¹ tn Heb “all things just as to everyone, one fate.”

² sn The common fate to which Qoheleth refers is death.

⁴ sn The shorter description suggests a different fate, which is confirmed in the following verses.

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the angel’s invitation to witness the fate of the prostitute.

² tn Or “basic principles,” “elemental things,” or “elemental spirits.” Some interpreters take this as a reference to supernatural powers who controlled nature and/or human fate.

⁴ sn To go to his own place. This may well be a euphemism for Judas’ judged fate. He separated himself from them, and thus separated he would remain.

¹ sn To warn them. The warning would consist of a call to act differently than their dead brother had, or else meet his current terrible fate.

² sn Unlike the previous event, when the tower in Siloam fell on them, it was an accident of fate. It raised the question, however, “Was this a judgment?”

³ sn The point of the story is that to fail to respond is to risk a worse fate than when one started.

¹ tn Heb “word,” probably referring to Joseph’s prediction about the fate of Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker (see Gen 41:9-14).

¹ sn Jeremiah has already had a good deal to say about the false prophets and their fate. See 2:8, 26; 5:13, 31; 14:13-15. Here he parallels the condemnation of the wicked prophets and their fate (23:9-40) with that of the wicked kings (21:11-22:30).

² tn Grk “utter darkness of darkness.” Verse 4 speaks of wicked angels presently in “chains of utter darkness,” while the final fate of the false teachers is a darker place still.

³ sn Jerusalem is to be the place of rejection, as Luke 9:44 suggested. Jesus had resolved to meet his fate in Jerusalem, so the rejection was no surprise.

⁴ tn Heb “[an] unclean”; or “[an] impure.” This fate would be especially humiliating for a priest, who was to distinguish between the ritually clean and unclean (see Lev 10:10).

² sn The intent of this oracle may have been to contrast the fate of Zedekiah with that of Jehoiakim, who was apparently executed, went unmourned, and was left unburied (contrast Jer 22:18-19).

¹ sn These words make a fitting transition to ch. 7, which forms a renewed cry of despair from Job. Job still feels himself innocent, but in the hands of cruel fate which is out to destroy him.

¹ sn Being roasted to death in the fire appears to have been a common method of execution in Babylon. See Dan 3:6, 19-21. The famous law code of the Babylonian king Hammurabi also mandated this method of execution for various crimes a thousand years earlier. There is a satirical play on words involving their fate, “roasted them to death” (קָלָם, qalam), and the fact that that fate would become a common topic of curse (קְלָלָה, q^elalah) pronounced on others in Babylon.

² tc The MT reads אָרְחוֹת (ʾorkhot, “paths; ways” as a figure for mode of life): “so are the ways [or, paths] of all who gain profit unjustly.” The BHS editors suggest emending the text to אַחֲרִית (ʾakharit, “end” as figure for their fate) by simple metathesis between ח (khet) and ר (resh) and by orthographic confusion between י (yod) and ו (vav), both common scribal errors: “so is the fate of all who gain profit unjustly.” The external evidence supports MT, which is also the more difficult reading. It adequately fits the context which uses “way” and “path” imagery throughout 1:10-19.

² tn Grk “the days were being fulfilled.” There is literary design here. This starts what has been called in the Gospel of Luke the “Jerusalem Journey.” It is not a straight-line trip, but a journey to meet his fate (Luke 13:31-35).

³ tn Heb “he cannot contend with the one who is more powerful than him.” The referent of the “the one who is more powerful than he is” (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The words “with God about his fate” have been added for clarity as well.