Texts in Conversation
2 Peter teaches that God’s patience gives time for people to repent, similar to the Aramaic translation of Isaiah in the Targum, where the unrighteous are given time to return to the Torah. Both likely draw on a shared Aramaic tradition.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
2 Peter 3:9
New Testament
8 Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, that a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day. 9 The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; when it comes, the heavens will disappear with a horrific noise, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze, and the earth and every deed done on it will be laid bare. 11 Since all these things are to melt away in this manner, what sort of people must you be, conducting your lives in holiness and godliness, 12 while waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God? Because of this day, the heavens will be burned up and dissolve, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze! 13 But, according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness truly resides.
Jonathan Isaiah 26:10
Targum
9 My soul desires to pray before You in the night; my spirit within me blesses You; for when Your judgments are prepared for the earth, those who dwell in the world will be taught to practice truth. 10 You have granted the wicked a reprieve, so that they might truly return to the Torah; but they did not return, all the days that they lived; they were to practice truth in the earth, but they dealt falsely; they will not regard the praise of Your glory, O LORD! 11 O LORD, when You are revealed in Your power to do good to those who fear You, there will be no light for the enemies of Your people; the wicked will see it and be put to shame. The vengeance of Your people will cover them; fire will consume Your enemies. 12 O LORD, You will ordain peace for us; for at all times, when we restrained ourselves from our sins, You were working for us. 13 O LORD our God, the nations have had dominion over us, being lords over us besides You; but we trust in Your Memra, we praise Your name.
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Notes and References
"... The Targumim participate in a cosmology that reflects convictions of how eschatological reward and punishment are to be worked out. It is unlikely that the targumic scheme is original; more probably, it reflects widespread expectations. But sometimes the Targumim illuminate otherwise esoteric statements within the New Testament. Isaiah Targum 63:6 specifies the “lower earth” as the place to which God will cast the “mighty men” of his enemies. A similar phrase is used in Ephesians 4:9 in order to refer to Christ’s descent to the dead. Divine anger is invoked in the Isaiah Targum 3:16-24 against women who adorn themselves — especially their hair — in an exaggerated fashion, and that invites comparison with 1 Timothy 2:9 and 1 Peter 3:3. God’s anger is understood to “whiten” (Targum Malachi 3:2) in a way that may illuminate passages such as Mark 9:3 and Revelation 7:14 ..."
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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