Hosea 8:2-4

8:2 Israel cries out to me,

“My God, we acknowledge you!”

8:3 But Israel has rejected what is morally good;

so an enemy will pursue him.

The Political and Cultic Sin of Israel

8:4 They enthroned kings without my consent! ¹ 

They appointed princes without my approval! ² 

They made idols out of their silver and gold,

but they will be destroyed! ³ 

Hosea 8:1

God Will Raise Up the Assyrians to Attack Israel

8:1 Sound the alarm! ⁴ 

An eagle ⁵  looms over the temple of the Lord!

For they have broken their covenant with me, ⁶ 

and have rebelled against my law.

Kisah Para Rasul 18:21

18:21 but said farewell to ⁷  them and added, ⁸  “I will come back ⁹  to you again if God wills.” ¹⁰  Then ¹¹  he set sail from Ephesus,

Zefanya 1:5

1:5 I will remove ¹²  those who worship the stars in the sky from their rooftops, ¹³ 

those who swear allegiance to the Lord ¹⁴  while taking oaths in the name of ¹⁵  their ‘king,’ ¹⁶ 

Matius 6:24

6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate ¹⁷  the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise ¹⁸  the other. You cannot serve God and money. ¹⁹ 

Wahyu 3:15-16

3:15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. ²⁰  I wish you were either cold or hot! 3:16 So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going ²¹  to vomit ²²  you out of my mouth!

[8:4]  ¹ tn Heb “but without me”; NCV “without asking my permission”; CEV “without consulting me.”

[8:4]  ² tn Heb “but I did not know”; NRSV “but without my knowledge.”

[8:4]  ³ tn Heb “in order to be cut off.” The text gives the impression that they made the idols for this purpose, but the language is ironic and sarcastic, bringing out the futility of their efforts. One could paraphrase, “they made idols…but only so that they might be destroyed.” Though they had other plans for the idols, God’s judgment would bring their intentions to naught.

[8:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “A horn unto your gums!”; NAB “A trumpet to your lips!”

[8:1]  ⁵ tn Or perhaps “A vulture.” Some identify the species indicated by the Hebrew term נֶשֶׁר (nesher) as the griffon vulture (cf. NEB, NRSV).

[8:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “my covenant” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “the covenant I made with them.”

[18:21]  ⁷ tn Or “but took leave of.”

[18:21]  ⁸ tn Grk “and saying”; the participle εἰπών (eipwn) has been translated as “added” rather than “said” to avoid redundancy with the previous “said farewell.” The participle εἰπών has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[18:21]  ⁹ tn Or “will return.”

[18:21]  ¹⁰ tn The participle θέλοντος (qelontos), a genitive absolute construction, has been translated as a conditional adverbial participle. Again Paul acts in dependence on God.

[18:21]  ¹¹ tn A new sentence was begun here in the translation due to the length of the sentence in Greek and the requirements of contemporary English style, which generally uses shorter sentences.

[1:5]  ¹² tn The words “I will remove” are repeated from v. 4b for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 4b-6 contain a long list of objects for the verb “I will remove” in v. 4b. In the present translation a new sentence was begun at the beginning of v. 5 in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences.

[1:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “those who worship on their roofs the host of heaven.” The “host of heaven” included the sun, moon, planets, and stars, all of which were deified in the ancient Near East.

[1:5]  ¹⁴ tc The MT reads, “those who worship, those who swear allegiance to the Lord.” The original form of the LXX omits the phrase “those who worship”; it may have been accidentally repeated from the preceding line. J. J. M. Roberts prefers to delete as secondary the phrase “those who swear allegiance” (J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah [OTL], 168).

[1:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “those who swear by.”

[1:5]  ¹⁶ tn The referent of “their king” is unclear. It may refer sarcastically to a pagan god (perhaps Baal) worshiped by the people. Some English versions (cf. NEB, NASB, NRSV) prefer to emend the text to “Milcom,” the name of an Ammonite god (following some LXX mss, Syriac, and Vulgate) or “Molech,” a god to whom the Israelites offered their children (cf. NIV, NLT). For a discussion of the options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 75-77.

[6:24]  ¹⁷ sn The contrast between hate and love here is rhetorical. The point is that one will choose the favorite if a choice has to be made.

[6:24]  ¹⁸ tn Or “and treat [the other] with contempt.”

[6:24]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “God and mammon.”

[6:24]  sn The term money is used to translate mammon, the Aramaic term for wealth or possessions. The point is not that money is inherently evil, but that it is often misused so that it is a means of evil; see 1 Tim 6:6-10, 17-19. God must be first, not money or possessions.

[3:15]  ²⁰ sn Laodicea was near two other towns, each of which had a unique water source. To the north was Hierapolis which had a natural hot spring, often used for medicinal purposes. To the east was Colossae which had cold, pure waters. In contrast to these towns, Laodicea had no permanent supply of good water. Efforts to pipe water to the city from nearby springs were successful, but it would arrive lukewarm. The metaphor in the text is not meant to relate spiritual fervor to temperature. This would mean that Laodicea would be commended for being spiritually cold, but it is unlikely that Jesus would commend this. Instead, the metaphor condemns Laodicea for not providing spiritual healing (being hot) or spiritual refreshment (being cold) to those around them. It is a condemnation of their lack of works and lack of witness.

[3:16]  ²¹ tn Or “I intend.”

[3:16]  ²² tn This is the literal meaning of the Greek verb ἐμέω (emew). It is usually translated with a much weaker term like “spit out” due to the unpleasant connotations of the English verb “vomit,” as noted by L&N 23.44. The situation confronting the Laodicean church is a dire one, however, and such a term is necessary if the modern reader is to understand the gravity of the situation.