Discovery BoxPsalms 50:16-21
Context50:16 God says this to the evildoer: 1
“How can you declare my commands,
and talk about my covenant? 2
50:17 For you hate instruction
and reject my words. 3
50:18 When you see a thief, you join him; 4
you associate with men who are unfaithful to their wives. 5
50:19 You do damage with words, 6
and use your tongue to deceive. 7
50:20 You plot against your brother; 8
you slander your own brother. 9
50:21 When you did these things, I was silent, 10
so you thought I was exactly like you. 11
But now I will condemn 12 you
and state my case against you! 13
Proverbs 4:17
Context4:17 For they eat bread 14 gained from wickedness 15
and drink wine obtained from violence. 16
Proverbs 15:17
Context15:17 Better a meal of vegetables where there is love 17
than a fattened ox where there is hatred. 18
Proverbs 17:1
Context17:1 Better is a dry crust of bread 19 where there is quietness 20
than a house full of feasting with strife. 21
Proverbs 21:3
Context21:3 To do righteousness and justice
is more acceptable 22 to the Lord than sacrifice. 23
Proverbs 21:27
Context21:27 The wicked person’s sacrifice 24 is an abomination;
how much more 25 when he brings it with evil intent! 26
Isaiah 1:11-15
Context1:11 “Of what importance to me are your many sacrifices?” 27
says the Lord.
“I am stuffed with 28 burnt sacrifices
of rams and the fat from steers.
The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats
I do not want. 29
1:12 When you enter my presence,
do you actually think I want this –
animals trampling on my courtyards? 30
1:13 Do not bring any more meaningless 31 offerings;
I consider your incense detestable! 32
You observe new moon festivals, Sabbaths, and convocations,
but I cannot tolerate sin-stained celebrations! 33
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; 34
when you offer your many prayers,
I do not listen,
because your hands are covered with blood. 35
Zechariah 7:6
Context7:6 And now when you eat and drink, are you not doing so for yourselves?’”
John 18:28
Context18:28 Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the Roman governor’s residence. 36 (Now it was very early morning.) 37 They 38 did not go into the governor’s residence 39 so they would not be ceremonially defiled, but could eat the Passover meal.
[50:16] 1 tn Heb “evil [one].” The singular adjective is used here in a representative sense; it refers to those within the larger covenant community who have blatantly violated the
[50:16] 2 tn Heb “What to you to declare my commands and lift up my covenant upon your mouth?” The rhetorical question expresses sarcastic amazement. The
[50:17] 3 tn Heb “and throw my words behind you.”
[50:18] 4 tn Heb “you run with him.”
[50:18] 5 tn Heb “and with adulterers [is] your portion.”
[50:19] 6 tn Heb “your mouth you send with evil.”
[50:19] 7 tn Heb “and your tongue binds together [i.e., “frames”] deceit.”
[50:20] 8 tn Heb “you sit, against your brother you speak.” To “sit” and “speak” against someone implies plotting against that person (see Ps 119:23).
[50:20] 9 tn Heb “against the son of your mother you give a fault.”
[50:21] 10 tn Heb “these things you did and I was silent.” Some interpret the second clause (“and I was silent”) as a rhetorical question expecting a negative answer, “[When you do these things], should I keep silent?” (cf. NEB). See GKC 335 §112.cc.
[50:21] 11 tn The Hebrew infinitive construct (הֱיוֹת, heyot) appears to function like the infinitive absolute here, adding emphasis to the following finite verbal form (אֶהְיֶה, ’ehyeh). See GKC 339-40 §113.a. Some prefer to emend הֱיוֹת (heyot) to the infinitive absolute form הָיוֹ (hayo).
[50:21] 12 tn Or “rebuke” (see v. 8).
[50:21] 13 tn Heb “and I will set in order [my case against you] to your eyes.” The cohortative form expresses the
[4:17] 14 tn The noun is a cognate accusative stressing that they consume wickedness.
[4:17] 15 tn Heb “the bread of wickedness” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV). There are two ways to take the genitives: (1) genitives of apposition: wickedness and violence are their food and drink (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT), or (2) genitives of source: they derive their livelihood from the evil they do (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 93).
[4:17] 16 tn Heb “the wine of violence” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV). This is a genitive of source, meaning that the wine they drink was plundered from their violent crime. The Hebrew is structured in an AB:BA chiasm: “For they eat the bread of wickedness, and the wine of violence they drink.” The word order in the translation is reversed for the sake of smoothness and readability.
[15:17] 17 tn Heb “and love there.” This clause is a circumstantial clause introduced with vav, that becomes “where there is love.” The same construction is used in the second colon.
[15:17] 18 sn Again the saying concerns troublesome wealth: Loving relationships with simple food are better than a feast where there is hatred. The ideal, of course, would be loving family and friends with a great meal in addition, but this proverb is only comparing two things.
[17:1] 19 tn The phrase “a dry piece of bread” is like bread without butter, a morsel of bread not dipped in vinegar mix (e.g., Ruth 2:14). It represents here a simple, humble meal.
[17:1] 20 tn Heb “and quietness in it”; the construction functions as a circumstantial clause: “in which there is quietness” or “with quietness.”
[17:1] 21 tn The house is described as being full of “sacrifices of strife” (זִבְחֵי־רִיב, zivkhi-riv). The use of “sacrifices” suggests a connection with the temple (as in 7:14) in which the people may have made their sacrifices and had a large amount meat left over. It is also possible that the reference is simply to a sumptuous meal (Deut 12:15; Isa 34:6; Ezek 39:17). It would be rare for Israelites to eat meat apart from festivals, however. In the construction the genitive could be classified as a genitive of effect, the feast in general “bringing about strife,” or it could simply be an attributive genitive, “a feast characterized by strife.” Abundance often brings deterioration of moral and ethical standards as well as an increase in envy and strife.
[21:3] 22 tn The Niphal participle בָּחַר (bakhar, “to choose”) means “choice to the
[21:3] 23 sn The
[21:27] 24 tn Heb “the sacrifice of the wicked” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). This is a subjective genitive. The foundational clause states that ritual acts of worship brought by the wicked (thus a subjective genitive) are detestable to God. The “wicked” refers here to people who are not members of the covenant (no faith) and are not following after righteousness (no acceptable works). But often they participate in sanctuary ritual, which amounts to hypocrisy.
[21:27] 25 sn This rhetorical device shows that if the act is abomination, the wicked heart is an even greater sin. It argues from the lesser to the greater.
[21:27] 26 tn The noun זִמָּה (zimmah) means “plan; device; wickedness”; here it indicates that the person is coming to the ritual with “sinful purpose.” Some commentators suggest that this would mean he comes with the sacrifice as a bribe to pacify his conscience for a crime committed, over which he has little remorse or intent to cease (cf. NLT “with ulterior motives”). In this view, people in ancient Israel came to think that sacrifices could be given for any reason without genuine submission to God.
[1:11] 27 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] 28 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] 29 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] 30 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] 31 tn Or “worthless” (NASB, NCV, CEV); KJV, ASV “vain.”
[1:13] 32 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] 33 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] 34 tn Heb “I close my eyes from you.”
[1:15] 35 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.
[18:28] 36 tn Grk “to the praetorium.”
[18:28] 37 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
[18:28] 38 tn Grk “And they.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.
