Yesaya 3:14

3:14 The Lord comes to pronounce judgment

on the leaders of his people and their officials.

He says, ¹  “It is you ²  who have ruined ³  the vineyard! ⁴ 

You have stashed in your houses what you have stolen from the poor. ⁵ 

Yesaya 3:2

3:2 the mighty men and warriors,

judges and prophets,

omen readers and leaders, ⁶ 

Yesaya 24:17-21

24:17 Terror, pit, and snare

are ready to overtake you inhabitants of the earth! ⁷ 

24:18 The one who runs away from the sound of the terror

will fall into the pit; ⁸ 

the one who climbs out of the pit,

will be trapped by the snare.

For the floodgates of the heavens ⁹  are opened up ¹⁰ 

and the foundations of the earth shake.

24:19 The earth is broken in pieces,

the earth is ripped to shreds,

the earth shakes violently. ¹¹ 

24:20 The earth will stagger around ¹²  like a drunk;

it will sway back and forth like a hut in a windstorm. ¹³ 

Its sin will weigh it down,

and it will fall and never get up again.

The Lord Will Become King

24:21 At that time ¹⁴  the Lord will punish ¹⁵ 

the heavenly forces in the heavens ¹⁶ 

and the earthly kings on the earth.

Yesaya 36:14

36:14 This is what the king says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you!

Yeremia 5:5

5:5 I will go to the leaders ¹⁷ 

and speak with them.

Surely they know what the Lord demands. ¹⁸ 

Surely they know what their God requires of them.” ¹⁹ 

Yet all of them, too, have rejected his authority

and refuse to submit to him. ²⁰ 

Yehezkiel 22:6-12

22:6 “‘See how each of the princes of Israel living within you has used his authority to shed blood. ²¹  22:7 They have treated father and mother with contempt ²²  within you; they have oppressed the foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow ²³  within you. 22:8 You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths! 22:9 Slanderous men shed blood within you. ²⁴  Those who live within you eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains; ²⁵  they commit obscene acts among you. ²⁶  22:10 They have sex with their father’s wife within you; ²⁷  they violate women during their menstrual period within you. ²⁸  22:11 One ²⁹  commits an abominable act with his neighbor’s wife; another obscenely defiles his daughter-in-law; another violates ³⁰  his sister – his father’s daughter ³¹  – within you. 22:12 They take bribes within you to shed blood. You engage in usury and charge interest; ³²  you extort money from your neighbors. You have forgotten me, ³³  declares the sovereign Lord. ³⁴ 

Daniel 9:5-6

9:5 we have sinned! We have done what is wrong and wicked; we have rebelled by turning away from your commandments and standards. 9:6 We have not paid attention to your servants the prophets, who spoke by your authority ³⁵  to our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors, ³⁶  and to all the inhabitants ³⁷  of the land as well.

Hosea 7:3-5

Political Intrigue and Conspiracy in the Palace

7:3 The royal advisers delight the king with their evil schemes,

the princes make him glad with their lies.

7:4 They are all like bakers, ³⁸ 

they ³⁹  are like a smoldering oven;

they are like a baker who does not stoke the fire

until the kneaded dough is ready for baking.

7:5 At the celebration ⁴⁰  of their king, ⁴¹ 

his princes become inflamed ⁴²  with wine;

they conspire ⁴³  with evildoers.

Hosea 9:15

9:15 Because of all their evil in Gilgal,

I hate them there.

On account of their evil deeds,

I will drive them out of my land. ⁴⁴ 

I will no longer love them;

all their rulers are rebels.

Mikha 3:1-3

God Will Judge Judah’s Sinful Leaders

3:1 I said,

“Listen, you leaders ⁴⁵  of Jacob,

you rulers of the nation ⁴⁶  of Israel!

You ought to know what is just, ⁴⁷ 

3:2 yet you ⁴⁸  hate what is good, ⁴⁹ 

and love what is evil. ⁵⁰ 

You flay my people’s skin ⁵¹ 

and rip the flesh from their bones. ⁵² 

3:3 You ⁵³  devour my people’s flesh,

strip off their skin,

and crush their bones.

You chop them up like flesh in a pot ⁵⁴  –

like meat in a kettle.

Mikha 3:11

3:11 Her ⁵⁵  leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, ⁵⁶ 

her priests proclaim rulings for profit,

and her prophets read omens for pay.

Yet they claim to trust ⁵⁷  the Lord and say,

“The Lord is among us. ⁵⁸ 

Disaster will not overtake ⁵⁹  us!”

Kisah Para Rasul 4:5-11

4:5 On the next day, ⁶⁰  their rulers, elders, and experts in the law ⁶¹  came together ⁶²  in Jerusalem. ⁶³  4:6 Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and others who were members of the high priest’s family. ⁶⁴  4:7 After ⁶⁵  making Peter and John ⁶⁶  stand in their midst, they began to inquire, “By what power or by what name ⁶⁷  did you do this?” 4:8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, ⁶⁸  replied, ⁶⁹  “Rulers of the people and elders, ⁷⁰  4:9 if ⁷¹  we are being examined ⁷²  today for a good deed ⁷³  done to a sick man – by what means this man was healed ⁷⁴  – 4:10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ ⁷⁵  the Nazarene whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands before you healthy. 4:11 This Jesus ⁷⁶  is the stone that was rejected by you, ⁷⁷  the builders, that has become the cornerstone. ⁷⁸ 

[3:14]  ¹ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[3:14]  ² tn The pronominal element is masculine plural; the leaders are addressed.

[3:14]  ³ tn The verb בָּעַר (ba’ar, “graze, ruin”; HALOT 146 s.v. II בער) is a homonym of the more common בָּעַר (ba’ar, “burn”; see HALOT 145 s.v. I בער).

[3:14]  ⁴ sn The vineyard is a metaphor for the nation here. See 5:1-7.

[3:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “the plunder of the poor [is] in your houses” (so NASB).

[3:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “elder” (so ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); NCV “older leaders.”

[24:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “[are] upon you, O inhabitant of the earth.” The first line of v. 17 provides another classic example of Hebrew wordplay. The names of the three instruments of judgment (פָח,פַחַת,פַּחַד [pakhad, fakhat, fakh]) all begin with the letters פח (peh-khet) and the first two end in dental consonants (ת/ד, tet/dalet). Once again the repetition of sound draws attention to the statement and contributes to the theme of the inescapability of judgment. As their similar-sounding names suggest, terror, pit, and snare are allies in destroying the objects of divine wrath.

[24:18]  ⁸ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[24:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “from the height”; KJV “from on high.”

[24:18]  ¹⁰ sn The language reflects the account of the Noahic Flood (see Gen 7:11).

[24:19]  ¹¹ tn Once more repetition is used to draw attention to a statement. In the Hebrew text each lines ends with אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”). Each line also uses a Hitpolel verb form from a geminate root preceded by an emphatic infinitive absolute.

[24:20]  ¹² tn Heb “staggering, staggers.” The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute before the finite verb for emphasis and sound play.

[24:20]  ¹³ tn The words “in a windstorm” are supplied in the translation to clarify the metaphor.

[24:21]  ¹⁴ tn Or “in that day” (so KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[24:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “visit [in judgment].”

[24:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the host of the height in the height.” The “host of the height/heaven” refers to the heavenly luminaries (stars and planets, see, among others, Deut 4:19; 17:3; 2 Kgs 17:16; 21:3, 5; 23:4-5; 2 Chr 33:3, 5) that populate the divine/heavenly assembly in mythological and prescientific Israelite thought (see Job 38:7; Isa 14:13).

[5:5]  ¹⁷ tn Or “people in power”; Heb “the great ones.”

[5:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the way of the Lord.”

[5:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the judgment [or ordinance] of their God.”

[5:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “have broken the yoke and torn off the yoke ropes.” Compare Jer 2:20 and the note there.

[22:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “Look! The princes of Israel, each according to his arm, were in you in order to shed blood.”

[22:7]  ²² tn Heb “treated lightly, cursed.”

[22:7]  ²³ tn Widows and orphans are often coupled together in the OT (Deut 14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:19-21; 26:12-13; Jer 7:6; 22:3). They represented all who were poor and vulnerable to economic exploitation.

[22:9]  ²⁴ tn Heb “men of slander are in you in order to shed blood.”

[22:9]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and on the mountains they eat within you.” The mountains mentioned here were the site of pagan sacrifices. See 18:6.

[22:9]  ²⁶ sn This statement introduces vv. 10-11 and refers in general terms to the sexual sins described there. For the legal background of vv. 10-11, see Lev 18:7-20; 20:10-21; Deut 22:22-23, 30; 27:22.

[22:10]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the nakedness of a father one uncovers within you.” The ancient versions read the verb as plural (“they uncover”). If the singular is retained, it must be taken as indefinite and representative of the entire group. The idiomatic expression “uncover the nakedness” refers here to sexual intercourse (cf. Lev 18:6). To uncover a father’s nakedness could include sexual relations with one’s own mother (Lev 18:7), but more likely it refers to having intercourse with another wife of one’s father, such as a stepmother (Lev 18:8; cf. Gen 35:22; 49:4).

[22:10]  ²⁸ tn Heb “(one who is) unclean due to the impurity they humble within you.” The use of the verb “to humble” suggests that these men forced themselves upon women during menstruation. Having sexual relations with a woman during her period was forbidden by the Law (Lev 18:19; 20:18).

[22:11]  ²⁹ tn Heb “a man.”

[22:11]  ³⁰ tn The verb is the same one used in verse 10b and suggests forcible sexual violation of the woman.

[22:11]  ³¹ sn Sexual relations with one’s half-sister may be primarily in view here. See Lev 18:9; 20:17.

[22:12]  ³² tn Heb “usury and interest you take.” See 18:13, 17. This kind of economic exploitation violated the law given in Lev 25:36.

[22:12]  ³³ sn Forgetting the Lord is also addressed in Deut 6:12; 8:11, 14; Jer 3:21; 13:25; Ezek 23:35; Hos 2:15; 8:14; 13:6.

[22:12]  ³⁴ tn The second person verb forms are feminine singular in Hebrew, indicating that the personified city is addressed here as representing its citizens.

[9:6]  ³⁵ tn Heb “in your name.” Another option is to translate, “as your representatives.”

[9:6]  ³⁶ tn Heb “our fathers” (also in vv. 8, 16). The Hebrew term translated “father” can refer to more distant relationships such as grandfathers or ancestors.

[9:6]  ³⁷ tn Heb “people.”

[7:4]  ³⁸ tc The MT reads מְנָאֲפִים (mÿna’afim, “adulterers”; Piel participle masculine plural from נָאַף, na’af, “to commit adultery”), which does not seem to fit the context. The original reading was probably אוֹפִים (’ofim, “bakers”; Qal participle masculine plural from אָפַה, ’afah, “to bake”), which harmonizes well with the baker/oven/fire motif in 7:4-7. The textual deviation was caused by: (1) confusion of נ (nun) and ו (vav), (2) metathesis of נ/ו (nun/vav) and א (alef), and (3) dittography of מ (mem) from the preceding word. Original כֻּלָּם אוֹפִים (kullam ’ofim, “all of them are bakers”) was confused for כֻּלָּם מְנָאֲפִים (“all of them are adulterers”). In spite of this most English versions follow the reading of the MT here.

[7:4]  ³⁹ tc The MT preserves the enigmatic כְּמוֹ תַנּוּר בֹּעֵרָה מֵ (kÿmo tannur bo’erah me, “Like a burning oven, from…?”). The adjectival participle בֹּעֵרָה (“burning”) is feminine while the noun תַנּוּר (tannur, “oven”) that it modifies is masculine. The BHS editors solve this problem by simply redividing the words: כְּמוֹ תַנּוּר בֹּעֵר הֵם (cÿmo tannur bo’er hem, “they are like a burning oven”). This solution is followed by many English versions (e.g., NCV, NRSV, NLT).

[7:5]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “the day of” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “On the day of the festival of our king”; NLT “On royal holidays.”

[7:5]  ⁴¹ tc The MT preserves the awkward 1st person common plural suffix reading מַלְכֵּנוּ (malakenu, “our king”). The BHS editors suggest reading the 3rd person masculine plural suffix מַלְכָּם (malkam, “their king”; so CEV), as reflected in the Aramaic Targum.

[7:5]  ⁴² tc The MT vocalizes the consonants החלו as הֶחֱלוּ a Hiphil perfect 3rd person common plural from I חָלָה (“to become sick”). However, this is syntactically awkward. The BHS editors suggest revocalizing it as Hiphil infinitive construct + 3rd person masculine singular suffix from חָלַל (khalal, “to begin”) or Hiphil perfect 3rd person common plural from חָלַל. For a discussion of this textual problem, see D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:240.

[7:5]  tn Heb “when their king began [to reign].”

[7:5]  ⁴³ tn Heb “he joined hands”; NCV “make agreements.”

[9:15]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “out of my house” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV, NCV, NLT “my land.”

[3:1]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “heads.”

[3:1]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “house.”

[3:1]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “Should you not know justice?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you should!”

[3:2]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “the ones who.”

[3:2]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “good.”

[3:2]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “evil.”

[3:2]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “their skin from upon them.” The referent of the pronoun (“my people,” referring to Jacob and/or the house of Israel, with the Lord as the speaker) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ⁵² tn Heb “and their flesh from their bones.”

[3:2]  sn Micah compares the social injustice perpetrated by the house of Jacob/Israel to cannibalism, because it threatens the very lives of the oppressed.

[3:3]  ⁵³ tn Heb “who.”

[3:3]  ⁵⁴ tc The MT reads “and they chop up as in a pot.” The translation assumes an emendation of כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka’asher, “as”) to כִּשְׁאֵר (kish’er, “like flesh”).

[3:11]  ⁵⁵ sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).

[3:11]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”

[3:11]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”

[3:11]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “Is not the Lord in our midst?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he is!”

[3:11]  ⁵⁹ tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”

[4:5]  ⁶⁰ tn Grk “It happened that on the next day.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[4:5]  ⁶¹ tn Or “and scribes.” The traditional rendering of γραμματεύς (grammateu") as “scribe” does not communicate much to the modern English reader, for whom the term might mean “professional copyist,” if it means anything at all. The people referred to here were recognized experts in the law of Moses and in traditional laws and regulations. Thus “expert in the law” comes closer to the meaning for the modern reader.

[4:5]  sn Experts in the law would have been mostly like the Pharisees in approach. Thus various sects of Judaism were coming together against Jesus.

[4:5]  ⁶² tn Or “law assembled,” “law met together.”

[4:5]  ⁶³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[4:6]  ⁶⁴ sn The high priest’s family. This family controlled the high priesthood as far back as a.d. 6. Annas, Caiaphas, and Alexander were all high priests at one time (though Alexander held that office after this event).

[4:7]  ⁶⁵ tn Grk “And after.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new sentence is begun in the translation at the beginning of v. 7.

[4:7]  ⁶⁶ tn Grk “making them”; the referents (Peter and John) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:7]  ⁶⁷ sn By what name. The issue of the “name” comes up again here. This question, meaning “by whose authority,” surfaces an old dispute (see Luke 20:1-8). Who speaks for God about the ancient faith?

[4:8]  ⁶⁸ sn Filled with the Holy Spirit. The narrator’s remark about the Holy Spirit indicates that Peter speaks as directed by God and for God. This fulfills Luke 12:11-12 (1 Pet 3:15).

[4:8]  ⁶⁹ tn Grk “Spirit, said to them.”

[4:8]  ⁷⁰ tc The Western and Byzantine texts, as well as one or two Alexandrian witnesses, read τοῦ ᾿Ισραήλ (tou Israhl, “of Israel”) after πρεσβύτεροι (presbuteroi, “elders”; so D E Ψ 33 1739 Ï it), while most of the better witnesses, chiefly Alexandrian (Ì⁷⁴ א A B 0165 1175 vg sa bo), lack this modifier. The longer reading was most likely added by scribes to give literary balance to the addressees in that “Rulers” already had an adjunct while “elders” was left absolute.

[4:9]  ⁷¹ tn This clause is a first class condition. It assumes for the sake of argument that this is what they were being questioned about.

[4:9]  ⁷² tn Or “questioned.” The Greek term ἀνακρίνω (anakrinw) points to an examination similar to a legal one.

[4:9]  ⁷³ tn Or “for an act of kindness.”

[4:9]  ⁷⁴ tn Or “delivered” (σέσωται [seswtai], from σώζω [swzw]). See 4:12.

[4:10]  ⁷⁵ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[4:11]  ⁷⁶ tn Grk “This one”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:11]  ⁷⁷ tn The word “you” is inserted into the quotation because Peter is making a direct application of Ps 118:22 to his hearers. Because it is not in the OT, it has been left as normal type (rather than bold italic). The remarks are like Acts 2:22-24 and 3:12-15.

[4:11]  ⁷⁸ sn A quotation from Ps 118:22 which combines the theme of rejection with the theme of God’s vindication/exaltation.