Psalms 48:2

48:2 It is lofty and pleasing to look at, ¹ 

a source of joy to the whole earth. ² 

Mount Zion resembles the peaks of Zaphon; ³ 

it is the city of the great king.

Psalms 48:8

48:8 We heard about God’s mighty deeds, now we have seen them, ⁴ 

in the city of the Lord, the invincible Warrior, ⁵ 

in the city of our God.

God makes it permanently secure. ⁶  (Selah)

Hosea 9:3

Assyrian Exile Will Reverse the Egyptian Exodus

9:3 They will not remain in the Lord’s land.

Ephraim will return to Egypt;

they will eat ritually unclean food in Assyria.

Micah 2:8-10

2:8 but you rise up as an enemy against my people. ⁷ 

You steal a robe from a friend, ⁸ 

from those who pass by peacefully as if returning from a war. ⁹ 

2:9 You wrongly evict widows ¹⁰  among my people from their cherished homes.

You defraud their children ¹¹  of their prized inheritance. ¹² 

2:10 But you are the ones who will be forced to leave! ¹³ 

For this land is not secure! ¹⁴ 

Sin will thoroughly destroy it! ¹⁵ 

Revelation 21:27

21:27 but ¹⁶  nothing ritually unclean ¹⁷  will ever enter into it, nor anyone who does what is detestable ¹⁸  or practices falsehood, ¹⁹  but only those whose names ²⁰  are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Revelation 22:14-15

22:14 Blessed are those who wash their robes so they can have access ²¹  to the tree of life and can enter into the city by the gates. 22:15 Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers ²²  and the sexually immoral, and the murderers, and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood! ²³ 

[48:2]  ¹ tn Heb “beautiful of height.” The Hebrew term נוֹף (nof, “height”) is a genitive of specification after the qualitative noun “beautiful.” The idea seems to be that Mount Zion, because of its lofty appearance, is pleasing to the sight.

[48:2]  ² sn A source of joy to the whole earth. The language is hyperbolic. Zion, as the dwelling place of the universal king, is pictured as the world’s capital. The prophets anticipated this idealized picture becoming a reality in the eschaton (see Isa 2:1-4).

[48:2]  ³ tn Heb “Mount Zion, the peaks of Zaphon.” Like all the preceding phrases in v. 2, both phrases are appositional to “city of our God, his holy hill” in v. 1, suggesting an identification in the poet’s mind between Mount Zion and Zaphon. “Zaphon” usually refers to the “north” in a general sense (see Pss 89:12; 107:3), but here, where it is collocated with “peaks,” it refers specifically to Mount Zaphon, located in the vicinity of ancient Ugarit and viewed as the mountain where the gods assembled (see Isa 14:13). By alluding to West Semitic mythology in this way, the psalm affirms that Mount Zion is the real divine mountain, for it is here that the Lord God of Israel lives and rules over the nations. See P. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 353, and T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 103.

[48:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “As we have heard, so we have seen.” The community had heard about God’s mighty deeds in the nation’s history. Having personally witnessed his saving power with their own eyes, they could now affirm that the tradition was not exaggerated or inaccurate.

[48:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “the Lord of hosts.” The title “Lord of hosts” here pictures the Lord as a mighty warrior-king who leads armies into battle (see Pss 24:10; 46:7, 11).

[48:8]  ⁶ tn Or “God makes it secure forever.” The imperfect highlights the characteristic nature of the generalizing statement.

[2:8]  ⁷ tc Heb “Recently my people rise up as an enemy.” The MT is problematic in light of v. 9, where “my people” are the object of oppression, not the perpetrators of it. The form וְאֶתְמוּל (vÿ’etmul, “and recently”) is probably the product of fusion and subsequent suppression of an (ע) ayin. The translation assumes an emendation to וְאַתֶּם עַל (vÿ’attem ’al, “and you against [my people]”). The second person plural pronoun fits well with the second plural verb forms of vv. 8b-10. If this emendation is accepted, then יְקוֹמֵם (yÿqomem, the imperfect of קוּם [qum]) should be emended to קָמִים (qamim; a participle from the same root).

[2:8]  ⁸ tc Heb “From the front of a garment glory [or perhaps, “a robe”] you strip off,” but this makes little if any sense. The term מִמּוּל (mimmul, “from the front of”) is probably the product of dittography (note the preceding word, which ends in [ם] mem) and subsequent suppression of ע (ayin). The translation assumes an emendation to מֵעַל (me’al, “from upon”). The translation also assumes an emendation of שַׂלְמָה אֶדֶר (salmah ’eder, “a garment, glory [or robe]”) to שֹׁלְמִים אֲדֶרֶת (sholÿmim ’aderet, “[from] a friend the robe [you strip off]”). The MT’s אֶדֶר (’eder) is the result of misdivision (the article has erroneously been attached to the preceding word) and haplography (of the final tav, which also begins the following word).

[2:8]  ⁹ tc The passive participle שׁוּבֵי (shuvey) is unattested elsewhere and should be emended to a participle שָׁבִים (shavim).

[2:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “women.” This may be a synecdoche of the whole (women) for the part (widows).

[2:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “her little children” or “her infants”; ASV, NRSV “young children.”

[2:9]  ¹² tn Heb “from their children you take my glory forever.” The yod (י) ending on הֲדָרִי (hadariy) is usually taken as a first person common singular suffix (“my glory”). But it may be the archaic genitive ending (“glory of”) in the construct expression “glory of perpetuity,” that is, “perpetual glory.” In either case, this probably refers to the dignity or honor the Lord bestowed on each Israelite family by giving them a share of his land to be inherited perpetually from one generation to another within each family. The term הָדָר (hadar) may refer to possessions that a person prizes (Lam 1:6).

[2:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “Arise and go!” These imperatives are rhetorical. Those who wrongly drove widows and orphans from their homes and land inheritances will themselves be driven out of the land (cf. Isa 5:8-17). This is an example of poetic justice.

[2:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “for this is no resting place.” The Lord speaks to the oppressors.

[2:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “uncleanness will destroy, and destruction will be severe.”

[21:27]  ¹⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[21:27]  ¹⁷ tn Here BDAG 552 s.v. κοινός 2 states, “pert. to being of little value because of being common, common, ordinary, profane…b. specifically, of that which is ceremonially impure: Rv 21:27.”

[21:27]  ¹⁸ tn Or “what is abhorrent”; Grk “who practices abominations.”

[21:27]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “practicing abomination or falsehood.” Because of the way βδέλυγμα (bdelugma) has been translated (“does what is detestable”) it was necessary to repeat the idea from the participle ποιῶν (poiwn, “practices”) before the term “falsehood.” On this term, BDAG 1097 s.v. ψεῦδος states, “ποιεῖν ψεῦδος practice (the things that go with) falsehood Rv 21:27; 22:15.” Cf. Rev 3:9.

[21:27]  ²⁰ tn Grk “those who are written”; the word “names” is implied.

[22:14]  ²¹ tn Grk “so that there will be to them authority over the tree of life.”

[22:15]  ²² tn On the term φάρμακοι (farmakoi) see L&N 53.101.

[22:15]  ²³ tn Or “lying,” “deceit.”