Revelation 11:5

11:5 If ¹  anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths ²  and completely consumes ³  their enemies. If ⁴  anyone wants to harm them, they must be killed this way.

Numbers 16:35

16:35 Then a fire ⁵  went out from the Lord and devoured the 250 men who offered incense.

Numbers 16:1

The Rebellion of Korah

16:1 ⁶ Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, who were Reubenites, ⁷  took men ⁸ 

Numbers 18:1-2

Responsibilities of the Priests

18:1 ⁹ The Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your tribe ¹⁰  with you must bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, ¹¹  and you and your sons with you must bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

18:2 “Bring with you your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, so that they may join ¹²  with you and minister to you while ¹³  you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.

Numbers 1:10-14

1:10 from the sons of Joseph:

from Ephraim, Elishama son of Ammihud;

from Manasseh, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur;

1:11 from Benjamin, Abidan son of Gideoni;

1:12 from Dan, Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai;

1:13 from Asher, Pagiel son of Ocran;

1:14 from Gad, Eliasaph son of Deuel; ¹⁴ 

Matthew 16:1

The Demand for a Sign

16:1 Now when the Pharisees ¹⁵  and Sadducees ¹⁶  came to test Jesus, ¹⁷  they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. ¹⁸ 

Luke 9:54-56

9:54 Now when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire to come down from heaven and consume ¹⁹  them?” ²⁰  9:55 But Jesus ²¹  turned and rebuked them, ²²  9:56 and they went on to another village.

Luke 9:2

9:2 and he sent ²³  them out to proclaim ²⁴  the kingdom of God ²⁵  and to heal the sick. ²⁶ 

Luke 3:8

3:8 Therefore produce ²⁷  fruit ²⁸  that proves your repentance, and don’t begin to say ²⁹  to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ ³⁰  For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! ³¹ 

[11:5]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[11:5]  ² tn This is a collective singular in Greek.

[11:5]  ³ tn See L&N 20.45 for the translation of κατεσθίω (katesqiw) as “to destroy utterly, to consume completely.”

[11:5]  ⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[16:35]  ⁵ tn For a discussion of the fire of the Lord, see J. C. H. Laughlin, “The Strange Fire of Nadab and Abihu,” JBL 95 (1976): 559-65.

[16:1]  ⁶ sn There are three main movements in the story of ch. 16. The first is the rebellion itself (vv. 1-19). The second is the judgment (vv. 20-35). Third is the atonement for the rebels (vv. 36-50). The whole chapter is a marvelous account of a massive rebellion against the leaders that concludes with reconciliation. For further study see G. Hort, “The Death of Qorah,” ABR 7 (1959): 2-26; and J. Liver, “Korah, Dathan and Abiram,” Studies in the Bible (ScrHier 8), 189-217.

[16:1]  ⁷ tc The MT reading is plural (“the sons of Reuben”); the Smr and LXX have the singular (“the son of Reuben”).

[16:1]  ⁸ tn In the Hebrew text there is no object for the verb “took.” The translation presented above supplies the word “men.” However, it is possible that the MT has suffered damage here. The LXX has “and he spoke.” The Syriac and Targum have “and he was divided.” The editor of BHS suggests that perhaps the MT should be emended to “and he arose.”

[18:1]  ⁹ sn This chapter and the next may have been inserted here to explain how the priests are to function because in the preceding chapter Aaron’s position was affirmed. The chapter seems to fall into four units: responsibilities of priests (vv. 1-7), their portions (vv. 8-19), responsibilities of Levites (vv. 20-24), and instructions for Levites (vv. 25-32).

[18:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “your father’s house.”

[18:1]  ¹¹ sn The responsibility for the sanctuary included obligations relating to any violation of the sanctuary. This was stated to forestall any further violations of the sanctuary. The priests were to pay for any ritual errors, primarily if any came too near. Since the priests and Levites come near all the time, they risk violating ritual laws more than any. So, with the great privileges come great responsibilities. The bottom line is that they were responsible for the sanctuary.

[18:2]  ¹² sn The verb forms a wordplay on the name Levi, and makes an allusion to the naming of the tribe Levi by Leah in the book of Genesis. There Leah hoped that with the birth of Levi her husband would be attached to her. Here, with the selection of the tribe to serve in the sanctuary, there is the wordplay again showing that the Levites will be attached to Aaron and the priests. The verb is יִלָּווּ (yillavu), which forms a nice wordplay with Levi (לֵוִי). The tribe will now be attached to the sanctuary. The verb is the imperfect with a vav (ו) that shows volitive sequence after the imperative, here indicating a purpose clause.

[18:2]  ¹³ tn The clause is a circumstantial clause because the disjunctive vav (ו) is on a nonverb to start the clause.

[1:14]  ¹⁴ tc There is a textual difficulty with this verb. The Greek form uses r and not d, giving the name Ra‘oul. There is even some variation in the Hebrew traditions, but BHS (following the Leningrad codex of a.d. 1008) has preferred the name Deuel.

[16:1]  ¹⁵ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[16:1]  ¹⁶ sn See the note on Sadducees in 3:7.

[16:1]  ¹⁷ tn The object of the participle πειράζοντες (peirazontes) is not given in the Greek text but has been supplied here for clarity.

[16:1]  ¹⁸ sn What exactly this sign would have been, given what Jesus was already doing, is not clear. But here is where the fence-sitters reside, refusing to commit to him.

[9:54]  ¹⁹ tn Or “destroy.”

[9:54]  ²⁰ tc Most mss, especially the later ones (A C D W Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 Ï it), read here “as also Elijah did,” making the allusion to 2 Kgs 1:10, 12, 14 more explicit. The shorter reading has better and earlier support (Ì^45,75 א B L Ξ 579 700* 1241 pc lat sa). It is difficult to explain how the shorter reading could have arisen from the longer, especially since it is well represented early on. However, the longer reading looks to have been a marginal note originally, incorporated into the text of Luke by early scribes.

[9:55]  ²¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:55]  ²² tc Many mss ([D] K Γ Θ Ë^1,13 [579] 700 2542 pm it) have at the end of the verse (with slight variations) “and he said, ‘You do not know what sort of spirit you are of, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy people’s lives, but to save [them].’” This variant is clearly secondary, as it gives some content to the rebuke. Further, it is difficult to explain how such rich material would have been omitted by the rest of the witnesses, including the earliest and best mss.

[9:2]  ²³ sn “To send out” is often a term of divine commission in Luke: 1:19; 4:18, 43; 7:27; 9:48; 10:1, 16; 11:49; 13:34; 24:49.

[9:2]  ²⁴ tn Or “to preach.”

[9:2]  ²⁵ sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21.

[9:2]  ²⁶ sn As Jesus’ own ministry (Luke 4:16-44) involved both word (to proclaim) and deed (to heal) so also would that of the disciples.

[3:8]  ²⁷ tn The verb here is ποιέω (poiew; see v. 4).

[3:8]  ²⁸ tn Grk “fruits.” The plural Greek term καρπούς has been translated with the collective singular “fruit” (so NIV; cf. Matt 3:8 where the singular καρπός is found). Some other translations render the plural καρπούς as “fruits” (e.g., NRSV, NASB, NAB, NKJV).

[3:8]  ²⁹ tn In other words, “do not even begin to think this.”

[3:8]  ³⁰ sn We have Abraham as our father. John’s warning to the crowds really assumes two things: (1) A number of John’s listeners apparently believed that simply by their physical descent from Abraham, they were certain heirs of the promises made to the patriarch, and (2) God would never judge his covenant people lest he inadvertently place the fulfillment of his promises in jeopardy. In light of this, John tells these people two things: (1) they need to repent and produce fruit in keeping with repentance, for only that saves from the coming wrath, and (2) God will raise up “children for Abraham from these stones” if he wants to. Their disobedience will not threaten the realization of God’s sovereign purposes.

[3:8]  ³¹ sn The point of the statement God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham is that ancestry or association with a tradition tied to the great founder of the Jewish nation is not an automatic source of salvation.