Filipi 2:21

2:21 Others are busy with their own concerns, not those of Jesus Christ.

Filipi 2:1

Christian Unity and Christ’s Humility

2:1 Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort provided by love, any fellowship in the Spirit, ¹  any affection or mercy, ² 

1 Samuel 2:11-16

2:11 Then Elkanah went back home to Ramah. But the boy was serving the Lord under the supervision of ³  Eli the priest.

Eli’s Sons Misuse Their Sacred Office

2:12 The sons of Eli were wicked men. ⁴  They did not recognize the Lord’s authority. ⁵  2:13 Now the priests would always treat the people in the following way: ⁶  Whenever anyone was making a sacrifice, while the meat was boiling, the priest’s attendant would come with a three-pronged fork ⁷  in his hand. 2:14 He would jab it into the basin, kettle, caldron, or pot, and everything that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they used to do to all the Israelites ⁸  when they came there to Shiloh.

2:15 Even before they burned the fat, the priest’s attendant would come and say to the person who was making the sacrifice, “Hand over some meat for the priest to roast! He won’t take boiled meat from you, but only raw.” ⁹  2:16 If the individual said to him, “First let the fat be burned away, and then take for yourself whatever you wish,” he would say, “No! ¹⁰  Hand it over right now! If you don’t, I will take it forcibly!”

1 Samuel 2:29

2:29 Why are you ¹¹  scorning my sacrifice and my offering that I commanded for my dwelling place? ¹²  You have honored your sons more than you have me by having made yourselves fat from the best parts of all the offerings of my people Israel.’

Yesaya 56:10-12

56:10 All their watchmen ¹³  are blind,

they are unaware. ¹⁴ 

All of them are like mute dogs,

unable to bark.

They pant, ¹⁵  lie down,

and love to snooze.

56:11 The dogs have big appetites;

they are never full. ¹⁶ 

They are shepherds who have no understanding;

they all go their own way,

each one looking for monetary gain. ¹⁷ 

56:12 Each one says, ¹⁸ 

‘Come on, I’ll get some wine!

Let’s guzzle some beer!

Tomorrow will be just like today!

We’ll have everything we want!’ ¹⁹ 

Yehezkiel 13:19

13:19 You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. You have put to death people ²⁰  who should not die and kept alive those who should not live by your lies to my people, who listen to lies!

Yehezkiel 34:3

34:3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the choice animals, but you do not feed the sheep!

Mikha 3:5

3:5 This is what the Lord says: “The prophets who mislead my people

are as good as dead. ²¹ 

If someone gives them enough to eat,

they offer an oracle of peace. ²² 

But if someone does not give them food,

they are ready to declare war on him. ²³ 

Mikha 3:11

3:11 Her ²⁴  leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, ²⁵ 

her priests proclaim rulings for profit,

and her prophets read omens for pay.

Yet they claim to trust ²⁶  the Lord and say,

“The Lord is among us. ²⁷ 

Disaster will not overtake ²⁸  us!”

Maleakhi 1:12

1:12 “But you are profaning it by saying that the table of the Lord is common and its offerings ²⁹  despicable.

Lukas 12:19

12:19 And I will say to myself, ³⁰  “You have plenty of goods stored up for many years; relax, eat, drink, celebrate!”’

Lukas 16:19

The Rich Man and Lazarus

16:19 “There was a rich man who dressed in purple ³¹  and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously ³²  every day.

Roma 16:18

16:18 For these are the kind who do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By their smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds ³³  of the naive.

Roma 16:1

Personal Greetings

16:1 Now I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant ³⁴  of the church in Cenchrea,

Titus 1:5

Titus’ Task on Crete

1:5 The reason I left you in Crete was to set in order the remaining matters and to appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.

Titus 1:2

1:2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the ages began. ³⁵ 

Titus 3:4

3:4 ³⁶  But “when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared,

Titus 1:11-12

1:11 who must be silenced because they mislead whole families by teaching for dishonest gain what ought not to be taught. 1:12 A certain one of them, in fact, one of their own prophets, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” ³⁷ 

Titus 1:2

1:2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the ages began. ³⁸ 

Pengkhotbah 2:13

2:13 I realized that wisdom is preferable to folly, ³⁹ 

just as light is preferable to darkness:

Yudas 1:12

1:12 These men are ⁴⁰  dangerous reefs ⁴¹  at your love feasts, ⁴²  feasting without reverence, ⁴³  feeding only themselves. ⁴⁴  They are ⁴⁵  waterless ⁴⁶  clouds, carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit ⁴⁷  – twice dead, ⁴⁸  uprooted;

[2:1]  ¹ tn Or “spiritual fellowship” if πνεύματος (pneumato") is an attributive genitive; or “fellowship brought about by the Spirit” if πνεύματος is a genitive of source or production.

[2:1]  ² tn Grk “and any affection and mercy.” The Greek idea, however, is best expressed by “or” in English.

[2:11]  ³ tn Heb “with [or “before”] the face of.”

[2:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “sons of worthlessness.”

[2:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “they did not know the Lord.” The verb here has the semantic nuance “recognize the authority of.” Eli’s sons obviously knew who the Lord was; they served in his sanctuary. But they did not recognize his moral authority.

[2:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “the habit of the priests with the people [was this].”

[2:13]  ⁷ sn The Hebrew word occurs only twice in the OT, here and again in v. 14. Its exact meaning is not entirely clear, although from the context it appears to be a sacrificial tool used for retrieving things from boiling water.

[2:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “to all Israel.”

[2:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “living.”

[2:16]  ¹⁰ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss (“no”) rather than the Kethib and MT, which read “to him.”

[2:29]  ¹¹ tc The MT has a plural “you” here, but the LXX and a Qumran ms have the singular. The singular may be the correct reading; the verb “you have honored” later in the verse is singular even in the MT. However, it is more probable that the Lord here refers to Eli and his sons. Note the plural in the second half of the verse (“you have made yourselves fat”).

[2:29]  ¹² tn Heb “which I commanded, dwelling place.” The noun is functioning as an adverbial accusative in relation to the verb. Since God’s dwelling place/sanctuary is in view, the pronoun “my” is supplied in the translation.

[56:10]  ¹³ sn The “watchmen” are probably spiritual leaders, most likely prophets and priests, responsible for giving the people moral direction.

[56:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they do not know”; KJV “they are all ignorant”; NIV “they all lack knowledge.”

[56:10]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew text has הֹזִים (hozim), which appears to be derived from an otherwise unattested verbal root הָזָה (hazah). On the basis of alleged cognates, BDB 223 s.v. הָזָה offers the definition “dream, rave” while HALOT 243 s.v. הזה lists “pant.” In this case the dog metaphor of the preceding lines continues. The reference to dogs at the beginning of v. 11 favors the extension of the metaphor. The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has חזים (“seers”) here. In this case the “watchmen” are directly identified as prophets and depicted as lazy.

[56:11]  ¹⁶ sn The phrase never full alludes to the greed of the leaders.

[56:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “for his gain from his end.”

[56:12]  ¹⁸ tn The words “each one says” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[56:12]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “great, [in] abundance, very much,” i.e., “very great indeed.” See HALOT 452 s.v. יֶתֶר.

[13:19]  ²⁰ tn Heb “human lives” or “souls.”

[3:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “concerning the prophets, those who mislead my people.” The first person pronominal suffix is awkward in a quotation formula that introduces the words of the Lord. For this reason some prefer to begin the quotation after “the Lord says” (cf. NIV), but this leaves “concerning the prophets” hanging very awkwardly at the beginning of the quotation. It is preferable to add הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) at the beginning of the quotation, right after the graphically similar יְהוָה (yÿhvah; see D. R. Hillers, Micah [Hermeneia], 44). The phrase הוֹי עַל (hoy ’al, “woe upon”) occurs in Jer 50:27 and Ezek 13:3 (with “the prophets” following the preposition in the latter instance).

[3:5]  ²² tn Heb “those who bite with their teeth and cry out, ‘peace.’” The phrase “bite with the teeth” is taken here as idiomatic for eating. Apparently these prophets were driven by mercenary motives. If they were paid well, they gave positive oracles to their clients, but if someone could not afford to pay them, they were hostile and delivered oracles of doom.

[3:5]  ²³ tn Heb “but [as for the one] who does not place [food] in their mouths, they prepare for war against him.”

[3:11]  ²⁴ sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).

[3:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”

[3:11]  ²⁶ tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”

[3:11]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Is not the Lord in our midst?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he is!”

[3:11]  ²⁸ tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”

[1:12]  ²⁹ tn Heb “fruit.” The following word “food” in the Hebrew text (אָכְלוֹ, ’okhlo) appears to be an explanatory gloss to clarify the meaning of the rare word נִיב (niv, “fruit”; see Isa 57:19 Qere; נוֹב, nov, “fruit,” in Kethib). Cf. ASV “the fruit thereof, even its food.” In this cultic context the reference is to the offerings on the altar.

[12:19]  ³⁰ tn Grk “to my soul,” which is repeated as a vocative in the following statement, but is left untranslated as redundant.

[16:19]  ³¹ sn Purple describes a fine, expensive dye used on luxurious clothing, and by metonymy, refers to clothing colored with that dye. It pictures someone of great wealth.

[16:19]  ³² tn Or “celebrated with ostentation” (L&N 88.255), that is, with showing off. Here was the original conspicuous consumer.

[16:18]  ³³ tn Grk “hearts.”

[16:1]  ³⁴ tn Or “deaconess.” It is debated whether διάκονος (diakonos) here refers to a specific office within the church. One contextual argument used to support this view is that Phoebe is associated with a particular church, Cenchrea, and as such would therefore be a deacon of that church. In the NT some who are called διάκονος are related to a particular church, yet the scholarly consensus is that such individuals are not deacons, but “servants” or “ministers” (other viable translations for διάκονος). For example, Epaphras is associated with the church in Colossians and is called a διάκονος in Col 1:7, but no contemporary translation regards him as a deacon. In 1 Tim 4:6 Paul calls Timothy a διάκονος; Timothy was associated with the church in Ephesus, but he obviously was not a deacon. In addition, the lexical evidence leans away from this view: Within the NT, the διακον- word group rarely functions with a technical nuance. In any case, the evidence is not compelling either way. The view accepted in the translation above is that Phoebe was a servant of the church, not a deaconess, although this conclusion should be regarded as tentative.

[1:2]  ³⁵ tn Grk “before eternal ages.”

[3:4]  ³⁶ tn Verses 4-7 are set as poetry in NA²⁶/NA²⁷. These verses probably constitute the referent of the expression “this saying” in v. 8.

[1:12]  ³⁷ sn A saying attributed to the poet Epimenides of Crete (6th century b.c.).

[1:2]  ³⁸ tn Grk “before eternal ages.”

[2:13]  ³⁹ tn Heb “and I saw that there is profit for wisdom more than folly.”

[1:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “these are the men who are.”

[1:12]  ⁴¹ tn Though σπιλάδες (spilades) is frequently translated “blemishes” or “stains,” such is actually a translation of the Greek word σπίλοι (spiloi). The two words are quite similar, especially in their root or lexical forms (σπιλάς [spila"] and σπίλος [spilos] respectively). Some scholars have suggested that σπιλάδες in this context means the same thing as σπίλοι. But such could be the case only by a stretch of the imagination (see BDAG 938 s.v. σπιλάς for discussion). Others suggest that Jude’s spelling was in error (which also is doubtful). One reason for the tension is that in the parallel passage, 2 Pet 2:13, the term used is indeed σπίλος. And if either Jude used 2 Peter or 2 Peter used Jude, one would expect to see the same word. Jude, however, may have changed the wording for the sake of a subtle wordplay. The word σπιλάς was often used of a mere rock, though it normally was associated with a rock along the shore or one jutting out in the water. Thus, the false teachers would appear as “rocks” – as pillars in the community (cf. Matt 16:18; Gal 2:9), when in reality if a believer got too close to them his faith would get shipwrecked. Some suggest that σπιλάδες here means “hidden rocks.” Though this meaning is attested for the word, it is inappropriate in this context, since these false teachers are anything but hidden. They are dangerous because undiscerning folks get close to them, thinking they are rocks and pillars, when they are really dangerous reefs.

[1:12]  ⁴² tc Several witnesses (A C^vid 1243 1846 al), influenced by the parallel in 2 Pet 2:13, read ἀπάταις (apatai", “deceptions”) for ἀγάπαις (agapai", “love-feasts”) in v. 12. However, ἀγάπαις has much stronger and earlier support and should therefore be considered original.

[1:12]  sn The danger of the false teachers at the love feasts would be especially pernicious, for the love feasts of the early church involved the Lord’s Supper, worship, and instruction.

[1:12]  ⁴³ tn Or “fearlessly.” The term in this context, however, is decidedly negative. The implication is that these false teachers ate the Lord’s Supper without regarding the sanctity of the meal. Cf. 1 Cor 11:17-22.

[1:12]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “shepherding themselves.” The verb ποιμαίνω (poimainw) means “shepherd, nurture [the flock].” But these men, rather than tending to the flock of God, nurture only themselves. They thus fall under the condemnation Paul uttered when writing to the Corinthians: “For when it comes time to eat [the Lord’s Supper,] each one goes ahead with his own meal” (1 Cor 11:21). Above all, the love-feast was intended to be a shared meal in which all ate and all felt welcome.

[1:12]  ⁴⁵ tn “They are” is not in Greek, but resumes the thought begun at the front of v. 12. There is no period before “They are.” English usage requires breaking this into more than one sentence.

[1:12]  ⁴⁶ tn Cf. 2 Pet 2:17. Jude’s emphasis is slightly different (instead of waterless springs, they are waterless clouds).

[1:12]  ⁴⁷ sn The imagery portraying the false teachers as autumn trees without fruit has to do with their lack of productivity. Recall the statement to the same effect by Jesus in Matt 7:16-20, in which false prophets will be known by their fruits. Like waterless clouds full of false hope, these trees do not yield any harvest even though it is expected.

[1:12]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “having died twice.”

[1:12]  sn Twice dead probably has no relevance to the tree metaphor, but has great applicability to these false teachers. As in Rev 20:6, those who die twice are those who die physically and spiritually. The aphorism is true: “born once, die twice; born twice, die once” (cf. Rev 20:5; John 3, 11).