The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday November 7, 2024 (NIV)

Ezekiel 16:42-17:24

42 Then I will lay to rest my wrath against you, and my jealousy will turn away from you. I will be calm and no longer be angry.

43 Because you[a] did not remember the days of your youth, and you made me angry during all these actions, I myself will certainly bring your conduct down upon your head. That is the declaration of the Lord God! Haven’t you added lewdness to all your abominations? 44 Hear this! Everyone will speak this proverb about you: “Like mother, like daughter.” 45 You are a true daughter of your mother, who despises her husband and her children, and you are a true sister of your sisters, who despise their husbands and their children. The mother of all of you was a Hittite and your father was an Amorite. 46 Your older sister is Samaria, who along with her daughters[b] lives north of you, and your younger sister, who lives south of you along with her daughters, is Sodom. 47 You did not merely walk in their ways or act according to their abominations, since in a very short time you became more depraved in all your ways than they were. 48 As I live, says the Lord God, your sister Sodom along with her daughters has not done what you have done along with your daughters. 49 Look, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: Pride, overindulgence in food, and complacent ease were the way for her and her daughters, and she failed to strengthen the hands[c] of the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty, and they committed abominations in my presence, and so I removed them when I saw it. 51 Samaria did not sin half as much as you did. You multiplied your abominations more than they did. You made your sisters appear righteous by all your abominations which you committed. 52 So you must bear your disgrace, because by your sins you appeared to plead your sisters’ case for them. Because of your sins—you acted more repulsively than they did—they appear more righteous than you. So you must be ashamed and bear your disgrace, because you made your sisters appear righteous. 53 I will bring about their restoration—the restoration of Sodom and her daughters, and the restoration of Samaria and her daughters, as well as your complete restoration in their midst, 54 so that you will bear your disgrace, and you will be ashamed of everything you did when you appeared to give them comfort. 55 Your sister Sodom and her daughters will return to their former state, and your sister Samaria and her daughters will return to their former state, and you and your daughters will return to your former state. 56 Wasn’t your sister Sodom a subject for gossip in your mouth during the days when you were so proud, 57 in the days before your own wickedness was exposed? So now in the same way you are subjected to scorn by the daughters of Edom[d] and by all those around her and by the daughters of the Philistines, who scorn you from all sides. 58 Your lewdness and your abominations, you must now bear, declares the Lord.

59 So this is what the Lord God says. Shall I do with you just as you have done, you who despised your oath, thereby breaking the covenant? 60 No, just the opposite, I myself will remember my covenant I made with you during the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant for you. 61 Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters who are older than you, in addition to those who are younger than you, and I will give them to you as daughters, and not outside your covenant.[e] 62 I myself will establish my covenant with you. Then you will know that I am the Lord, 63 so that you may remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, when I make atonement for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God.

The Parable About the Cedar Sprig

17 The word of the Lord came to me. Son of man, present a challenging parable to the house of Israel. Tell the Israelites that this is what the Lord God says.

A great eagle with powerful wings, with long feathers, and covered with multicolored plumes, came to Lebanon. He took the tip of a cedar. He plucked off the newest shoot at the very top of the tree, and he carried it to a land of merchants. In a city of traders he planted it.

Then he took seed from the land and planted it in a fertile field, like a new plant beside plentiful water. He set it out like a willow twig, so that it would sprout and become a spreading vine, low to the ground, so that its branches would turn toward the one who planted it[f] and its roots would remain under him. So it became a vine and produced shoots and leaves and branches.

But there was another great eagle with powerful wings and many plumes. Look at how this vine bent its roots toward him! From the bed where it had been planted, it stretched out its branches toward him, so that he could water it. It had been planted in good soil beside plentiful water to grow branches, to bear fruit, and to become a magnificent vine.

Tell them this is what the Lord God says. Will it thrive? Won’t he pull up its roots and strip off its fruit so that it dries up? Won’t all its new growth dry up? No strong arm or mighty army will be needed to pluck it by its roots. 10 Although it has been planted, will it thrive? When the east wind touches it, won’t it shrivel up completely? On the very bed where it had sprouted, it will wither away.

11 The word of the Lord came to me. 12 Tell this to the rebellious house.

Don’t you know what these things mean? Tell them this. You saw how the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem. He took its king and its officials and brought them back to Babylon with him.

13 Then he took a member from the seed of the royal family, made a covenant[g] with him, and put him under an oath. He took away the leading men of the land 14 so that it would be a lowly kingdom, so that it would not rebel but would keep the covenant with him, so that it could survive. 15 But the prince[h] rebelled against that king by sending his envoys to Egypt to obtain horses and a large army. Will he thrive? Can someone who does such things escape? Can he break a covenant and still escape? 16 As I live, says the Lord God, in the land of the king who made him king,[i] whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke, in his presence in Babylon, he shall die. 17 He will not be joined by a mighty army or a great force during the war, because Pharaoh will not come when the enemy heaps up ramps and builds siege walls in order to cut off many lives. 18 The king despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Even though he had given his hand to seal the covenant, he did all these things. He shall not escape!

19 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says. As I live, because it was an oath taken in my name that the prince despised, I will bring down on his own head my covenant which he broke. 20 I will spread my net for him, and he will be caught in my trap. I will bring him to Babylon, and I will enter into judgment with him there for the treachery he has committed against me. 21 All his fugitives together with all his troops will fall by the sword, and the rest will be scattered to every wind. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken.

22 This is what the Lord God says. I myself will take part of the tip of the cedar and plant it. From the topmost of its shoots I will pluck off a tender sprig, and I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. 23 On the high mountain of Israel I will plant it. It will produce branches, bear fruit, and become a magnificent cedar. Flying birds of every kind will live under it. In the shelter of its branches they will nest. 24 Then all the trees in the countryside will know that I, the Lord, bring down the high tree and raise up the low tree, that I make the green tree dry up, and I make the dried-up tree blossom. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will carry it out.

Footnotes:

  1. Ezekiel 16:43 You follows a reading in the margin of the Hebrew text. The reading in the main text is I.
  2. Ezekiel 16:46 A city’s daughters are its suburbs and surrounding villages with their citizens.
  3. Ezekiel 16:49 Or come to the aid
  4. Ezekiel 16:57 A variant reading which occurs in Hebrew and in other versions is Aram.
  5. Ezekiel 16:61 Or not on account of your covenant
  6. Ezekiel 17:6 Hebrew toward him. An antecedent is supplied for clarity, as also is done in some following verses.
  7. Ezekiel 17:13 Or treaty
  8. Ezekiel 17:15 The prince is Zedekiah, the last king of Judah. By calling Zedekiah a prince, Ezekiel seems to be suggesting that the exiled king Jehoiachin, through whom the Messianic line would be traced, was still the real king.
  9. Ezekiel 17:16 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whose treaty Zedekiah violated by allying with Egypt
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Hebrews 8

A Better Promise

The main point of what we are saying is this: We have the kind of high priest who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven. He is the minister in the Holy Place, which is the true sanctuary, which the Lord set up, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices, and for that reason this priest also needed to have something that he offered.

If this priest were on earth, he would not even be a priest, because there are priests[a] who are designated by the law to offer gifts. They serve at a place that is a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, a place exactly like that about which Moses was told when he was about to complete the tent.[b] For God said, “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain.”[c]

But now, Jesus has obtained a ministry that is as much superior as the covenant that he mediates is better, because it has been established on the basis of better promises. Indeed, if that first covenant were without fault, there would have been no reason to look for a second. But because God found fault with the people, he said:[d]

Look, the days are coming, says the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant
that I made with their forefathers
at the time when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt.
Because they did not remember my covenant,
I ignored them, says the Lord.
10 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord.

I will put my laws into their mind,
and I will write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11 Never again will a man teach his fellow citizen[e]
or his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,”
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful in regard to their unrighteousness,
and I will not remember their sins any longer.[f]

13 When God said “new,” he made the first covenant obsolete, and something that is obsolete and growing old is going to disappear.

Footnotes:

  1. Hebrews 8:4 Some witnesses to the text read those.
  2. Hebrews 8:5 Traditionally tabernacle
  3. Hebrews 8:5 Exodus 25:40
  4. Hebrews 8:8 Some witnesses to the text read Since he found fault, he said to them.
  5. Hebrews 8:11 Some witnesses to the text read neighbor.
  6. Hebrews 8:12 Jeremiah 31:31-34
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Psalm 106:13-31

Rebellions in the Wilderness

13 They quickly forgot his deeds.
They did not wait for his plan.
14 Because they were filled with craving in the wilderness,
they challenged God in the wasteland.
15 So he gave them what they asked for,
but he made them sick so they wasted away.

16 Then they grew jealous of Moses in the camp
and of Aaron, who was holy to the Lord.
17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan,
and it closed over the followers of Abiram.
18 Then fire burned up their followers.
Flames consumed the wicked.

19 They made a calf at Horeb,
and they bowed down to a thing cast from metal.
20 So they exchanged their Glory for a model of an ox that eats grass.
21 They forgot the God who saved them
by doing great things in Egypt,
22 wonders in the land of Ham,
awesome deeds beside the Red Sea.

God’s Grace

23 So he said he would destroy them.
But Moses, his chosen one, stood between God and the people
to turn aside his wrath, so it did not destroy them.

More Rebellions in the Wilderness

24 Then they refused the pleasant land.
They did not believe his word.
25 They grumbled in their tents.
They did not listen to the voice of the Lord.
26 So he lifted up his hand and swore to them
that he would make them fall in the wilderness,
27 and make their descendants fall among the nations,
and he would scatter them throughout the lands.
28 Then they yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor,
and they ate sacrifices offered to dead gods.
29 They provoked the Lord by their actions,
and a plague broke out among them.
30 But Phinehas stood up and interceded for them,
and the plague was restrained.
31 So this was credited to him as righteousness
for generation after generation, to eternity.

Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Proverbs 27:7-9

A satisfied appetite refuses honey,
but to a hungry appetite, everything bitter tastes sweet.
A person who wanders from his place
is like a bird that wanders from its nest.
Olive oil and incense bring joy to a heart,
and the sweetness of a friend comes from his sincere advice.[a]

Footnotes:

  1. Proverbs 27:9 Or is better than your own advice
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday November 6, 2024 (NIV)

Ezekiel 14:12-16:41

Four Judgments

12 The word of the Lord came to me.

13 Son of man, when a land sins against me by adding one act of infidelity to another, so that I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its bread supply,[a] to send famine against it, and to cut off man and beast from it, 14 even if these three men were in its midst—Noah, Daniel, and Job—by their righteousness they would save only their own lives, declares the Lord God.

15 If I cause wild animals to pass through the land and they rob it of its children, so that it becomes desolate, and no one can pass through because of the wild animals, 16 and if these three men were in its midst, as I live, says the Lord God, they would not save either their sons or their daughters. They alone would be saved, but the land would be devastated.

17 Or if I bring a sword upon that land and say, “A sword shall pass through the land,” and I cut off from it man and beast, 18 and these three men were in its midst, as I live, says the Lord God, they would not be able to save either their sons or their daughters, but they alone would be saved.

19 Or if I send a plague on that land, and with bloodshed I pour out my wrath on it to cut off man and beast from it, 20 and if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst, as I live, says the Lord God, they would not be able to save either their sons or their daughters. By their righteousness they would save only their own lives.

21 For this is what the Lord God says. How much worse it will be when I send my four terrible judgments—sword, famine, wild animals, and plague—upon Jerusalem to cut off man and beast from it!

22 But wait! A group of survivors will be left in it, those sons and daughters who will be brought out. Look! They are coming out to you, and you shall see their ways and their actions. Then you will be comforted concerning the disaster that I brought upon Jerusalem, everything that I brought upon it. 23 And they will comfort you, because you will see their ways and their actions. Then you will know that it was not without cause that I did everything that I did against the city, declares the Lord God.

Jerusalem Is a Useless Vine

15 The word of the Lord came to me.

Son of man, what can be done with the wood of a grapevine compared to the wood from the branches of all the other trees in the forest? Can its wood be used to make something useful? Can people make a peg from it to hang things on? No, it is fed into the fire for fuel. The fire devours both ends of it, and its middle is burned up. Is it useful for any purpose then? Since it could not be used for any purpose when it was undamaged, how much less can it be used to make anything useful after the fire has devoured it and it has been burned! Therefore, this is what the Lord says. Like the wood of the grapevine from among the trees of the forest, which I have fed into the fire for fuel, in the same way I will feed the inhabitants of Jerusalem into the fire. I will set my face against them. They have come out from the fire, but the fire will still devour them. Then you will know that I am the Lord when I set my face against them. I will make the land desolate because they added one infidelity to another, declares the Lord God.

Jerusalem, the Prostitute[b]

16 The word of the Lord came to me.

Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her abominations. Tell them this is what the Lord God says to Jerusalem.

Your origin and your birth were from the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. This is the way it was at your birth. On the day you were born, your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were not washed with water to clean you up.[c] You were not rubbed down with salt, nor were you tightly wrapped with cloths. No eye looked at you with pity to do any of these things for you or to show compassion to you. On the day you were born, you were thrown out in the open field without regard for your life.

I passed by, and I saw you squirming in your blood. I said to you, “You there, lying there in your blood, live!” and I said to you, “You there, lying there in your blood, live!”[d] I made you grow like a sprout in the field. You grew up, you developed, and you became very beautiful.[e] Your breasts were formed and your hair had appeared, but you were completely naked. I passed by and saw you, and I noticed that you were old enough for love.[f] So I spread the skirt of my robe over you and covered your nakedness. I swore an oath to you to enter into a covenant of marriage with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine. I washed you with water. I washed your blood off you. I anointed you with oil. 10 I clothed you with the finest embroidered material and gave you sandals of luxurious leather.[g] I wrapped your head in the best linen and covered you with silk. 11 I adorned you with jewelry. I put bracelets on your wrists and a necklace around your neck. 12 I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears, and a glorious crown on your head. 13 So you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was made of the best linen, with silk and the finest embroidered material. You ate fine flour, honey, and olive oil. You were extraordinarily beautiful, and you attained the status of a queen. 14 Your fame spread throughout the nations because of your beauty. In fact, it was perfect because of my splendor, which I had bestowed upon you, declares the Lord God.

15 But you trusted in your beauty, and, relying on your fame, you acted like a prostitute. You lavished your lust on every man passing by—you became his. 16 You took some of your clothing and made colorful high places for yourself and acted like a prostitute on them. Such things should not happen. They should not be! 17 You took your glorious articles made from my gold and my silver, which I had given to you, and you made male idols for yourself, and you acted like a prostitute with them. 18 You took your clothing made of the finest embroidered material and covered the idols, and you set my oil and my incense in front of them. 19 Also my food which I gave you—the fine flour, oil, and honey which I fed you—you set in front of them as a fragrant sacrifice. This is what happened, declares the Lord God.

20 You even took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore for me, and sacrificed them as food for the idols. Was your continual prostitution not enough? 21 Did you have to slaughter my children and offer them to the idols by making them pass through the fire? 22 With all your abominations and your prostitution, you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were completely naked, when you were squirming about in your blood. 23 So after all your wickedness—woe, woe to you, says the Lord God!— 24 you built for yourself a platform,[h] and you made a pavilion[i] for yourself in every public square. 25 At the corner of every street you set up your pavilion and made your beauty into a disgusting thing. You spread your legs for every man passing by, and you multiplied your acts of prostitution. 26 You acted like a whore with the sons of Egypt, your neighbors with their enlarged flesh,[j] and you multiplied your acts of prostitution to enrage me!

27 Look at how I stretched out my hand against you. I reduced your territory. I gave you up to the desire of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were embarrassed by your lewd ways. 28 You acted like a whore with the sons of the Assyrians because you were insatiable. Even after your acts of prostitution with them, you were not satisfied. 29 So you extended your whoring ways to the land of merchants, to Chaldea, but even with this you were not satisfied. 30 How sick your heart is, says the Lord God, that you did all these things, the behavior of a woman who is a domineering whore! 31 When you built your platform at the corner of every street and you made your pavilion in every public square, you were not like an ordinary prostitute, because you refused payment. 32 You adulterous wife, who procures strange men instead of her husband, 33 to all prostitutes men pay a fee, but you gave your gifts to all your lovers. You bribed them to come to you from all around to join your whoring ways. 34 You were the opposite of the other women in your whoring ways. You were not solicited for prostitution, but you gave payment to your lovers. Instead of payment being given to you, you were the very opposite.

35 Therefore, you whore, hear the word of the Lord! 36 This is what the Lord God says. Because your moisture[k] was poured out, and your nakedness was exposed during your whoring ways with your lovers, because of all your disgusting, filthy idols, and because of the blood of your children, whom you gave to them, 37 for all this, I am about to gather all your lovers to whom you were giving pleasure—all those you loved, as well as all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around. I will expose your nakedness to them, and they will see your nakedness. 38 I will judge you with the judgments deserved by women who commit adultery and who shed blood. I will make you bloody in my wrath and jealousy.[l] 39 I will deliver you into their hands, and they will tear down your platform, demolish your pavilion, strip you of your clothing, take away your glorious jewelry, and leave you completely naked. 40 They will bring up a mob against you, and they will stone you and hack you to pieces with their swords. 41 They will burn down your houses with fire and carry out judgments against you in the sight of many women. I will make you stop being a whore, and you will never again give a payment.

Footnotes:

  1. Ezekiel 14:13 Literally break its staff of bread
  2. Ezekiel 16:1 Ezekiel 16 and 23 are shockingly graphic. Ezekiel uses ugly language to describe Israel’s ugly actions. These chapters dramatically proclaim how ugly sin is in the eyes of a holy God, a message we dare not soften in our crass and immoral age.
  3. Ezekiel 16:4 The meaning of this term is uncertain.
  4. Ezekiel 16:6 Greek and Syriac manuscripts omit the repetition of and I said to you, “You there, lying there in your blood, live!”
  5. Ezekiel 16:7 Or like the most beautiful jewelry
  6. Ezekiel 16:8 Or your time was the time for love
  7. Ezekiel 16:10 Literally the hides of sea cows. This type of leather was used in the Dwelling, which was constructed in the wilderness.
  8. Ezekiel 16:24 The meaning of the word is uncertain. The ancient versions interpret it as a brothel.
  9. Ezekiel 16:24 The meaning of the word is uncertain. The ancient versions interpret it as a brothel.
  10. Ezekiel 16:26 Literally large flesh. Flesh here refers to genitals.
  11. Ezekiel 16:36 Or secretion. This is a Hebrew word of uncertain meaning, which occurs only here in the Bible. Perhaps it refers to vaginal fluid.
  12. Ezekiel 16:38 In God, jealousy is a demand for exclusive loyalty. He can tolerate no other gods.
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Hebrews 7:18-28

18 To be sure, the former requirement is annulled, because it was weak and useless— 19 for the law did not bring anything to its goal—but now a better hope is introduced, by which we approach God.

20 And something like this did not happen without an oath. Indeed, others who became priests did so without an oath, 21 but this one became a priest with an oath, through the one who said to him:

The Lord has sworn an oath
and will not change his mind:
“You are a priest forever.”[a]

22 In this way, Jesus has become the guarantor[b] of a better covenant.[c]

23 There were many who became priests because death prevented any of them from continuing to remain in office. 24 But because this one endures forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 So for this reason he is able to save forever those who come to God through him, because he always lives to plead on their behalf.

Jesus Is the High Priest We Need

26 This is certainly the kind of high priest we needed: one who is holy, innocent, pure, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices on a daily basis, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people. In fact, he sacrificed for sins once and for all when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests men who have weaknesses. But the word of the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been brought to his goal forever.

Footnotes:

  1. Hebrews 7:21 Psalm 110:4. Some witnesses to the text add like Melchizedek.
  2. Hebrews 7:22 A guarantor is someone who guarantees to pay for another person’s debt.
  3. Hebrews 7:22 The Greek term translated covenant (diatheke) can also be translated testament or will, depending on the context.
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Psalm 106:1-12

Psalm 106

Israel Forgets

Introduction

Praise the Lord.[a]

Give thanks to the Lord,
for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever.

Who can tell about the mighty deeds of the Lord?
Who can cause all his praise to be heard?
Blessed are those who defend justice,
who do what is right all the time.
Remember me, O Lord,
when you show favor to your people.
Visit me with your salvation,
so that I may experience the good that belongs to your chosen ones,
so that I may rejoice in the joy of your nation,
so that I may join in praise with the people that belongs to you.

Rebellion in Egypt

We have sinned along with our fathers.
We have become guilty. We have acted wickedly.
Our fathers in Egypt did not reflect on your wonders.
They did not remember your abundant mercies,
so they rebelled beside the sea, by the Red Sea.

God’s Grace

Nevertheless, he saved them for his name’s sake,
to make his might known.
Then he rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up.
He caused them to go through the deep sea as if it were a desert.
10 He saved them from the hand of the one who hated them.
He redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
11 Then the waters covered their foes.
Not one of them remained.
12 Then they believed his words. They sang his praise.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 106:1 Hebrew hallelu Yah
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Proverbs 27:4-6

Cruel wrath and a flood of anger are devastating,
but who can stand up against jealousy?
Open correction is better than concealed love.
Wounds from someone who loves you can be trusted,
but the kisses of someone who hates you are too much.[a]

Footnotes:

  1. Proverbs 27:6 Or are deceitful
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Tuesday November 5, 2024 (NIV)

Ezekiel 12:1-14:11

An Action Prophecy About the Prince’s Exile

12 The word of the Lord came to me.

Son of man, you are living in the middle of a rebellious house. They have eyes to see, but they do not see, and they have ears to hear, but they do not hear, because they are a rebellious house. Therefore, you, son of man, pack your baggage for exile, and depart into exile during the daytime, while they are watching. You are to depart into exile from your place to another place, while they are watching. Perhaps they will see that they are a rebellious house. You are to bring out your baggage, packed for exile, during the daytime, while they are watching. Then in the evening, while they are watching, you are to go out like someone going into exile. While they are watching, dig through the wall, and bring out your baggage through it. While they are watching, lift it up on your shoulder, and carry it out at dusk. Cover your face so that you cannot see the ground, for I have made you a warning sign to the house of Israel.

I did that, exactly as I was commanded. I brought out my baggage, packed for exile, during the daytime, and then in the evening I dug through the wall by hand. When it was getting dark, I brought my baggage out. I carried it on my shoulder while they were watching.

In the morning the word of the Lord came to me. “Son of man, hasn’t the house of Israel, that rebellious house, asked you, ‘What are you doing?’ 10 You are to tell them that this is what the Lord God says.”

This burdensome prophecy is about the burdensome prince in Jerusalem,[a] together with the whole house of Israel who are in its midst.

11 Say to them, “I am a warning sign for you.”

Exactly what I have done will be done to them. Into exile, into captivity, they will go. 12 The prince who is in their midst will carry his baggage on his shoulder at dusk and go out. They will dig through the wall to bring him out through it. He will cover his face, so he will not see the ground with his own eyes. 13 I will spread out my net for him, and he will be caught in my trap. I will bring him to Babylon, to the land of the Chaldeans, but he will not see it, and there he will die. 14 All those who are around him, his aides and all his troops, I will scatter to every wind, and I will unsheathe my sword against them. 15 Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I scatter them among the nations and disperse them across many countries. 16 But from among them I will let a small number survive the sword, famine, and plague, in order that they may tell about all their abominations among the nations where they go. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

17 The word of the Lord came to me.

18 Son of man, you are to eat your food with trembling, and you are to drink your water with shuddering and anxiety. 19 You are to say to the people of the land: This is what the Lord God says about the inhabitants of Jerusalem on the soil of Israel. They will eat their food with anxiety and drink their water with horror, because everything that filled the land will be devastated because of the violence of all its inhabitants. 20 The inhabited cities will be laid waste, and the land will be devastated. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

Two Sayings About Prophecy

21 The word of the Lord came to me.

22 Son of man, what is this saying that you have about the homeland of Israel: “The days keep going by, and every vision fails”?

23 Therefore say this to them. This is what the Lord God says. I will put an end to this saying, and they will no longer use it as a saying in Israel. On the contrary, say to them, “The days are near when every vision will be fulfilled.” 24 For no longer will there be any empty, unreliable visions or slippery, misleading omens within the house of Israel. 25 For I am the Lord. Whatever word I speak will be fulfilled. It will be delayed no longer. For in your own days, you rebellious house, I will speak a word and fulfill it, declares the Lord God.

26 The word of the Lord came to me.

27 Son of man, listen to what the house of Israel is saying: “The vision that he is seeing is for many days in the future, and he is prophesying for distant times.” 28 Therefore, tell the Israelites this is what the Lord God says. None of my words will be delayed any longer, because I will speak a word and it will be fulfilled, declares the Lord God.

False Prophets and Prophetesses

13 The word of the Lord came to me.

Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are prophesying. You are to say to the prophets who prophesy from their own heart: Hear the word of the Lord.

This is what the Lord God says. Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and prophesy things which they have not seen. Israel, your prophets are like jackals among the ruins. You have not stepped up into the breaks in the wall, nor have you repaired the wall for the house of Israel, so that it could stand up in battle on the Day of the Lord. They see empty visions and their omens predict lies—those who say, “The declaration of the Lord,” when the Lord has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their word. Have you not, in fact, seen an empty vision and predicted lies when you say, “The declaration of the Lord,” when, in fact, I have not spoken? Therefore, this is what the Lord God says. Because you have spoken empty words and have seen a lying vision, therefore, I am surely against you, declares the Lord God. My hand will come upon the prophets who see empty visions and predict a lie. They will not remain in the council of my people. They will not be recorded in the register of the house of Israel, and they will not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord God.

10 This will happen precisely because they have misled my people by saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace. When someone builds a flimsy wall, look how the false prophets daub it with a coat of mud plaster.[b] 11 Tell those who are daubing with plaster that the wall will fall. There will be driving rain, large hailstones will fall,[c] and a violent wind will break out, 12 and suddenly the wall will fall. Won’t they say to you, “Where is the mud plaster you daubed on now?”

13 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says. In my wrath I will make a violent wind break out, and there will be driving rain because of my anger. In my wrath I will send large hailstones that bring destruction. 14 I will demolish the wall that you have daubed with mud plaster. I will level it to the ground, so that its foundation will be exposed. It will fall, and you will perish within the city. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 15 In this way I will exhaust my wrath against the wall and against those who daubed it with mud plaster, and I will say to you, “Gone is the wall, and gone are those who daubed on it— 16 those prophets of Israel who are prophesying about Jerusalem and who proclaim a vision of peace about her when there is no peace, declares the Lord God.”

17 You, son of man, are to set your face against the daughters of your people, who are prophesying ecstatically from their own hearts. You are to prophesy against them. 18 You are to say that this is what the Lord God says.

Woe to those women who sew magic bands for all their[d] wrists and who make veils of every size for people’s heads in order to trap souls.[e] Will you women trap the souls of my people, but preserve your own souls? 19 You women profane me among my people for handfuls of barley and scraps of bread, killing people[f] who should not die and keeping people alive who should not live. You do this by your lying to my people—those who listen to lies. 20 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says.

Listen. I am against your magic bands, with which you women trap souls like birds. I will tear them from your arms, and I will set free the souls that you trap like birds. 21 I will tear off your veils and rescue my people from your hand. They will no longer be in your hand like prey. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

22 Because you have disheartened the righteous man with delusions, even though I have not intended to grieve him, and you have strengthened the hands of[g] the wicked man, so that he does not repent of his evil way, and so he does not save his life, 23 therefore, you women will no longer proclaim empty words, and you will no longer deceive with false omens. I will rescue my people from your hand. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

Rulings About Prophecy

14 Some men from the elders of Israel came to me and sat down in front of me. Then the word of the Lord came to me.

Son of man, these men have set up their filthy idols[h] in their hearts, and they have placed a stumbling block that makes them guilty in front of their faces. So should I really let them consult me? Therefore, speak with them and tell them this is what the Lord God says.

Whenever anyone from the house of Israel sets up his filthy idols in his heart or sets the stumbling block that makes him guilty in front of his face and he then comes to a prophet, I, the Lord, will give him an answer appropriate to the multitude of his filthy idols, so that I may capture the hearts of the house of Israel, for all of them have alienated themselves from me with their filthy idols. Therefore, tell the house of Israel that this is what the Lord God says. Repent and turn away from your filthy idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations.

Certainly, anyone from the house of Israel or an alien who is residing in Israel, if he alienates himself from me and sets up his filthy idols in his heart and puts the stumbling block that makes him guilty in front of his face, and he then comes to a prophet to seek my guidance for himself, I myself, the Lord, will give him an answer. I will set my face against that man, and I will make him into a sign and a notorious example, and I will cut him off from among my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

If a prophet acts like a fool[i] and speaks a message, I, the Lord, have made a fool of that prophet.[j] I will stretch out my hand against him, and I will destroy him from among my people Israel. 10 They will bear their guilt. The guilt of the one who seeks guidance will be the same as the guilt of the prophet, 11 so that the house of Israel will no longer stray from following me, and they will never again defile themselves by all their rebellious acts. They will be my people, and I will be their God, declares the Lord God.

Footnotes:

  1. Ezekiel 12:10 The Hebrew reads the prince [is] this burden in Jerusalem. The word for burden can sometimes refer to a warning prophecy, so there is a play on words in this prophecy—the prince carries a burden and he is a burden.
  2. Ezekiel 13:10 Or whitewash
  3. Ezekiel 13:11 The Hebrew text reads O you (feminine plural) large hailstones will fall. Alternate versions read I will give large hailstones that will fall.
  4. Ezekiel 13:18 The translation follows an alternate Hebrew reading. The main reading is my wrists.
  5. Ezekiel 13:18 Or lives
  6. Ezekiel 13:19 Literally souls
  7. Ezekiel 13:22 Or have encouraged
  8. Ezekiel 14:3 Gillulim, one of Ezekiel’s favorite names for Israel’s idols, is a harsh word. Gillulim means idols made from round things. The round things are dung balls; hence the term could be rendered dung-ball deities or horse-apple gods, but even these terms may be too gentle. One of the four-letter words for excrement may be closer to the mark.
  9. Ezekiel 14:9 Or is persuaded or lets himself be persuaded
  10. Ezekiel 14:9 Or have persuaded that prophet. The line is difficult. God is not the source of sin, but God does allow a false prophet to go his own way in order to use him as an instrument of judgment. Examples include the false prophets who led Ahab to his death and the witch of Endor, who drove Saul to his death.
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

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Hebrews 7:1-17

A Priest Forever

This Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, is the one who met Abraham as he was returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him,[a] and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything.[b] First, Melchizedek means “king of righteousness,” and then “king of Salem,” which is “king of peace.” He is without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, and resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.

Consider how great this man was. Even Abraham, the patriarch, gave him a tenth from the best of the spoils. According to the law, those sons of Levi who received the priesthood have a command to collect a tenth from the people, that is, from their brother Israelites, even though they also came from Abraham’s body. But here the one who was not descended from them collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises. And without any question, it is the lesser who is blessed by the greater.

In the one case, those who are mortal collect the tenth; in the other case, the one who collects has testimony in Scripture[c] that he lives. And, through Abraham, even Levi, who collects the tenth, has paid a tenth, so to speak, 10 because he was still in the body of his forefather when Melchizedek met Abraham.

11 So if everything could have been brought to its goal through the Levitical priesthood (for the people received the law on the basis of that priesthood), what further need was there for another priest to arise who was like Melchizedek, yet not said to be like Aaron? 12 For when the priesthood is changed, by necessity a change in the law also happens. 13 Yet these things are said about the one who belonged to another tribe, from which no one had served at the altar. 14 It is certainly clear that our Lord is descended from Judah. Moses said nothing about priests in connection with that tribe.

15 And this becomes even clearer if another priest arises like Melchizedek, 16 who became a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement about physical descent, but on the basis of the power of an endless[d] life. 17 For it has been testified in Scripture about him:

You are a priest forever, like Melchizedek.[e]

Footnotes:

  1. Hebrews 7:1 Genesis 14:17-20
  2. Hebrews 7:2 Genesis 14:20
  3. Hebrews 7:8 The Greek term for has testimony appears six more times in this letter (Hebrews 7:17; 10:15; 11:2,4,5,39). Each time it clearly implies by usage and context that it is referring to testimony in Scripture.
  4. Hebrews 7:16 Or indestructible
  5. Hebrews 7:17 Psalm 110:4
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

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Psalm 105:37-45

37 Then he brought Israel out with silver and gold.
From among their tribes no one stumbled.
38 Egypt was glad when they went out,
because fear of Israel had fallen on them.

The Lord Is Faithful in the Wilderness

39 He spread out a cloud as a canopy
and fire to give light at night.
40 They asked, and he brought quail,
and he satisfied them with bread from heaven.
41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out.
It flowed in the desert like a river.

The Lord Is Faithful in the Land

42 Because he remembered his holy word to Abraham, his servant,
43 he brought out his people with rejoicing,
his chosen ones with a joyful shout.
44 He gave them the lands of the nations,
and they took possession of the work of other peoples
45 so that they could keep his statutes and observe his laws.

Praise the Lord.[a]

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 105:45 Hebrew hallelu Yah
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

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Proverbs 27:3

A stone is heavy and sand is a burden,
but aggravation from a stubborn fool is heavier than both.

Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday November 4, 2024 (NIV)

Ezekiel 10-11

The Glory Is Seen Again

10 Then I looked, and there, above the vaulted ceiling[a] that was over the heads of the cherubim, there was something that looked like a sapphire, shaped like a throne. It could be seen above the cherubim. The Lord[b] said to the man dressed in linen, “Reach into the structure for the wheels that is beneath the cherubim, fill your cupped hands with fiery coals from among the cherubim, and scatter them over the city.” So he went in while I watched.

Now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the temple while he, the man, approached, and the cloud filled the inner courtyard. Then the Glory of the Lord rose from above the cherubim and moved to the threshold of the temple. The temple was filled with the cloud, and the courtyard was full of the radiance of the Glory of the Lord. The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far away as the outer courtyard, like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.

When he commanded the man dressed in linen, “Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubim,” the man went and stood beside the wheel. Then a cherub stretched out his hand from among the cherubim and reached into the fire that was between the cherubim. He lifted up some coals, and he put them into the cupped hands of the man dressed in linen, and the man took them and went out.

The cherubim had something that seemed like the form of a human hand under their wings.

Then I looked, and right there beside the cherubim were four wheels, one wheel beside each cherub, and the wheels looked like topaz. 10 The four of them all looked alike—there was a wheel inside each wheel.[c] 11 The cherubim could move in any of the four directions toward which one of them faced, without turning as they moved. They went straight ahead in the direction they faced, never turning from side to side.[d]

12 Their entire body, their back, their hands, their wings, and the wheels were full of eyes all around. (I mean the wheels that belonged to the four of them.) 13 As for the wheels, they were called “wheelwork”[e] in my hearing.

14 Each one of the cherubim had four faces. One face was the face of a cherub.[f] The second face was the face of a man. The third was the face of a lion, and the fourth was the face of an eagle.

15 Then the cherubim rose. These were the living creatures that I had seen by the Kebar Canal. 16 Whenever the cherubim moved, the wheels moved alongside them, and whenever the cherubim lifted up their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels did not turn away from their side. 17 When the cherubim stood still, the wheels would stand still, and when the cherubim rose, the wheels would rise with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

18 Then the Glory of the Lord moved out from the threshold of the temple and took a position above the cherubim. 19 As I watched, the cherubim lifted up their wings and rose from the ground. As they went out, the wheels remained beside them. They[g] stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the House of the Lord, and the Glory of the God of Israel was above the cherubim. 20 These were the living creatures that I had seen beneath the God of Israel at the Kebar Canal, and I now knew that they were cherubim. 21 Each one had four faces, and each had four wings, with something like the hands of a man underneath their wings. 22 The faces looked like the faces that I had seen by the Kebar Canal—exactly the same. Each one went straight ahead.

Warning of Judgment

11 Then the Spirit[h] lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the temple of the Lord, which faces east. There, at the entrance to the gateway, were twenty-five men, and among them I saw Ja’azaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, leaders of the people. He said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who are plotting evil and giving wicked advice in this city, who are saying, ‘We will not have to build houses anytime soon.[i] The city is the pot, and we are the meat.’ Therefore, prophesy against them. Prophesy, son of man.”

Then the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and he told me to say this.

This is what the Lord says. This is what you are saying, house of Israel. I know what you have in mind. You have killed many people in this city and filled its streets with the slain. Therefore, this is what the Lord God says. Your slain, which you have placed within the city, are the meat, and the city is the pot. But I will drive you out of it. The sword is what you have feared, and I will bring the sword upon you, declares the Lord God. I[j] will drive you out from it, hand you over to foreigners, and execute judgments on you. 10 By the sword you will fall, and at the border of Israel I will judge you. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 11 This city will not be a pot for you, and you will not be the meat inside it. At the border of Israel I will judge you. 12 Then you will know that I am the Lord, in whose statutes you have not walked and whose ordinances you have not obeyed, but instead you have acted according to the ordinances of the nations around you.

13 While I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell facedown and cried out in a loud voice. I said, “Oh no, Lord God, you are making a complete destruction of the remaining survivors of Israel!”

Promise of One Heart and a New Spirit

14 Then the word of the Lord came to me.

15 Son of man, your brothers, your brothers who have the right to redeem your property,[k] and the whole house of Israel—all of it—to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem are saying, “Stay far away from the Lord! This land has been given to us as a possession.” 16 Tell them that this is what the Lord God says.

Although I have removed them far away among the nations, and I have indeed scattered them among the lands, I will be a sanctuary for them for a little while in the lands to which they have gone.

17 Therefore say, “This is what the Lord God says.” I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you from the lands where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. 18 When they arrive back there, they will remove from it all its loathsome things and all its abominations. 19 I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from their body and give them a heart of flesh, 20 so that they will walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and carry them out. They will be my people, and I will be their God. 21 But as for those whose heart goes after their disgusting things and their abominations, I will bring down their conduct on their own heads, declares the Lord God.

The Glory Departs

22 Then the cherubim lifted up their wings. The wheels were beside them, and the Glory of the God of Israel was positioned above them. 23 The Glory of the Lord went up from the middle of the city and stood on the mountain east of the city. 24 The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the exiles in Chaldea, in the vision from the Spirit of God. Then the vision I had seen departed from me, and I told the exiles all the things from the Lord that he had shown to me.

Footnotes:

  1. Ezekiel 10:1 Or platform
  2. Ezekiel 10:2 The Hebrew reads he. The subject is provided for clarity.
  3. Ezekiel 10:10 The inner wheel was apparently at right angles to the outer wheel, allowing the platform to move in any direction without the wheels turning from side to side.
  4. Ezekiel 10:11 The expression is difficult. It apparently means that each one of the cherubim faced in one of the four directions of the compass. When the platform moved in any direction, the cherub facing that direction served as the driver. The other cherubim did not turn but remained facing their assigned direction.
  5. Ezekiel 10:13 Or the whirling wheels or the spinning wheels
  6. Ezekiel 10:14 In chapter 1 the corresponding face was called the face of an ox.
  7. Ezekiel 10:19 The translation they is the reading of the Greek text. The Hebrew text reads the singular.
  8. Ezekiel 11:1 Or wind
  9. Ezekiel 11:3 The Hebrew sentence reads to build houses is not near. The context requires a confident assertion, but it is not clear what type of action this comment refers to. Some suggest that the rulers feel no need to build houses because they have expropriated the property of the people in exile and of other defenseless residents of the city. Others suggest that they were mocking Jeremiah’s letter and talking about building houses in Babylon.
  10. Ezekiel 11:9 A variant supported by some Hebrew manuscripts is he.
  11. Ezekiel 11:15 See Leviticus 25:24-52 for a description of this practice. A variant is your fellow exiles.
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

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Hebrews 6

Moving On Toward Maturity

Therefore, leaving the beginning discussion of Christ, let us press on toward matters that require greater maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, of faith in God, of the teaching about baptisms,[a] of the laying on of hands, of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And we will do this, if God permits.

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the coming age, and who then fell away, to be restored to repentance because[b] they are crucifying the Son of God again, to their own harm, and exposing him to public ridicule.

For the land that drinks the rain that often falls on it and produces plants useful to those farming it, this land receives a blessing from God. But the land that grows thorns and thistles is worthless and will soon be cursed—its end is to be burned.

But even if we speak this way, we are confident of better things for you, dear friends, things belonging to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love that you showed for his name’s sake, when you served the saints, and while you continue to serve them. 11 And we want each of you to continue to show the same eagerness, so that you may have the full assurance of your hope until the end. 12 Our goal is that you would not become lazy but imitators of those who inherited the promise through faith and patient endurance.

God’s Promise Is Sure

13 For God made a promise to Abraham, and since God had no one greater to swear by, “He swore by himself.”[c] 14 He said, “I will most certainly bless you and make you increase in number.”[d] 15 And so in this way, after Abraham had waited patiently, he received the promise.

16 To be sure, people swear by someone who is greater, and the oath serves as a confirmation for them that ends all disputes. 17 Because God wanted to show the heirs of the promise with even greater certainty that his plan was unchangeable, he guaranteed his promise with an oath. 18 He did this so that, through two unchangeable things (in which it is impossible that God would lie), we, who have fled for refuge by taking hold of this hope that is held out to us, might have strong encouragement.

19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul. It is sure and firm, and it goes behind the inner curtain, 20 where Jesus entered ahead of us on our behalf, because he became a high priest forever like Melchizedek.

Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

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Psalm 105:16-36

The Lord Is Faithful in Egypt:
His Protection of Joseph

16 Then he summoned a famine on the land.
He destroyed their entire food supply.
17 He sent ahead of them a man sold as a slave, Joseph.
18 They hurt his feet with chains.
His throat was clamped in an iron collar,
19 until the time when his predictions came true.
The promise of the Lord tested him.
20 The king sent for him and released him.
The ruler of peoples set him free.
21 He made him master of his house
and ruler over all his possessions,
22 to bind his officials by his will,
to teach his elders wisdom.

The Lord Is Faithful in Egypt:
His Protection of the People

23 Then Israel came to Egypt.
Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham.[a]
24 Then the Lord made his people very fruitful.
He made them too numerous for their foes.
25 He turned the Egyptians’ hearts so they hated his people.
They dealt deceitfully with his servants.
26 He sent Moses his servant,
and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
27 They performed his signs among them,
his warning signs in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness, and it became extremely dark,
because Israel[b] did not rebel against his words.
29 He turned their waters into blood,
and he caused their fish to die.
30 Their land swarmed with frogs,
even in the rooms of their kings.
31 He spoke, and a swarm of flies came.
There were lice[c] throughout their borders.
32 He gave them hail instead of rain,
with blazing lightning throughout their land.
33 Then he struck down their vines and fig trees,
and he broke down the trees within their borders.
34 He spoke, and the locusts came,
and grasshoppers without number.
35 They ate every green plant in their land.
They ate the produce of their soil.
36 Then he struck down all the firstborn in their land,
the first fruit of all their virility.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 105:23 The Egyptians were descendants of Noah’s son Ham (Genesis 10:6).
  2. Psalm 105:28 The subject of the verb is supplied for clarity.
  3. Psalm 105:31 The identity of the insects is uncertain. Lice was the traditional translation. Gnats, fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes are more recent suggestions. The requirement is that it be an insect that is on people and that is more than an annoyance.
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

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Proverbs 27:1-2

27 Do not boast about tomorrow,
because you do not know what a day may produce.
Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth—
a stranger, not your own lips.

Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday November 3, 2024 (NIV)

Ezekiel 7-9

The End Has Come

The word of the Lord came to me.

And to you, son of man, this is what the Lord God says about the soil of Israel. An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land. Now that the end is upon you, I will unleash my anger against you. I will judge you according to your ways, and I will place on you the penalty for all your abominations.[a] My eye will not have pity on you, and I will have no compassion, for I will place on you the penalty for your ways, and the punishment for your abominations will be in your midst. Then you will know that I am the Lord!

This is what the Lord God says. Disaster! An unparalleled disaster![b] Watch, it is coming! An end has come! The end has come! It has begun against you. Look, it is coming! Doom[c] has come upon you, you inhabitants of the land. The time has come, the day is near. A day of panic, not joy, is on the mountains. Now very soon I will pour out my wrath upon you, and I will exhaust my anger against you. I will judge you according to your ways, and I will place on you the penalty for all your abominations. My eye will not show pity, and I will have no compassion. According to your ways I will place the penalty on you, and the punishment for your abominations will be in your midst. Then you will know that I, the Lord, am the one who strikes you!

10 Look, the day is coming. It is here. Doom has broken out. The rod has budded. Insolence has blossomed. 11 Violence has grown into a rod against wickedness. None of them will remain—none of their noisy crowd,[d] none of their wealth, not a thing of value among them. 12 The time has come; the day has arrived.

The buyer should not rejoice. The seller should not grieve, because wrath is coming upon the whole noisy crowd. 13 So sellers will not return to what they have sold, even if they survive. Yes, the vision concerning the whole noisy crowd will not be reversed, and each man, because of the guilt in his life, will have no strength. 14 They will blow a blast on the ram’s horn and make everything ready, but no one will go to battle, because my wrath is upon the whole noisy crowd. 15 The sword is outside, and plague and famine are inside. Anyone in the countryside will die by the sword, and anyone in the city—plague and famine will devour him. 16 Any who escape will flee to the mountains, mourning like doves from the valley, each of them in his guilt. 17 All hands will hang limp, and water will run down every knee.[e] 18 They will put on sackcloth, and horror will cover them. Every face will be ashamed, and all their heads will be shaved bald.

19 They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will be polluted by blood.[f] Their silver and their gold will not be able to rescue them on the day of the Lord’s fury. The silver and gold will not satisfy their appetites[g] or fill their stomachs, because it was the cause of their guilt and their downfall. 20 From the silver and gold of the Lord’s beautiful ornaments, which were their pride, they made their abominations and their disgusting images.

Therefore, for them I will make it a place polluted by blood. 21 I will hand it over to foreigners as loot. I will give it to the most wicked people on earth as plunder, and they will desecrate it. 22 I will turn my face away from my people so that the enemy may desecrate my treasured place, and so that robbers may enter it and desecrate it. 23 Prepare the chain, because the earth is full of judicial murder,[h] and the city is full of violence. 24 I will bring the most wicked of the nations, and they will take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the pride of the mighty, and their so-called sanctuaries[i] will be desecrated.

25 Terror is coming. They will seek peace, but there will be none. 26 Disaster after disaster will come, and one report will follow another. They will seek a vision from the prophet, but sound instruction will vanish from the priest and the ability to give advice from the elders. 27 The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with horror, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. On the basis of their own conduct I will deal with them, and by the standard they used to judge others I will judge them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Abominations in the Temple

In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month,[j] I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting in front of me. The hand of the Lord God fell upon me there. I looked, and there I saw a figure that looked like a man.[k] From what appeared to be his waist down, he looked like fire, and from his waist up, he had the appearance of a dazzling light, something like glowing metal.[l] He reached out with what looked like a hand and seized me by a lock of hair. Then the Spirit[m] lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me to Jerusalem, while I was experiencing visions from God. He brought me to the entrance of the north gate into the inner courtyard of the Temple, where the idolatrous image of jealousy, which provokes jealousy, was located. Then I looked, and there was the Glory of the God of Israel, as it was in the vision that I had seen in the middle of the river valley.

He said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked toward the north, and what did I see! There, north of the altar gate, was this idolatrous image of jealousy beside the entrance. He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—what great abominations the house of Israel is practicing here, to distance themselves[n] from my sanctuary! But you will see even greater abominations.”

Next, he brought me to the entrance to the courtyard, and I looked and saw that there was a hole in the wall. He said to me, “Son of man, dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall, and there I saw a doorway. He said to me, “Go in and observe the vile abominations that they are committing here.” 10 When I entered, I looked around, and what did I see! Every form of creeping creature and every kind of detestable animal and all the filthy idols of the house of Israel were engraved on the wall, all around. 11 Seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel—with Ja’azaniah[o] son of Shaphan standing in the middle—were standing in front of the images, each with his censer in his hand, and the fragrance of the cloud of incense was ascending. 12 He said to me, “Do you see, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each in his chamber for carved images? Listen! They are saying, ‘The Lord does not see us. The Lord has forsaken the land.’”

13 Then he said to me, “You will see even greater abominations which they are practicing.”

14 Next, he brought me to the entrance of the gateway of the House of the Lord that is on the north side, and right there I saw women sitting and wailing for Tammuz.[p] 15 He said to me, “Do you see, son of man? You will see even greater abominations than these.”

16 Finally, he brought me to the inner courtyard of the House of the Lord, and there at the entrance to the temple of the Lord, between the vestibule and the altar, were twenty-five men, showing their backsides to the temple of the Lord with their faces toward the east, and they were bowing down to the sun in the east. 17 Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it too trivial for the house of Judah to commit the abominations they are committing here? Do they also have to fill the land with violence, so that they provoke me more and more? They are even sticking the branch up my nose![q] 18 But I also will act in wrath. My eye will not show pity, and I will have no compassion. They will call out to my ears with a loud cry, but I will not hear them.”

Those Without the Mark Are Put to Death

Then he called out with a loud voice in my hearing, “Bring the supervisors of the city here, each one of them with his weapon of destruction in his hand.” Then I noticed six men coming from the direction of the upper gate that faces north, each with his weapon, a war club, in his hand. There was also one man in the middle, dressed in linen, with a scribe’s kit at his waist. They entered and stood beside the bronze altar.

Now the Glory of the God of Israel ascended from above the cherub, over whom it had been standing, and moved to the threshold of the temple building. He called out to the man who was dressed in linen, who had the scribe’s kit at his waist. The Lord said to him, “Go through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a cross mark[r] on the foreheads of those who moan and lament over the abominations being committed in her.” To the others he said in my hearing, “Follow him through the city and strike the people down. Do not let your eye show pity, and do not have compassion. Old men and young men, virgins, little children, and women—you are to keep killing until you wipe them out completely. But do not go near anyone who has been marked with the cross. You are to begin at my sanctuary.”

So they began with the old men who were in front of the temple. Then he said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!” So they went and struck them down throughout the city.

While they were striking them down, I was left alone and I fell facedown and cried out, “Oh, Lord God! Are you going to destroy everyone who is left in Israel, as you pour out your wrath upon Jerusalem?” He said to me, “The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is very, very great. The land is filled with bloodshed, and the city is full of injustice, because they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land’ and ‘The Lord does not see.’ 10 But I am determined that my eye will show no pity, and I will have no compassion. I will bring down their conduct on their own heads.” 11 Just then, I saw the man dressed in linen, who had the scribe’s kit at his waist. He was reporting, “I have done just as you commanded me.”

Footnotes:

  1. Ezekiel 7:3 Literally I will place on you all your abominations. In Hebrew it is common to omit mention of the penalty when stating that the Lord will make a person’s guilt cling to him. This idiom occurs throughout this chapter.
  2. Ezekiel 7:5 Variant disaster after disaster
  3. Ezekiel 7:7 Or a flood. The meaning of this word is uncertain, here and also in verse 10.
  4. Ezekiel 7:11 Or their whole horde
  5. Ezekiel 7:17 Terror will cause them to wet themselves.
  6. Ezekiel 7:19 The Hebrew word refers to menstrual uncleanness. Blood made a person ceremonially unclean.
  7. Ezekiel 7:19 Or souls
  8. Ezekiel 7:23 Like the case in which Jezebel framed Naboth and had him executed
  9. Ezekiel 7:24 The Hebrew uses a derogatory form of the word sanctuaries, with the connotation their so-called sanctuaries.
  10. Ezekiel 8:1 During the autumn of 592 bc
  11. Ezekiel 8:2 The translation like a man follows the Greek text. The Hebrew reads like fire. The two words look very similar in Hebrew.
  12. Ezekiel 8:2 Or electrum, a natural alloy of silver and gold, or amber
  13. Ezekiel 8:3 Or the wind. This may be an experience like Elijah’s experience with the whirlwind.
  14. Ezekiel 8:6 Or me. The Hebrew has no object pronoun.
  15. Ezekiel 8:11 The stop mark ′ shows that Ja-az should be pronounced as two syllables.
  16. Ezekiel 8:14 Tammuz was a Babylonian god, who was believed to die at the beginning of the dry season, who then had to be brought back to life by mourning rituals, in order to bring back the rains.
  17. Ezekiel 8:17 It is not clear what this offensive practice is. The translation follows the alternate Hebrew reading, known as a correction of the scribes. The standard Hebrew text reads putting the branch to their nose, a reference to smelling flowers to cover the stench of what they were doing. But the context requires that this be the ultimate insult to the Lord, so the more offensive reading is likely correct.
  18. Ezekiel 9:4 The cross mark placed on the people was the Hebrew letter tav, which is the source of the English letter t lowercase (†). The significance of the similarity between the tav and the cross was not apparent, however, at this point, five hundred years before Calvary.
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Hebrews 5

Our High Priest Is Like Melchizedek

To be sure, every high priest is chosen from the people and is appointed to represent the people in the things pertaining to God, so that he may offer gifts, as well as sacrifices, for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also weak in many ways. And for this reason he is obligated to offer sacrifices for his own sins, just as he does for the people.

No one takes this honor on himself, but he is called by God, just as Aaron was. In the same way, Christ did not take the glory of becoming a high priest on himself, but God said to him:

You are my Son.
Today I have begotten you.[a]

He also said the same thing in another place:

You are a priest forever, like Melchizedek.[b]

In the days of his flesh,[c] he offered prayers and pleas with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was the Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. After he was brought to his goal, he became the source of eternal salvation for everyone who obeys him, 10 because he was designated by God as a high priest, like Melchizedek.

Milk or Solid Food

11 We have much to say about this, and it is difficult to explain, because you have become too lazy to listen. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the beginning principles of God’s word all over again. You have become people who need milk, not solid food. 13 For everyone who lives on milk is not acquainted with the word of righteousness, because he is still an infant. 14 But solid food is for mature people, who have their senses trained by practice to distinguish between good and evil.

Footnotes:

  1. Hebrews 5:5 Psalm 2:7
  2. Hebrews 5:6 Psalm 110:4
  3. Hebrews 5:7 This refers to Christ’s state of humiliation.
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Psalm 105:1-15

Psalm 105

The Lord Remembers His Covenant

Opening Praise

Give thanks to the Lord.
Proclaim[a] his name.
Make his deeds known among the peoples.
Sing to him, make music to him.
Meditate on all his wonders.
Take pride in his holy name.
Let the heart of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Search for the Lord and his strength.
Seek his face always.
Remember the wonders which he has done,
his signs, and the judgments from his mouth,
you descendants of Abraham his servant,
you sons of Jacob, his chosen ones.
He is the Lord our God.
His judgments are in all the earth.

The Promise of the Covenant

He remembers his covenant forever,
the word he commanded for a thousand generations,
the covenant which he made with Abraham,
and his oath to Isaac.
10 Yes, he confirmed it to Jacob as a statute,
to Israel as an everlasting covenant.
11 He said, “To you I will give the land of Canaan,
the territory you will possess.”

The Lord Is Faithful in Canaan:
His Protection of the Patriarchs

12 While they were few in number,
just a little group and aliens in the land,
13 they moved around from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another people.
14 He did not allow anyone to oppress them,
and he rebuked kings because of them:
15 “Do not touch my anointed ones,
and do not harm my prophets.”

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 105:1 Or call on
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Proverbs 26:28

28 A lying tongue hates those it crushes,
and a smooth mouth causes ruin.

Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Saturday November 2, 2024 (NIV)

Ezekiel 3:16-6:14

16 At the end of seven days the Lord’s message came to me: 17 “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman[a] for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must give them a warning from me. 18 When I say to the wicked, ‘You will certainly die,’[b] and you do not warn him—you do not speak out to warn the wicked to turn from his wicked lifestyle so that he may live—that wicked person will die for his iniquity,[c] but I will hold you accountable for his death.[d] 19 But as for you, if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wicked deed and from his wicked lifestyle, he will die for his iniquity but you will have saved your own life.[e]

20 “When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I set an obstacle[f] before him, he will die. If you have not warned him, he will die for his sin. The righteous deeds he performed will not be considered, but I will hold you accountable for his death. 21 However, if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he[g] does not sin, he will certainly live because he was warned, and you will have saved your own life.”

Isolated and Silenced

22 The hand[h] of the Lord rested on me there, and he said to me, “Get up, go out to the valley,[i] and I will speak with you there.” 23 So I got up and went out to the valley, and the glory of the Lord was standing there, just like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River,[j] and I threw myself face down.

24 Then a wind[k] came into me and stood me on my feet. The Lord[l] spoke to me and said, “Go shut yourself in your house. 25 As for you, son of man, they will put ropes on you and tie you up with them, so you cannot go out among them. 26 I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to reprove[m] them, for they are a rebellious house. 27 But when I speak with you, I will loosen your tongue[n] and you must say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ Those who listen will listen, but the indifferent will refuse,[o] for they are a rebellious house.

Ominous Object Lessons

“And you, son of man, take a brick[p] and set it in front of you. Inscribe[q] a city on it—Jerusalem. Lay siege to it! Build siege works against it. Erect a siege ramp[r] against it! Post soldiers outside it[s] and station battering rams around it. Then for your part take an iron frying pan[t] and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face toward it. It is to be under siege; you are to besiege it. This is a sign[u] for the house of Israel.

“Also for your part lie on your left side and place the iniquity[v] of the house of Israel on it. For the number of days you lie on your side you will bear their iniquity. I have determined that the number of the years of their iniquity are to be the number of days[w] for you—390 days.[x] So bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.[y]

“When you have completed these days, then lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah 40 days[z]—I have assigned one day for each year. You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared and prophesy against it. Look here: I will tie you up with ropes, so you cannot turn from one side to the other until you complete the days of your siege.[aa]

“As for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt,[ab] put them in a single container, and make food[ac] from them for yourself. For the same number of days that you lie on your side—390 days[ad]—you will eat it. 10 The food you eat will be eight ounces[ae] a day by weight; you must eat it at fixed times.[af] 11 And you must drink water by measure, a pint and a half;[ag] you must drink it at fixed times. 12 And you must eat the food as you would a barley cake. You must bake it in front of them over a fire made with dried human excrement.”[ah] 13 And the Lord said, “This is how the people of Israel will eat their unclean food among the nations[ai] where I will banish them.”

14 And I said, “Ah, Sovereign Lord, I have never been ceremonially defiled before. I have never eaten a carcass or an animal torn by wild beasts; from my youth up, unclean meat[aj] has never entered my mouth.”

15 So he said to me, “All right then, I will substitute cow’s manure instead of human excrement. You will cook your food over it.”

16 Then he said to me, “Son of man, I am about to remove the bread supply[ak] in Jerusalem. They will eat their bread ration anxiously, and they will drink their water ration in terror 17 because they will lack bread and water. Each one will be terrified, and they will rot for their iniquity.[al]

“As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor.[am] Shave off some of the hair from your head and your beard.[an] Then take scales and divide up the hair you cut off. Burn a third of it in the fire inside the city when the days of your siege are completed. Take a third and slash it with a sword all around the city. Scatter a third to the wind, and I will unleash a sword behind them. But take a few strands of hair[ao] from those and tie them in the ends of your garment.[ap] Again, take more of them and throw them into the fire,[aq] and burn them up. From there a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem; I placed her in the center of the nations with countries all around her. Then she defied my regulations and my statutes, becoming more wicked than the nations[ar] and the countries around her.[as] Indeed, they[at] have rejected my regulations, and they do not follow my statutes.

“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you are more arrogant[au] than the nations around you,[av] you have not followed my statutes and have not carried out my regulations. You have not even[aw] carried out the regulations of the nations around you!

“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I—even I—am against you,[ax] and I will execute judgment[ay] among you while the nations watch.[az] I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again because of all your abominable practices.[ba] 10 Therefore, fathers will eat their sons within you, Jerusalem,[bb] and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments on you, and I will scatter any survivors[bc] to the winds.[bd]

11 “Therefore, as surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, because you defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable idols and with all your abominable practices, I will withdraw; my eye will not pity you, nor will I spare[be] you. 12 A third of your people will die of plague or be overcome by the famine within you.[bf] A third of your people will fall by the sword surrounding you,[bg] and a third I will scatter to the winds. I will unleash a sword behind them. 13 Then my anger will be fully vented; I will exhaust my rage on them, and I will be appeased.[bh] Then they will know that I, the Lord, have spoken in my jealousy[bi] when I have fully vented my rage against them.

14 “I will make you desolate and an object of scorn among the nations around you, in the sight of everyone who passes by. 15 You will be[bj] an object of scorn and taunting,[bk] a prime example of destruction[bl] among the nations around you when I execute judgments against you in anger and raging fury.[bm] I, the Lord, have spoken! 16 I will shoot against them deadly,[bn] destructive[bo] arrows of famine,[bp] which I will shoot to destroy you.[bq] I will prolong a famine on you and will remove the bread supply.[br] 17 I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will take your children from you.[bs] Plague and bloodshed will overwhelm you,[bt] and I will bring a sword against you. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Judgment on the Mountains of Israel

The Lord’s message came to me: “Son of man, turn toward[bu] the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them. Say, ‘Mountains of Israel,[bv] hear the word of the Sovereign Lord![bw] This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: I am bringing[bx] a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.[by] Your altars will be ruined and your incense altars will be broken. I will throw down your slain in front of your idols.[bz] I will place the corpses of the people of Israel in front of their idols,[ca] and I will scatter your bones around your altars. In all your dwellings, the cities will be laid waste and the high places ruined so that your altars will be laid waste and ruined, your idols will be shattered and demolished, your incense altars will be broken down, and your works wiped out.[cb] The slain will fall among you and then you will know that I am the Lord.[cc]

“‘But I will spare some of you. Some will escape the sword when you are scattered in foreign lands.[cd] Then your survivors will remember me among the nations where they are exiled. They will realize[ce] how I was crushed by their unfaithful[cf] heart that turned from me and by their eyes that lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves[cg] because of the evil they have done and because of all their abominable practices. 10 They will know that I am the Lord; my threats to bring this catastrophe on them were not empty.[ch]

11 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Clap your hands, stamp your feet, and say, “Ah!” because of all the evil, abominable practices of the house of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine, and pestilence.[ci] 12 The one far away will die by pestilence, the one close by will fall by the sword, and whoever is left and has escaped these[cj] will die by famine. I will fully vent my rage against them. 13 Then you will know that I am the Lord when their dead lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and on all the mountaintops, under every green tree and every leafy oak[ck]—the places where they have offered fragrant incense to all their idols. 14 I will stretch out my hand against them[cl] and make the land a desolate waste from the wilderness to Riblah,[cm] in all the places where they live. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’”

Footnotes:

  1. Ezekiel 3:17 tn The literal role of a watchman is described in 2 Sam 18:24 and 2 Kgs 9:17.
  2. Ezekiel 3:18 sn Even though the infinitive absolute is used to emphasize the warning, the warning is still implicitly conditional, as the following context makes clear.
  3. Ezekiel 3:18 tn Or “in his punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and v. 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 18:17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 33:6, 8, 9; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment for iniquity.”
  4. Ezekiel 3:18 tn Heb “his blood I will seek from your hand.” The expression “seek blood from the hand” is equivalent to requiring the death penalty (2 Sam 4:11-12).
  5. Ezekiel 3:19 tn Verses 17-19 are repeated in Ezek 33:7-9.
  6. Ezekiel 3:20 tn Or “stumbling block.” The Hebrew term refers to an obstacle in the road in Lev 19:14.
  7. Ezekiel 3:21 tn Heb “the righteous man.”
  8. Ezekiel 3:22 tn Or “power.” sn Hand in the OT can refer metaphorically to power, authority, or influence. In Ezekiel God’s hand being on the prophet is regularly associated with communication or a vision from God (1:3; 3:14, 22; 8:1; 37:1; 40:1).
  9. Ezekiel 3:22 sn Ezekiel had another vision at this location, recounted in Ezek 37.
  10. Ezekiel 3:23 tn Or “canal.”
  11. Ezekiel 3:24 tn See the note on “wind” in 2:2.
  12. Ezekiel 3:24 tn Heb “he.”
  13. Ezekiel 3:26 tn Heb “you will not be to them a reprover.” In Isa 29:21 and Amos 5:10 “a reprover” issued rebuke at the city gate.
  14. Ezekiel 3:27 tn Heb “open your mouth.”
  15. Ezekiel 3:27 tn Heb “the listener will listen, and the refuser will refuse.” Because the word for listening can also mean obeying, the nuance may be that the obedient will listen, or that the one who listens will obey. Also, although the verbs are not jussive as pointed in the MT, some translate them with a volitive sense: “the one who listens—let that one listen, the one who refuses—let that one refuse.”
  16. Ezekiel 4:1 sn Ancient Near Eastern bricks were 10 to 24 inches long and 6 to 13½ inches wide.
  17. Ezekiel 4:1 tn Or perhaps “draw.”
  18. Ezekiel 4:2 tn Or “a barricade.”
  19. Ezekiel 4:2 tn Heb “set camps against it.”
  20. Ezekiel 4:3 tn Or “a griddle,” that is, some sort of plate for cooking.
  21. Ezekiel 4:3 tn That is, a symbolic object lesson.
  22. Ezekiel 4:4 tn Or “punishment” (also in vv. 5, 6).
  23. Ezekiel 4:5 tn Heb “I have assigned for you that the years of their iniquity be the number of days.” Num 14:33-34 is an example of the reverse, where the days were converted into years, the number of days spying out the land becoming the number of years of the wilderness wanderings.
  24. Ezekiel 4:5 tc The LXX reads “190 days.” sn The significance of the number 390 is not clear. The best explanation is that “days” are used figuratively for years and the number refers to the years of the sinfulness of Israel during the period of the First Temple. Some understand the number to refer to the length of the division of the northern and southern kingdoms down to the fall of Jerusalem (931-586 b.c.), but this adds up to only 345 years.
  25. Ezekiel 4:5 tn Or “When you have carried the iniquity of the house of Israel,” and continuing on to the next verse.
  26. Ezekiel 4:6 sn The number 40 may refer in general to the period of Judah’s exile, indicating the number of years Israel was punished in the wilderness. In this case, however, one would need to translate, “you will bear the punishment of the house of Judah.”
  27. Ezekiel 4:8 sn The action surely refers to a series of daily acts rather than to a continuous period.
  28. Ezekiel 4:9 sn Wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt. All these foods were common in Mesopotamia where Ezekiel was exiled.
  29. Ezekiel 4:9 tn Heb “bread.”
  30. Ezekiel 4:9 tc The LXX reads: “190 days.”
  31. Ezekiel 4:10 sn Eight ounces (Heb “twenty shekels”). The standards for weighing money varied considerably in the ancient Near East, but the generally accepted weight for the shekel is 11.5 grams (0.4 ounce). This makes the weight of grain about 230 grams here (8 ounces).
  32. Ezekiel 4:10 tn Heb “from time to time.”
  33. Ezekiel 4:11 sn A pint and a half [Heb “one-sixth of a hin”]. One-sixth of a hin was a quantity of liquid equal to about 1.3 pints or 0.6 liters.
  34. Ezekiel 4:12 sn Human waste was to remain outside the camp of the Israelites according to Deut 23:15.
  35. Ezekiel 4:13 sn Unclean food among the nations. Lands outside of Israel were considered unclean (Josh 22:19; Amos 7:17).
  36. Ezekiel 4:14 tn The Hebrew term refers to sacrificial meat not eaten by the appropriate time (Lev 7:18; 19:7).
  37. Ezekiel 4:16 tn Heb, “break the staff of bread.” The bread supply is compared to a staff that one uses for support.
  38. Ezekiel 4:17 tn Or “in their punishment.” Ezek 4:16-17 alludes to Lev 26:26, 39. The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here, 3:18, 19; 7:13, 16; 18:17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 33:6, 8, 9; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment for iniquity.”
  39. Ezekiel 5:1 tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.
  40. Ezekiel 5:1 tn Heb, “pass (it) over your head and your beard.”
  41. Ezekiel 5:3 tn Heb “from there a few in number.” The word “strands” has been supplied in the translation for clarification.
  42. Ezekiel 5:3 sn Objects could be carried in the end of a garment (Hag 2:12).
  43. Ezekiel 5:4 tn Heb “into the midst of” (so KJV, ASV). This phrase has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.
  44. Ezekiel 5:6 sn The nations are subject to a natural law according to Gen 9; see also Amos 1:3-2:3 and Jonah 1:2.
  45. Ezekiel 5:6 tn Heb “she defied my laws, becoming wicked more than the nations, and [she defied] my statutes [becoming wicked] more than the countries around her.”
  46. Ezekiel 5:6 sn One might conclude that the subject of the plural verbs is the nations/countries, but the context (vv. 5-6a) indicates that the people of Jerusalem are in view. The text shifts from using the feminine singular (referring to personified Jerusalem) to the plural (referring to Jerusalem’s residents). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:73.
  47. Ezekiel 5:7 tn Traditionally this difficult form has been derived from a hypothetical root הָמוֹן (hamon), supposedly meaning “be in tumult/uproar,” but such a verb occurs nowhere else. It is more likely that it is to be derived from a root מָנוֹן (manon), meaning “disdain” (see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:52). A derivative from this root is used in Prov 29:21 of a rebellious servant. See HALOT 600 s.v. מָנוֹן.
  48. Ezekiel 5:7 sn You are more arrogant than the nations around you. Israel is accused of being worse than the nations in Ezek 16:27; 2 Kgs 21:11; Jer 2:11.
  49. Ezekiel 5:7 tc Some Hebrew mss and the Syriac omit the words “not even.” In this case they are being accused of following the practices of the surrounding nations. See Ezek 11:12.
  50. Ezekiel 5:8 tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘hinnenî ’êlékâ’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8. The Hebrew text switches to a second feminine singular form here, indicating that personified Jerusalem is addressed (see vv. 5-6a). The address to Jerusalem continues through v. 15. In vv. 16-17 the second masculine plural is used, as the people are addressed.
  51. Ezekiel 5:8 tn The Hebrew text uses wordplay here to bring out the appropriate nature of God’s judgment. “Execute” translates the same Hebrew verb translated “carried out” (literally meaning “do”) in v. 7, while “judgment” in v. 8 and “regulations” in v. 7 translate the same Hebrew noun (meaning “regulations” or in some cases “judgments” executed on those who break laws). The point seems to be this: God would “carry out judgments” against those who refused to “carry out” his “laws.”
  52. Ezekiel 5:8 tn Heb “in the sight of the nations.”sn This is one of the ironies of the passage. The Lord set Israel among the nations for honor and praise as they would be holy and obey God’s law, as told in Ezek 5:5 and Deut 26:16-19. The practice of these laws and statutes would make the peoples consider Israel wise. (See Deut 4:5-8, where the words for laws and statutes are the same as those used here). Since Israel did not obey, they are made a different kind of object lesson to the nations, not by their obedience but in their punishment, as told in Ezek 5:8 and Deut 29:24-29. Yet Deut 30 goes on to say that when they remember the cursings and blessings of the covenant and repent, God will restore them from the nations to which they have been scattered.
  53. Ezekiel 5:9 tn Or “abominable idols.”
  54. Ezekiel 5:10 tn In context “you” refers to the city of Jerusalem. To make this clear for the modern reader, “Jerusalem” has been supplied in the translation in apposition to “you.”sn This cannibalism would occur as a result of starvation due to the city being besieged. It is one of the judgments threatened for a covenant law violation (Lev 26:29; see also Deut 28:53; Jer 19:9; Lam 2:20; Zech 11:9).
  55. Ezekiel 5:10 tn Heb “all of your survivors.”
  56. Ezekiel 5:10 tn Heb “to every wind.”
  57. Ezekiel 5:11 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.
  58. Ezekiel 5:12 sn The judgment of plague and famine comes from the covenant curse (Lev 26:25-26). As in v. 10, the city of Jerusalem is figuratively addressed here.
  59. Ezekiel 5:12 sn Judgment by plague, famine, and sword occurs in Jer 21:9; 27:13; Ezek 6:11, 12; 7:15.
  60. Ezekiel 5:13 tn Or “calm myself.”
  61. Ezekiel 5:13 tn The Hebrew noun translated “jealousy” is used in the human realm to describe suspicion of adultery (Num 5:14ff.; Prov 6:34). Since Israel’s relationship with God was often compared to a marriage, this term is appropriate here. The term occurs elsewhere in Ezekiel in 8:3, 5; 16:38, 42; 23:25.
  62. Ezekiel 5:15 tc This reading is supported by the versions and by the Dead Sea Scrolls (11QEzek). Most Masoretic Hebrew mss read:“it will be,” but if the final he (ה) is read as a mater lectionis, as it can be with the second masculine singular perfect, then they are in agreement. In either case the subject refers to Jerusalem.
  63. Ezekiel 5:15 tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT. A related verb means “revile, taunt” (see Ps 44:16).
  64. Ezekiel 5:15 tn Heb “discipline and devastation.” These words are omitted in the Old Greek. The first term pictures Jerusalem as a recipient or example of divine discipline; the second depicts her as a desolate ruin (see Ezek 6:14).
  65. Ezekiel 5:15 tn Heb “in anger and in fury and in rebukes of fury.” The heaping up of synonyms emphasizes the degree of God’s anger.
  66. Ezekiel 5:16 tn The Hebrew word carries the basic idea of “bad, displeasing, injurious” but has the nuance “deadly” when used of weapons (see Ps 144:10).
  67. Ezekiel 5:16 tn Heb “which are/were to destroy.”
  68. Ezekiel 5:16 tn The language of this verse may have been influenced by Deut 32:23.
  69. Ezekiel 5:16 tn Or “which were to destroy those whom I will send to destroy you” (cf. NASB).
  70. Ezekiel 5:16 tn Heb, “break the staff of bread.” The bread supply is compared to a staff that one uses for support. See 4:16, as well as the covenant curse in Lev 26:26.
  71. Ezekiel 5:17 tn Heb “will bereave you.”
  72. Ezekiel 5:17 tn Heb “will pass through you.” This threat recalls the warning of Lev 26:22, 25 and Deut 32:24-25.
  73. Ezekiel 6:2 tn Heb “set your face against.” The expression occurs at the beginning of Ezekiel’s prophetic oracles in Ezek 13:17; 20:46; 21:2; 25:2; 28:21; 29:2; 35:2; 38:2.sn Based on comparison to a similar expression in Ugaritic, the phrase may imply that Ezekiel was actually to go to these locations to deliver his message.
  74. Ezekiel 6:3 tn The phrase “mountains of Israel” occurs only in the book of Ezekiel (6:2, 3; 19:9; 33:28; 34:13, 14; 35:12; 36:1, 4, 8; 37:22; 38:8; 39:2, 4, 17). The expression refers to the whole land of Israel.sn The mountainous terrain of Israel would contrast with the exiles’ habitat in the river valley of Babylonia.
  75. Ezekiel 6:3 tn The introductory formula “Hear the word of the Sovereign Lord” parallels a pronouncement delivered by the herald of a king (2 Kgs 18:28).
  76. Ezekiel 6:3 tn Heb “Look I, I am bringing.” The repetition of the pronoun draws attention to the speaker. The construction also indicates that the action is soon to come; the Lord is “about to bring a sword against” them.
  77. Ezekiel 6:3 tn The Hebrew term refers to elevated platforms where pagan sacrifices were performed.
  78. Ezekiel 6:4 tn The word גִּלּוּלִים (gillulim) refers to idols with contempt. Thirty-nine of its forty-eight biblical occurrences are found in Ezekiel. It may be related to either of two roots (גלל; gll). The more common root (1-גלל) is concerned with rolling and round things, producing words like “wheel,” “bowl,” “skull,” “heap of stones,” and “dung.” The other root (2-גלל) means “to be soiled.” A possible cognate in Babylonian (gullultu) refers to a “misdeed, crime, sin” (CAD G, 131; see also gullulu, “to sin”). The pejorative use of the term may come from one of several possibilities. The basic cylindrical shape of many idols lends itself to a term from 1-גלל. As a pejorative it may be emphasizing that idols are simply blocks of wood (cf. Isa 44:19). It has also been suggested that the term plays off of the word for dung, גֵּל (gel), as little round things. Possibly it is related to 2-גלל with overtones of being soiled. Some relation to the Babylonian word would also suit a pejorative and may have been intended by Ezekiel as he prophesied in a Babylonian context. In any case the word carries a negative connotation.sn This verse is probably based on Lev 26:30, in which God forecasts that he will destroy their high places, cut off their incense altars, and set their corpses by the corpses of their idols.
  79. Ezekiel 6:5 tc This first sentence, which explains the meaning of the last sentence of the previous verse, does not appear in the LXX and may be an instance of a marginal explanatory note making its way into the text.
  80. Ezekiel 6:6 tn The Hebrew verb translated “wiped out” is used to describe the judgment of the Flood (Gen 6:7; 7:4, 23).
  81. Ezekiel 6:7 sn The phrase you will know that I am the Lord concludes over sixty oracles in the book of Ezekiel and indicates the ultimate goal of God’s action. The phrase is often used in the book of Exodus as well (Exod 7:5; 14:4, 18). By Ezekiel’s day the people had forgotten that the Lord (Yahweh) was their covenant God and had turned to other gods. They had to be reminded that Yahweh alone deserved to be worshiped because only he possessed the power to meet their needs. Through judgment and eventually deliverance, Israel would be reminded that Yahweh alone held their destiny in his hands.
  82. Ezekiel 6:8 tn Heb “when you have fugitives from the sword among the nations, when you are scattered among the lands.”
  83. Ezekiel 6:9 tn The words “they will realize” are not in the Hebrew text; they are added here for stylistic reasons since this clause assumes the previous verb “to remember” or “to take into account.”
  84. Ezekiel 6:9 tn Heb “how I was broken by their adulterous heart.” The image of God being “broken” is startling but perfectly natural within the metaphorical framework of God as offended husband. The idiom must refer to the intense grief that Israel’s unfaithfulness caused God. For a discussion of the syntax and semantics of the Hebrew text, see M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 1:134.
  85. Ezekiel 6:9 tn Heb adds “in their faces.”
  86. Ezekiel 6:10 tn Heb “not in vain did I speak to do to them this catastrophe.” The wording of the last half of v. 10 parallels God’s declaration after the sin of the golden calf (Exod 32:14).
  87. Ezekiel 6:11 sn By the sword and by famine and by pestilence. A similar trilogy of punishments is mentioned in Lev 26:25-26. See also Jer 14:12; 21:9; 27:8, 13; 29:18.
  88. Ezekiel 6:12 tn Heb “the one who is left and the one who is spared.”
  89. Ezekiel 6:13 sn By referring to every high hill…all the mountaintops…under every green tree and every leafy oak Ezekiel may be expanding on the phraseology of Deut 12:2 (see 1 Kgs 14:23; 2 Kgs 16:4; 17:10; Jer 2:20; 3:6, 13; 2 Chr 28:4).
  90. Ezekiel 6:14 sn I will stretch out my hand against them is a common expression in the book of Ezekiel (14:9, 13; 16:27; 25:7; 35:3).
  91. Ezekiel 6:14 tc The Vulgate reads the name as “Riblah,” a city north of Damascus. The MT reads Diblah, a city otherwise unknown. The letters resh (ר) and dalet (ד) may have been confused in the Hebrew text. The town of Riblah was in the land of Hamath (2 Kgs 23:33), which represented the northern border of Israel (Ezek 47:14).
New English Translation (NET)

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Hebrews 4

God’s Promised Rest

Therefore we must be wary[a] that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it. For we had good news proclaimed to us just as they did. But the message they heard did them no good, since they did not join in[b] with those who heard it in faith.[c] For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my anger, ‘They will never enter my rest!’”[d] And yet God’s works[e] were accomplished from the foundation of the world. For he has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works,”[f] but to repeat the text cited earlier:[g]They will never enter my rest! Therefore it remains for some to enter it, yet those to whom it was previously proclaimed did not enter because of disobedience. So God[h] again ordains a certain day, “Today,” speaking through David[i] after so long a time, as in the words quoted before,[j]Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks![k] Do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, God[l] would not have spoken afterward about another day. Consequently a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God. 10 For the one who enters God’s[m] rest has also rested from his works, just as God did from his own works. 11 Thus we must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following the same pattern of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from God,[n] but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.

Jesus Our Compassionate High Priest

14 Therefore since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace whenever we need help.[o]

Footnotes:

  1. Hebrews 4:1 tn Grk “let us fear.”
  2. Hebrews 4:2 tn Or “they were not united.”
  3. Hebrews 4:2 tc A few mss (א and a few versional witnesses) have the nominative singular participle συγκεκερασμένος (sunkekerasmenos, “since it [the message] was not combined with faith by those who heard it”), a reading that refers back to the ὁ λόγος (ho logos, “the message”). There are a few other variants here (e.g., συγκεκεραμμένοι [sunkekerammenoi] in 104, συγκεκεραμένους [sunkekeramenous] in 1881 M), but the accusative plural participle συγκεκερασμένους (sunkekerasmenous), found in P13vid,46 A B C D* Ψ 0243 0278 33 81 1739 2464, has by far the best external credentials. This participle agrees with the previous ἐκείνους (ekeinous, “those”), a more difficult construction grammatically than the nominative singular. Thus, both on external and internal grounds, συγκεκερασμένους is preferred.
  4. Hebrews 4:3 sn A quotation from Ps 95:11.
  5. Hebrews 4:3 tn Grk “although the works,” continuing the previous reference to God. The referent (God) is specified in the translation for clarity.
  6. Hebrews 4:4 sn A quotation from Gen 2:2.
  7. Hebrews 4:5 tn Grk “and in this again.”
  8. Hebrews 4:7 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  9. Hebrews 4:7 sn Ps 95 in the Hebrew does not mention David either in the text or the superscription. The writer of Hebrews might attribute Psalms as a whole to David, though some psalms are specifically attributed to other individuals or groups. Yet the Greek inscription for Ps 95 in the LXX credits the psalm to David, and the author of Hebrews frequently uses the LXX.
  10. Hebrews 4:7 tn Grk “as it has been said before” (see Heb 3:7).
  11. Hebrews 4:7 tn Grk “today if you hear his voice.”
  12. Hebrews 4:8 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  13. Hebrews 4:10 tn Grk “his”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  14. Hebrews 4:13 tn Grk “him”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  15. Hebrews 4:16 tn Grk “for timely help.”
New English Translation (NET)

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Psalm 104:24-35

24 How many living things you have made, O Lord![a]
You have exhibited great skill in making all of them;[b]
the earth is full of the living things you have made.
25 Over here is the deep, wide sea,[c]
which teems with innumerable swimming creatures,[d]
living things both small and large.
26 The ships travel there,
and over here swims the whale[e] you made to play in it.
27 All your creatures[f] wait for you
to provide them with food on a regular basis.[g]
28 You give food to them and they receive it;
you open your hand and they are filled with food.[h]
29 When you ignore them, they panic.[i]
When you take away their life’s breath,
they die and return to dust.
30 When you send your life-giving breath, they are created,
and you replenish the surface of the ground.
31 May the splendor of the Lord endure.[j]
May the Lord find pleasure in the living things he has made.[k]
32 He looks down on the earth and it shakes;
he touches the mountains and they start to smolder.
33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I exist.[l]
34 May my thoughts[m] be pleasing to him.
I will rejoice in the Lord.
35 May sinners disappear[n] from the earth,
and the wicked vanish.
Praise the Lord, O my soul.
Praise the Lord.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 104:24 tn Heb “How many [are] your works, O Lord.” In this case the Lord’s “works” are the creatures he has made, as the preceding and following contexts make clear.
  2. Psalm 104:24 tn Heb “all of them with wisdom you have made.”
  3. Psalm 104:25 tn Heb “this [is] the sea, great and broad of hands [i.e., “sides” or “shores”].”
  4. Psalm 104:25 tn Heb “where [there are] swimming things, and without number.”
  5. Psalm 104:26 tn Heb “[and] this Leviathan, [which] you formed to play in it.” Elsewhere Leviathan is a multiheaded sea monster that symbolizes forces hostile to God (see Ps 74:14; Isa 27:1), but here it appears to be an actual marine creature created by God, probably some type of whale.
  6. Psalm 104:27 tn Heb “All of them.” The pronoun “them” refers not just to the sea creatures mentioned in vv. 25-26, but to all living things (see v. 24). This has been specified in the translation as “all of your creatures” for clarity.
  7. Psalm 104:27 tn Heb “to give their food in its time.”
  8. Psalm 104:28 tn Heb “they are satisfied [with] good.”
  9. Psalm 104:29 tn Heb “you hide your face, they are terrified.”
  10. Psalm 104:31 tn Heb “be forever.”
  11. Psalm 104:31 tn Or “rejoice in his works.”
  12. Psalm 104:33 tn Heb “in my duration.”
  13. Psalm 104:34 tn That is, the psalmist’s thoughts as expressed in his songs of praise.
  14. Psalm 104:35 tn Or “be destroyed.”
New English Translation (NET)

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Proverbs 26:27

27 The one who digs a pit[a] will fall into it;
the one who rolls a stone—it will come back on him.

Footnotes:

  1. Proverbs 26:27 sn The verse is teaching talionic justice (“an eye for an eye,” etc.), and so the activities described should be interpreted as evil in their intent. “Digging a pit” would mean laying a trap for someone (the figure of speech would be a metonymy of cause for the effect of ruining someone, if an actual pit is being dug; the figure would be hypocatastasis if digging a pit is being compared to laying a trap, but no pit is being dug). Likewise, “rolling a stone” on someone means to destroy that individual.
New English Translation (NET)

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday November 1, 2024 (NIV)

Ezekiel 1:1-3:15

A Vision of God’s Glory

In the thirtieth year,[a] on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles[b] at the Kebar River,[c] the heavens opened[d] and I saw a divine vision.[e] (On the fifth day of the month—it was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile— the Lord’s message came to the priest Ezekiel[f] the son of Buzi,[g] at the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians.[h] The hand[i] of the Lord came on him there.)

As I watched, I noticed[j] a windstorm[k] coming from the north—an enormous cloud, with lightning flashing,[l] such that bright light[m] rimmed it and came from[n] it like glowing amber[o] from the middle of a fire. In the fire[p] were what looked like[q] four living beings.[r] In their appearance they had human form,[s] but each had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight, but the soles of their feet were like calves’ feet. They gleamed[t] like polished bronze. They had human hands[u] under their wings on their four sides. As for the faces and wings of the four of them, their wings touched each other; they did not turn as they moved, but went straight ahead.[v]

10 Their faces had this appearance: Each of the four had the face of a man, with the face of a lion on the right, the face of an ox on the left, and also the face of an eagle.[w] 11 Their wings were spread out above them; each had two wings touching the wings of one of the other beings on either side and two wings covering their bodies. 12 Each moved straight ahead[x]—wherever the spirit[y] would go, they would go, without turning as they went. 13 In the middle[z] of the living beings was something like[aa] burning coals of fire[ab] or like torches. It moved back and forth among the living beings. It was bright, and lightning was flashing out of the fire. 14 The living beings moved backward and forward as quickly as flashes of lightning.[ac]

15 Then I looked,[ad] and I saw one wheel[ae] on the ground[af] beside each of the four beings. 16 The appearance of the wheels and their construction[ag] was like gleaming jasper,[ah] and all four wheels looked alike. Their structure was like a wheel within a wheel.[ai] 17 When they moved they would go in any of the four directions they faced without turning as they moved. 18 Their rims were high and awesome,[aj] and the rims of all four wheels were full of eyes all around.

19 When the living beings moved, the wheels beside them moved; when the living beings rose up from the ground, the wheels rose up too. 20 Wherever the spirit[ak] would go, they would go,[al] and the wheels would rise up beside them because the spirit[am] of the living being was in the wheel. 21 When the living beings moved, the wheels moved, and when they stopped moving, the wheels stopped.[an] When they rose up from the ground, the wheels rose up from the ground; the wheels rose up beside them because the spirit of the living being was in the wheel.

22 Over the heads of the living beings was something like a platform,[ao] glittering awesomely like ice,[ap] stretched out over their heads. 23 Under the platform their wings were stretched out, each toward the other. Each of the beings also had two wings covering[aq] its body. 24 When they moved, I heard the sound of their wings—it was like the sound of rushing waters, or the voice of the Sovereign One,[ar] or the tumult[as] of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.

25 Then there was a voice from above the platform over their heads when they stood still.[at] 26 Above the platform over their heads was something like a sapphire shaped like a throne. High above on the throne was a form that appeared to be a man. 27 I saw an amber glow[au] like a fire enclosed all around[av] from his waist up. From his waist down I saw something that looked like fire. There was a brilliant light around it, 28 like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds after the rain.[aw] This was the appearance of the surrounding brilliant light; it looked like the glory of the Lord. When I saw[ax] it, I threw myself face down, and I heard a voice speaking.

Ezekiel’s Commission

He said to me, “Son of man,[ay] stand on your feet and I will speak with you.” As he spoke to me,[az] a wind[ba] came into me and stood me on my feet, and I heard the one speaking to me.

He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the house[bb] of Israel, to rebellious nations[bc] who have rebelled against me; both they and their fathers have revolted[bd] against me to this very day. The people[be] to whom I am sending you are obstinate and hard-hearted,[bf] and you must say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’[bg] And as for them,[bh] whether they listen[bi] or not—for they are a rebellious[bj] house[bk]—they will know that a prophet has been among them. But you, son of man, do not fear them, and do not fear their words. Even though briers[bl] and thorns[bm] surround you and you live among scorpions—do not fear their words and do not be terrified of the looks they give you,[bn] for they are a rebellious house! You must speak my words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious. As for you, son of man, listen to what I am saying to you: Do not rebel like that rebellious house! Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.”

Then I looked and realized a hand was stretched out to me, and in it was a written scroll. 10 He unrolled it before me, and it had writing on the front[bo] and back;[bp] written on it were laments, mourning, and woe.

He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you see in front of you[bq]—eat this scroll—and then go and speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth and he fed me the scroll.

He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving to you.” So I ate it,[br] and it was sweet like honey in my mouth.

He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak my words to them. For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech[bs] and difficult language,[bt] but[bu] to the house of Israel— not to many peoples of unintelligible speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand.[bv] Surely if[bw] I had sent you to them, they would listen to you! But the house of Israel is unwilling to listen to you,[bx] because they are not willing to listen to me,[by] for the whole house of Israel is hardheaded and hardhearted.[bz]

“I have made your face adamant[ca] to match their faces, and your forehead hard to match their foreheads. I have made your forehead harder than flint—like diamond![cb] Do not fear them or be terrified of the looks they give you,[cc] for they are a rebellious house.”

10 And he said to me, “Son of man, take all my words that I speak to you to heart and listen carefully. 11 Go to the exiles, to your fellow countrymen,[cd] and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says,’ whether they pay attention or not.”

Ezekiel Before the Exiles

12 Then a wind lifted me up[ce] and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me as the glory of the Lord rose from its place,[cf] 13 and the sound of the living beings’ wings brushing against each other, and the sound of the wheels alongside them, a great rumbling sound. 14 A wind lifted me up and carried me away. I went bitterly,[cg] my spirit full of fury, and the hand of the Lord rested powerfully[ch] on me. 15 I came to the exiles at Tel Abib,[ci] who lived by the Kebar River.[cj] I sat dumbfounded among them there, where they were living, for seven days.[ck]

Footnotes:

  1. Ezekiel 1:1 sn The meaning of the thirtieth year is problematic. Some take it to mean the age of Ezekiel when he prophesied (e.g., Origen). The Aramaic Targum explains the thirtieth year as the thirtieth year dated from the recovery of the book of the Torah in the temple in Jerusalem (2 Kgs 22:3-9). The number seems somehow to be equated with the fifth year of Jehoiachin’s exile in 1:2, i.e., 593 b.c.
  2. Ezekiel 1:1 sn The Assyrians started the tactic of deportation, the large-scale forced displacement of conquered populations, in order to stifle rebellions. The task of uniting groups of deportees, gaining freedom from one’s overlords, and returning to retake one’s own country would be considerably more complicated than living in one’s homeland and waiting for an opportune moment to drive out the enemy’s soldiers. The Babylonians adopted this practice also, after defeating the Assyrians. The Babylonians deported Judeans on three occasions. The practice of deportation was reversed by the Persian conquerors of Babylon, who gained favor from their subjects by allowing them to return to their homeland. As polytheists, the Persians sought the favor of the gods of the various countries that had come under their control.
  3. Ezekiel 1:1 sn The Kebar River is mentioned in Babylonian texts from the city of Nippur in the fifth century b.c. It provided artificial irrigation from the Euphrates.
  4. Ezekiel 1:1 sn For the concept of the heavens opened in later literature, see 3 Macc 6:18; 2 Bar. 22:1; T. Levi 5:1; Matt 3:16; Acts 7:56; Rev 19:11.
  5. Ezekiel 1:1 tn Or “saw visions from God.” References to divine visions occur also in Ezek 8:3 and 40:2.
  6. Ezekiel 1:3 sn The prophet’s name, Ezekiel, means in Hebrew “May God strengthen.”
  7. Ezekiel 1:3 tn Or “to Ezekiel son of Buzi the priest.”
  8. Ezekiel 1:3 tn Heb “Chaldeans.” The name of the tribal group ruling Babylon, “Chaldeans” is used as metonymy for the whole empire of Babylon. The Babylonians worked with the Medes to destroy the Assyrian Empire near the end of the 7th century b.c. Then, over the next century, the Babylonians dominated the West Semitic states (such as Phoenicia, Aram, Moab, Edom, and Judah in the modern countries of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel) and made incursions into Egypt.
  9. Ezekiel 1:3 tn Or “power.” sn Hand in the OT can refer metaphorically to power, authority, or influence. In Ezekiel God’s “hand” being on the prophet is regularly associated with communication or a vision from God (3:14, 22; 8:1; 37:1; 40:1).
  10. Ezekiel 1:4 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
  11. Ezekiel 1:4 sn Storms are often associated with appearances of God (see Nah 1:3; Ps 18:12). In some passages, the “storm” (סְעָרָה, seʿarah) may be a whirlwind (Job 38:1; 2 Kgs 2:1).
  12. Ezekiel 1:4 tn Heb “fire taking hold of itself,” perhaps repeatedly. The phrase occurs elsewhere only in Exod 9:24 in association with a hailstorm. The LXX interprets the phrase as fire flashing like lightning, but it is possibly a self-sustaining blaze of divine origin. The LXX also reverses the order of the descriptors, i.e., “light went around it, and fire flashed like lightning within it.”
  13. Ezekiel 1:4 tn Or “radiance.” The term also occurs in 1:27b.
  14. Ezekiel 1:4 tc Or “was in it”; cf. LXX ἐν τῷ μέσῳ αὐτοῦ (en tō mesō autou, “in its midst”).
  15. Ezekiel 1:4 tn The LXX translates חַשְׁמַל (khashmal) with the word ἤλεκτρον (ēlektron, “electrum”; so NAB), an alloy of silver and gold, perhaps envisioning a comparison to the glow of molten metal.
  16. Ezekiel 1:5 tc Heb “from its midst” (מִתּוֹכָהּ, mitokhah). The LXX reads ἐν τῷ μέσῳ (en tō mesō, “in the midst of it”). The LXX also reads ἐν for מִתּוֹךְ (mitokh) in v. 4. The translator of the LXX of Ezekiel either read בְּתוֹךְ (betokh, “within”) in his Hebrew exemplar or could not imagine how מִתּוֹךְ could make sense and so chose to use ἐν. The Hebrew would be understood by adding “from its midst emerged the forms of four living beings.”
  17. Ezekiel 1:5 tn Heb “form, figure, appearance.”
  18. Ezekiel 1:5 tn The Hebrew term is feminine plural, yet thirty-three of the forty-five pronominal suffixes and verbal references that refer to the living beings in the chapter are masculine plural. The grammatical vacillation between masculine and feminine plurals suggests the difficulty Ezekiel had in penning these words as he was overcome by the vision of God. In ancient Near-Eastern sculpture very similar images of part-human, part-animal creatures serve as throne and sky bearers. For a discussion of ancient Near-Eastern parallels, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:26-31. Ezekiel’s vision is an example of contextualization, where God accommodates his self-revelation to cultural expectations and norms.
  19. Ezekiel 1:5 sn They had human form may mean they stood erect.
  20. Ezekiel 1:7 sn The Hebrew verb translated gleamed occurs only here in the OT.
  21. Ezekiel 1:8 tc The MT reads “his hand” while many Hebrew mss as well as the Qere read “hands of.” Two similar Hebrew letters, vav and yod, have been confused.
  22. Ezekiel 1:9 tn Heb “They each went in the direction of one of his faces.”
  23. Ezekiel 1:10 tc The MT has an additional word at the beginning of v. 11, וּפְנֵיהֶם (ufenehem, “and their faces”), which is missing from the LXX. As the rest of the verse only applies to wings, “their faces” would have to somehow be understood in the previous clause. But this would be very awkward and is doubly problematic since “their faces” are already introduced as the topic at the beginning of v. 10. The Hebrew scribe appears to have copied the phrase “and their faces and their wings” from v. 8, where it introduces the content of 9-11. Only “and (as for) their wings” belongs here.
  24. Ezekiel 1:12 tn See the note on “straight ahead” in v. 9.
  25. Ezekiel 1:12 tn Or “wind.”
  26. Ezekiel 1:13 tc The MT reads: “and the form of the creatures” (וּדְמוּת הַחַיּוֹת, udemut hakhayyot). The LXX reads: “and in the midst of the creatures,” suggesting an underlying Hebrew text of וּמִתּוֹךְ הַחַיּוֹת (umittokh hakhayyot). The subsequent description of something moving among the creatures supports the LXX.
  27. Ezekiel 1:13 tc The MT reads: “and the form of the creatures—their appearance was like burning coals of fire.” The LXX reads: “in the midst of the creatures was a sight like burning coals of fire.” The MT may have adjusted “appearance” to “their appearance” to fit their reading of the beginning of the verse (see the tc note on “in the middle”). See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 1:46.
  28. Ezekiel 1:13 sn Burning coals of fire are also a part of David’s poetic description of God’s appearance (see 2 Sam 22:9, 13; Ps 18:8).
  29. Ezekiel 1:14 tc The LXX omits v. 14 and may well be correct. The verse may be a later explanatory gloss of the end of v. 13 which was copied into the main text. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 1:46.tn Lit., “like the appearance of lightning.” The Hebrew term translated “lightning” occurs only here in the OT. In postbiblical Hebrew the term refers to a lightning flash.
  30. Ezekiel 1:15 tc The MT includes “at the living beings,” which is absent from the LXX.
  31. Ezekiel 1:15 sn Another vision that includes wheels on thrones occurs in Dan 7:9. Ezekiel 10 contains a vision similar to this one.
  32. Ezekiel 1:15 tn The Hebrew word may be translated either “earth” or “ground” in this context.
  33. Ezekiel 1:16 tc This word is omitted from the LXX.
  34. Ezekiel 1:16 tn Heb “Tarshish stone.” The meaning of this term is uncertain. The term has also been translated “topaz” (NEB), “beryl” (KJV, NASB, NRSV), or “chrysolite” (RSV, NIV).
  35. Ezekiel 1:16 tn Or “like a wheel at right angles to another wheel.” Some envision concentric wheels here, while others propose “a globe-like structure in which two wheels stand at right angles” (L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:33-34). The description given in v. 17 favors the latter idea.
  36. Ezekiel 1:18 tc The MT reads וְיִרְאָה לָהֶם (veyirʾah lahem, “and fear belonged to them”). In a similar vision in 10:12 the wheels are described as having spokes (יְדֵיהֶם, yedehem). That parallel would suggest יָדוֹת (yadot) here (written יָדֹת without the mater lectionis). By positing both a ד/ר (dalet/resh) confusion and a ה/ת (hey/tav) confusion, the form was read as וְיָרֵה (veyareh) and was then misunderstood and subsequently written as וְיִרְאָה (veyirʾah) in the MT. The reading וְיִרְאָה does not seem to fit the context well, though in English it can be made to sound as if it does. See W. H. Brownlee, Ezekiel 1-19 (WBC), 8-9. The LXX reads καὶ εἶδον αὐτά (kai eidon auta, “and I saw”), which assumes וָאֵרֶא (vaʾereʾ). The existing consonants of the MT may also be read as “it was visible to them.”
  37. Ezekiel 1:20 tn Or “wind”; the same Hebrew word can be translated as either “wind” or “spirit,” depending on the context.
  38. Ezekiel 1:20 tc The MT includes the additional phrase “the spirit would go,” which seems unduly redundant here and may be dittographic.
  39. Ezekiel 1:20 tn Or “wind.” The Hebrew is difficult since the text presents four creatures and then talks about “the spirit” (singular) of “the living being” (singular). According to M. Greenberg (Ezekiel [AB], 1:45) the Targum interprets this as “will.” Greenberg views this as the spirit of the one enthroned above the creatures, but one would not expect the article when the one enthroned has not yet been introduced.
  40. Ezekiel 1:21 tc The LXX reads: “when it went, they went; when it stood, they stood.”tn Heb “when they went, they went; when they stood, they stood.”
  41. Ezekiel 1:22 tn Or “like a dome” (NCV, NRSV, TEV).
  42. Ezekiel 1:22 tn Or “like crystal” (NRSV, NLT).
  43. Ezekiel 1:23 tc Heb “each had two wings covering and each had two wings covering,” a case of dittography. On the analogy of v. 11 and the support of the LXX, which reads the same for v. 11 and this verse, one should perhaps read “each had two wings touching another being and each had two wings covering.”
  44. Ezekiel 1:24 tn Heb “Shaddai” (probably meaning “one of the mountain”), a title that depicts God as the sovereign ruler of the world who dispenses justice. The Old Greek translation omitted the phrase “voice of the Sovereign One.”
  45. Ezekiel 1:24 tn The only other occurrence of the Hebrew word translated “tumult” is in Jer 11:16. It indicates a noise like that of the turmoil of a military camp or the sound of an army on the march.
  46. Ezekiel 1:25 tc The MT continues: “when they stood still, they lowered their wings,” an apparent dittography from the end of v. 24. The LXX commits haplography by homoioteleuton, leaving out vv. 25b and 26a by skipping from רֹאשָׁם (roʾsham, “their head”) in v. 25 to רֹאשָׁם in v. 26.
  47. Ezekiel 1:27 tn See Ezek 1:4.
  48. Ezekiel 1:27 tc The LXX lacks this phrase. Its absence from the LXX may be explained as a case of haplography resulting from homoioteleuton, skipping from כְּמַרְאֵה (kemarʾeh) to מִמַּרְאֵה (mimmarʾeh). On the other hand, the LXX presents a much more balanced verse structure when it is recognized that the final words of this verse belong in the next sentence.
  49. Ezekiel 1:28 sn Reference to the glowing substance and the brilliant light and storm phenomena in vv. 27-28a echoes in reverse order the occurrence of these phenomena in v. 4.
  50. Ezekiel 1:28 tn The vision closes with the repetition of the verb “I saw” from the beginning of the vision in 1:4.
  51. Ezekiel 2:1 sn The phrase son of man occurs ninety-three times in the book of Ezekiel. It simply means “human one” and distinguishes the prophet from the nonhuman beings that are present in the world of his vision.
  52. Ezekiel 2:2 tc The phrase “as he spoke to me” is absent from the LXX.
  53. Ezekiel 2:2 tn Or “spirit.” The NIV has “the Spirit,” but the absence of the article in the Hebrew text makes this unlikely. Elsewhere in Ezekiel the Lord’s Spirit is referred to as “the Spirit of the Lord” (11:5; 37:1), “the Spirit of God” (11:24), or “my (that is, the Lord’s) Spirit” (36:27; 37:14; 39:29). Some identify the “spirit” of 2:2 as the spirit that energized the living beings; however, that “spirit” is called “the spirit” (1:12, 20) or “the spirit of the living beings” (1:20-21; 10:17). Still others see the term as referring to an impersonal “spirit” of strength or courage, that is, the term may also be understood as a disposition or attitude. The Hebrew word often refers to a wind in Ezekiel (1:4; 5:10, 12; 12:4; 13:11, 13; 17:10, 21; 19:12; 27:26; 37:9). In 37:5-10 a “breath” originates in the “four winds” and is associated with the Lord’s life-giving breath (see v. 14). This breath enters into the dry bones and gives them life. In a similar fashion the breath of 2:2 (see also 3:24) energizes paralyzed Ezekiel. Breath and wind are related. On the one hand, it is a more normal picture to think of breath rather than wind entering someone, but since wind represents an external force, it seems more likely for wind rather than breath to stand someone up (unless we should understand it as a disposition). It may be that one should envision the breath of the speaker moving like a wind to revive Ezekiel, helping him to regain his breath and invigorating him to stand. A wind also transports the prophet from one place to another (3:12, 14; 8:3; 11:1, 24; 43:5).
  54. Ezekiel 2:3 tc The Hebrew reads “sons of,” while the LXX reads “house,” implying the more common phrase in Ezekiel. Either could be abbreviated with the first letter ב (bet). In preparation for the characterization “house of rebellion,” in vv. 5, 6, and 8 “house” is preferred (L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:10 and W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel [Hermeneia], 2:564-65).
  55. Ezekiel 2:3 tc Heb “to the rebellious nations.” The phrase “to the rebellious nations” is omitted in the LXX. Elsewhere in Ezekiel the singular word “nation” is used for Israel (36:13-15; 37:22). Here “nations” may have the meaning of “tribes” or refer to the two nations of Israel and Judah.
  56. Ezekiel 2:3 tc This word is omitted from the LXX. tn The Hebrew term used here is the strongest word available for expressing a covenant violation. The word is used in the diplomatic arena to express a treaty violation (2 Kgs 1:1; 3:5, 7).
  57. Ezekiel 2:4 tn Heb “sons.” The word choice may reflect treaty idiom, where the relationship between an overlord and his subjects can be described as that of father and son.
  58. Ezekiel 2:4 tc Heb “stern of face and hard of heart.” The phrases “stern of face” and “hard of heart” are lacking in the LXX.
  59. Ezekiel 2:4 tn The phrase “thus says [the Lord]” occurs 129 times in Ezekiel; the announcement is identical to the way messengers often introduced their messages (Gen 32:5; 45:9; Exod 5:10; Num 20:14; Judg 11:15).
  60. Ezekiel 2:5 tn Heb “they”; the phrase “And as for them” has been used in the translation for clarity.
  61. Ezekiel 2:5 tn The Hebrew word implies obedience rather than mere hearing or paying attention.
  62. Ezekiel 2:5 tn This Hebrew adjective is also used to describe the Israelites in Num 17:10 (17:25 HT) and Isa 30:9.
  63. Ezekiel 2:5 sn The book of Ezekiel frequently refers to the Israelites as a rebellious house (Ezek 2:5, 6, 8; 3:9, 26-27; 12:2-3, 9, 25; 17:12; 24:3).
  64. Ezekiel 2:6 tn The Hebrew term occurs only here in the OT.
  65. Ezekiel 2:6 tn The Hebrew term is found elsewhere in the OT only in Ezek 28:24.sn Here thorns may be a figure for hostility (Ezek 28:24; Mic 7:4).
  66. Ezekiel 2:6 tn Heb “of their faces.”
  67. Ezekiel 2:10 tn Heb “on the face.”
  68. Ezekiel 2:10 sn Written on the front and back. While it was common for papyrus scrolls to have writing on both sides, the same was not true for leather scrolls.
  69. Ezekiel 3:1 tn Heb “eat what you find.”
  70. Ezekiel 3:3 tc Heb “I ate,” a first common singular preterite plus paragogic he (ה). The ancient versions read “I ate it,” which is certainly the meaning in the context, and indicates they read the he as a third feminine singular pronominal suffix. The Masoretes typically wrote a mappiq in the he for the pronominal suffix but apparently missed this one.sn I ate it. A similar idea of consuming God’s word is found in Jer 15:16 and Rev 10:10, where it is also compared to honey and may be specifically reminiscent of this text.
  71. Ezekiel 3:5 tn Heb “deep of lip” (in the sense of incomprehensible).
  72. Ezekiel 3:5 tn Heb “heavy of tongue.” Similar language occurs in Exod 4:10 and Isa 33:19.
  73. Ezekiel 3:5 tn The conjunction “but” is not in the Hebrew text but is implied from the context.
  74. Ezekiel 3:6 tn Heb “hear.”
  75. Ezekiel 3:6 tc The MT reads: “if not,” but most ancient versions translate only “if.” The expression occurs with this sense in Isa 5:9 and 14:24. See also Ezek 34:8; 36:5; 38:19.
  76. Ezekiel 3:7 sn Moses (Exod 3:19) and Isaiah (Isa 6:9-10) were also told that their messages would not be received.
  77. Ezekiel 3:7 sn A similar description of Israel’s disobedience is given in 1 Sam 8:7.
  78. Ezekiel 3:7 tn Heb “hard of forehead and stiff of heart.”
  79. Ezekiel 3:8 tn Heb “strong, resolute.”
  80. Ezekiel 3:9 tn The Hebrew term translated “diamond” is parallel to “iron” in Jer 17:1. The Hebrew uses two terms which are both translated at times as “flint,” but here one is clearly harder than the other. The translation “diamond” attempts to reflect this distinction in English.
  81. Ezekiel 3:9 tn Heb “of their faces.”
  82. Ezekiel 3:11 tn Heb “to the sons of your people.”
  83. Ezekiel 3:12 sn See note on “wind” in 2:2.
  84. Ezekiel 3:12 tc This translation accepts the emendation suggested in BHS of בְּרוּם (berum, “in the lifting”) for בָּרוּךְ (barukh). The letters mem (מ) and kaf (כ) were easily confused in the old script, while בָּרוּךְ (“blessed be”) implies a quotation, which is out of place here. The word also does not fit the later phrase “from its place,” which requires a verb of motion.
  85. Ezekiel 3:14 tn The traditional interpretation is that Ezekiel embarked on his mission with bitterness and anger, either reflecting God’s attitude toward the sinful people or his own feelings about having to carry out such an unpleasant task. L. C. Allen (Ezekiel [WBC], 1:13) takes “bitterly” as a misplaced marginal note and understands the following word, normally translated “anger,” in the sense of fervor or passion. He translates, “I was passionately moved” (p. 4). Another option is to take the word translated “bitterly” as a verb meaning “strengthened” (attested in Ugaritic). See G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 152.
  86. Ezekiel 3:14 tn Heb “the hand of the Lord was on me heavily.” The “hand of the Lord” is a metaphor for his power or influence; the modifier conveys intensity. sn In Ezekiel God’s “hand” being on the prophet is regularly associated with communication or a vision from God (1:3; 3:14, 22; 8:1; 37:1; 40:1).
  87. Ezekiel 3:15 sn The name “Tel Abib” is a transliteration of an Akkadian term meaning “mound of the flood,” i.e., an ancient mound. It is not to be confused with the modern city of Tel Aviv in Israel.
  88. Ezekiel 3:15 tn Or “canal.”
  89. Ezekiel 3:15 sn A similar response to a divine encounter is found in Acts 9:8-9.
New English Translation (NET)

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Hebrews 3

Jesus and Moses

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters,[a] partners in a heavenly calling, take note of Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess,[b] who is faithful to the one who appointed him, as Moses was also in God’s[c] house.[d] For he has come to deserve greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house deserves greater honor than the house itself! For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all God’s[e] house[f] as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken. But Christ[g] is faithful as a son over God’s[h] house. We are of his house,[i] if in fact we hold firmly[j] to our confidence and the hope we take pride in.[k]

Exposition of Psalm 95: Hearing God’s Word in Faith

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,[l]

Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks![m]
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness.
There your fathers tested me and tried me,[n] and they saw my works for forty years.
10 Therefore, I became provoked at that generation and said, ‘Their hearts are always wandering[o] and they have not known my ways.’
11 As I swore in my anger, ‘They will never enter my rest!’”[p]

12 See to it,[q] brothers and sisters,[r] that none of you has[s] an evil, unbelieving heart that forsakes[t] the living God.[u] 13 But exhort one another each day, as long as it is called “Today,” that none of you may become hardened by sin’s deception. 14 For we have become partners with Christ, if in fact we hold our initial confidence[v] firm until the end. 15 As it says,[w]Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks![x] Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”[y] 16 For which ones heard and rebelled? Was it not all who came out of Egypt under Moses’ leadership?[z] 17 And against whom was God[aa] provoked for forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness?[ab] 18 And to whom did he swear they would never enter into his rest, except those who were disobedient? 19 So[ac] we see that they could not enter because of unbelief.

Footnotes:

  1. Hebrews 3:1 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 2:11.
  2. Hebrews 3:1 tn Grk “of our confession.”
  3. Hebrews 3:2 tn Grk “his”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.
  4. Hebrews 3:2 tc ‡ The reading adopted by the translation follows a few early mss and some versions (P13,46vid B vgms co Ambr). The majority of mss (א A C D Ψ 0243 0278 33 1739 1881 M lat sy) insert “all” (“in all his house”), apparently in anticipation of Heb 3:5 which quotes directly from Num 12:7. On balance, the omission better explains the rise of ὅλῳ (holō, “all”) than vice versa. NA28 puts ὅλῳ in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.
  5. Hebrews 3:5 tn Grk “his”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.
  6. Hebrews 3:5 sn A quotation from Num 12:7.
  7. Hebrews 3:6 sn The Greek makes the contrast between v. 5 and v. 6a more emphatic and explicit than is easily done in English.
  8. Hebrews 3:6 tn Grk “his”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.
  9. Hebrews 3:6 tn Grk “whose house we are,” continuing the previous sentence.
  10. Hebrews 3:6 tc The reading adopted by the translation is found in P13,46 B sa, while the vast majority of mss (א A C D Ψ 0243 0278 33 1739 1881 M latt) add μέχρι τέλους βεβαίαν (mechri telous bebaian, “secure until the end”). The external evidence for the omission, though minimal, has excellent credentials. Considering the internal factors, B. M. Metzger (TCGNT 595) finds it surprising that the feminine adjective βεβαίαν should modify the neuter noun καύχημα (kauchēma, here translated “we take pride”), a fact that suggests that even the form of the word was borrowed from another place. Since the same phrase occurs at Heb 3:14, it is likely that later scribes added it here at Heb 3:6 in anticipation of Heb 3:14. While these words belong at 3:14, they seem foreign to 3:6.
  11. Hebrews 3:6 tn Grk “the pride of our hope.”
  12. Hebrews 3:7 sn The following quotation is from Ps 95:7b-11.
  13. Hebrews 3:7 tn Grk “today if you hear his voice.”
  14. Hebrews 3:9 tn Grk “tested me by trial.”
  15. Hebrews 3:10 tn Grk “they are wandering in the heart.”
  16. Hebrews 3:11 tn Grk “if they shall enter my rest,” a Hebrew idiom expressing an oath that something will certainly not happen.
  17. Hebrews 3:12 tn Or “take care.”
  18. Hebrews 3:12 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 2:11.
  19. Hebrews 3:12 tn Grk “that there not be in any of you.”
  20. Hebrews 3:12 tn Or “deserts,” “rebels against.”
  21. Hebrews 3:12 tn Grk “in forsaking the living God.”
  22. Hebrews 3:14 tn Grk “the beginning of the confidence.”
  23. Hebrews 3:15 tn Grk “while it is said.”
  24. Hebrews 3:15 tn Grk “today if you hear his voice.”
  25. Hebrews 3:15 sn A quotation from Ps 95:7b-8.
  26. Hebrews 3:16 tn Grk “through Moses.”
  27. Hebrews 3:17 tn Grk “he”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.
  28. Hebrews 3:17 sn An allusion to God’s judgment pronounced in Num 14:29, 32.
  29. Hebrews 3:19 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “So” to indicate a summary or conclusion to the argument of the preceding paragraph.
New English Translation (NET)

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Psalm 104:1-23

Psalm 104[a]

104 Praise the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, you are magnificent.[b]
You are robed in splendor and majesty.
He covers himself with light as if it were a garment.
He stretches out the skies like a tent curtain,
and lays the beams of the upper rooms of his palace on the rain clouds.[c]
He makes the clouds his chariot,
and travels on the wings of the wind.[d]
He makes the winds his messengers,
and the flaming fire his attendant.[e]
He established the earth on its foundations;
it will never be moved.
The watery deep covered it[f] like a garment;
the waters reached[g] above the mountains.[h]
Your shout made the waters retreat;
at the sound of your thunderous voice they hurried off—
as the mountains rose up,
and the valleys went down—
to the place you appointed for them.[i]
You set up a boundary for them that they could not cross,
so that they would not cover the earth again.[j]
10 He turns springs into streams;[k]
they flow between the mountains.
11 They provide water for all the animals in the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 The birds of the sky live beside them;
they chirp among the bushes.[l]
13 He waters the mountains from the upper rooms of his palace;[m]
the earth is full of the fruit you cause to grow.[n]
14 He provides grass[o] for the cattle,
and crops for people to cultivate,[p]
so they can produce food from the ground,[q]
15 as well as wine that makes people glad,[r]
and olive oil to make their faces shine,[s]
as well as bread that sustains them.[t]
16 The trees of the Lord[u] receive all the rain they need,[v]
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted,
17 where the birds make nests,
near the evergreens in which the herons live.[w]
18 The wild goats live in the high mountains;[x]
the rock badgers find safety in the cliffs.
19 He made the moon to mark the months,[y]
and the sun sets according to a regular schedule.[z]
20 You make it dark and night comes,[aa]
during which all the beasts of the forest prowl around.
21 The lions roar for prey,
seeking their food from God.[ab]
22 When the sun rises, they withdraw
and sleep[ac] in their dens.
23 People then go out to do their work,
and they labor until evening.[ad]

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 104:1 sn Psalm 104. The psalmist praises God as the ruler of the world who sustains all life.
  2. Psalm 104:1 tn Heb “very great.”
  3. Psalm 104:3 tn Heb “one who lays the beams on water [in] his upper rooms.” The “water” mentioned here corresponds to the “waters above” mentioned in Gen 1:7. For a discussion of the picture envisioned by the psalmist, see L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 44-45.
  4. Psalm 104:3 sn Verse 3 may depict the Lord riding a cherub, which is in turn propelled by the wind current. Another option is that the wind is personified as a cherub. See Ps 18:10 and the discussion of ancient Near Eastern parallels to the imagery in M. Weinfeld, “‘Rider of the Clouds’ and ‘Gatherer of the Clouds’,” JANESCU 5 (1973): 422-24.
  5. Psalm 104:4 tc Heb “and his attendants a flaming fire.” The lack of agreement between the singular “fire” and plural “attendants” has prompted various emendations. Some read “fire and flame.” The present translation assumes an emendation from מְשָׁרְתָיו (mesharetayv, “his attendants”) to מְשָׁרְתוֹ (meshareto, “his attendant”), a reading supported by one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, 4Q93.sn In Ugaritic mythology Yam’s messengers appear as flaming fire before the assembly of the gods. See G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 42.
  6. Psalm 104:6 tc Heb “you covered it.” The masculine suffix is problematic if the grammatically feminine noun “earth” is the antecedent. For this reason some emend the form from כִּסִּיתוֹ (kissito) to a feminine verb with feminine suffix, כִּסַּתָּה (kissattah, “[the watery deep] covered it [i.e., the earth]”), a reading assumed by the present translation.
  7. Psalm 104:6 tn Heb “stood.”
  8. Psalm 104:6 sn Verse 6 refers to the condition described in Gen 1:2 (note the use of the Hebrew term תְּהוֹם [tehom, “watery deep”] in both texts).
  9. Psalm 104:8 tn Heb “from your shout they fled, from the sound of your thunder they hurried off.”sn Verses 7-8 poetically depict Gen 1:9-10.
  10. Psalm 104:9 tn Heb “a boundary you set up, they will not cross, they will not return to cover the earth.”
  11. Psalm 104:10 tn Heb “[the] one who sends springs into streams.” Another option is to translate, “he sends streams [i.e., streams that originate from springs] into the valleys” (cf. NIV).
  12. Psalm 104:12 tn Heb “among the thick foliage they give a sound.”
  13. Psalm 104:13 tn Heb “from his upper rooms.”
  14. Psalm 104:13 tn Heb “from the fruit of your works the earth is full.” The translation assumes that “fruit” is literal here. If “fruit” is understood more abstractly as “product; result,” then one could translate, “the earth flourishes as a result of your deeds” (cf. NIV, NRSV, REB).
  15. Psalm 104:14 tn Heb “causes the grass to sprout up.”
  16. Psalm 104:14 tn Heb “for the service of man” (see Gen 2:5).
  17. Psalm 104:14 tn Heb “to cause food to come out from the earth.”
  18. Psalm 104:15 tn Heb “and wine [that] makes the heart of man happy.”
  19. Psalm 104:15 tn Heb “to make [the] face shine from oil.” The Hebrew verb צָהַל (tsahal, “to shine”) occurs only here in the OT. It appears to be an alternate form of צָהַר (tsahar), a derivative from צָהָרִים (tsaharim, “noon”).
  20. Psalm 104:15 tn Heb “and food [that] sustains the heart of man.”
  21. Psalm 104:16 sn The trees of the Lord are the cedars of Lebanon (see the next line), which are viewed as special because of their great size and grandeur. The Lebanon forest was viewed elsewhere in the OT as the “garden of God” (see Ezek 31:8).
  22. Psalm 104:16 tn Heb “are satisfied,” which means here that they receive abundant rain (see v. 13).
  23. Psalm 104:17 tn Heb “[the] heron [in the] evergreens [is] its home.”sn The cedars and evergreens of the Lebanon forest are frequently associated (see, for example, 2 Chr 2:8; Isa 14:8; 37:24; Ezek 31:8).
  24. Psalm 104:18 tn Heb “the high mountains [are] for the goats.”
  25. Psalm 104:19 tn Heb “he made [the] moon for appointed times.” The phrase “appointed times” probably refers to the months of the Hebrew lunar calendar.
  26. Psalm 104:19 tn Heb more metaphorically, “knows its setting.”
  27. Psalm 104:20 tn Heb “you make darkness, so that it might be night.”
  28. Psalm 104:21 sn The lions’ roaring is viewed as a request for food from God.
  29. Psalm 104:22 tn Heb “lie down.”
  30. Psalm 104:23 tn Heb “man goes out to his work, and to his labor until evening.”
New English Translation (NET)

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Proverbs 26:24-26

24 The one who hates others disguises[a] it with his lips,
but he stores up[b] deceit within him.[c]
25 When[d] he speaks graciously,[e] do not believe him,[f]
for there are seven[g] abominations[h] within him.
26 Though his[i] hatred may be concealed[j] by deceit,
his evil will be uncovered[k] in the assembly.

Footnotes:

  1. Proverbs 26:24 tn The Niphal imperfect from נָכַר (nakhar) means “to act [or, treat] as a foreigner [or, stranger]; to misconstrue; to disguise.” The direct object (“it”) is not present in the Hebrew text but is implied. In this passage it means that the hater speaks what is “foreign” to his thought; in other words, he dissembles.
  2. Proverbs 26:24 tn Or “places; puts; lays up” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB).
  3. Proverbs 26:24 tn Heb “within him” (so KJV, ASV) or “in his midst”; NAB “in his inmost being.” sn Hypocritical words may hide a wicked heart. The proverb makes an observation: One who in reality despises other people will often disguise that with what he says.
  4. Proverbs 26:25 tn The particle כִּי (ki) is here interpreted with a temporal nuance. It is also possible that it could be read as concessive (so NIV, NLT “Though”).
  5. Proverbs 26:25 tn The meaning of the rare Piel form of חָנַן (khanan) is “to make gracious; to make favorable.” The subject is קוֹלוֹ (qolo, “his voice”), a metonymy of cause for what he says. The idea is that what he says is very gracious in its content and its effect.
  6. Proverbs 26:25 sn It may be that the placing of this proverb in this setting is designed to point out that the person speaking graciously is this wicked person who conceals an evil heart. Otherwise it may have in mind a person who has already proven untrustworthy but protests in order to conceal his plans. But even if that were not the connection, the proverb would still warn the disciple not to believe someone just because it sounded wonderful. It will take great discernment to know if there is sincerity behind the person’s words.
  7. Proverbs 26:25 sn The number “seven” is used in scripture as the complete number. In this passage it is not intended to be literally seven; rather, the expression means that there is complete or total abomination in his heart. Cf. TEV “his heart is filled to the brim with hate.”
  8. Proverbs 26:25 sn “Abomination” means something that is loathed. This is a description applied by the writer, for the hypocritical person would not refer to his plans this way.
  9. Proverbs 26:26 tn The referent is apparently the individual of vv. 24-25.
  10. Proverbs 26:26 tn The form תִּכַּסֶּה (tikkasseh) is the Hitpael imperfect (with assimilation); it is probably passive, meaning “is concealed,” although it could mean “conceals itself” (naturally). Since the proverb uses antithetical parallelism, an imperfect tense nuance of possibility (“may be concealed”) works well here (cf. NIV, NLT).
  11. Proverbs 26:26 sn The Hebrew verb means “to uncover,” here in the sense of “to reveal; to make known; to expose.” The verse is promising that the evil the person has done will be exposed publicly. The common belief that righteousness will ultimately triumph informs this saying.
New English Translation (NET)

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday October 31, 2024 (NIV)

Lamentations 4-5

א (Alef)

The Prophet Speaks

[a] Alas![b] Gold has lost its luster;[c]
pure gold loses value.[d]
Jewels[e] are scattered
on every street corner.[f]

ב (Bet)

The precious sons of Zion
were worth their weight in gold—
Alas!—but now they are treated like[g] broken clay pots,
made by a potter.[h]

ג (Gimel)

Even the jackals[i] nurse their young
at their breast,[j]
but my people[k] are cruel,
like ostriches[l] in the wilderness.

ד (Dalet)

The infant’s tongue sticks
to the roof of its mouth due to thirst;
little children beg for bread,[m]
but no one gives them even a morsel.[n]

ה (He)

Those who once feasted on delicacies[o]
are now starving to death[p] in the streets.
Those who grew up[q] wearing expensive clothes[r]
are now dying[s] amid garbage.[t]

ו (Vav)

The punishment[u] of my people[v]
exceeds that of[w] Sodom,
which was overthrown in a moment
with no one to help her.[x]

ז (Zayin)

Our consecrated ones[y] were brighter than snow,
whiter than milk;
their bodies more ruddy than corals,
their hair[z] like lapis lazuli.[aa]

ח (Khet)

Now their appearance[ab] is darker than soot;
they are not recognized in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones;
it is dried up, like tree bark.

ט (Tet)

Those who die by the sword[ac] are better off
than those who die of hunger,[ad]
those who[ae] waste away,[af]
struck down[ag] from lack of[ah] food.[ai]

י (Yod)

10 The hands of tenderhearted women[aj]
cooked their own children,
who became their food,[ak]
when my people[al] were destroyed.[am]

כ (Kaf)

11 The Lord fully vented[an] his wrath;
he poured out his fierce anger.[ao]
He started a fire in Zion;
it consumed her foundations.[ap]

ל (Lamed)

12 Neither the kings of the earth
nor the people of the lands[aq] ever thought[ar]
that enemy or foe could enter
the gates[as] of Jerusalem.

מ (Mem)

13 But it happened[at] due to the sins of her prophets[au]
and the iniquities of her priests,
who poured out in her midst
the blood of the righteous.

נ (Nun)

14 They[av] wander blindly[aw] through the streets,
defiled by the blood they shed,[ax]
while no one dares[ay]
to touch their garments.

ס (Samek)

15 People cry to them, “Turn away! You are unclean!
Turn away! Turn away! Don’t touch us!”
So they have fled and wander about;
but the nations say,[az] “They may not stay here any longer.”

פ (Pe)

16 The Lord himself[ba] has scattered them;
he no longer watches over them.
They did not honor the priests;[bb]
they did not show favor to the elders.[bc]

ע (Ayin)

The People of Jerusalem Lament

17 Our eyes continually failed us
as we looked in vain for help.[bd]
From our watchtowers we watched
for a nation that could not rescue us.

צ (Tsade)

18 Our enemies[be] hunted us down at every step[bf]
so that we could not walk about in our streets.
Our end drew near, our days were numbered,[bg]
for our end had come!

ק (Qof)

19 Those who pursued us were swifter
than eagles[bh] in the sky.[bi]
They chased us over the mountains;
they ambushed us in the wilderness.

ר (Resh)

20 Our very life breath—the Lord’s anointed king[bj]
was caught in their traps,[bk]
of whom we thought,[bl]
“Under his protection[bm] we will survive among the nations.”

ש (Sin/Shin)

The Prophet Speaks

21 Rejoice and be glad for now,[bn] O people of Edom,[bo]
who reside in the land of Uz.
But the cup of judgment[bp] will pass[bq] to you also;
you will get drunk and take off your clothes.

ת (Tav)

22 O people of Zion,[br] your punishment[bs] will come to an end;[bt]
he will not prolong your exile.
But, O people of Edom,[bu] he will punish your sin[bv]
and reveal your offenses!

The People of Jerusalem Pray

[bw] O Lord, reflect on[bx] what has happened to us;
consider[by] and look at[bz] our disgrace.
Our inheritance[ca] is turned over to strangers;
foreigners now occupy our homes.[cb]
We have become fatherless orphans;
our mothers have become widows.
We must pay money[cc] for our own water;[cd]
we must buy our own wood at a steep price.[ce]
We are pursued—they are breathing down our necks;[cf]
we are weary and have no rest.[cg]
We have submitted[ch] to Egypt and Assyria
in order to buy food to eat.[ci]
Our forefathers[cj] sinned and are dead,[ck]
but we[cl] suffer[cm] their punishment.[cn]
Slaves[co] rule over us;
there is no one to rescue us from their power.[cp]
At the risk[cq] of our lives[cr] we get our food[cs]
because robbers lurk[ct] in the wilderness.
10 Our skin is as hot as an oven
due to a fever from hunger.[cu]
11 They raped[cv] women in Zion,
virgins in the towns of Judah.
12 Princes were hung by their hands;
elders were mistreated.[cw]
13 The young men perform menial labor;[cx]
boys stagger from their labor.[cy]
14 The elders are gone from the city gate;
the young men have stopped playing their music.
15 Our hearts no longer have any joy;[cz]
our dancing is turned to mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head;
woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Because of this, our hearts are sick;[da]
because of these things, we can hardly see[db] through our tears.[dc]
18 For wild animals[dd] are prowling over Mount Zion,
which lies desolate.
19 But you, O Lord, reign forever;
your throne endures from generation to generation.
20 Why do you keep on forgetting[de] us?
Why do you forsake us so long?
21 Bring us back to yourself, O Lord, so that we may return[df] to you;
renew our life[dg] as in days before,[dh]
22 unless[di] you have utterly rejected us[dj]
and are angry with us beyond measure.[dk]

Footnotes:

  1. Lamentations 4:1 sn According to W. F. Lanahan (“The Speaking Voice in the Book of Lamentations” JBL 93 [1974]: 48), the persona or speaking voice in chap. 4 is a bourgeois, the common man. This voice is somewhat akin to the reporter in chs 1-2 in that much of the description is in the third person. However, “the bourgeois has some sense of identity with his fellow-citizens,” seen in the shift to the first person plural. The alphabetic acrostic structure reduces to two bicola per letter. The first letter of only the first line in each stanza spells the acrostic.
  2. Lamentations 4:1 tn See the note at 1:1.
  3. Lamentations 4:1 tn Heb “had grown dim.” The verb יוּעַם (yu’am), Hophal imperfect third person masculine singular from עָמַם (’amam, “to conceal, darken”), literally means “to be dimmed” or “to be darkened.” Most English versions render this literally: the gold has “become dim” (KJV, NKJV), “grown dim” (RSV, NRSV), “is dulled” (NJPS), and “grown dull” (TEV); however, the NIV has captured the sense well: “How the gold has lost its luster.”
  4. Lamentations 4:1 tc The verb יִשְׁנֶא (yishneʾ, Qal imperfect third person feminine singular) is typically taken to be the only Qal imperfect of I שָׁנָהּ (shanah). Such a spelling with א (alef) instead of ה (he) is feasible. D. R. Hillers suggests the root שָׂנֵא (saneʾ, “to hate”): “Pure gold is hated.” This maintains the consonantal text and also makes sense in context. In either case the point is that gold no longer holds the same value, probably because there is nothing available to buy with it. tn Heb “changes.” The imagery in this verse about gold is without parallel in the Bible and uncertain in precise nuance.
  5. Lamentations 4:1 tn Heb “the stones of holiness/jewelry.” קֹדֶשׁ (qodesh) in most cases refers to holiness or sacredness. For the meaning “jewelry” see J. A. Emerton, “The Meaning of אַבְנֵי־קֹדֶשׁ in Lamentations 4:1ZAW 79 (1967): 233-36.
  6. Lamentations 4:1 tn Heb “at the head of every street.”
  7. Lamentations 4:2 tn Heb “they are regarded as.”
  8. Lamentations 4:2 tn Heb “the work of the hands of a potter.”
  9. Lamentations 4:3 tn The noun תַּנִּין (tannin) means “jackals.” The plural ending ־ִין (-in) is diminutive (GKC 242 §87.e) (e.g., Lam 1:4).
  10. Lamentations 4:3 tn Heb “draw out the breast and suckle their young.”
  11. Lamentations 4:3 tn Heb “the daughter of my people.”
  12. Lamentations 4:3 tc The MT Kethib form כִּי עֵנִים (ki ʿenim) is by all accounts a variation from an original text of כַּיְעֵנִים (kayʿenim, “like ostriches”) which is preserved in the Qere and the medieval Hebrew mss, and reflected in the LXX.
  13. Lamentations 4:4 tn Heb “bread.” The term “bread” might function as a synecdoche of specific (= bread) for general (= food); however, the following parallel line does indeed focus on the act of breaking bread in two.
  14. Lamentations 4:4 tn Heb “there is not a divider to them.” The term “divider” refers to the action of breaking bread in two before giving it to a person to eat (Isa 58:7; Jer 16:7; Lam 4:4).
  15. Lamentations 4:5 tn Heb “eaters of delicacies.” An alternate English gloss would be “connoisseurs of fine foods.”
  16. Lamentations 4:5 tn Heb “are desolate.”
  17. Lamentations 4:5 tn Heb “were reared.”
  18. Lamentations 4:5 tn Heb “in purple.” The term תוֹלָע (tolaʿ, “purple”) is a figurative description of expensive clothing, a metonymy of association where the color of the dyed clothes (= purple) stands for the clothes themselves.
  19. Lamentations 4:5 tn Heb “embrace garbage.” One may also translate “rummage through” (cf. NCV “pick through trash piles”; TEV “pawing through refuse”; NLT “search the garbage pits”).
  20. Lamentations 4:5 tn The Hebrew word אַשְׁפַּתּוֹת (ʾashpatot) can also mean “ash heaps.” Though not used as a combination elsewhere, to “embrace ash heaps” might also envision a state of mourning or even dead bodies lying on the ash heaps.
  21. Lamentations 4:6 tn The noun עֲוֹן (ʿavon) has a basic, twofold range of meaning: (1) basic meaning: “iniquity, sin,” and (2) metonymical cause-for-effect meaning: “punishment for iniquity.”
  22. Lamentations 4:6 tn Heb “the daughter of my people.”
  23. Lamentations 4:6 tn Heb “the sin of.” The noun חַטָּאת (khattaʾt) often means “sin, rebellion,” but here it probably functions in a metonymical (cause for effect) sense: “punishment for sin” (e.g., Zech 14:19). The context focuses on the severity of the punishment of Jerusalem rather than the depths of its degradation and depravity that led to the judgment.
  24. Lamentations 4:6 tn Heb “without a hand turned.” The preposition ב (bet) after the verb חוּל (khul) in Hos 11:6 is adversative: “the sword will turn against [Assyria’s] cities.” Other contexts with חוּל (khul) plus ב (bet) are not comparable (ב [bet] often being locative). However, it is not certain that hands must be adversarial, as the sword clearly is in Hos 11:6. The present translation pictures the suddenness of Sodom’s overthrow as an easier fate than the protracted military campaign and subsequent exile and poverty of Judah’s survivors.
  25. Lamentations 4:7 tn Heb “Nazirites” (so KJV). The Nazirites were consecrated under a vow to refrain from wine, contact with the dead, and cutting their hair. In Gen 49:26 and Deut 33:16, Joseph, who was not a Nazirite, is called the “Nazir” of his brothers. From context, many translate this as “prince” (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), though the nuance is uncertain. If it is valid, then princes might be understood in this context as well.
  26. Lamentations 4:7 tn The noun גִּזְרָה (gizrah) is used primarily in Ezekiel 41-42 (7 of its 9 uses), where it refers to a separated area of the temple complex described in Ezekiel’s vision. It is not used of people other than here. Probably based on the reference to a precious stone, BDB 160 s.v. 1 postulated that it refers to the cutting or polishing of precious stones, but this is conjecture. The English versions handle this variously. D. R. Hillers suggests beards, hair, or eyebrows, relying on other ancient Near Eastern comparisons between lapis lazuli and the body (Lamentations [AB], 81).
  27. Lamentations 4:7 sn Lapis lazuli is a dark-blue semiprecious stone.
  28. Lamentations 4:8 tn Heb “their outline” or “their form.” The Hebrew noun תֹּאַר (toʾar, “outline, form”) is related to the Phoenician noun תֹּאַר (toʾar, “something gazed at”) and the Aramaic verb תָּאַר (taʾar, “to gaze at”). It is used in reference to the forms of a woman (Gen 29:17; Deut 21:11; 1 Sam 25:3; Esth 2:7) and a man (Gen 39:11; Judg 8:18; 1 Sam 16:18; 28:14; 1 Kgs 1:6; 1 Chr 17:17; Isa 52:14; 53:2). Here it occurs in a metonymical sense: “appearance.”
  29. Lamentations 4:9 tn Heb “those pierced of the sword.” The genitive-construct denotes instrumentality: “those pierced by the sword” (חַלְלֵי־חֶרֶב, khalele kherev). The noun חָלָל (khalal) refers to a “fatal wound” and is used substantivally to refer to “the slain” (Num 19:18; 31:8, 19; 1 Sam 17:52; 2 Sam 23:8, 18; 1 Chr 11:11, 20; Isa 22:2; 66:16; Jer 14:18; 25:33; 51:49; Lam 4:9; Ezek 6:7; 30:11; 31:17, 18; 32:20; Zeph 2:12).
  30. Lamentations 4:9 tn Heb “those slain of hunger.” The genitive-construct denotes instrumentality: “those slain by hunger,” that is, those who are dying of hunger.
  31. Lamentations 4:9 tn Heb “who…” The antecedent of the relative pronoun שֶׁהֵם (shehem, “who”) are those dying of hunger in the previous line: מֵחַלְלֵי רָעָב (mekhalele raʿav, “those slain of hunger”).
  32. Lamentations 4:9 tn Heb “they flow away.” The verb זוּב (zuv, “to flow, gush”) is used figuratively here, meaning “to pine away” or “to waste away” from hunger. See also the next note.
  33. Lamentations 4:9 tn Heb “pierced through and through.” The term מְדֻקָּרִים (meduqqarim), Pual participle masculine plural from דָּקַר (daqar, “to pierce”), is used figuratively. The verb דָּקַר (daqar, “to pierce”) usually refers to a fatal wound inflicted by a sword or spear (Num 25:8; Judg 9:54; 1 Sam 31:4; 1 Chr 10:4; Isa 13:15; Jer 37:10; 51:4; Zech 12:10; 13:3). Here, it describes people dying from hunger. This is an example of hypocatastasis: an implied comparison between warriors being fatally pierced by sword and spear and the piercing pangs of hunger and starvation. Alternatively, one could translate, “those who hemorrhage (זוּב [zuv, “flow, gush”]) [are better off] than those pierced by lack of food,” in parallel to the structure of the first line.
  34. Lamentations 4:9 tn The preposition מִן (min, “from”) denotes deprivation: “from lack of” something (BDB 580 s.v. 2.f; HALOT 598 s.v. 6).
  35. Lamentations 4:9 tn Heb “produce of the field.”
  36. Lamentations 4:10 tn Heb “the hands of compassionate women.”
  37. Lamentations 4:10 tn Heb “eating.” The infinitive construct (from I בָּרָה, barah) is translated as a noun. Three passages employ the verb (2 Sam 3:35; 12:17; 13:5, 6, 10) for eating when one is ill or in mourning.
  38. Lamentations 4:10 tn Heb “the daughter of my people.”
  39. Lamentations 4:10 tn Heb “in the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
  40. Lamentations 4:11 tn Heb “has completed.” The verb כִּלָּה (killah), Piel perfect third person masculine singular from כָּלָה (kalah, “to complete”), has a range of closely related meanings: (1) “to complete, bring to an end,” (2) “to accomplish, finish, cease,” (3) “to use up, exhaust, consume.” Used in reference to God’s wrath, it describes God unleashing his full measure of anger so that divine justice is satisfied. This is handled admirably by several English versions: “The Lord has given full vent to his wrath” (NIV), “The Lord gave full vent to his wrath” (RSV, NRSV), “The Lord vented all his fury” (NJPS), and “The Lord turned loose the full force of his fury” (TEV). Others miss the mark: “The Lord has accomplished his wrath/fury” (KJV, NKJV, ASV, NASB).
  41. Lamentations 4:11 tn Heb “the heat of his anger.”
  42. Lamentations 4:11 tn The term יְסוֹד (yesod, “foundation”) refers to the ground-level and below ground-level foundation stones of a city wall (Ps 137:7; Lam 4:11; Mic 1:6).
  43. Lamentations 4:12 tn Heb “inhabitants of the mainland.”
  44. Lamentations 4:12 tn Heb “they did not believe that.” The verb הֶאֱמִינוּ (heʾeminu), Hiphil perfect third person common plural from אָמַן (ʾaman, “to believe”), ordinarily is a term of faith and trust, but occasionally it functions cognitively: “to think that” (Job 9:16; 15:22; Ps 116:10; Lam 4:12) and “to be convinced that” (Ps 27:13) (HALOT 64 s.v. I אמן hif.1). The semantic relationship between “to believe” = “to think” is metonymical, that is, effect for cause.
  45. Lamentations 4:12 sn The expression “to enter the gates” of a city is an idiom referring to the military conquest of that city. Ancient Near-Eastern fortified cities typically featured double and sometimes triple city gates—the bulwark of the defense of the city. Because fortified cities were enclosed with protective walls, the Achilles tendon of every city was the city gates—the weak point in the defense and the perennial point of attack by enemies (e.g., Judg 5:8, 11; 1 Sam 17:52; Isa 29:6; Jer 17:27; 51:54; Ezek 21:20, 27; Mic 1:9, 12; Neh 1:3; 2:3, 13, 17).
  46. Lamentations 4:13 tn These words do not appear in the Hebrew but are supplied to make sense of the line. The introductory causal preposition מִן (min) (“because”) indicates that this phrase—or something like it—is implied through elision.
  47. Lamentations 4:13 tn There is no main verb in the verse; it is an extended prepositional phrase. One must either assume a verbal idea such as, “But it happened due to…,” or connect the verse to the following verses, which themselves are quite difficult. The former option was employed in the present translation.
  48. Lamentations 4:14 tn “They” are apparently the people, rather than the prophets and priests mentioned in the preceding verse.
  49. Lamentations 4:14 tc The Hebrew word עִוְרִים (ʿivrim) appears to be an adjective based on the root I עִוֵּר (ʿivver, “blind”). The LXX, using a rare perfect optative of ἐγείρω (egeirō), seems to have read a form of II עוּר (ʿur, “to rise”), while the Syriac reads “her nobles,” possibly from reading שָׂרִים (sarim). The evidence is unclear.
  50. Lamentations 4:14 tn Heb “defiled with blood.” Cf. Isa 59:3.sn Tremper Longman (Jeremiah, Lamentations [New International Biblical Commentary], 384) notes that the priests are unclean by the blood on their garments, but blood from wounds did not make a person unclean. Murder made a person guilty but not ceremonially unclean. Jeremiah chose the vocabulary of ceremonial defilement to stress the wrongness of what they did.
  51. Lamentations 4:14 tn The grammar is uncommon. The MT has the preposition ב (bet, “in,” “by,” “with,” “when,” etc.), the negative particle לֹא (loʾ), and then a finite verb from יָכַל (yakhal, Qal imperfect third person masculine plural): “in not they are able.” Normally יָכַל (yakhal) would be followed by an infinitive, identifying what someone is or is not able to do, or by some other modifying clause. לֹא יָכַל (loʾ yakhal) on its own may mean “they do not prevail.” The preposition ב (bet) suggests possible dependence on another verb (cf. Jer 2:11, the only other verse with the sequence ב [bet] plus לֹא [loʾ] plus finite verb). The following verb נָגַע (nagaʿ, “touch”) regularly indicates its object with the preposition ב (bet), but the preposition ב (bet) is already used with “their garments.” If both are the object of נָגַע (nagaʿ), the line would oddly read: “they touched what they could not, their garments.” The preposition ב (bet) can also introduce temporal clauses, though there are no examples with לֹא (loʾ) plus a finite verb. BDB 89 s.v. בְּ III 1.b states that בְּלֹא can mean “without.” BDB 407 s.v. יָכֹל Qal 1.e says that the sequence “they are unable, they touch” equals “they are unable to touch.” In Jer 49:10 the meaning of יָכַל (yakhal) is completed by a finite verb (though it is not governed by the preposition ב [bet]). If so here, then we may understand: “without people being able (יָכַל, yakhal) to touch their garments.” See GKC, 120g. This gives the picture of blind people stumbling about while others cannot help because they are afraid to touch them due to possible defilement themselves.
  52. Lamentations 4:15 tn Heb “They say among the nations.”
  53. Lamentations 4:16 tn Heb “the face of the Lord.” The term פָּנֶה (paneh, “face”) is a synecdoche of a part (= face) for the whole person (= the Lord himself). The phrase is often translated “the presence of the Lord.” The term “face” also functions anthropomorphically, depicting the invisible, spiritual God as though he had a physical face.
  54. Lamentations 4:16 tc The MT reads a plural verb לֹא נָשָׂאוּ (loʾ nasaʾu, “they did not lift up”) from נָשָׂא (nasaʾ, “to lift up”); however, the ancient versions (LXX, Aramaic Targum, Latin Vulgate, Syriac Peshitta) have singular verbs, reflecting לֹא נָשָׂא (loʾ nasaʾ, “he did not lift up”). D. R. Hillers suggests that the MT plural is an intentional scribe change, to avoid the appearance that God brought about evil on the priests and elders. It may also be that the third person plural presumes an indefinite subject and the construction is used in place of a passive, but still essentially means, “the priests were not honored” (see following note regarding the idiom). Another alternative would be to revocalize the verb as the rare Qal passive, which would yield the same result. tn Heb “did not lift up.” The verb נָשָׂא (nasaʾ) means “to lift up” (the face); however, the specific contextual nuance here is probably “to show consideration” (e.g., Deut 28:50; Lam 4:16) (BDB 670 s.v. 1.b.3).
  55. Lamentations 4:16 tc The MT reads a plural verb לֹא חָנָנוּ (loʾ khananu, “they did not show favor”) from חָנַן (khanan, “to show favor, be merciful”); however, the ancient versions (LXX, Aramaic Targum, Latin Vulgate, Syriac Peshitta) have singular verbs, reflecting לֹא חָנַן (loʾ khanan, “he did not show favor”). D. R. Hillers suggests that the MT plural is an intentional scribal change to avoid the appearance that God brought about evil on the priests and elders. It may also be that the third person plural presumes an indefinite subject and the construction is used in place of a passive, but still essentially means “the elders were not shown mercy.” Another alternative would be to revocalize the verb as the rare Qal passive, which would yield the same result.tn The basic meaning of the verb חָנַן (khanan) is “to show favor [to], be gracious [to].” In some contexts this can mean “to spare” the lives of someone (Deut 7:2; 28:50; Job 19:21; Lam 4:16) (BDB 336 s.v. 1.c), though it is not clear whether that is the case here.
  56. Lamentations 4:17 tn Heb “Our eyes failed in vain for help.”
  57. Lamentations 4:18 tn Heb “they”; this has been specified in the translation as “our enemies” for clarity.
  58. Lamentations 4:18 tn Heb “they hunted our steps.”
  59. Lamentations 4:18 tn Heb “our days were full.”
  60. Lamentations 4:19 tn The bird referred to here could be one of several species of eagles but more likely is the griffin-vulture (cf. NEB “vultures”). However, because eagles are more commonly associated with swiftness than vultures in contemporary English, “eagles” was used in the translation.
  61. Lamentations 4:19 tn Or “in the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky,” depending on the context.
  62. Lamentations 4:20 tn Heb “the anointed one of the Lord.” The term “king” is added in the translation to clarify the referent of the phrase “the Lord’s anointed.”
  63. Lamentations 4:20 tn Heb “was captured in their pits.”
  64. Lamentations 4:20 tn Heb “of whom we had said.”
  65. Lamentations 4:20 tn Heb “under his shadow.” The term צֵל (tsel, “shadow”) is used figuratively here to refer the source of protection from military enemies. In the same way that the shade of a tree gives physical relief and protection from the heat of the sun (e.g., Judg 9:15; Job 40:22; Ps 80:11; Song 2:3; Ezek 17:23; 31:6, 12, 17; Hos 4:13; 14:8; Jon 4:5, 6), a faithful and powerful king can provide “shade” (= protection) from enemies and military attack (Num 14:19; Ps 91:1; Isa 30:2, 3; 49:2; 51:16; Jer 48:45; Lam 4:20).
  66. Lamentations 4:21 tn The phrase “for now” is added in the translation to highlight the implied contrast between the present joy of the Gentiles (4:21a) and their future judgment (4:21b).
  67. Lamentations 4:21 tn Heb “O Daughter of Edom.”
  68. Lamentations 4:21 tn Heb “the cup.” Judgment is often depicted as a cup of wine that God forces a person to drink, causing him to lose consciousness, with red wine drooling out of his mouth. He resembles corpses lying on the ground as a result of the actual onslaught of the Lord’s judgment. The drunkard, reeling and staggering, causing bodily injury to himself, is an apt metaphor to describe the devastating effects of God’s judgment. Just as a cup of poison kills all those who are forced to drink it, the cup of God’s wrath destroys all those who must drink it (e.g., Ps 75:9; Isa 51:17, 22; Jer 25:15, 17, 28; 49:12; 51:7; Lam 4:21; Ezek 23:33; Hab 2:16).
  69. Lamentations 4:21 tn The imperfect verb “will pass” may also be a jussive, continuing the element of request: “let the cup pass…”
  70. Lamentations 4:22 tn Heb “O Daughter Zion.”
  71. Lamentations 4:22 tn Heb “your iniquity.” The noun עָוֹן (ʿavon) has a broad range of meanings, including: (1) iniquity, (2) guilt of iniquity, and (3) consequence or punishment for iniquity (cause-effect metonymical relation). The context suggests that “punishment for sin” is most appropriate here (e.g., Gen 4:13; 19:15; Exod 28:38, 43; Lev 5:1, 17; 7:18; 10:17; 16:22; 17:16; 19:8; 20:17, 19; 22:16; 26:39, 41, 43; Num 5:31; 14:34; 18:1, 23; 30:15; 1 Sam 25:24; 28:10; 2 Sam 14:9; 2 Kgs 7:9; Job 10:14; Pss 31:11; 69:28; 106:43; Prov 5:22; Isa 5:18; 30:13; 40:2; 53:6, 11; 64:5, 6; Jer 51:6; Lam 4:22; 5:7; Ezek 4:4-6, 17; 7:16; 14:10; 18:19-20; 21:30, 34 HT [21:25, 29 ET]; 24:23; 32:27; 35:5; 39:23; 44:10, 12).
  72. Lamentations 4:22 tn Heb “will be completed.” The verb תַּם (tam) is Qal perfect from תָּמַם (tamam, “to be complete”). The translation understands it as an example of the so-called “prophetic perfect,” describing a future event viewed as “complete.” Some would call this “as good as done,” or certain to take place from the viewpoint of the prophet. It has also been viewed as a simple perfect: “your punishment is ended.”
  73. Lamentations 4:22 tn Heb “O Daughter of Edom.”
  74. Lamentations 4:22 tn The noun עָוֹן (ʿavon) is repeated twice in this verse, denoting first “punishment for iniquity” (v. 22a), and then “iniquity” (v. 22b). See a preceding translator’s note on the broad range of meanings for this word. The repetition of the same root with different meanings creates an ironic polysemantic wordplay: Zion’s “punishment” for its sin is about to come to an end, but the punishment for Edom’s “sin” is about to begin.
  75. Lamentations 5:1 sn The speaking voice is now that of a choir singing the community’s lament in the first person plural. The poem is not an alphabetic acrostic like the preceding chapters but has 22 verses, the same as the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet.
  76. Lamentations 5:1 tn The basic meaning of זָכַר (zakhar) is “to remember, call to mind” (HALOT 270 s.v. I זכר). Although often used of recollection of past events, זָכַר (zakhar, “to remember”) can also describe consideration of present situations: “to consider, think about” something present (BDB 270 s.v. 5), hence “reflect on,” the most appropriate nuance here. Verses 1-6 describe the present plight of Jerusalem. The parallel requests הַבֵּיט וּרְאֵה (habbet ureʾeh, “Look and see!”) have a present-time orientation as well. See also 2:1 and 3:19-20.
  77. Lamentations 5:1 tn Heb “Look!” Although often used in reference to visual perception, נָבַט (navat, “to look”) can also refer to cognitive consideration and mental attention shown to a situation: “to regard” (e.g., 1 Sam 16:7; 2 Kgs 3:14), or “to pay attention to, consider” (e.g., Isa 22:8; 51:1, 2).
  78. Lamentations 5:1 tn Although normally occurring in reference to visual sight, רָאָה (raʾah) is often used in reference to cognitive processes and mental observation. See the note on “Consider” at 2:20.
  79. Lamentations 5:2 tn Heb “Our inheritance” or “Our inherited possessions/property.” The term נַחֲלָה (nakhalah) has a range of meanings: (1) “inheritance,” (2) “portion, share” and (3) “possession, property.” The land of Canaan was given by the Lord to Israel as its inheritance (Deut 4:21; 15:4; 19:10; 20:16; 21:23; 24:4; 25:19; 26:1; Josh 20:6) and distributed among the tribes, clans, and families (Num 16:14; 36:2; Deut 29:7; Josh 11:23; 13:6; 14:3, 13; 17:4, 6, 14; 19:49; 23:4; Judg 18:1; Ezek 45:1; 47:22; 48:29). Through the land, the family provided an inheritance (property) to its children, with the firstborn receiving pride of position (Gen 31:14; Num 27:7-11; 36:3, 8; 1 Kgs 21:3, 4; Job 42:15; Prov 19:14; Ezek 46:16). Here the parallelism between “our inheritance” and “our homes” would allow for the specific referent of the phrase “our inheritance” to be (1) land or (2) material possessions, or given the nature of the poetry in Lamentations, to carry both meanings at the same time.
  80. Lamentations 5:2 tn Heb “our homes [are turned over] to foreigners.”
  81. Lamentations 5:4 tn Heb “silver.” The term “silver” is a synecdoche of the particular (= silver) for the general (= money).
  82. Lamentations 5:4 tn Heb “We drink our water for silver.”
  83. Lamentations 5:4 tn Heb “our wood comes for a price.”
  84. Lamentations 5:5 tn Heb “We are hard-driven on our necks.”
  85. Lamentations 5:5 sn For the theological allusion that goes beyond physical rest, see, e.g., Deut 12:10; 25:19; Josh 1:13; 11:23; 2 Sam 7:1, 11; 1 Chron 22:18; 2 Chron 14:6-7.
  86. Lamentations 5:6 tn Heb “we have given the hand”; cf. NRSV “We have made a pact.” This is a Semitic idiom meaning “to make a treaty with” someone, placing oneself in a subservient position as vassal. The prophets criticized these treaties.
  87. Lamentations 5:6 tn Heb “bread.” The term “bread” is a synecdoche of the specific (= bread) for the general (= food).
  88. Lamentations 5:7 tn Heb “fathers,” but here the term also refers to “forefathers,” i.e., more distant ancestors.
  89. Lamentations 5:7 tn Heb “and are no more.”
  90. Lamentations 5:7 tc The Kethib is written אֲנַחְנוּ (ʾanakhnu, “we”), but the Qere reads וַאֲנַחְנוּ (vaʾanakhnu, “but we”). The Qere is supported by many medieval Hebrew mss, as well as most of the ancient versions (Aramaic Targum, Syriac Peshitta, Latin Vulgate). The ו (vav) prefixed to וַאֲנַחְנוּ (vaʾanakhnu) functions either in a disjunctive sense (“but”) or resultant sense (“so”).
  91. Lamentations 5:7 tn Heb “so we bear.”
  92. Lamentations 5:7 tn Heb “their iniquities.” The noun עָוֹן (ʿavon) has a broad range of meanings, including: (1) iniquity, (2) guilt of iniquity, and (3) consequence or punishment for iniquity (cause-effect metonymical relation). The context suggests that “punishment for sin” is most appropriate here (e.g., Gen 4:13; 19:15; Exod 28:38, 43; Lev 5:1, 17; 7:18; 10:17; 16:22; 17:16; 19:8; 20:17, 19; 22:16; 26:39, 41, 43; Num 5:31; 14:34; 18:1, 23; 30:15; 1 Sam 25:24; 28:10; 2 Sam 14:9; 2 Kgs 7:9; Job 10:14; Pss 31:11; 69:28; 106:43; Prov 5:22; Isa 5:18; 30:13; 40:2; 53:6, 11; 64:5, 6; Jer 51:6; Lam 4:22; 5:7; Ezek 4:4-6, 17; 7:16; 14:10; 18:19-20; 21:25, 34 HT [21:25, 29 ET]; 24:23; 32:27; 35:5; 39:23; 44:10, 12).
  93. Lamentations 5:8 tn Heb “slaves.” While indicating that social structures are awry, the expression “slaves rule over us” might be an idiom for “tyrants rule over us.” This might find its counterpart in the gnomic truth that the most ruthless rulers are made of former slaves: “Under three things the earth quakes, under four it cannot bear up: under a slave when he becomes king” (Prov 30:21-22a).
  94. Lamentations 5:8 tn Heb “hand.”
  95. Lamentations 5:9 tn Heb “at the cost of our lives.” The preposition ב (bet) here denotes purchase price paid (e.g., Gen 30:16; Exod 34:20; 2 Sam 3:14; 24:24) (BDB 90 s.v. בְּ 3.a). The expression בְּנַפְשֵׁנוּ (benafshenu) means “at the risk of our lives.” Similar expressions include בְנַפְשׁוֹ (benafsho, “at the cost of his life,” 1 Kgs 2:23; Prov 7:23) and בְּנַפְשׁוֹתָם (benafshotam, “at peril of their lives,” 2 Sam 23:17).
  96. Lamentations 5:9 tn Heb “our soul.” The noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul”) is used as a metonymy of association (soul = life) (e.g., Gen 44:30; Exod 21:23; 2 Sam 14:7; Jon 1:14).
  97. Lamentations 5:9 tn Heb “bread.” The term “bread” is a synecdoche of the specific (= bread) for the general (= food).
  98. Lamentations 5:9 tn Heb “because of the sword.” The term “sword” is a metonymy of instrument (= sword) for the persons who use the instrument (= murderers or marauders).
  99. Lamentations 5:10 tn Heb “because of the burning heat of famine.”
  100. Lamentations 5:11 tn Heb “ravished.”
  101. Lamentations 5:12 tn Heb “elders were shown no respect.” The phrase “shown no respect” is an example of tapeinosis, a figurative expression of understatement: to show no respect to elders = to terribly mistreat elders.
  102. Lamentations 5:13 tn The text is difficult. Word by word the MT has, “young men hand mill (?) they take up.” Perhaps it means, “they take [our] young men for mill grinding,” or perhaps it means, “the young men take up [the labor of] mill grinding.” This expression is an example of synecdoche, where the mill stands for the labor at the mill, and then that labor stands for performing menial physical labor as servants. The surface reading, “young men carry hand mills,” does not portray any great adversity for them. The Vulgate translates as an abusive sexual metaphor (see D. R. Hillers, Lamentations [AB], 99), but this gives no known parallel to the second part of the verse.
  103. Lamentations 5:13 tc Heb “boys trip over wood.” This phrase makes little sense. The translation adopts D. R. Hillers’ suggestion (Lamentations [AB], 99) of בְּעֶצֶב כָּשָׁלוּ (beʿetsev kashalu). Due to letter confusion and haplography the final ב (bet) of בְּעֶצֶב (beʿetsev), which looks like the כ (kaf) beginning the next word, may have been dropped. This verb can have an abstract noun after the preposition ב (bet), meaning “from, due to,” rather than “over.”
  104. Lamentations 5:15 tn Heb “the joy of our heart has ceased.”
  105. Lamentations 5:17 tn Heb “are faint” or “are sick.” The adjective דַּוָּי (davvay, “faint”) is used in reference to emotional sorrow (e.g., Isa 1:5; Lam 1:22; Jer 8:18). The related adjective דָּוֶה (daveh) means “(physically) sick” and “(emotionally) sad,” while the related verb דָּוָה (davah) means “to be sad.” The cognate Aramaic term means “sorrow,” and the cognate Syriac term refers to “misery.”
  106. Lamentations 5:17 tn Heb “our eyes are dim.” The physical description of losing sight is metaphorical, perhaps for being blinded by tears or, more abstractly, for being unable to see (= envision) any hope. The collocation “darkened eyes” is too rare to clarify the nuance.
  107. Lamentations 5:17 tn The phrase “through our tears” is added in the translation for the sake of clarification.
  108. Lamentations 5:18 tn Heb “jackals.” The term “jackals” is a synecdoche of the particular (= jackals) for the general (= wild animals).
  109. Lamentations 5:20 tnThe Hebrew verb “forget” often means “to not pay attention to, ignore,” just as the Hebrew “remember” often means “to consider, attend to.”sn The verbs “to forget” and “to remember” are often used figuratively in scripture when God is the subject, particularly in contexts of judgment (God forgets his people) and restoration of blessing (God remembers his people). In this case, the verb “to forget” functions as a hypocatastasis (implied comparison), drawing a comparison between God’s judgment and rejection of Jerusalem to a person forgetting that Jerusalem even exists. God’s judgment of Jerusalem was so intense and enduring that it seemed as though he had forgotten her. The synonymous parallelism makes this clear.
  110. Lamentations 5:21 tc The Kethib is וְנָשׁוּב (venashuv, “and we will return”), a simple vav + imperfect. The Qere is וְנָשׁוּבָה (venashuvah, “and let us return”), vav + cohortative. Both are from שׁוּב (shuv, “to return”).tn The cohortative after a volitive indicates purpose (“so that”). There is a wordplay in Hebrew between “Bring us back” (Hiphil imperative of שׁוּב [shuv, “to return”]) and “let us return” (Qal imperfect of שׁוּב). This repetition of the root שׁוּב is significant; it depicts a reciprocal relationship between God’s willingness to allow the nation to return to him, on the one hand, and its national repentance, on the other.
  111. Lamentations 5:21 tn Heb “our days.” The term “days” is a synecdoche of time (= days) for what is experienced within that time span (= life) (e.g., Gen 5:4, 8, 11; 6:3; 9:29; 11:32; 25:7; 47:8, 9; Deut 22:19, 29; 23:7; Josh 24:31; Judg 2:7, 18; 2 Sam 19:35; Job 7:1, 16, 18; Pss 8:9; 39:5, 6; 90:9, 10, 12, 14; 103:15; Prov 31:12; Eccl 2:3; 5:17, 19; 6:3).
  112. Lamentations 5:21 tn Heb “as of old.”
  113. Lamentations 5:22 tn The compound conjunction כִּי אִם (ki ʾim) functions to limit the preceding clause: “unless, or…” (e.g., Ruth 3:18; Isa 65:6; Amos 3:7) (BDB 474 s.v. 2.a): “Bring us back to yourself…unless you have utterly rejected us” (as in the present translation), or “Bring us back to yourself…Or have you utterly rejected us?” It is Jeremiah’s plea that the Lord be willing to relent of his anger and restore a repentant nation to himself. However, Jeremiah acknowledges that this wished-for restoration might not be possible if the Lord has become so angry with Jerusalem/Judah that he is determined to reject the nation once and for all. Then, Jerusalem/Judah’s restoration would be impossible.
  114. Lamentations 5:22 tn Heb “Or have you actually rejected us?” The construction מָאֹס מְאַסְתָּנוּ (maʾos meʾastanu), an infinitive absolute plus finite verb of the same root, highlights the modality of the verb.
  115. Lamentations 5:22 tn Heb “Are you exceedingly angry with us?” The construction עַד־מְאֹד (ʿad meʾod) means “up to an abundance, to a great degree, exceedingly” (e.g., Gen 27:33, 34; 1 Sam 11:15; 25:36; 2 Sam 2:17; 1 Kgs 1:4; Pss 38:7, 9; 119:8, 43, 51, 107; Isa 64:9, 12; Lam 5:22; Dan 8:8; 11:25). Used in reference to God’s judgment, this phrase denotes total and irrevocable rejection by God and his refusal to forgive the sin and restore the people to a status under his grace and blessings. Examples are: “Do not be angry beyond measure (עַד־מְאֹד), O Lord; do not remember our sins forever” (Isa 64:9), and “Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure (עַד־מְאֹד)?” (Isa 64:12). The sentiment is expressed well in TEV (“Or have you rejected us forever? Is there no limit to your anger?”) and CEV (“Or do you despise us so much that you don’t want us?”).
New English Translation (NET)

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Hebrews 2

Warning Against Drifting Away

Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken through angels[a] proved to be so firm that every violation[b] or disobedience received its just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him, while God confirmed their witness[c] with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed[d] according to his will.

Exposition of Psalm 8: Jesus and the Destiny of Humanity

For he did not put the world to come,[e] about which we are speaking,[f] under the control of angels. Instead someone testified somewhere:

What is man that you think of him[g] or the son of man that you care for him?
You made him lower than the angels for a little while.
You crowned him with glory and honor.[h]
You put all things under his control.”[i]

For when he put all things under his control, he left nothing outside of his control. At present we do not yet see all things under his control,[j] but we see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while,[k] now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death,[l] so that by God’s grace he would experience[m] death on behalf of everyone. 10 For it was fitting for him, for whom and through whom all things exist,[n] in bringing many sons to glory, to make the pioneer[o] of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For indeed he who makes holy and those being made holy all have the same origin,[p] and so[q] he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,[r] 12 saying, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers;[s] in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.”[t] 13 Again he says,[u] “I will be confident in him,” and again, “Here I am,[v] with[w] the children God has given me.”[x] 14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he likewise shared in[y] their humanity,[z] so that through death he could destroy[aa] the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil), 15 and set free those who were held in slavery all their lives by their fear of death. 16 For surely his concern is not for angels, but he is concerned for Abraham’s descendants. 17 Therefore he had[ab] to be made like his brothers and sisters[ac] in every respect, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make atonement[ad] for the sins of the people. 18 For since he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.

Footnotes:

  1. Hebrews 2:2 sn The message spoken through angels refers to the OT law, which according to Jewish tradition was mediated to Moses through angels (cf. Deut 33:2; Ps 68:17-18; Acts 7:38, 53; Gal 3:19; and Jub. 1:27, 29; Josephus, Ant. 15.5.3 [15.136]).
  2. Hebrews 2:2 tn Grk “through angels became valid and every violation.”
  3. Hebrews 2:4 tn Grk “God bearing witness together” (the phrase “with them” is implied).
  4. Hebrews 2:4 tn Grk “and distributions of the Holy Spirit.”
  5. Hebrews 2:5 sn The phrase the world to come means “the coming inhabited earth,” using the Greek term which describes the world of people and their civilizations.
  6. Hebrews 2:5 sn See the previous reference to the world in Heb 1:6.
  7. Hebrews 2:6 tn Grk “remember him.”
  8. Hebrews 2:7 tc Several witnesses, many of them early and significant (א A C D* P Ψ 0243 0278 33 1739 1881 al lat co), have at the end of v 7, “You have given him dominion over the works of your hands.” Other mss, not quite as impressive in weight, lack the words (P46 B D2 M). In spite of the impressive external evidence for the longer reading, it is most likely a scribal addition to conform the text of Hebrews to Ps 8:6 (8:7 LXX). Conformity of a NT quotation of the OT to the LXX was a routine scribal activity, and can hardly be in doubt here as to the cause of the longer reading.
  9. Hebrews 2:8 tn Grk “you subjected all things under his feet.”sn A quotation from Ps 8:4-6.
  10. Hebrews 2:8 sn The expression all things under his control occurs three times in 2:8. The latter two occurrences are not exactly identical to the Greek text of Ps 8:6 quoted at the beginning of the verse, but have been adapted by the writer of Hebrews to fit his argument.
  11. Hebrews 2:9 tn Or “who was made a little lower than the angels.”
  12. Hebrews 2:9 tn Grk “because of the suffering of death.”
  13. Hebrews 2:9 tn Grk “would taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).
  14. Hebrews 2:10 tn Grk “for whom are all things and through whom are all things.”
  15. Hebrews 2:10 sn The Greek word translated pioneer is used of a “prince” or leader, the representative head of a family. It also carries nuances of “trailblazer,” one who breaks through to new ground for those who follow him. It is used some thirty-five times in the Greek OT and four times in the NT, always of Christ (Acts 3:15; 5:31; Heb 2:10; 12:2).
  16. Hebrews 2:11 tn Grk “are all from one.”
  17. Hebrews 2:11 tn Grk “for which reason.”
  18. Hebrews 2:11 tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelphoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited). The context here also indicates both men and women are in view; note especially the collective τὰ παιδία (ta paidia) in v. 14.
  19. Hebrews 2:12 tn Here, because of its occurrence in an OT quotation, τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς (tois adelphois) has been translated simply as “brothers” rather than “brothers and sisters” (see the note on the latter phrase in the previous verse).
  20. Hebrews 2:12 sn A quotation from Ps 22:22.
  21. Hebrews 2:13 tn Grk “and again,” as a continuation of the preceding.
  22. Hebrews 2:13 tn Grk “behold, I,” but this construction often means “here is/there is” (cf. BDAG 468 s.v. ἰδού 2).
  23. Hebrews 2:13 tn Grk “and.”
  24. Hebrews 2:13 sn A quotation from Isa 8:17-18.
  25. Hebrews 2:14 tn Or “partook of” (this is a different word than the one in v. 14a).
  26. Hebrews 2:14 tn Grk “the same.”
  27. Hebrews 2:14 tn Or “break the power of,” “reduce to nothing.”
  28. Hebrews 2:17 tn Or “he was obligated.”
  29. Hebrews 2:17 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 2:11.
  30. Hebrews 2:17 tn Or “propitiation.”
New English Translation (NET)

NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

Psalm 103

Psalm 103[a]

By David.

103 Praise the Lord, O my soul.
With all that is within me, praise[b] his holy name.
Praise the Lord, O my soul.
Do not forget all his kind deeds.[c]
He is the one who forgives all your sins,
who heals all your diseases,[d]
who delivers[e] your life from the Pit,[f]
who crowns you with his loyal love and compassion,
who satisfies your life with good things,[g]
so your youth is renewed like an eagle’s.[h]
The Lord does what is fair,
and executes justice for all the oppressed.[i]
The Lord revealed his faithful acts[j] to Moses,
his deeds to the Israelites.
The Lord is compassionate and merciful;
he is patient[k] and demonstrates great loyal love.[l]
He does not always accuse,
and does not stay angry.[m]
10 He does not deal with us as our sins deserve;[n]
he does not repay us as our misdeeds deserve.[o]
11 For as the skies are high above the earth,
so his loyal love towers[p] over his faithful followers.[q]
12 As far as the eastern horizon[r] is from the west,[s]
so he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions[t] from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,[u]
so the Lord has compassion on his faithful followers.[v]
14 For he knows what we are made of;[w]
he realizes[x] we are made of clay.[y]
15 A person’s life is like grass.[z]
Like a flower in the field it flourishes,
16 but when the hot wind[aa] blows, it disappears,
and one can no longer even spot the place where it once grew.
17 But the Lord continually shows loyal love to his faithful followers,[ab]
and is faithful to their descendants,[ac]
18 to those who keep his covenant,
who are careful to obey his commands.[ad]
19 The Lord has established his throne in heaven;
his kingdom extends over everything.[ae]
20 Praise the Lord, you angels of his,
you powerful warriors who carry out his decrees
and obey his orders.[af]
21 Praise the Lord, all you warriors of his,[ag]
you servants of his who carry out his desires.[ah]
22 Praise the Lord, all that he has made,[ai]
in all the regions[aj] of his kingdom.
Praise the Lord, O my soul.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 103:1 sn Psalm 103. The psalmist praises God for his mercy and willingness to forgive his people.
  2. Psalm 103:1 tn The verb “praise” is understood by ellipsis in the second line (see the preceding line).
  3. Psalm 103:2 tn Or “his benefits” (see 2 Chr 32:25, where the noun is also used of kind deeds performed by the Lord).
  4. Psalm 103:3 tn This relatively rare noun refers to deadly diseases (see Deut 29:22; Jer 14:18; 16:4; 2 Chr 21:19).
  5. Psalm 103:4 tn Or “redeems.”
  6. Psalm 103:4 tn The Hebrew term שַׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 16:10; 30:9; 49:9; 55:24 HT [55:23 ET]).
  7. Psalm 103:5 tc Heb “who satisfies with the good of your ornaments.” The text as it stands makes little, if any, sense. The translation assumes an emendation of עֶדְיֵךְ (ʿedyekh, “your ornaments”) to עֹדֵכִי (ʿodekhi, “your duration; your continuance”), that is, “your life” (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 18).
  8. Psalm 103:5 sn The expression your youth is renewed like an eagle’s may allude to the phenomenon of molting, whereby the eagle grows new feathers.
  9. Psalm 103:6 tn Heb “the Lord does fairness, and [acts of] justice for all the oppressed.”
  10. Psalm 103:7 tn Heb “made known his ways.” God’s “ways” in this context are his protective and salvific acts in fulfillment of his promise (see also Deut 32:4; Pss 18:30; 67:2; 77:13 [note vv. 11-12, 14]; 138:5; 145:17).
  11. Psalm 103:8 tn Heb “slow to anger” (see Ps 86:15).
  12. Psalm 103:8 tn Heb “and great of loyal love” (see Ps 86:15).
  13. Psalm 103:9 tn The Hebrew verb נָטַר (natar) is usually taken to mean “to keep; to guard,” with “anger” being understood by ellipsis. The idiom “to guard anger” is then understood to mean “to remain angry” (see Lev 19:18; Jer 3:5, 12; Nah 1:2). However, it is possible that this is a homonymic root meaning “to be angry” (see HALOT 695 s.v. נטר).
  14. Psalm 103:10 tn Heb “not according to our sins does he do to us.”
  15. Psalm 103:10 tn Heb “and not according to our misdeeds does he repay us.”
  16. Psalm 103:11 tn For this sense of the verb גָבַר (gavar), see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 17, 19.
  17. Psalm 103:11 tn Heb “those who fear him.”
  18. Psalm 103:12 tn Heb “sunrise.”
  19. Psalm 103:12 tn Or “sunset.”
  20. Psalm 103:12 tn The Hebrew term פֶּשַׁע (peshaʿ, rebellious act”) is here used metonymically for the guilt such actions produce.
  21. Psalm 103:13 tn Or “sons,” but the Hebrew term sometimes refers to children in general.
  22. Psalm 103:13 tn Heb “those who fear him.”
  23. Psalm 103:14 tn Heb “our form.”
  24. Psalm 103:14 tn Heb “remembers.”
  25. Psalm 103:14 tn Heb “we [are] clay.”
  26. Psalm 103:15 tn Heb “[as for] mankind, like grass [are] his days.” The Hebrew noun אֱנוֹשׁ (ʾenosh) is used here generically of human beings. What is said is true of all mankind.
  27. Psalm 103:16 tn Heb “[the] wind.” The word “hot” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
  28. Psalm 103:17 tn Heb “but the loyal love of the Lord [is] from everlasting to everlasting over those who fear him.”
  29. Psalm 103:17 tn Heb “and his righteousness to sons of sons.”
  30. Psalm 103:18 tn Heb “to those who remember his precepts to do them.”
  31. Psalm 103:19 tn Heb “his kingdom rules over all.”
  32. Psalm 103:20 tn Heb “[you] mighty ones of strength, doers of his word, by listening to the voice of his word.”
  33. Psalm 103:21 tn Heb “all his hosts.”
  34. Psalm 103:21 tn Heb “his attendants, doers of his desire.”
  35. Psalm 103:22 tn Heb “all his works,” which includes mankind.
  36. Psalm 103:22 tn Heb “places.”
New English Translation (NET)

NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

Proverbs 26:23

23 Like a coating of glaze[a] over earthenware
are fervent[b] lips with an evil heart.[c]

Footnotes:

  1. Proverbs 26:23 tn The traditional translation of “silver dross” (so KJV, ASV, NASB) never did make much sense because the parallel idea deals with hypocrisy—“fervent lips with an evil heart.” But silver dross would not be used over earthenware—instead it is discarded. Yet the MT clearly has “silver dross” (כֶּסֶף סִיגִים, kesef sigim). Ugaritic turned up a word spsg which means “glaze,” and this found a parallel in Hittite zapzaga[y]a. H. L. Ginsberg repointed the Hebrew text to k’sapsagim, “like glaze,” and this has been adopted by many commentators and recent English versions (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). The final ם (mem) is then classified as enclitic. See, among others, K. L. Barker, “The Value of Ugaritic for Old Testament Studies,” BSac 133 (1976): 128-29.
  2. Proverbs 26:23 tn The word translated “fervent” actually means “burning, glowing”; the LXX has “flattering lips” (as if from חָלַק [khalaq] rather than דָּלַק [dalaq]).
  3. Proverbs 26:23 sn The analogy fits the second line very well. Glaze makes a vessel look beautiful and certainly different from the clay that it actually is. So is one who has evil intent (“heart”) but covers it with glowing speech.
New English Translation (NET)

NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday October 30, 2024 (NIV)

Lamentations 3

Great Is Your Faithfulness

(A)I am the man who has seen affliction
under the (B)rod of his wrath;
he has driven and brought me
(C)into darkness without any light;
surely against me he turns his hand
again and again the whole day long.

He has made my flesh and my skin waste away;
(D)he has broken my bones;
(E)he has besieged and enveloped me
with (F)bitterness and tribulation;
(G)he has made me dwell in darkness
like the dead of long ago.

(H)He has walled me about so that (I)I cannot escape;
he has made my chains heavy;
though (J)I call and cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer;
(K)he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;
he has made my paths crooked.

10 (L)He is a bear lying in wait for me,
a lion in hiding;
11 (M)he turned aside my steps and (N)tore me to pieces;
(O)he has made me desolate;
12 (P)he bent his bow (Q)and set me
as a target for his arrow.

13 He drove into my kidneys
(R)the arrows of his quiver;
14 (S)I have become the laughingstock of all peoples,
(T)the object of their taunts all day long.
15 (U)He has filled me with bitterness;
he has sated me with (V)wormwood.

16 (W)He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
and (X)made me cower in ashes;
17 my soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness[a] is;
18 (Y)so I say, “My endurance has perished;
so has my hope from the Lord.”

19 (Z)Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
(AA)the wormwood and (AB)the gall!
20 My soul continually remembers it
(AC)and is bowed down within me.
21 But this I call to mind,
and (AD)therefore I have hope:

22 (AE)The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;[b]
(AF)his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new (AG)every morning;
(AH)great is your faithfulness.
24 (AI)“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
(AJ)“therefore I will hope in him.”

25 The Lord is good to those who (AK)wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
26 (AL)It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 (AM)It is good for a man that he bear
the yoke (AN)in his youth.

28 Let him (AO)sit alone in silence
when it is laid on him;
29 (AP)let him put his mouth in the dust—
there may yet be hope;
30 (AQ)let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
and let him be filled with insults.

31 (AR)For the Lord will not
cast off forever,
32 but, though he (AS)cause grief, (AT)he will have compassion
(AU)according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
33 (AV)for he does not afflict from his heart
or (AW)grieve the children of men.

34 To crush underfoot
all (AX)the prisoners of the earth,
35 (AY)to deny a man justice
in the presence of the Most High,
36 to subvert a man in his lawsuit,
(AZ)the Lord does not approve.

37 (BA)Who has spoken and it came to pass,
unless the Lord has commanded it?
38 (BB)Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good and bad come?
39 (BC)Why should a living man complain,
a man, about the punishment of his sins?

40 Let us test and examine our ways,
(BD)and return to the Lord!
41 (BE)Let us lift up our hearts and hands
to God in heaven:
42 (BF)“We have transgressed and (BG)rebelled,
and you have not forgiven.

43 “You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,
(BH)killing without pity;
44 (BI)you have wrapped yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can pass through.
45 (BJ)You have made us scum and garbage
among the peoples.

46 (BK)“All our enemies
open their mouths against us;
47 (BL)panic and pitfall have come upon us,
devastation and (BM)destruction;
48 (BN)my eyes flow with rivers of tears
because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

49 (BO)“My eyes will flow without ceasing,
without respite,
50 (BP)until the Lord from heaven
looks down and sees;
51 my eyes cause me grief
at the fate of all the daughters of my city.

52 (BQ)“I have been hunted (BR)like a bird
by those who were my enemies (BS)without cause;
53 (BT)they flung me alive into the pit
(BU)and cast stones on me;
54 (BV)water closed over my head;
I said, (BW)‘I am lost.’

55 (BX)“I called on your name, O Lord,
from the depths of the pit;
56 (BY)you heard my plea, ‘Do not close
your ear to my cry for help!’
57 (BZ)You came near when I called on you;
you said, (CA)‘Do not fear!’

58 “You have (CB)taken up my cause, (CC)O Lord;
you have (CD)redeemed my life.
59 You have seen the wrong done to me, (CE)O Lord;
judge my cause.
60 You have seen all their vengeance,
all (CF)their plots against me.

61 (CG)“You have heard their taunts, O Lord,
all (CH)their plots against me.
62 The lips and thoughts (CI)of my assailants
are against me all the day long.
63 (CJ)Behold their sitting and their rising;
(CK)I am the object of their taunts.

64 (CL)“You will repay them,[c] O Lord,
(CM)according to the work of their hands.
65 You will give them[d] dullness of heart;
your curse will be[e] on them.
66 You will pursue them[f] in anger and (CN)destroy them
from under (CO)your heavens, O Lord.”[g]

Footnotes:

  1. Lamentations 3:17 Hebrew good
  2. Lamentations 3:22 Syriac, Targum; Hebrew Because of the steadfast love of the Lord, we are not cut off
  3. Lamentations 3:64 Or Repay them
  4. Lamentations 3:65 Or Give them
  5. Lamentations 3:65 Or place your curse
  6. Lamentations 3:66 Or Pursue them
  7. Lamentations 3:66 Syriac (compare Septuagint, Vulgate); Hebrew the heavens of the Lord

Cross references:

  1. Lamentations 3:1 : Jer. 20:18
  2. Lamentations 3:1 : Ps. 2:9
  3. Lamentations 3:2 : Isa. 5:30
  4. Lamentations 3:4 : Ps. 51:8; Isa. 38:13; Jer. 50:17
  5. Lamentations 3:5 : [Job 19:12]
  6. Lamentations 3:5 : ver. 19; Deut. 29:18
  7. Lamentations 3:6 : Ps. 143:3
  8. Lamentations 3:7 : Job 19:8
  9. Lamentations 3:7 : Ps. 88:8
  10. Lamentations 3:8 : Job 19:7; 30:20; Ps. 22:2
  11. Lamentations 3:9 : [See ver. 7 above]; Job 19:8
  12. Lamentations 3:10 : See Hos. 13:8
  13. Lamentations 3:11 : [Jer. 18:15]
  14. Lamentations 3:11 : [See ver. 10 above]; See Hos. 13:8
  15. Lamentations 3:11 : ch. 1:13
  16. Lamentations 3:12 : ch. 2:4
  17. Lamentations 3:12 : [Job 16:12]
  18. Lamentations 3:13 : Job 6:4; Ps. 38:2
  19. Lamentations 3:14 : See Jer. 20:7
  20. Lamentations 3:14 : ver. 63; Job 30:9; Ps. 69:12
  21. Lamentations 3:15 : [Isa. 51:17, 21]
  22. Lamentations 3:15 : Jer. 9:15
  23. Lamentations 3:16 : [Prov. 20:17]
  24. Lamentations 3:16 : See Jer. 6:26
  25. Lamentations 3:18 : [Ps. 9:18]
  26. Lamentations 3:19 : [ch. 1:9, 11, 20]
  27. Lamentations 3:19 : [See ver. 15 above]; Jer. 9:15
  28. Lamentations 3:19 : ver. 5
  29. Lamentations 3:20 : Ps. 42:6; 44:25
  30. Lamentations 3:21 : [Ps. 42:5, 11]
  31. Lamentations 3:22 : [Mal. 3:6]
  32. Lamentations 3:22 : [Mal. 3:6]
  33. Lamentations 3:23 : Job 7:18
  34. Lamentations 3:23 : Ps. 36:5
  35. Lamentations 3:24 : Ps. 16:5; 73:26
  36. Lamentations 3:24 : [See ver. 21 above]; [Ps. 42:5, 11]
  37. Lamentations 3:25 : Ps. 130:6; [Isa. 30:18]
  38. Lamentations 3:26 : Ps. 130:5, 7; Mic. 7:7
  39. Lamentations 3:27 : [Matt. 11:29]
  40. Lamentations 3:27 : [Eccles. 12:1]
  41. Lamentations 3:28 : ch. 1:1; 2:10; Isa. 3:26
  42. Lamentations 3:29 : Job 42:6
  43. Lamentations 3:30 : Isa. 50:6; Matt. 5:39
  44. Lamentations 3:31 : Ps. 103:9
  45. Lamentations 3:32 : ch. 1:5
  46. Lamentations 3:32 : Ps. 103:8
  47. Lamentations 3:32 : Ps. 106:45
  48. Lamentations 3:33 : [Heb. 12:6, 10]
  49. Lamentations 3:33 : [Heb. 12:11]
  50. Lamentations 3:34 : [Ps. 107:10]
  51. Lamentations 3:35 : [Hab. 1:13]
  52. Lamentations 3:36 : [See ver. 35 above]; [Hab. 1:13]
  53. Lamentations 3:37 : [Ps. 33:9]
  54. Lamentations 3:38 : Isa. 45:7; Amos 3:6
  55. Lamentations 3:39 : Prov. 19:3
  56. Lamentations 3:40 : Joel 2:12, 13
  57. Lamentations 3:41 : Ps. 25:1; 119:48
  58. Lamentations 3:42 : See Dan. 9:5
  59. Lamentations 3:42 : Ps. 78:17
  60. Lamentations 3:43 : ch. 2:2, 17, 21
  61. Lamentations 3:44 : ver. 8; [ch. 2:1]
  62. Lamentations 3:45 : [1 Cor. 4:13]
  63. Lamentations 3:46 : ch. 2:16, 17
  64. Lamentations 3:47 : Isa. 24:17; Jer. 48:43
  65. Lamentations 3:47 : Isa. 51:19
  66. Lamentations 3:48 : ch. 1:16; See Jer. 13:17
  67. Lamentations 3:49 : [See ver. 48 above]; ch. 1:16; See Jer. 13:17
  68. Lamentations 3:50 : Ps. 14:2; Isa. 63:15
  69. Lamentations 3:52 : ch. 4:18
  70. Lamentations 3:52 : Ps. 11:1
  71. Lamentations 3:52 : See Ps. 35:19
  72. Lamentations 3:53 : Jer. 37:16; 38:6, 9, 10
  73. Lamentations 3:53 : [Dan. 6:17]
  74. Lamentations 3:54 : Ps. 69:2
  75. Lamentations 3:54 : Ps. 88:5; [Ezek. 37:11]
  76. Lamentations 3:55 : Ps. 130:1
  77. Lamentations 3:56 : [Ps. 130:2]
  78. Lamentations 3:57 : [James 4:8]
  79. Lamentations 3:57 : See Josh. 1:9
  80. Lamentations 3:58 : Ps. 119:154
  81. Lamentations 3:58 : [1 Sam. 24:15]
  82. Lamentations 3:58 : Ps. 119:154
  83. Lamentations 3:59 : Ps. 35:22, 23
  84. Lamentations 3:60 : See Jer. 11:19
  85. Lamentations 3:61 : ch. 5:1
  86. Lamentations 3:61 : [See ver. 60 above]; See Jer. 11:19
  87. Lamentations 3:62 : Ps. 18:39, 48
  88. Lamentations 3:63 : [Ps. 139:2]
  89. Lamentations 3:63 : See ver. 14
  90. Lamentations 3:64 : See Jer. 11:20
  91. Lamentations 3:64 : Ps. 28:4; [2 Tim. 4:14]
  92. Lamentations 3:66 : [Deut. 25:19; Jer. 10:11]
  93. Lamentations 3:66 : Ps. 8:3
English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Hebrews 1

The Supremacy of God's Son

Long ago, at many times and (A)in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but (B)in these last days (C)he has spoken to us by (D)his Son, whom he appointed (E)the heir of all things, (F)through whom also he created (G)the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and (H)the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. (I)After making purification for sins, (J)he sat down (K)at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name (L)he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say,

(M)“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”?

Or again,

(N)“I will be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son”?

And again, when he brings (O)the firstborn into the world, he says,

(P)“Let all God's angels worship him.”

Of the angels he says,

(Q)“He makes his angels winds,
and his ministers a flame of fire.”

But of the Son he says,

(R)“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, (S)has anointed you
with (T)the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”

10 And,

(U)“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,
and the heavens are the work of your hands;
11 they will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment,
12 like a robe you will roll them up,
like a garment they will be changed.[a]
But you are (V)the same,
and your years will have no end.”

13 And to which of the angels has he ever said,

(W)“Sit at my right hand
(X)until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?

14 Are they not all ministering spirits (Y)sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to (Z)inherit salvation?

Footnotes:

  1. Hebrews 1:12 Some manuscripts omit like a garment
English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Psalm 102

Do Not Hide Your Face from Me

A Prayer of one afflicted, when he is (A)faint and (B)pours out his complaint before the Lord.

102 (C)Hear my prayer, O Lord;
let my cry (D)come to you!
(E)Do not hide your face from me
in (F)the day of my distress!
(G)Incline your ear to me;
(H)answer me speedily (I)in the day when I call!

For my days (J)pass away like smoke,
and my (K)bones burn like a furnace.
My heart is (L)struck down like grass and (M)has withered;
I (N)forget to eat my bread.
Because of my loud groaning
my (O)bones cling to my flesh.
I am like (P)a desert owl of the wilderness,
like an owl[a] of the waste places;
I (Q)lie awake;
I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.
All the day my enemies taunt me;
those who (R)deride me (S)use my name for a curse.
For I eat ashes like bread
and (T)mingle tears with my drink,
10 because of your indignation and anger;
for you have (U)taken me up and (V)thrown me down.
11 My days are like (W)an evening shadow;
I (X)wither away like grass.

12 But you, O Lord, are (Y)enthroned forever;
you (Z)are remembered throughout all generations.
13 You will (AA)arise and have (AB)pity on Zion;
it is the time to favor her;
(AC)the appointed time has come.
14 For your servants hold her (AD)stones dear
and have pity on her dust.
15 Nations will (AE)fear the name of the Lord,
and all (AF)the kings of the earth will fear your glory.
16 For the Lord (AG)builds up Zion;
he (AH)appears in his glory;
17 he (AI)regards the prayer of the destitute
and does not despise their prayer.

18 Let this be (AJ)recorded for (AK)a generation to come,
so that (AL)a people yet to be created may praise the Lord:
19 that he (AM)looked down from his holy height;
from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,
20 to hear (AN)the groans of the prisoners,
to set free (AO)those who were doomed to die,
21 that they may (AP)declare in Zion the name of the Lord,
and in Jerusalem his praise,
22 when (AQ)peoples gather together,
and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.

23 He has broken my strength in midcourse;
he (AR)has shortened my days.
24 “O my God,” (AS)I say, “take me not away
in the midst of my days—
(AT)you whose years endure
throughout all generations!”

25 (AU)Of old you laid the foundation of the earth,
and (AV)the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 (AW)They will perish, but (AX)you will remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,
27 but (AY)you are the same, and your years have no end.
28 (AZ)The children of your servants (BA)shall dwell secure;
(BB)their offspring shall be established before you.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 102:6 The precise identity of these birds is uncertain

Cross references:

  1. Psalm 102:1 : Ps. 61:2
  2. Psalm 102:1 : Ps. 142:2
  3. Psalm 102:1 : Ps. 39:12
  4. Psalm 102:1 : Ps. 18:6; Ex. 2:23; 1 Sam. 9:16
  5. Psalm 102:2 : See Ps. 27:9
  6. Psalm 102:2 : See Ps. 18:6
  7. Psalm 102:2 : See Ps. 31:2
  8. Psalm 102:2 : See Ps. 69:17
  9. Psalm 102:2 : Ps. 56:9
  10. Psalm 102:3 : [James 4:14]; See Ps. 37:20
  11. Psalm 102:3 : Job 30:30; Lam. 1:13; See Ps. 31:10
  12. Psalm 102:4 : Ps. 121:6
  13. Psalm 102:4 : Ps. 37:2; Isa. 40:7; [James 1:10, 11]
  14. Psalm 102:4 : [1 Sam. 1:7; 2 Sam. 12:17; 1 Kgs. 21:4; Job 33:20]
  15. Psalm 102:5 : See Job 19:20
  16. Psalm 102:6 : Isa. 34:11; Zeph. 2:14; [Job 30:29]
  17. Psalm 102:7 : Ps. 77:4
  18. Psalm 102:8 : [Acts 26:11]
  19. Psalm 102:8 : Isa. 65:15; Jer. 29:22
  20. Psalm 102:9 : See Ps. 42:3
  21. Psalm 102:10 : Ezek. 3:12, 14
  22. Psalm 102:10 : Ps. 51:11
  23. Psalm 102:11 : Ps. 109:23; 144:4; Job 8:9
  24. Psalm 102:11 : [See ver. 4 above]; Ps. 37:2; Isa. 40:7; [James 1:10, 11]
  25. Psalm 102:12 : ver. 26; See Ps. 9:7
  26. Psalm 102:12 : Ps. 135:13; Ex. 3:15
  27. Psalm 102:13 : Ps. 68:1
  28. Psalm 102:13 : Isa. 60:10; Zech. 1:12
  29. Psalm 102:13 : Ps. 75:2; Jer. 29:10; Dan. 9:2; [Isa. 40:2]
  30. Psalm 102:14 : Neh. 4:2; [Lam. 4:1]
  31. Psalm 102:15 : 1 Kgs. 8:43; Isa. 59:19
  32. Psalm 102:15 : Ps. 138:4; Isa. 60:3
  33. Psalm 102:16 : Ps. 147:2
  34. Psalm 102:16 : Isa. 60:1, 2
  35. Psalm 102:17 : Neh. 1:6, 11
  36. Psalm 102:18 : [Deut. 31:19; Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:1]
  37. Psalm 102:18 : Ps. 48:13; See Ps. 78:4, 6
  38. Psalm 102:18 : See Ps. 22:31; [Isa. 43:21]
  39. Psalm 102:19 : See Ps. 11:4
  40. Psalm 102:20 : Ps. 79:11
  41. Psalm 102:20 : Ps. 79:11
  42. Psalm 102:21 : See Ps. 22:22
  43. Psalm 102:22 : [Isa. 45:14]; See Ps. 22:27
  44. Psalm 102:23 : Ps. 89:45
  45. Psalm 102:24 : [Isa. 38:10]
  46. Psalm 102:24 : Ps. 90:2; Job 36:26; Hab. 1:12
  47. Psalm 102:25 : Gen. 1:1; 2:1; Cited Heb. 1:10
  48. Psalm 102:25 : See Ps. 96:5
  49. Psalm 102:26 : Isa. 34:4; 51:6; Matt. 24:35; 2 Pet. 3:7, 10, 12; Rev. 20:11; 21:1; Cited Heb. 1:11, 12
  50. Psalm 102:26 : ver. 12
  51. Psalm 102:27 : Isa. 41:4; 48:12; Mal. 3:6; [Heb. 13:8; James 1:17]
  52. Psalm 102:28 : See Ps. 69:36
  53. Psalm 102:28 : Ps. 37:29
  54. Psalm 102:28 : Ps. 112:2
English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Proverbs 26:21-22

21 As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire,
so is (A)a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.
22 (B)The words of (C)a whisperer are like delicious morsels;
they go down into the inner parts of the body.

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Tuesday October 29, 2024 (NIV)

Lamentations 1-2

The Prophet Speaks

א (Alef)[a]

[b] Alas![c] The city once full of people[d]
now sits all alone![e]
The prominent lady[f] among the nations
has become a widow![g]
The princess[h] who once ruled the provinces[i]
has become[j] a forced laborer![k]

ב (Bet)

She weeps bitterly at night;
tears stream down her cheeks.[l]
She has no one to comfort her
among all her lovers.[m]
All her friends have betrayed her;
they have become her enemies.

ג (Gimel)

Judah[n] has departed into exile
under[o] affliction and harsh oppression.[p]
She[q] lives among the nations;
she has found no resting place.
All who pursued her overtook her
in[r] narrow straits.[s]

ד (Dalet)

The roads to Zion[t] mourn[u]
because no one[v] travels to the festivals.[w]
All her city gates[x] are deserted;[y]
her priests groan.[z]
Her virgins grieve;[aa]
she is in bitter anguish![ab]

ה (He)

Her foes subjugated her;[ac]
her enemies are at ease.[ad]
For the Lord afflicted her
because of her many acts of rebellion.[ae]
Her children went away
captive[af] before the enemy.

ו (Vav)

All of Daughter Zion’s[ag] splendor[ah]
has departed.[ai]
Her leaders became like deer;
they found no pasture,
so they were too exhausted to escape[aj]
from the hunter.[ak]

ז (Zayin)

Jerusalem remembers,[al]
when[am] she became a poor homeless person,[an]
all her treasures
that she owned in days of old.[ao]
When her people fell into an enemy’s grip,[ap]
none of her allies came to her rescue.[aq]
Her enemies[ar] gloated over[as] her;
they sneered[at] at her downfall.[au]

ח (Khet)

Jerusalem committed terrible sin;[av]
therefore she became an object of scorn.[aw]
All who admired[ax] her have despised her[ay]
because they have seen her nakedness.[az]
She groans aloud[ba]
and turns away in shame.[bb]

ט (Tet)

Her menstrual flow[bc] has soiled[bd] her clothing;[be]
she did not consider[bf] the consequences of her sin.[bg]
Her demise[bh] was astonishing,[bi]
and there was no one to comfort her.
She cried, “Look,[bj] O Lord, on my[bk] affliction
because my[bl] enemy boasts!”

י (Yod)

10 An enemy grabbed[bm]
all her valuables.[bn]
Indeed she watched in horror[bo] as Gentiles[bp]
invaded her holy temple[bq]
those whom you[br] had commanded:
“They must not enter[bs] your assembly place.”[bt]

כ (Kaf)

11 All her people groaned
as they searched for a morsel of bread.[bu]
They exchanged[bv] their valuables[bw]
for[bx] just enough food
to stay alive.[by]

Jerusalem Speaks

“Look, O Lord! Consider[bz]
that I have become worthless!”

ל (Lamed)

12 Is it nothing to you,[ca] all you who pass by on the road?[cb]
Look and see!
Is there any pain like mine?
The Lord[cc] has afflicted me,[cd]
he[ce] has inflicted it on me
when[cf] he burned with anger.[cg]

מ (Mem)

13 He sent down fire[ch]
into my bones, and it overcame[ci] them.
He spread out a trapper’s net[cj] for my feet;
he made me turn back.
He has made me desolate;
I am faint all day long.

נ (Nun)

14 My sins are bound around my neck like a yoke;[ck]
they are fastened together by his hand.
He has placed his yoke[cl] on my neck;[cm]
he has sapped my strength.[cn]
The Lord[co] has handed me over[cp]
to those whom I cannot resist.

ס (Samek)

15 He rounded up[cq] all my mighty ones;[cr]
The Lord[cs] did this[ct] in[cu] my midst.
He summoned an assembly[cv] against me
to shatter my young men.
The Lord has stomped like grapes[cw]
the virgin daughter, Judah.[cx]

ע (Ayin)

16 I weep because of these things;
my eyes[cy] flow with tears.[cz]
For there is no one in sight who can comfort me[da]
or encourage me.[db]
My children[dc] are desolated[dd]
because an enemy has prevailed.

פ (Pe)

The Prophet Speaks

17 Zion spread out her hands,
but there is no one to comfort her.
The Lord has issued a decree against Jacob;
his neighbors[de] have become his enemies.
Jerusalem has become
like filthy garbage[df] in their midst.[dg]

צ (Tsade)

Jerusalem Speaks

18 The Lord is right to judge me![dh]
Yes, I rebelled against his commands.[di]
Please listen, all you nations,[dj]
and look at my suffering!
My young women and men
have gone into exile.

ק (Qof)

19 I called for my lovers,[dk]
but they had deceived me.
My priests and my elders
perished in the city.
Truly they had[dl] searched for food
to[dm] keep themselves[dn] alive.[do]

ר (Resh)

20 Look, O Lord! I am distressed;[dp]
my stomach is in knots![dq]
My heart is pounding[dr] inside me.
Yes, I was terribly rebellious![ds]
Out in the street the sword bereaves a mother of her children;[dt]
Inside the house death is present.[du]

ש (Sin/Shin)

21 They have heard[dv] that I groan,
yet there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
they are glad that you[dw] have brought it about.[dx]
Bring about[dy] the day of judgment[dz] that you promised[ea]
so that[eb] they may end up[ec] like me!

ת (Tav)

22 Let all their wickedness come before you;
afflict[ed] them
just as you have afflicted me[ee]
because of all my acts of rebellion.[ef]
For my groans are many,
and my heart is sick with sorrow.[eg]

א (Alef)

The Prophet Speaks

Alas![eh] The Lord[ei] has covered
Daughter Zion[ej] with his anger.[ek]
He has thrown down the splendor of Israel
from heaven to earth;
he did not protect[el] his temple[em]
when he displayed his anger.[en]

ב (Bet)

The Lord[eo] destroyed[ep] mercilessly[eq]
all the homes of Jacob’s descendants.[er]
In his anger he tore down
the fortified cities[es] of Daughter Judah.
He knocked to the ground and humiliated
the kingdom and its rulers.[et]

ג (Gimel)

In fierce anger[eu] he destroyed[ev]
the whole army[ew] of Israel.
He withdrew his right hand[ex]
as the enemy attacked.[ey]
He was like a raging fire in the land of Jacob;[ez]
it consumed everything around it.[fa]

ד (Dalet)

He prepared his bow[fb] like an enemy;
his right hand was ready to shoot.[fc]
Like a foe he killed everyone,
even our strong young men;[fd]
he has poured out his anger like fire
on the tent[fe] of Daughter Zion.

ה (He)

The Lord,[ff] like an enemy,
destroyed[fg] Israel.
He destroyed[fh] all her palaces;
he ruined her[fi] fortified cities.
He made everyone in Daughter Judah
mourn and lament.[fj]

ו (Vav)

He destroyed his temple[fk] as if it were a vineyard;[fl]
he destroyed his appointed meeting place.
The Lord has made those in Zion forget
both the festivals and the Sabbaths.[fm]
In his fierce anger[fn] he has spurned[fo]
both king and priest.

ז (Zayin)

The Lord[fp] rejected[fq] his altar
and abhorred his temple.[fr]
He handed over to the enemy[fs]
Jerusalem’s palace walls;
the enemy[ft] shouted[fu] in the Lord’s temple
as if it were a feast day.[fv]

ח (Khet)

The Lord was determined to tear down
Daughter Zion’s wall.
He prepared to knock it down;[fw]
he did not withdraw his hand from destroying.[fx]
He made the ramparts and fortified walls lament;
together they mourned their ruin.[fy]

ט (Tet)

Her city gates have fallen[fz] to the ground;
he smashed to bits[ga] the bars that lock her gates.[gb]
Her king and princes were taken into exile;[gc]
there is no more guidance available.[gd]
As for her prophets,
they no longer receive[ge] a vision from the Lord.

י (Yod)

10 The elders of Daughter Zion
sit[gf] on the ground in silence.[gg]
They have thrown dirt on their heads;
They have dressed in sackcloth.[gh]
Jerusalem’s young women[gi] stare down at the ground.[gj]

כ (Kaf)

11 My eyes are worn out[gk] from weeping;[gl]
my stomach is in knots.[gm]
My heart[gn] is poured out on the ground
due to the destruction[go] of my helpless people;[gp]
children and infants faint
in the town squares.

ל (Lamed)

12 Children[gq] say to their mothers,[gr]
“Where are food and drink?”[gs]
They faint[gt] like a wounded warrior
in the city squares.
They die slowly[gu]
in their mothers’ arms.[gv]

מ (Mem)

13 With what can I equate[gw] you?
To what can I compare you, O Daughter Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you[gx]
so that[gy] I might comfort you, O Virgin Daughter Zion?
Your wound is as deep[gz] as the sea.[ha]
Who can heal you?[hb]

נ (Nun)

14 Your prophets saw visions for you
that were worthless whitewash.[hc]
They failed to expose your sin
so as to restore your fortunes.[hd]
They saw oracles for you
that were worthless[he] lies.

ס (Samek)

15 All who passed by on the road
clapped their hands to mock you.[hf]
They sneered and shook their heads
at Daughter Jerusalem.
“Ha! Is this the city they called[hg]
‘the perfection of beauty,[hh]
the source of joy of the whole earth!’?”[hi]

פ (Pe)

16 All your enemies
gloated over you.[hj]
They sneered and gnashed their teeth;
they said, “We have destroyed[hk] her!
Ha! We have waited a long time for this day.
We have lived to see it!”[hl]

ע (Ayin)

17 The Lord has done what he planned;
he has fulfilled[hm] his promise[hn]
that he threatened[ho] long ago:[hp]
He has overthrown you without mercy[hq]
and has enabled the enemy to gloat over you;
he has exalted your adversaries’ power.[hr]

צ (Tsade)

18 Cry out[hs] from your heart[ht] to the Lord,[hu]
O wall of Daughter Zion![hv]
Make your tears flow like a river
all day and all night long![hw]
Do not rest;
do not let your tears[hx] stop!

ק (Qof)

19 Get up! Cry out in the night
when the night watches start![hy]
Pour out your heart[hz] like water
before the face of the Lord![ia]
Lift up your hands[ib] to him
for your children’s lives;[ic]
they are fainting[id] from hunger
at every street corner.[ie]

ר (Resh)

Jerusalem Speaks

20 Look, O Lord! Consider![if]
Whom have you ever afflicted[ig] like this?
Should women eat their offspring,[ih]
their healthy infants?[ii]
Should priest and prophet
be killed in the Lord’s[ij] sanctuary?

ש (Sin/Shin)

21 The young boys and old men
lie dead on the ground in the streets.
My young women[ik] and my young men
have fallen by the sword.
You killed them when you were angry;[il]
you slaughtered them without mercy.[im]

ת (Tav)

22 As if it were a feast day, you call[in]
enemies[io] to terrify me[ip] on every side.[iq]
On the day of the Lord’s anger
no one escaped or survived.
My enemy has finished off
those healthy infants whom I bore[ir] and raised.[is]

Footnotes:

  1. Lamentations 1:1 sn Chapters 1-4 are arranged in alphabetic-acrostic structures; the acrostic pattern does not appear in chapter 5. Each of the 22 verses in chapters 1, 2 and 4 begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, while the acrostic appears in triplicate in the 66 verses in chapter 3. The acrostic pattern does not appear in chapter 5, but its influence is felt in that it has 22 verses, the same as the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. For further study on Hebrew acrostics, see W. M. Soll, “Babylonian and Biblical Acrostics,” Bib 69 (1988): 305-23; D. N. Freedman, “Acrostic Poems in the Hebrew Bible: Alphabetic and Otherwise,” CBQ 48 (1986): 408-31; B. Johnson, “Form and Message in Lamentations,” ZAW 97 (1985): 58-73; K. C. Hanson, “Alphabetic Acrostics: A Form Critical Study,” Ph.D. diss., Claremont Graduate School, 1984; S. Bergler, “Threni V—Nur ein alphabetisierendes Lied? Versuch einer Deutung,” VT 27 (1977): 304-22; E. M. Schramm, “Poetic Patterning in Biblical Hebrew,” Michigan Oriental Studies in Honor of George S. Cameron, 175-78; D. N. Freedman, “Acrostics and Metrics in Hebrew Poetry,” HTR 65 (1972): 367-92; N. K. Gottwald, “The Acrostic Form,” Studies in the Book of Lamentations, 23-32; P. A. Munch, “Die alphabetische Akrostichie in der judischen Psalmendicthung,” ZDMG 90 (1936): 703-10; M. Löhr, “Alphabetische und alphabetisierende Lieder im AT,” ZAW 25 (1905): 173-98.
  2. Lamentations 1:1 tc The LXX and Vulgate (dependent on the LXX) include a preface that is lacking in the MT: “And it came to pass after Israel had been taken captive and Jerusalem had been laid waste, Jeremiah sat weeping and lamented this lament over Jerusalem, and said….” Scholars generally view the preface in the LXX and Vulgate as a later addition, though the style is Hebrew rather than Greek.
  3. Lamentations 1:1 tn The adverb אֵיכָה (ʾekhah) is used as an exclamation of lament or desperation: “How!” (BDB 32 s.v.) or “Alas!” (HALOT 40 s.v. 1.e). It is often the first word in laments (Isa 1:21; Jer 48:17; Lam 1:1; 2:1; 4:1, 2). Like the less emphatic exclamation אֵיךְ (ʾekh, “Alas!”) (2 Sam 1:19; Isa 14:4, 12; Ezek 26:17), it is used in contexts of lament and mourning.sn The term אֵיכָה (ʾekhah, “Alas!”) and counterpart אֵיךְ (ʾekh, “Alas!”) are normally uttered in contexts of mourning as exclamations of lament over a deceased person (2 Sam 1:19; Isa 14:4, 12). The prophets borrow this term from its normal Sitz im Leben in the funeral lament and rhetorically place it in the context of announcements or descriptions of God’s judgment (Isa 1:21; Jer 48:17; Ezek 26:17; Lam 1:1; 2:1; 4:1, 2). This creates a personification of the city/nation that is either in danger of imminent “death” or already has “died” as a result of the Lord’s judgment.
  4. Lamentations 1:1 tn Heb “great of people.” The construct רַבָּתִי עָם (rabbati ʿam, “great of people”) is an idiom for large population: “full of people, populous” (BDB 912-13 s.v. I רַב; HALOT 1172 s.v. 7.a). The hireq-campaginis ending on רַבָּתִי (rabbati) sometimes appears on construct forms (GKC 253 §90.a,l). By contrast to the first half of the line, it is understood that she was full of people formerly. רַבָּתִי עָם (rabbati ʿam) may also be construed as a title.sn Two thirds of Lamentations is comprised of enjambed lines (the syntax of a line carries on to the next line without a pause) rather than Hebrew poetry’s more frequent couplets of parallel phrasing. This serves a rhetorical effect not necessarily apparent if translated in the word order of English prose. Together with the alphabetic acrostic form, these pull the reader/hearer along through the various juxtaposed pictures of horror and grief. For further study on the import of these stylistic features to the function of Lamentations see F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp, Lamentations (IBC), 12-20; idem, “The Enjambing Line in Lamentations: A Taxonomy (Part 1),” ZAW 113/2 (2001): 219-39; idem, “The Effects of Enjambment in Lamentations,” ZAW 113/5 (2001): 1-16. However, for the sake of English style and clarity, the translation does not necessarily reflect the Hebrew style and word order.
  5. Lamentations 1:1 tn The noun בָּדָד (badad, “isolation, alone”) functions as adverbial accusative of state. After verbs of dwelling, it pictures someone sitting apart, which may be linked to dwelling securely, especially of a city or people (Num 23:9; Deut 33:28; Jer 49:31; Ps 4:8 [9 HT]), or to isolation (Lev 13:46; Jer 15:17; 49:31). Applied to personified Jerusalem, it contrasts a possible connotation of dwelling securely, instead stating that Lady Jerusalem is abandoned and connoting that the city is deserted.
  6. Lamentations 1:1 tn Heb “great.” The adjective רַב (rav, “great”) is used in reference to a position of prominence, leadership (Ps 48:3; Dan 11:3, 5) or strength (Isa 53:12; 63:1; 2 Chr 14:10) (BDB 913 s.v. 2.b; HALOT 1172 s.v. 6). The hireq-campaginis ending on רַבָּתִי (rabbati) sometimes appears on construct forms (GKC 253 §90.a,l). This adjective is the same word mentioned at the beginning of the verse in the phrase “full of people.” These may also be construed as epithets.
  7. Lamentations 1:1 tn The kaf (כ) prefixed to אַלְמָנָה (ʾalmanah, “widow”) expresses identity (“has become a widow”) rather than comparison (“has become like a widow”) (see HALOT 453 s.v. 1; BDB 454 s.v. כְּ 1.d). The construction emphasizes the class of widowhood.
  8. Lamentations 1:1 tn The noun שָׂרָתִי (sarati, “princess”) is in construct with the following noun. The hireq-campaginis ending sometimes appears on construct forms (GKC 253 §90.a,l).sn Judah was organized into administrative districts or provinces under the rule of provincial governors (שָׂרִים, sarim) (1 Kgs 20:14, 17, 19). The feminine term שָׂרָה (sarah, “princess, provincial governess”) is a wordplay alluding to this political background: personified Jerusalem had ruled over the Judean provinces.
  9. Lamentations 1:1 tn Heb “princess among the provinces.” The noun מְדִינָה (medinah) is an Aramaic loanword which refers to an administrative district or province in the empire (e.g., Ezek 19:8; Dan 8:2) (BDB 193 s.v. 2; HALOT 549 s.v.).
  10. Lamentations 1:1 tn Following the verb הָיָה (hayah, “to be”), the preposition ל (lamed) designates a transition into a new state or condition: “to become” (BDB 512 s.v. לְ 4.a; e.g., Gen 2:7; 1 Sam 9:16; 15:1).
  11. Lamentations 1:1 tn The noun מַס (mas) means “forced labor, corveé slave, conscripted worker.” It refers to a subjugated population, subject to forced labor and/or heavy taxes (Gen 49:15; Exod 1:11; Deut 20:11; Josh 16:10; 17:13; Judg 1:28, 30, 33, 35; 1 Kgs 5:14 [5:28 HT]; 9:15, 21; 12:18; 2 Chr 10:18; Isa 31:8; Lam 1:1).
  12. Lamentations 1:2 tn Heb “her tears are on her cheek.”
  13. Lamentations 1:2 tn Heb “lovers.” The term “lovers” is a figurative expression (hypocatastasis), comparing Jerusalem’s false gods and foreign political alliances to sexually immoral lovers. Hosea uses similar imagery (Hos 2:5, 7, 10, 13). It may also function as a double entendre, first evoking a disconcerting picture of a funeral where the widow has no loved ones present to comfort her. God also does not appear to be present to comfort Jerusalem and will later be called her enemy. The imagery in Lamentations frequently capitalizes on changing the reader’s expectations midstream.
  14. Lamentations 1:3 tn Heb “Judah.” The term “Judah” is a synecdoche of nation (= Judah) for the inhabitants of the nation (= people).
  15. Lamentations 1:3 tn There is a debate over the function of the preposition מִן (min): (1) a temporal sense of “after” (HALOT 598 s.v. 2.c; BDB 581 s.v. 4.b) (e.g., Gen 4:3; 38:24; Josh 23:1; Judg 11:4; 14:8; Isa 24:22; Ezek 38:8; Hos 6:2) is adopted by one translation: “After affliction and harsh labor, Judah has gone into exile” (NIV); (2) a causal sense of “because” (HALOT 598 s.v. 6; BDB 580 s.v. 2.f) (e.g., Isa 5:13) is adopted by many English versions: “Judah has gone into exile because of misery and harsh oppression/servitude” (cf. KJV, NKJV, RSV, NRSV, NJPS); and (3) an instrumental sense of “by, through” is possible (BDB 579 s.v. 2.e): “Judah has gone into exile under affliction, and under harsh servitude” (NASB). The issue here is whether this verse states that Judah went into exile after suffering a long period of trouble and toil, or that Judah went into exile because of the misery and affliction that the populace suffered under the hands of the Babylonians. For fuller treatment of this difficult syntactical problem, see D. R. Hillers, Lamentations (AB), 6-7.
  16. Lamentations 1:3 tn Heb “great servitude.” The noun עֲבֹדָה (ʿavodah, “servitude”) refers to the enforced labor and suffering inflicted upon conquered peoples who are subjugated into slavery (Exod 1:14; 2:23; 5:9, 11; 6:9; Deut 26:6; 1 Kgs 12:4; 1 Chr 26:30; 2 Chr 10:4; 12:8; Isa 14:3; Lam 1:3).
  17. Lamentations 1:3 tn The antecedent of “she” is “Judah,” which functions as a synecdoche of nation (= Judah) for the inhabitants of the nation (= people). Thus, “she” (= Judah) is tantamount to “they” (= former inhabitants of Judah).
  18. Lamentations 1:3 tn The preposition בִּין (bin) is used in reference to a location: “between” (BDB 107 s.v. 1).
  19. Lamentations 1:3 tn Heb “distresses.” The noun מֵצַר (metsar, “distress”) occurs only here and in Ps 118:5 (NIV “anguish”). Here, the plural form מְצָרִים (metsarim, lit., “distresses”) is an example of the plural of intensity: “intense distress.” The phrase בִּין הַמְּצָרִים (bin hammetsarim, “between the narrow places”) is unparalleled elsewhere in the Hebrew scriptures; however, this line is paraphrased in “The Thanksgiving Psalm” from Qumran (Hodayoth = 1QH v 29), which adds the phrase “so I could not get away.” Following the interpretation of this line at Qumran, it describes a futile attempt to flee from the enemies in narrow straits that thwarted a successful escape.
  20. Lamentations 1:4 tn Heb “roads of Zion.” The noun צִיּוֹן (tsiyyon, Zion) is a genitive of direction (termination) following the construct noun, meaning “roads to Zion.”sn The noun דַּרְכֵי (darkhe, “roads”) is normally masculine in gender, but here it is feminine (e.g., Exod 18:20) (BDB 202 s.v.), as indicated by the following feminine adjective אֲבֵּלּוֹת (ʾavelot, “mourning”). This rare feminine usage is probably due to the personification of Jerusalem as a bereaved woman throughout chap. 1.
  21. Lamentations 1:4 tn The adjective אֲבֵּלּוֹת (ʾavelot, “mourning”) functions as a predicate of state.sn The term אָבַּל (ʾaval, “mourn”) refers to the mourning rites for the dead or to those mourning the deceased (Gen 37:35; Job 29:25; Ps 35:14; Jer 16:7; Esth 6:12; Sir 7:34; 48:24). The prophets often use it figuratively to personify Jerusalem as a mourner, lamenting her deceased and exiled citizens (Isa 57:18; 61:2, 3) (BDB 5 s.v.; HALOT 7 s.v.).
  22. Lamentations 1:4 tn Heb “from lack of.” The construction מִבְּלִי (mibbeli) is composed of the preposition מִן (min), functioning in a causal sense (BDB 580 s.v. מִן 2.f), and the adverb of negation בְּלִי (beli) to denote the negative cause: “from want of” or “without” (HALOT 133 s.v. בְּלִי 4; BDB 115 s.v. בְּלִי 2.c) (Num 14:16; Deut 9:28; 28:55; Eccl 3:11; Isa 5:13; Jer 2:15; 9:11; Hos 4:6; Ezek 34:5).
  23. Lamentations 1:4 tn Heb “those coming of feast.” The construct chain בָּאֵי מוֹעֵד (baʾe moʿed) consists of (1) the substantival plural construct participle בָּאֵי (baʾe, “those who come”) and (2) the collective singular genitive of purpose מוֹעֵד (moʿed, “for the feasts”).
  24. Lamentations 1:4 tc The MT reads שְׁעָרֶיהָ (sheʿareha, “her gates”). The BHS editors suggest revocalizing the text to the participle שֹׁעֲרֶיהָ (shoʿareha, “her gatekeepers”) from שֹׁעֵר (shoʿer, “porter”; BDB 1045 s.v. שֹׁעֵר). The revocalization creates tight parallelism: “her gatekeepers”//“her priests,” but ruins the chiasm: (A) her gatekeepers, (B) her priests, (B’) her virgins, (A’) the city itself.
  25. Lamentations 1:4 tn The verb שָׁמֵם (shamem) normally means “to be desolated; to be appalled,” but when used in reference to land, it means “deserted” (Isa 49:8; Ezek 33:28; 35:12, 15; 36:4) (BDB 1030 s.v. 1).
  26. Lamentations 1:4 tn Heb “groan” or “sigh.” The verb אָנַח (ʾanakh) is an expression of grief (Prov 29:2; Isa 24:7; Lam 1:4, 8; Ezek 9:4; 21:11). BDB 58 s.v. 1 suggests that it means “sigh,” but HALOT 70-71 s.v. prefers “groan” here.
  27. Lamentations 1:4 tc The MT reads נּוּגוֹת (nugot, “are grieved”), Niphal participle feminine plural from יָגָה (yagah, “to grieve”). The LXX ἀγόμεναι (agomenai) reflects נָהוּגוֹת (nahugot, “are led away”), Qal passive participle feminine plural from נָהַג (nahag, “to lead away into exile”), also reflected in Aquila and Symmachus. The MT reading is an unusual form (see translator’s note below) and best explains the origin of the LXX, which is a more common root. It would be difficult to explain the origin of the MT reading if the LXX reflected the original. Therefore, the MT is probably the original reading.tn Heb “are grieved” or “are worried.” The unusual form נּוּגוֹת (nugot) is probably best explained as Niphal feminine plural participle (with dissimilated nun [ן]) from יָגָה (yagah, “to grieve”). The similarly formed Niphal participle masculine plural construct נוּגֵי (nuge) appears in Zeph 3:18 (GKC 421 §130.a). The Niphal of יָגָה (yagah, “to grieve”) appears only twice, both in contexts of sorrow: “to grieve, sorrow” (Lam 1:4; Zeph 3