Psalms 55:23

55:23 But you, O God, will bring them ¹  down to the deep Pit. ² 

Violent and deceitful people ³  will not live even half a normal lifespan. ⁴ 

But as for me, I trust in you.

Psalms 73:18

73:18 Surely ⁵  you put them in slippery places;

you bring them down ⁶  to ruin.

Job 21:30

21:30 that the evil man is spared

from the day of his misfortune,

that he is delivered ⁷ 

from the day of God’s wrath?

Job 26:6

26:6 The underworld ⁸  is naked before God; ⁹ 

the place of destruction lies uncovered. ¹⁰ 

Proverbs 15:11

15:11 Death and Destruction ¹¹  are before the Lord –

how much more ¹²  the hearts of humans! ¹³ 

Matthew 7:13

The Narrow Gate

7:13 “Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.

Romans 9:22

9:22 But what if God, willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects ¹⁴  of wrath ¹⁵  prepared for destruction? ¹⁶ 

Romans 9:2

9:2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ¹⁷ 

Romans 2:1

The Condemnation of the Moralist

2:1 ¹⁸ Therefore ¹⁹  you are without excuse, ²⁰  whoever you are, ²¹  when you judge someone else. ²²  For on whatever grounds ²³  you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.

[55:23]  ¹ tn The pronominal suffix refers to the psalmist’s enemies (see v. 19).

[55:23]  ² tn Heb “well of the pit.” The Hebrew term שַׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 16:10; 30:9; 49:9; 103:4).

[55:23]  ³ tn Heb “men of bloodshed and deceit.”

[55:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “will not divide in half their days.”

[73:18]  ⁵ tn The use of the Hebrew term אַךְ (’akh, “surely”) here literarily counteracts its use in v. 13. The repetition draws attention to the contrast between the two statements, the first of which expresses the psalmist’s earlier despair and the second his newly discovered confidence.

[73:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “cause them to fall.”

[21:30]  ⁷ tn The verb means “to be led forth.” To be “led forth in the day of trouble” means to be delivered.

[26:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “Sheol.”

[26:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “before him.”

[26:6]  ¹⁰ tn The line has “and there is no covering for destruction.” “Destruction” here is another name for Sheol: אֲבַדּוֹן (’avaddon, “Abaddon”).

[15:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Sheol and Abaddon” (שְׁאוֹל וַאֲבַדּוֹן (shÿ’ol va’adon); so ASV, NASB, NRSV; cf. KJV “Hell and destruction”; NAB “the nether world and the abyss.” These terms represent the remote underworld and all the mighty powers that reside there (e.g., Prov 27:20; Job 26:6; Ps 139:8; Amos 9:2; Rev 9:11). The Lord knows everything about this remote region.

[15:11]  ¹² tn The construction אַף כִּי (’af ki, “how much more!”) introduces an argument from the lesser to the greater: If all this is open before the Lord, how much more so human hearts. “Hearts” here is a metonymy of subject, meaning the motives and thoughts (cf. NCV “the thoughts of the living”).

[15:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “the hearts of the sons of man,” although here “sons of man” simply means “men” or “human beings.”

[9:22]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “vessels.” This is the same Greek word used in v. 21.

[9:22]  ¹⁵ tn Or “vessels destined for wrath.” The genitive ὀργῆς (orghs) could be taken as a genitive of destination.

[9:22]  ¹⁶ tn Or possibly “objects of wrath that have fit themselves for destruction.” The form of the participle could be taken either as a passive or middle (reflexive). ExSyn 417-18 argues strongly for the passive sense (which is followed in the translation), stating that “the middle view has little to commend it.” First, καταρτίζω (katartizw) is nowhere else used in the NT as a direct or reflexive middle (a usage which, in any event, is quite rare in the NT). Second, the lexical force of this verb, coupled with the perfect tense, suggests something of a “done deal” (against some commentaries that see these vessels as ready for destruction yet still able to avert disaster). Third, the potter-clay motif seems to have one point: The potter prepares the clay.

[9:2]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “my sorrow is great and the anguish in my heart is unceasing.”

[2:1]  ¹⁸ sn Rom 2:1-29 presents unusual difficulties for the interpreter. There have been several major approaches to the chapter and the group(s) it refers to: (1) Rom 2:14 refers to Gentile Christians, not Gentiles who obey the Jewish law. (2) Paul in Rom 2 is presenting a hypothetical viewpoint: If anyone could obey the law, that person would be justified, but no one can. (3) The reference to “the ones who do the law” in 2:13 are those who “do” the law in the right way, on the basis of faith, not according to Jewish legalism. (4) Rom 2:13 only speaks about Christians being judged in the future, along with such texts as Rom 14:10 and 2 Cor 5:10. (5) Paul’s material in Rom 2 is drawn heavily from Diaspora Judaism, so that the treatment of the law presented here cannot be harmonized with other things Paul says about the law elsewhere (E. P. Sanders, Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People, 123); another who sees Rom 2 as an example of Paul’s inconsistency in his treatment of the law is H. Räisänen, Paul and the Law [WUNT], 101-9. (6) The list of blessings and curses in Deut 27–30 provide the background for Rom 2; the Gentiles of 2:14 are Gentile Christians, but the condemnation of Jews in 2:17-24 addresses the failure of Jews as a nation to keep the law as a whole (A. Ito, “Romans 2: A Deuteronomistic Reading,” JSNT 59 [1995]: 21-37).

[2:1]  ¹⁹ tn Some interpreters (e.g., C. K. Barrett, Romans [HNTC], 43) connect the inferential Διό (dio, “therefore”) with 1:32a, treating 1:32b as a parenthetical comment by Paul.

[2:1]  ²⁰ tn That is, “you have nothing to say in your own defense” (so translated by TCNT).

[2:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “O man.”

[2:1]  ²² tn Grk “Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone [of you] who judges.”

[2:1]  ²³ tn Grk “in/by (that) which.”