Zechariah 1:2

1:2 The Lord was very angry with your ancestors. ¹ 

Zechariah 1:11

1:11 The riders then agreed with the angel of the Lord, ²  who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have been walking about on the earth, and now everything is at rest and quiet.”

Isaiah 47:7-9

47:7 You said,

‘I will rule forever as permanent queen!’ ³ 

You did not think about these things; ⁴ 

you did not consider how it would turn out. ⁵ 

47:8 So now, listen to this,

O one who lives so lavishly, ⁶ 

who lives securely,

who says to herself, ⁷ 

‘I am unique! No one can compare to me! ⁸ 

I will never have to live as a widow;

I will never lose my children.’ ⁹ 

47:9 Both of these will come upon you

suddenly, in one day!

You will lose your children and be widowed. ¹⁰ 

You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies, ¹¹ 

despite ¹²  your many incantations

and your numerous amulets. ¹³ 

Jeremiah 48:11-13

48:11 “From its earliest days Moab has lived undisturbed.

It has never been taken into exile.

Its people are like wine allowed to settle undisturbed on its dregs,

never poured out from one jar to another.

They are like wine which tastes like it always did,

whose aroma has remained unchanged. ¹⁴ 

48:12 But the time is coming when I will send

men against Moab who will empty it out.

They will empty the towns of their people,

then will lay those towns in ruins. ¹⁵ 

I, the Lord, affirm it! ¹⁶ 

48:13 The people of Moab will be disappointed by their god Chemosh.

They will be as disappointed as the people of Israel were

when they put their trust in the calf god at Bethel. ¹⁷ 

Amos 6:1

The Party is over for the Rich

6:1 Woe ¹⁸  to those who live in ease in Zion, ¹⁹ 

to those who feel secure on Mount Samaria.

They think of themselves as ²⁰  the elite class of the best nation.

The family ²¹  of Israel looks to them for leadership. ²² 

Revelation 18:7-8

18:7 As much as ²³  she exalted herself and lived in sensual luxury, ²⁴  to this extent give her torment and grief because she said to herself, ²⁵  ‘I rule as queen and am no widow; I will never experience grief!’ 18:8 For this reason, she will experience her plagues ²⁶  in a single day: disease, ²⁷  mourning, ²⁸  and famine, and she will be burned down ²⁹  with fire, because the Lord God who judges her is powerful!”

[1:2]  ¹ tn Heb “fathers” (so KJV, NAB); NIV “forefathers” (also in vv. 4, 5).

[1:11]  ² sn The angel of the Lord is a special being who throughout the OT represents God himself and on occasion almost approaches divine hypostatization or incarnation (cf. Gen 18:2, 13, 17, 22; Exod 23:20-21; Josh 5:13-15; Judg 6:11-24; 13:2-20).

[47:7]  ³ tn Heb “Forever I [will be] permanent queen”; NIV “the eternal queen”; CEV “queen forever.”

[47:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “you did not set these things upon your heart [or “mind”].”

[47:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “you did not remember its outcome”; NAB “you disregarded their outcome.”

[47:8]  ⁶ tn Or perhaps, “voluptuous one” (NAB); NAB “you sensual one”; NLT “You are a pleasure-crazy kingdom.”

[47:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”

[47:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.” See Zeph 2:15.

[47:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “I will not live [as] a widow, and I will not know loss of children.”

[47:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “loss of children and widowhood.” In the Hebrew text the phrase is in apposition to “both of these” in line 1.

[47:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “according to their fullness, they will come upon you.”

[47:9]  ¹² tn For other examples of the preposition bet (בְּ) having the sense of “although, despite,” see BDB 90 s.v. III.7.

[47:9]  ¹³ sn Reference is made to incantations and amulets, both of which were important in Mesopotamian religion. They were used to ward off danger and demons.

[48:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Therefore his taste remains in him and his aroma is not changed.” The metaphor is changed into a simile in an attempt to help the reader understand the figure in the context.

[48:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Therefore, behold the days are coming, oracle of Yahweh, when I will send against him decanters [those who pour from one vessel to another] and they will decant him [pour him out] and they will empty his vessels and break their jars in pieces.” The verse continues the metaphor from the preceding verse where Moab/the people of Moab are like wine left undisturbed in a jar, i.e., in their native land. In this verse the picture is that of the decanter emptying the wine from the vessels and then breaking the jars. The wine represents the people and the vessels the cities and towns where the people lived. The verse speaks of the exile of the people and the devastation of the land. The metaphor has been interpreted so it conveys meaning to the average reader.

[48:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[48:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Moab will be ashamed because of Chemosh as the house of Israel was ashamed because of Bethel, their [source of] confidence.” The “shame” is, of course, the disappointment, disillusionment because of the lack of help from these gods in which they trusted (for this nuance of the verb see BDB 101 s.v. בּוֹשׁ Qal.2 and compare usage in Jer 2:13; Isa 20:5). Because of the parallelism, some see the reference to Bethel to be a reference to a West Semitic god worshiped by the people of Israel (see J. P. Hyatt, “Bethel [Deity],” IDB 1:390 for the arguments). However, there is no evidence in the OT that such a god was worshiped in Israel, and there is legitimate evidence that northern Israel placed its confidence in the calf god that Jeroboam set up in Bethel (cf. 1 Kgs 12:28-32; Hos 10:5; 8:5-6; Amos 7:10-17).

[6:1]  ¹⁸ tn On the Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy; “ah, woe”) as a term of mourning, see the notes in 5:16, 18.

[6:1]  ¹⁹ sn Zion is a reference to Jerusalem.

[6:1]  ²⁰ tn The words “They think of themselves as” are supplied in the translation for clarification. In the Hebrew text the term נְקֻבֵי (nÿquvey; “distinguished ones, elite”) is in apposition to the substantival participles in the first line.

[6:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “house.”

[6:1]  ²² tn Heb “comes to them.”

[18:7]  ²³ tn “As much as” is the translation of ὅσα (Josa).

[18:7]  ²⁴ tn On the term ἐστρηνίασεν (estrhniasen) BDAG 949 s.v. στρηνιάω states, “live in luxury, live sensually Rv 18:7. W. πορνεύειν vs. 9.”

[18:7]  ²⁵ tn Grk “said in her heart,” an idiom for saying something to oneself.

[18:8]  ²⁶ tn Grk “For this reason, her plagues will come.”

[18:8]  ²⁷ tn Grk “death.” θάνατος (qanatos) can in particular contexts refer to a manner of death, specifically a contagious disease (see BDAG 443 s.v. 3; L&N 23.158).

[18:8]  ²⁸ tn This is the same Greek word (πένθος, penqo") translated “grief” in vv. 7-8.

[18:8]  ²⁹ tn Here “burned down” was used to translate κατακαυθήσεται (katakauqhsetai) because a city is in view.