Revelation 5:8

5:8 and when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders threw themselves to the ground ¹  before the Lamb. Each ²  of them had a harp and golden bowls full of incense (which are the prayers of the saints). ³ 

Revelation 19:17-18

19:17 Then ⁴  I saw one angel standing in ⁵  the sun, and he shouted in a loud voice to all the birds flying high in the sky: ⁶ 

“Come, gather around for the great banquet ⁷  of God,

19:18 to eat ⁸  your fill ⁹  of the flesh of kings,

the flesh of generals, ¹⁰ 

the flesh of powerful people,

the flesh of horses and those who ride them,

and the flesh of all people, both free and slave, ¹¹ 

and small and great!”

Psalms 79:2-3

79:2 They have given the corpses of your servants

to the birds of the sky; ¹² 

the flesh of your loyal followers

to the beasts of the earth.

79:3 They have made their blood flow like water

all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury them. ¹³ 

Ecclesiastes 6:3

6:3 Even if a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years –

even if he lives a long, long time, ¹⁴  but cannot enjoy his prosperity –

even if he were to live forever ¹⁵  –

I would say, “A stillborn child ¹⁶  is better off than he is!” ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 33:1

The Lord Will Restore Zion

33:1 The destroyer is as good as dead, ¹⁸ 

you who have not been destroyed!

The deceitful one is as good as dead, ¹⁹ 

the one whom others have not deceived!

When you are through destroying, you will be destroyed;

when you finish ²⁰  deceiving, others will deceive you!

Jeremiah 7:33

7:33 Then the dead bodies of these people will be left on the ground for the birds and wild animals to eat. ²¹  There will not be any survivors to scare them away.

Matthew 7:2

7:2 For by the standard you judge you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the measure you receive. ²² 

[5:8]  ¹ tn Grk “fell down.” BDAG 815 s.v. πίπτω 1.b.α.ב. has “fall down, throw oneself to the ground as a sign of devotion or humility, before high-ranking persons or divine beings.”

[5:8]  ² tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[5:8]  ³ sn This interpretive comment by the author forms a parenthesis in the narrative.

[19:17]  ⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[19:17]  ⁵ tn The precise significance of ἐν (en) here is difficult to determine.

[19:17]  ⁶ tn On μεσουρανήματι (mesouranhmati) here see L&N 1.10: “high in the sky, midpoint in the sky, directly overhead, straight above in the sky.” The birds mentioned here are carrion birds like vultures, circling high overhead, and now being summoned to feast on the corpses.

[19:17]  ⁷ tn This is the same Greek word (δεῖπνον, deipnon) used in 19:9.

[19:18]  ⁸ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause, insofar as it is related to the first imperative, has the force of an imperative.

[19:18]  ⁹ tn The idea of eating “your fill” is evident in the context with the use of χορτάζω (cortazw) in v. 21.

[19:18]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “chiliarchs”; normally a chiliarch was a military officer commanding a thousand soldiers, but here probably used of higher-ranking commanders like generals (see L&N 55.15; cf. Rev 6:15).

[19:18]  ¹¹ tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

[79:2]  ¹² tn Heb “[as] food for the birds of the sky.”

[79:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “they have poured out their blood like water, all around Jerusalem, and there is no one burying.”

[6:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the days of his years are many.”

[6:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he has no burial.” The phrase וְגַם־קְבוּרָה לֹא־הָיְתָה (vÿgam-qÿvurah lo’-haytah, “he even has no burial”) is traditionally treated as part of a description of the man’s sorry final state, that is, he is deprived of even a proper burial (KJV, NEB, RSV, NRSV, ASV, NASB, NIV, NJPS, MLB, Moffatt). However, the preceding parallel lines suggest that this a hyperbolic protasis: “If he were to live one hundred years…even if he were never buried [i.e., were to live forever]….” A similar idea occurs elsewhere (e.g., Pss 49:9; 89:48). See D. R. Glenn, “Ecclesiastes,” BKCOT, 990.

[6:3]  ¹⁶ tn The noun נֶפֶל (nefel) denotes “miscarriage” and by metonymy of effect, “stillborn child” (e.g., Ps 58:9; Job 3:16; Eccl 6:3); cf. HALOT 711. The noun is related to the verb נָפַל (nafal, “to fall,” but occasionally “to be born”; see Isa 26:18); cf. HALOT 710 s.v. נפל 5.

[6:3]  ¹⁷ sn The point of 6:3-6 is that the futility of unenjoyed wealth is worse than the tragedy of being stillborn.

[33:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Woe [to] the destroyer.”

[33:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and the deceitful one”; NAB, NIV “O traitor”; NRSV “you treacherous one.” In the parallel structure הוֹי (hoy, “woe [to]”) does double duty.

[33:1]  ²⁰ tc The form in the Hebrew text appears to derive from an otherwise unattested verb נָלָה (nalah). The translation follows the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a in reading ככלתך, a Piel infinitival form from the verbal root כָּלָה (kalah), meaning “finish.”

[7:33]  ²¹ tn Heb “Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.”

[7:2]  ²² tn Grk “by [the measure] with which you measure it will be measured to you.”