Psalms 34:10

34:10 Even young lions sometimes lack food and are hungry,

but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Psalms 37:19-20

37:19 They will not be ashamed when hard times come; ¹ 

when famine comes they will have enough to eat. ² 

37:20 But ³  evil men will die;

the Lord’s enemies will be incinerated ⁴  –

they will go up in smoke. ⁵ 

Malachi 3:18

3:18 Then once more you will see that I make a distinction between ⁶  the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not.

Luke 14:23-24

14:23 So ⁷  the master said to his ⁸  slave, ‘Go out to the highways ⁹  and country roads ¹⁰  and urge ¹¹  people ¹²  to come in, so that my house will be filled. ¹³  14:24 For I tell you, not one of those individuals ¹⁴  who were invited ¹⁵  will taste my banquet!’” ¹⁶ 

Luke 16:24-25

16:24 So ¹⁷  he called out, ¹⁸  ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus ¹⁹  to dip the tip of his finger ²⁰  in water and cool my tongue, because I am in anguish ²¹  in this fire.’ ²²  16:25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, ²³  remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus likewise bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. ²⁴ 

[37:19]  ¹ tn Heb “in a time of trouble.”

[37:19]  ² tn Heb “in days of famine they will be satisfied.”

[37:20]  ³ tn Or “for,” but Hebrew כי in this case would have to extend all the way back to v. 17a. Another option is to understand the particle as asseverative, “surely” (see v. 22).

[37:20]  ⁴ tc The meaning of the MT (כִּיקַר כָּרִים [kiqar karim], “like what is precious among the pastures/rams”) is uncertain. One possibility is to take the noun כָּרִים as “pastures” and interpret “what is precious” as referring to flowers that blossom but then quickly disappear (see v. 2 and BDB 430 s.v. יָקָר 3). If כָּרִים is taken as “rams,” then “what is precious” might refer to the choicest portions of rams. The present translation follows a reading in the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QpPs37), כיקוד כורם (“like the burning of an oven”). The next line, which pictures the Lord’s enemies being consumed in smoke, supports this reading, which assumes confusion of the Hebrew letters resh (ר) and dalet (ד) at the end of the first word in the sequence.

[37:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “they perish in smoke, they perish.” In addition to repeating the verb for emphasis, the psalmist uses the perfect form of the verb to picture the enemies’ demise as if it had already taken place. In this way he draws attention to the certitude of their judgment.

[3:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “you will see between.” Cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT “see the difference.”

[14:23]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the master’s response to the slave’s report.

[14:23]  ⁸ tn Grk “the”; in context the article is used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[14:23]  ⁹ sn Go out to the highways and country roads. This suggests the inclusion of people outside the town, even beyond the needy (poor, crippled, blind, and lame) in the town, and so is an allusion to the inclusion of the Gentiles.

[14:23]  ¹⁰ tn The Greek word φραγμός (fragmo") refers to a fence, wall, or hedge surrounding a vineyard (BDAG 1064 s.v. 1). “Highways” and “country roads” probably refer not to separate places, but to the situation outside the town where the rural roads run right alongside the hedges or fences surrounding the fields (cf. J. A. Fitzmyer, Luke [AB], 1057).

[14:23]  ¹¹ tn Traditionally “force” or “compel,” but according to BDAG 60 s.v. ἀναγκάζω 2 this is a weakened nuance: “strongly urge/invite.” The meaning in this context is more like “persuade.”

[14:23]  ¹² tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[14:23]  ¹³ sn So that my house will be filled. God will bless many people.

[14:24]  ¹⁴ tn The Greek word here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which frequently stresses males or husbands (in contrast to women or wives). However, the emphasis in the present context is on identifying these individuals as the ones previously invited, examples of which were given in vv. 18-20. Cf. also BDAG 79 s.v. ἀνήρ 2.

[14:24]  ¹⁵ sn None of those individuals who were invited. This is both the point and the warning. To be a part of the original invitation does not mean one automatically has access to blessing. One must respond when the summons comes in order to participate. The summons came in the person of Jesus and his proclamation of the kingdom. The statement here refers to the fact that many in Israel will not be blessed with participation, for they have ignored the summons when it came.

[14:24]  ¹⁶ tn Or “dinner.”

[16:24]  ¹⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous actions in the narrative.

[16:24]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “calling out he said”; this is redundant in contemporary English style and has been simplified to “he called out.”

[16:24]  ¹⁹ sn The rich man had not helped Lazarus before, when he lay outside his gate (v. 2), but he knew him well enough to know his name. This is why the use of the name Lazarus in the parable is significant. (The rich man’s name, on the other hand, is not mentioned, because it is not significant for the point of the story.)

[16:24]  ²⁰ sn The dipping of the tip of his finger in water is evocative of thirst. The thirsty are in need of God’s presence (Ps 42:1-2; Isa 5:13). The imagery suggests the rich man is now separated from the presence of God.

[16:24]  ²¹ tn Or “in terrible pain” (L&N 24.92).

[16:24]  ²² sn Fire in this context is OT imagery; see Isa 66:24.

[16:25]  ²³ tn The Greek term here is τέκνον (teknon), which could be understood as a term of endearment.

[16:25]  ²⁴ tn Or “in terrible pain” (L&N 24.92). Here is the reversal Jesus mentioned in Luke 6:20-26.