrase has been variously interpreted. It could refer to flesh of another species (such as angels lusting after human flesh). This would aptly describe the sin of the angels, but not easily explain the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. It could refer to the homosexual practices of the Sodomites, but a difficulty arises from the use of ἕτερος ({etero"; “strange,” “other”). When this is to be distinguished from ἄλλος (allos, “another”) it suggests “another of a different kind.” If so, would that properly describe homosexual behavior? In response, the language could easily be compact: “pursued flesh other than what was normally pursued.” However, would this find an analogy in the lust of angels (such would imply that angels normally had sexual relations of some sort, but cf. Matt 22:30)? Another alternative is that the focus of the parallel is on the activity of the surrounding cities and the activity of the angels. This is especially plausible since the participles ἐκπορνεύσασαι (ekporneusasai, “having indulged in sexual immorality”) and ἀπελθοῦσαι (apelqousai, “having pursued”) have concord with “cities” (πόλεις, poleis), a feminine plural noun, rather than with Sodom and Gomorrah (both masculine nouns). If so, then their sin would not necessarily have to be homosexuality. However, most likely the feminine participles are used because of constructio ad sensum (construction according to sense). That is, since both Sodom and Gomorrah are cities, the feminine is used to imply that all the cities are involved. The connection with angels thus seems to be somewhat loose: Both angels and Sodom and Gomorrah indulged in heinous sexual immorality. Thus, whether the false teachers indulge in homosexual activity is not the point; mere sexual immorality is enough to condemn them.

[1:7]  ¹¹ tn Or “in the same way as.”

[1:7]  ¹² tn “Angels” is not in the Greek text; but the masculine demonstrative pronoun most likely refers back to the angels of v. 6.

[14:10]  ¹³ tn Grk “he himself.”

[14:10]  ¹⁴ tn The Greek word for “anger” here is θυμός (qumos), a wordplay on the “passion” (θυμός) of the personified city of Babylon in 14:8.

[14:10]  ¹⁵ tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”

[14:11]  ¹⁶ tn The Greek pronoun is plural here even though the verbs in the previous verse are singular.

[14:11]  ¹⁷ tn The present tense ἀναβαίνει (anabainei) has been translated as a futuristic present (ExSyn 535-36). This is also consistent with the future passive βασανισθήσεται (basanisqhsetai) in v. 10.

[14:11]  ¹⁸ tn The present tense ἔχουσιν (ecousin) has been translated as a futuristic present to keep the English tense consistent with the previous verb (see note on “will go up” earlier in this verse).

[14:11]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “and.”

[18:9]  ²⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[18:9]  ²¹ tn On the term ἐστρηνίασεν (estrhniasen) BDAG 949 s.v. στρηνιάω states, “live in luxury, live sensually Rv 18:7. W. πορνεύειν vs. 9.”

[18:9]  ²² tn Grk “from the burning of her.” For the translation “the smoke from the fire that burns her up,” see L&N 14.63.

[18:18]  ²³ tn Here the imperfect ἔκραζον (ekrazon) has been translated ingressively.

[18:18]  ²⁴ tn Grk “from the burning of her, saying.” For the translation “the smoke from the fire that burned her up,” see L&N 14.63. Here the participle λέγοντες (legontes, “saying”) has not been translated because it is redundant in contemporary English.

[19:3]  ²⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[19:3]  ²⁶ tn Or “her smoke ascends forever and ever.”

[21:8]  ²⁷ tn On the term φαρμακεία (farmakeia, “magic spells”) see L&N 53.100: “the use of magic, often involving drugs and the casting of spells upon people – ‘to practice magic, to cast spells upon, to engage in sorcery, magic, sorcery.’ φαρμακεία: ἐν τῇ φαρμακείᾳ σου ἐπλανήθησαν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ‘with your magic spells you deceived all the peoples (of the world)’ Re 18:23.”

[21:8]  ²⁸ tn Grk “idolaters.”

[21:8]  ²⁹ tn Grk “their share.”

[21:8]  ³⁰ tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”

[21:8]  ³¹ tn Grk “sulfur, which is.” The relative pronoun has been translated as “that” to indicate its connection to the previous clause. The nearest logical antecedent is “the lake [that burns with fire and sulfur],” although “lake” (λίμνη, limnh) is feminine gender, while the pronoun “which” (ὅ, Jo) is neuter gender. This means that (1) the proper antecedent could be “their place” (Grk “their share,”) agreeing with the relative pronoun in number and gender, or (2) the neuter pronoun still has as its antecedent the feminine noun “lake,” since agreement in gender between pronoun and antecedent was not always maintained, with an explanatory phrase occurring with a neuter pronoun regardless of the case of the antecedent. In favor of the latter explanation is Rev 20:14, where the phrase “the lake of fire” is in apposition to the phrase “the second death.”