Yesaya 2:20-21

2:20 At that time ¹  men will throw

their silver and gold idols,

which they made for themselves to worship, ² 

into the caves where rodents and bats live, ³ 

2:21 so they themselves can go into the crevices of the rocky cliffs

and the openings under the rocky overhangs, ⁴ 

trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lord ⁵ 

and his royal splendor,

when he rises up to terrify the earth. ⁶ 

Yesaya 5:14

5:14 So Death ⁷  will open up its throat,

and open wide its mouth; ⁸ 

Zion’s dignitaries and masses will descend into it,

including those who revel and celebrate within her. ⁹ 

Kejadian 31:1-2

Jacob’s Flight from Laban

31:1 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were complaining, ¹⁰  “Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father! He has gotten rich ¹¹  at our father’s expense!” ¹²  31:2 When Jacob saw the look on Laban’s face, he could tell his attitude toward him had changed. ¹³ 

Kisah Para Rasul 7:6-8

7:6 But God spoke as follows: ‘Your ¹⁴  descendants will be foreigners ¹⁵  in a foreign country, whose citizens will enslave them and mistreat them for four hundred years. ¹⁶  7:7 But I will punish ¹⁷  the nation they serve as slaves,’ said God, ‘and after these things they will come out of there ¹⁸  and worship ¹⁹  me in this place.’ ²⁰  7:8 Then God ²¹  gave Abraham ²²  the covenant ²³  of circumcision, and so he became the father of Isaac and circumcised him when he was eight days old, ²⁴  and Isaac became the father of ²⁵  Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. ²⁶ 

Kisah Para Rasul 7:15

7:15 So Jacob went down to Egypt and died there, ²⁷  along with our ancestors, ²⁸ 

Mazmur 49:16-17

49:16 Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich ²⁹ 

and his wealth multiplies! ³⁰ 

49:17 For he will take nothing with him when he dies;

his wealth will not follow him down into the grave. ³¹ 

Amsal 11:4

11:4 Wealth does not profit in the day of wrath, ³² 

but righteousness delivers from mortal danger. ³³ 

Zefanya 1:18

1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them

in the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.

The whole earth ³⁴  will be consumed by his fiery wrath. ³⁵ 

Indeed, ³⁶  he will bring terrifying destruction ³⁷  on all who live on the earth.” ³⁸ 

[2:20]  ¹ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[2:20]  ² tn Or “bow down to.”

[2:20]  ³ tn Heb “to the shrews and to the bats.” On the meaning of חֲפַרְפָּרָה (khafarparah, “shrew”), see HALOT 341 s.v. חֲפַרְפָּרָה. The BHS text as it stands (לַחְפֹּר פֵּרוֹת, perot lakhpor), makes no sense. Based on Theodotion’s transliteration and a similar reading in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, most scholars suggest that the MT mistakenly divided a noun (a hapax legomenon) that should be translated “moles,” “shrews,” or “rodents.”

[2:21]  ⁴ sn The precise point of vv. 20-21 is not entirely clear. Are they taking the idols into their hiding places with them, because they are so attached to their man-made images? Or are they discarding the idols along the way as they retreat into the darkest places they can find? In either case it is obvious that the gods are incapable of helping them.

[2:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the dread of the Lord,” that is, from the dread that he produces in the objects of his judgment.” The words “trying to escape” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[2:21]  ⁶ tn Or “land.” It is not certain if these verses are describing the judgment of Judah (see vv. 6-9) or a more universal judgment on all proud men. Almost all English versions translate “earth,” taking this to refer to universal judgment.

[5:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “Sheol” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV); the underworld, the land of the dead, according to the OT world view. Cf. NAB “the nether world”; TEV, CEV “the world of the dead”; NLT “the grave.”

[5:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “so Sheol will make wide its throat, and open its mouth without limit.”

[5:14]  sn Death is portrayed in both the OT (Prov 1:12; Hab 2:5) and Canaanite myth as voraciously swallowing up its prey. In the myths Death is portrayed as having “a lip to the earth, a lip to the heavens … and a tongue to the stars.” (G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 69, text 5 ii 2-3.) Death describes his own appetite as follows: “But my appetite is the appetite of lions in the waste…If it is in very truth my desire to consume ‘clay’ [a reference to his human victims], then in truth by the handfuls I must eat it, whether my seven portions [indicating fullness and completeness] are already in the bowl or whether Nahar [the god of the river responsible for ferrying victims from the land of the living to the land of the dead] has to mix the cup.” (Driver, 68-69, text 5 i 14-22).

[5:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “and her splendor and her masses will go down, and her tumult and the one who exults in her.” The antecedent of the four feminine singular pronominal suffixes used in v. 14b is unclear. The likely referent is personified Zion/Jerusalem (see 3:25-26; 4:4-5).

[31:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and he heard the words of the sons of Laban, saying.”

[31:1]  ¹¹ sn The Hebrew word translated “gotten rich” (כָּבוֹד, cavod) has the basic idea of “weight.” If one is heavy with possessions, then that one is wealthy (13:2). Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph all became wealthy when they left the promised land. Jacob’s wealth foreshadows what will happen to Israel when they leave the land of Egypt (Exod 12:35-38).

[31:1]  ¹² tn Heb “and from that which belonged to our father he has gained all this wealth.”

[31:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “and Jacob saw the face of Laban, and look, he was not with him as formerly.” Jacob knew from the expression on Laban’s face that his attitude toward him had changed – Jacob had become persona non grata.

[7:6]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “that his”; the discourse switches from indirect to direct with the following verbs. For consistency the entire quotation is treated as second person direct discourse in the translation.

[7:6]  ¹⁵ tn Or “will be strangers,” that is, one who lives as a noncitizen of a foreign country.

[7:6]  ¹⁶ sn A quotation from Gen 15:13. Exod 12:40 specifies the sojourn as 430 years.

[7:7]  ¹⁷ tn BDAG 568 s.v. κρίνω 5.b.α states, “Oft. the emphasis is unmistakably laid upon that which follows the Divine Judge’s verdict, upon the condemnation or punishment: condemn, punish …Ac 7:7 (Gen 15:14).”

[7:7]  ¹⁸ tn The words “of there” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[7:7]  sn A quotation from Gen 15:14.

[7:7]  ¹⁹ tn Or “and serve,” but with religious/cultic overtones (BDAG 587 s.v. λατρεύω).

[7:7]  ²⁰ sn An allusion to Exod 3:12.

[7:8]  ²¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:8]  ²² tn Grk “him”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:8]  ²³ sn God gave…the covenant. Note how the covenant of promise came before Abraham’s entry into the land and before the building of the temple.

[7:8]  ²⁴ tn Grk “circumcised him on the eighth day,” but many modern readers will not understand that this procedure was done on the eighth day after birth. The temporal clause “when he was eight days old” conveys this idea more clearly. See Gen 17:11-12.

[7:8]  ²⁵ tn The words “became the father of” are not in the Greek text due to an ellipsis, but must be supplied for the English translation. The ellipsis picks up the verb from the previous clause describing how Abraham fathered Isaac.

[7:8]  ²⁶ sn The twelve patriarchs refers to the twelve sons of Jacob, the famous ancestors of the Jewish race (see Gen 35:23-26).

[7:15]  ²⁷ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[7:15]  ²⁸ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[49:16]  ²⁹ sn When a man becomes rich. Why would people fear such a development? The acquisition of wealth makes individuals powerful and enables them to oppress others (see vv. 5-6).

[49:16]  ³⁰ tn Heb “when the glory of his house grows great.”

[49:17]  ³¹ tn Heb “his glory will not go down after him.”

[11:4]  ³² sn The “day of wrath” refers to divine punishment in this life (R. N. Whybray, Proverbs [CBC], 67; e.g., also Job 21:30; Ezek 7:19; Zeph 1:18). Righteousness and not wealth is more valuable in anticipating judgment.

[11:4]  ³³ tn Heb “from death.”

[1:18]  ³⁴ tn Or “land” (cf. NEB). This same word also occurs at the end of the present verse.

[1:18]  ³⁵ tn Or “passion”; traditionally, “jealousy.”

[1:18]  ³⁶ tn Or “for.”

[1:18]  ³⁷ tn Heb “complete destruction, even terror, he will make.”

[1:18]  ³⁸ tn It is not certain where the Lord’s words end and the prophet’s words begin. It is possible that Zephaniah begins speaking in the middle of v. 17 or at the beginning of v. 18 (note the third person pronouns referring to the Lord).