Yesaya 59:3

59:3 For your hands are stained with blood

and your fingers with sin;

your lips speak lies,

your tongue utters malicious words.

Yeremia 22:17

22:17 But you are always thinking and looking

for ways to increase your wealth by dishonest means.

Your eyes and your heart are set

on killing some innocent person

and committing fraud and oppression. ¹ 

Ratapan 4:13

מ (Mem)

4:13 But it happened ²  due to the sins of her prophets ³ 

and the iniquities of her priests,

who poured out in her midst

the blood of the righteous.

Yehezkiel 9:9

9:9 He said to me, “The sin of the house of Israel and Judah is extremely great; the land is full of murder, and the city is full of corruption, ⁴  for they say, ‘The Lord has abandoned the land, and the Lord does not see!’ ⁵ 

Yehezkiel 22:6

22:6 “‘See how each of the princes of Israel living within you has used his authority to shed blood. ⁶ 

Matius 23:31-37

23:31 By saying this you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 23:32 Fill up then the measure of your ancestors! 23:33 You snakes, you offspring of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? ⁷ 

23:34 “For this reason I ⁸  am sending you prophets and wise men and experts in the law, ⁹  some of whom you will kill and crucify, ¹⁰  and some you will flog ¹¹  in your synagogues ¹²  and pursue from town to town, 23:35 so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, ¹³  whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 23:36 I tell you the truth, ¹⁴  this generation will be held responsible for all these things! ¹⁵ 

Judgment on Israel

23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ¹⁶  you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! ¹⁷  How often I have longed ¹⁸  to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but ¹⁹  you would have none of it! ²⁰ 

Wahyu 17:6

17:6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of those who testified to Jesus. ²¹  I ²²  was greatly astounded ²³  when I saw her.

[22:17]  ¹ tn Heb “Your eyes and your heart do not exist except for dishonest gain and for innocent blood to shed [it] and for fraud and for oppression to do [them].” The sentence has been broken up to conform more to English style and the significance of “eyes” and “heart” explained before they are introduced into the translation.

[4:13]  ² tn These words do not appear in the Hebrew, but are supplied to make sense of the line. The introductory causal preposition מִן (min) (“because”) indicates that this phrase – or something like it – is implied through elision.

[4:13]  ³ tn There is no main verb in the verse; it is an extended prepositional phrase. One must either assume a verbal idea such as “But it happened due to…” or connect it to the following verses, which themselves are quite difficult. The former option was employed in the present translation.

[9:9]  ⁴ tn Or “lawlessness” (NAB); “perversity” (NRSV). The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT, and its meaning is uncertain. The similar phrase in 7:23 has a common word for “violence.”

[9:9]  ⁵ sn The saying is virtually identical to that of the elders in Ezek 8:12.

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

[23:33]  ⁷ tn Grk “the judgment of Gehenna.”

[23:33]  sn See the note on the word hell in 5:22.

[23:34]  ⁸ tn Grk “behold I am sending.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[23:34]  ⁹ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:34]  ¹⁰ sn See the note on crucified in 20:19.

[23:34]  ¹¹ tn BDAG 620 s.v. μαστιγόω 1.a states, “of flogging as a punishment decreed by the synagogue (Dt 25:2f; s. the Mishna Tractate Sanhedrin-Makkoth, edited w. notes by SKrauss ’33) w. acc. of pers. Mt 10:17; 23:34.”

[23:34]  ¹² sn See the note on synagogues in 4:23.

[23:35]  ¹³ sn Spelling of this name (Βαραχίου, Baraciou) varies among the English versions: “Barachiah” (RSV, NRSV); “Berechiah” (NASB); “Berachiah” (NIV).

[23:36]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[23:36]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “all these things will come on this generation.”

[23:37]  ¹⁶ sn The double use of the city’s name betrays intense emotion.

[23:37]  map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[23:37]  ¹⁷ tn Although the opening address (“Jerusalem, Jerusalem”) is direct (second person), the remainder of this sentence in the Greek text is third person (“who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her”). The following sentences then revert to second person (“your… you”), so to keep all this consistent in English, the third person pronouns in the present verse were translated as second person (“you who kill… sent to you”).

[23:37]  ¹⁸ sn How often I have longed to gather your children. Jesus, like a lamenting prophet, speaks for God here, who longed to care tenderly for Israel and protect her.

[23:37]  ¹⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[23:37]  ²⁰ tn Grk “you were not willing.”

[17:6]  ²¹ tn Or “of the witnesses to Jesus.” Here the genitive ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou) is taken as an objective genitive; Jesus is the object of their testimony.

[17:6]  ²² tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[17:6]  ²³ tn Grk “I marveled a great marvel” (an idiom for great astonishment).