Psalms 35:16

35:16 When I tripped, they taunted me relentlessly, ¹ 

and tried to bite me. ² 

Isaiah 1:10-15

1:10 Listen to the Lord’s word,

you leaders of Sodom! ³ 

Pay attention to our God’s rebuke, ⁴ 

people of Gomorrah!

1:11 “Of what importance to me are your many sacrifices?” ⁵ 

says the Lord.

“I am stuffed with ⁶  burnt sacrifices

of rams and the fat from steers.

The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats

I do not want. ⁷ 

1:12 When you enter my presence,

do you actually think I want this –

animals trampling on my courtyards? ⁸ 

1:13 Do not bring any more meaningless ⁹  offerings;

I consider your incense detestable! ¹⁰ 

You observe new moon festivals, Sabbaths, and convocations,

but I cannot tolerate sin-stained celebrations! ¹¹ 

1:14 I hate your new moon festivals and assemblies;

they are a burden

that I am tired of carrying.

1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,

I look the other way; ¹² 

when you offer your many prayers,

I do not listen,

because your hands are covered with blood. ¹³ 

Jeremiah 7:8-11

7:8 “‘But just look at you! ¹⁴  You are putting your confidence in a false belief ¹⁵  that will not deliver you. ¹⁶  7:9 You steal. ¹⁷  You murder. You commit adultery. You lie when you swear on oath. You sacrifice to the god Baal. You pay allegiance to ¹⁸  other gods whom you have not previously known. 7:10 Then you come and stand in my presence in this temple I have claimed as my own ¹⁹  and say, “We are safe!” You think you are so safe that you go on doing all those hateful sins! ²⁰  7:11 Do you think this temple I have claimed as my own ²¹  is to be a hideout for robbers? ²²  You had better take note! ²³  I have seen for myself what you have done! says the Lord.

Amos 5:21-23

5:21 “I absolutely despise ²⁴  your festivals!

I get no pleasure ²⁵  from your religious assemblies!

5:22 Even if you offer me burnt and grain offerings, ²⁶  I will not be satisfied;

I will not look with favor on your peace offerings of fattened calves. ²⁷ 

5:23 Take away from me your ²⁸  noisy songs;

I don’t want to hear the music of your stringed instruments. ²⁹ 

Micah 3:10-12

3:10 You ³⁰  build Zion through bloody crimes, ³¹ 

Jerusalem ³²  through unjust violence.

3:11 Her ³³  leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, ³⁴ 

her priests proclaim rulings for profit,

and her prophets read omens for pay.

Yet they claim to trust ³⁵  the Lord and say,

“The Lord is among us. ³⁶ 

Disaster will not overtake ³⁷  us!”

3:12 Therefore, because of you, ³⁸  Zion will be plowed up like ³⁹  a field,

Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,

and the Temple Mount ⁴⁰  will become a hill overgrown with brush! ⁴¹ 

Matthew 23:23-28

23:23 “Woe to you, experts in the law ⁴²  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth ⁴³  of mint, dill, and cumin, ⁴⁴  yet you neglect what is more important in the law – justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You ⁴⁵  should have done these things without neglecting the others. 23:24 Blind guides! You strain out a gnat yet swallow a camel! ⁴⁶ 

23:25 “Woe to you, experts in the law ⁴⁷  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 23:26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, ⁴⁸  so that the outside may become clean too!

23:27 “Woe to you, experts in the law ⁴⁹  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean. ⁵⁰  23:28 In the same way, on the outside you look righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Matthew 27:6

27:6 The ⁵¹  chief priests took the silver and said, “It is not lawful to put this into the temple treasury, since it is blood money.”

Acts 10:28

10:28 He said to them, “You know that ⁵²  it is unlawful ⁵³  for a Jew ⁵⁴  to associate with or visit a Gentile, ⁵⁵  yet God has shown me that I should call no person ⁵⁶  defiled or ritually unclean. ⁵⁷ 

Acts 11:3

11:3 saying, “You went to ⁵⁸  uncircumcised men and shared a meal with ⁵⁹  them.”

[35:16]  ¹ tc The MT reads “as profane [ones] of mockers of food,” which is nonsensical. The present translation assumes (1) an emendation of בְּחַנְפֵי (bÿkhanfey, “as profane men”) to בְּחַנְפִי (bekhanfiy, “when I tripped”; preposition + Qal infinitive construct from II חָנַף [“limp”] + first common singular pronominal suffix) and (2) an emendation of לַעֲגֵי מָעוֹג (la’agey ma’og, “mockers of food”) to עָגוּ[ם]לַעְגָּ (la’gam ’agu, “[with] taunting they taunted”; masculine plural noun with enclitic mem + Qal perfect third common plural from לַּעַג [la’ag, “taunt”]).

[35:16]  ² tn Heb “gnashing at me with their teeth.” The infinitive absolute adds a complementary action – they gnashed with their teeth as they taunted.

[1:10]  ³ sn Building on the simile of v. 9, the prophet sarcastically addresses the leaders and people of Jerusalem as if they were leaders and residents of ancient Sodom and Gomorrah. The sarcasm is appropriate, for if the judgment is comparable to Sodom’s, that must mean that the sin which prompted the judgment is comparable as well.

[1:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “to the instruction of our God.” In this context, which is highly accusatory and threatening, תּוֹרָה (torah, “law, instruction”) does not refer to mere teaching, but to corrective teaching and rebuke.

[1:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “Why to me the multitude of your sacrifices?” The sarcastic rhetorical question suggests that their many sacrifices are of no importance to the Lord. This phrase answers the possible objection that an Israelite could raise in response to God’s indictment: “But we are offering the sacrifices you commanded!”

[1:11]  ⁶ tn The verb שָׂבַע (sava’, “be satisfied, full”) is often used of eating and/or drinking one’s fill. See BDB 959 s.v. שָׂבַע. Here sacrifices are viewed, in typical ancient Near Eastern fashion, as food for the deity. God here declares that he has eaten and drunk, as it were, his fill.

[1:11]  ⁷ sn In the chiastic structure of the verse, the verbs at the beginning and end highlight God’s displeasure, while the heaping up of references to animals, fat, and blood in the middle lines hints at why God wants no more of their sacrifices. They have, as it were, piled the food on his table and he needs no more.

[1:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “When you come to appear before me, who requires this from your hand, trampling of my courtyards?” The rhetorical question sarcastically makes the point that God does not require this parade of livestock. The verb “trample” probably refers to the eager worshipers and their sacrificial animals walking around in the temple area.

[1:13]  ⁹ tn Or “worthless” (NASB, NCV, CEV); KJV, ASV “vain.”

[1:13]  ¹⁰ sn Notice some of the other practices that Yahweh regards as “detestable”: homosexuality (Lev 18:22-30; 20:13), idolatry (Deut 7:25; 13:15), human sacrifice (Deut 12:31), eating ritually unclean animals (Deut 14:3-8), sacrificing defective animals (Deut 17:1), engaging in occult activities (Deut 18:9-14), and practicing ritual prostitution (1 Kgs 14:23).

[1:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “sin and assembly” (these two nouns probably represent a hendiadys). The point is that their attempts at worship are unacceptable to God because the people’s everyday actions in the socio-economic realm prove they have no genuine devotion to God (see vv. 16-17).

[1:15]  ¹² tn Heb “I close my eyes from you.”

[1:15]  ¹³ sn This does not just refer to the blood of sacrificial animals, but also the blood, as it were, of their innocent victims. By depriving the poor and destitute of proper legal recourse and adequate access to the economic system, the oppressors have, for all intents and purposes, “killed” their victims.

[7:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Behold!”

[7:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “You are trusting in lying words.” See the similar phrase in v. 4 and the note there.

[7:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “not profit [you].”

[7:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Will you steal…then say, ‘We are safe’?” Verses 9-10 are one long sentence in the Hebrew text.

[7:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “You go/follow after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom involved here.

[7:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “over which my name is called.” For this nuance of this idiom cf. BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph.2.d(4) and see the usage in 2 Sam 12:28.

[7:10]  ²⁰ tn Or “‘We are safe!’ – safe, you think, to go on doing all those hateful things.” Verses 9-10 are all one long sentence in the Hebrew text. It has been broken up for English stylistic reasons. Somewhat literally it reads “Will you steal…then come and stand…and say, ‘We are safe’ so as to/in order to do…” The Hebrew of v. 9 has a series of infinitives which emphasize the bare action of the verb without the idea of time or agent. The effect is to place a kind of staccato like emphasis on the multitude of their sins all of which are violations of one of the Ten Commandments. The final clause in v. 8 expresses purpose or result (probably result) through another infinitive. This long sentence is introduced by a marker (ה interrogative in Hebrew) introducing a rhetorical question in which God expresses his incredulity that they could do these sins, come into the temple and claim the safety of his protection, and then go right back out and commit the same sins. J. Bright (Jeremiah [AB], 52) catches the force nicely: “What? You think you can steal, murder…and then come and stand…and say, ‘We are safe…’ just so that you can go right on…”

[7:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “over which my name is called.” For this nuance of this idiom cf. BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph.2.d(4) and see the usage in 2 Sam 12:28.

[7:11]  ²² tn Heb “Is this house…a den/cave of robbers in your eyes?”

[7:11]  ²³ tn Heb “Behold!”

[5:21]  ²⁴ tn Heb “I hate”; “I despise.”

[5:21]  ²⁵ tn Heb “I will not smell.” These verses are full of vivid descriptions of the Lord’s total rejection of Israelite worship. In the first half of this verse two verbs are used together for emphasis. Here the verb alludes to the sense of smell, a fitting observation since offerings would have been burned on the altar ideally to provide a sweet aroma to God (see, e.g., Lev 1:9, 13, 17; Num 29:36). Other senses that are mentioned include sight and hearing in vv. 22-23.

[5:22]  ²⁶ tn Heb “burnt offerings and your grain offerings.”

[5:22]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Peace offering[s], your fattened calves, I will not look at.”

[5:23]  ²⁸ tn In this verse the second person suffixes are singular and not plural like they are in vv. 21-22 and vv. 25-27. Some have suggested that perhaps a specific individual or group within the nation is in view.

[5:23]  ²⁹ tn The Hebrew word probably refers to “harps” (NASB, NIV, NRSV) or “lutes” (NEB).

[3:10]  ³⁰ tn Heb “who.”

[3:10]  ³¹ tn Heb “bloodshed” (so NAB, NASB, NIV); NLT “murder.”

[3:10]  ³² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:11]  ³³ sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).

[3:11]  ³⁴ tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”

[3:11]  ³⁵ tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”

[3:11]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Is not the Lord in our midst?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he is!”

[3:11]  ³⁷ tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”

[3:12]  ³⁸ tn The plural pronoun refers to the leaders, priests, and prophets mentioned in the preceding verse.

[3:12]  ³⁹ tn Or “into” (an adverbial accusative of result).

[3:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “the mountain of the house” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).

[3:12]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “a high place of overgrowth.”

[23:23]  ⁴² tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:23]  ⁴³ tn Or “you tithe mint.”

[23:23]  ⁴⁴ sn Cumin (alternately spelled cummin) was an aromatic herb native to the Mediterranean region. Its seeds were used for seasoning.

[23:23]  ⁴⁵ tc ‡ Many witnesses (B C K L W Δ 0102 33 565 892 pm) have δέ (de, “but”) after ταῦτα (tauta, “these things”), while many others lack it (א D Γ Θ Ë^1,13 579 700 1241 1424 pm). Since asyndeton was relatively rare in Koine Greek, the conjunction may be an intentional alteration, and is thus omitted from the present translation. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[23:24]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “Blind guides who strain out a gnat yet who swallow a camel!”

[23:25]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:26]  ⁴⁸ tc A very difficult textual problem is found here. The most important Alexandrian and Byzantine, as well as significant Western, witnesses (א B C L W 0102 0281 ˹³ 33 Ï lat co) have “and the dish” (καὶ τῆς παροψίδος, kai th" paroyido") after “cup,” while few important witnesses (D Θ Ë¹ 700 and some versional and patristic authorities) omit the phrase. On the one hand, scribes sometimes tended to eliminate redundancy; since “and the dish” is already present in v. 25, it may have been deleted in v. 26 by well-meaning scribes. On the other hand, as B. M. Metzger notes, the singular pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou, “its”) with τὸ ἐκτός (to ekto", “the outside”) in some of the same witnesses that have the longer reading (viz., B* ˹³ al) hints that their archetype lacked the words (TCGNT 50). Further, scribes would be motivated both to add the phrase from v. 25 and to change αὐτοῦ to the plural pronoun αὐτῶν (aujtwn, “their”). Although the external evidence for the shorter reading is not compelling in itself, combined with these two prongs of internal evidence, it is to be slightly preferred.

[23:27]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:27]  ⁵⁰ sn This was an idiom for hypocrisy – just as the wall was painted on the outside but something different on the inside, so this person was not what he appeared or pretended to be (for discussion of a similar metaphor, see L&N 88.234; BDAG 1010 s.v. τοῖχος). See Deut 28:22; Ezek 13:10-16; Acts 23:3.

[27:6]  ⁵¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[10:28]  ⁵² tn Here ὡς (Jws) is used like ὅτι (Joti) to introduce indirect discourse (cf. BDAG 1105 s.v. ὡς 5).

[10:28]  ⁵³ tn This term is used of wanton or callously lawless acts (BDAG 24 s.v. ἀθέμιτος).

[10:28]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “a Jewish man” (ἀνδρὶ ᾿Ιουδαίῳ, andri Ioudaiw).

[10:28]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “a foreigner,” but in this context, “a non-Jew,” that is, a Gentile. This term speaks of intimate association (BDAG 556 s.v. κολλάω 2.b.α). On this Jewish view, see John 18:28, where a visit to a Gentile residence makes a Jewish person unclean.

[10:28]  ⁵⁶ tn This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo").

[10:28]  ⁵⁷ tn Possibly there is a subtle distinction in meaning between κοινός (koinos) and ἀκάθαρτος (akaqartos) here, but according to L&N 53.39 it is difficult to determine precise differences in meaning based on existing contexts.

[11:3]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “You were a guest in the home of” (according to L&N 23.12).

[11:3]  ⁵⁹ tn Or “and ate with.” It was table fellowship and the possibility of eating unclean food that disturbed them.