Kejadian 1:16-18

1:16 God made two great lights ¹  – the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night. He made the stars also. ²  1:17 God placed the lights ³  in the expanse of the sky to shine on the earth, 1:18 to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. ⁴  God saw that it was good.

Ulangan 4:19

4:19 When you look up ⁵  to the sky ⁶  and see the sun, moon, and stars – the whole heavenly creation ⁷  – you must not be seduced to worship and serve them, ⁸  for the Lord your God has assigned ⁹  them to all the people ¹⁰  of the world. ¹¹ 

Ulangan 11:16

Exhortation to Instruction and Obedience

11:16 Make sure you do not turn away to serve and worship other gods! ¹² 

Ulangan 17:3

17:3 by serving other gods and worshiping them – the sun, ¹³  moon, or any other heavenly bodies which I have not permitted you to worship. ¹⁴ 

Ulangan 17:2

17:2 Suppose a man or woman is discovered among you – in one of your villages ¹⁵  that the Lord your God is giving you – who sins before the Lord your God ¹⁶  and breaks his covenant

Kisah Para Rasul 23:5

23:5 Paul replied, ¹⁷  “I did not realize, ¹⁸  brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You must not speak evil about a ruler of your people.’” ¹⁹ 

Kisah Para Rasul 23:11

23:11 The following night the Lord ²⁰  stood near ²¹  Paul ²²  and said, “Have courage, ²³  for just as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, ²⁴  so you must also testify in Rome.” ²⁵ 

Yeremia 8:2

8:2 They will be spread out and exposed to the sun, the moon and the stars. ²⁶  These are things they ²⁷  adored and served, things to which they paid allegiance, ²⁸  from which they sought guidance, and worshiped. The bones of these people ²⁹  will never be regathered and reburied. They will be like manure used to fertilize the ground. ³⁰ 

Yehezkiel 8:16

8:16 Then he brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. Right there ³¹  at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar, ³²  were about twenty-five ³³  men with their backs to the Lord’s temple, ³⁴  facing east – they were worshiping the sun ³⁵  toward the east!

[1:16]  ¹ sn Two great lights. The text goes to great length to discuss the creation of these lights, suggesting that the subject was very important to the ancients. Since these “lights” were considered deities in the ancient world, the section serves as a strong polemic (see G. Hasel, “The Polemical Nature of the Genesis Cosmology,” EvQ 46 [1974]: 81-102). The Book of Genesis is affirming they are created entities, not deities. To underscore this the text does not even give them names. If used here, the usual names for the sun and moon [Shemesh and Yarih, respectively] might have carried pagan connotations, so they are simply described as greater and lesser lights. Moreover, they serve in the capacity that God gives them, which would not be the normal function the pagans ascribed to them. They merely divide, govern, and give light in God’s creation.

[1:16]  ² tn Heb “and the stars.” Now the term “stars” is added as a third object of the verb “made.” Perhaps the language is phenomenological, meaning that the stars appeared in the sky from this time forward.

[1:17]  ³ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the lights mentioned in the preceding verses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:18]  ⁴ sn In days one to three there is a naming by God; in days five and six there is a blessing by God. But on day four there is neither. It could be a mere stylistic variation. But it could also be a deliberate design to avoid naming “sun” and “moon” or promoting them beyond what they are, things that God made to serve in his creation.

[4:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “lest you lift up your eyes.” In the Hebrew text vv. 16-19 are subordinated to “Be careful” in v. 15, but this makes for an unduly long sentence in English.

[4:19]  ⁶ tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[4:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “all the host of heaven.”

[4:19]  ⁸ tn In the Hebrew text the verbal sequence in v. 19 is “lest you look up…and see…and be seduced…and worship them…and serve them.” However, the first two actions are not prohibited in and of themselves. The prohibition pertains to the final three actions. The first two verbs describe actions that are logically subordinate to the following actions and can be treated as temporal or circumstantial: “lest, looking up…and seeing…, you are seduced.” See Joüon 2:635 §168.h.

[4:19]  ⁹ tn Or “allotted.”

[4:19]  ¹⁰ tn Or “nations.”

[4:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “under all the heaven.”

[4:19]  sn The OT views the heavenly host as God’s council, which surrounds his royal throne ready to do his bidding (see 1 Kgs 22:19). God has given this group, sometimes called the “sons of God” (cf. Job 1:6; 38:7; Ps 89:6), jurisdiction over the nations. See Deut 32:8 (LXX). Some also see this assembly as the addressee in Ps 82. While God delegated his council to rule over the nations, he established a theocratic government over Israel and ruled directly over his chosen people via the Mosaic covenant. See v. 20, as well as Deut 32:9.

[11:16]  ¹² tn Heb “Watch yourselves lest your heart turns and you turn aside and serve other gods and bow down to them.”

[17:3]  ¹³ tc The MT reads “and to the sun,” thus including the sun, the moon, and other heavenly spheres among the gods. However, Theodotion and Lucian read “or to the sun,” suggesting perhaps that the sun and the other heavenly bodies are not in the category of actual deities.

[17:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “which I have not commanded you.” The words “to worship” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[17:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “gates.”

[17:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “does the evil in the eyes of the Lord your God.”

[23:5]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “said.”

[23:5]  ¹⁸ tn Or “know.”

[23:5]  ¹⁹ sn A quotation from Exod 22:28. This text defines a form of blasphemy. Paul, aware of the fact that he came close to crossing the line, backed off out of respect for the law.

[23:11]  ²⁰ sn The presence of the Lord indicated the vindicating presence and direction of God.

[23:11]  ²¹ tn Grk “standing near Paul, said.” The participle ἐπιστάς (epistas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[23:11]  ²² tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:11]  ²³ tn Or “Do not be afraid.”

[23:11]  ²⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[23:11]  ²⁵ sn Like Jesus went to Jerusalem, Paul would now go to Rome. This trip forms the concluding backdrop to Acts. This is the second notice about going to Rome (see Acts 19:21 for the first).

[23:11]  map For location see JP4 A1.

[8:2]  ²⁶ tc MT, 4QJer^a and LXX read “the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven,” but 4QJer^c reads “the sun and all the stars.”

[8:2]  tn Heb “the host of heaven.”

[8:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the sun, moon, and host of heaven which they…”

[8:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “followed after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the idiom.

[8:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “they will not” but the referent is far enough removed that it might be ambiguous.

[8:2]  ³⁰ tn Heb “like dung/manure on the surface of the ground.”

[8:16]  ³¹ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something.

[8:16]  ³² sn The priests prayed to God between the porch and the altar on fast days (Joel 2:17). This is the location where Zechariah was murdered (Matt 23:35).

[8:16]  ³³ tc The LXX reads “twenty” instead of twenty-five, perhaps because of the association of the number twenty with the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash.

[8:16]  tn Or “exactly twenty-five.”

[8:16]  ³⁴ sn The temple faced east.

[8:16]  ³⁵ tn Or “the sun god.”

[8:16]  sn The worship of astral entities may have begun during the reign of Manasseh (2 Kgs 21:5).