Deuteronomy 8:17

8:17 Be careful ¹  not to say, “My own ability and skill ²  have gotten me this wealth.”

Deuteronomy 8:1

The Lord’s Provision in the Desert

8:1 You must keep carefully all these commandments ³  I am giving ⁴  you today so that you may live, increase in number, ⁵  and go in and occupy the land that the Lord promised to your ancestors. ⁶ 

Deuteronomy 17:4-10

17:4 When it is reported to you and you hear about it, you must investigate carefully. If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing ⁷  is being done in Israel, 17:5 you must bring to your city gates ⁸  that man or woman who has done this wicked thing – that very man or woman – and you must stone that person to death. ⁹  17:6 At the testimony of two or three witnesses they must be executed. They cannot be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. 17:7 The witnesses ¹⁰  must be first to begin the execution, and then all the people ¹¹  are to join in afterward. In this way you will purge evil from among you.

Appeal to a Higher Court

17:8 If a matter is too difficult for you to judge – bloodshed, ¹²  legal claim, ¹³  or assault ¹⁴  – matters of controversy in your villages ¹⁵  – you must leave there and go up to the place the Lord your God chooses. ¹⁶  17:9 You will go to the Levitical priests and the judge in office in those days and seek a solution; they will render a verdict. 17:10 You must then do as they have determined at that place the Lord chooses. Be careful to do just as you are taught.

Deuteronomy 17:1

17:1 You must not sacrifice to him ¹⁷  a bull or sheep that has a blemish or any other defect, because that is considered offensive ¹⁸  to the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 17:1

17:1 You must not sacrifice to him ¹⁹  a bull or sheep that has a blemish or any other defect, because that is considered offensive ²⁰  to the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 20:10-11

20:10 When you approach a city to wage war against it, offer it terms of peace. 20:11 If it accepts your terms ²¹  and submits to you, all the people found in it will become your slaves. ²² 

Psalms 33:16-17

33:16 No king is delivered by his vast army;

a warrior is not saved by his great might.

33:17 A horse disappoints those who trust in it for victory; ²³ 

despite its great strength, it cannot deliver.

Isaiah 10:8

10:8 Indeed, ²⁴  he says:

“Are not my officials all kings?

Isaiah 36:8-9

36:8 Now make a deal with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, provided you can find enough riders for them. 36:9 Certainly you will not refuse one of my master’s minor officials and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen. ²⁵ 

Ezekiel 29:9

29:9 The land of Egypt will become a desolate ruin. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Because he said, “The Nile is mine and I made it,”

Daniel 3:15

3:15 Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must bow down and pay homage to the statue that I had made. If you don’t pay homage to it, you will immediately be thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. Now, who is that god who can rescue you from my power?” ²⁶ 

Daniel 4:30-31

4:30 The king uttered these words: “Is this not the great Babylon that I have built for a royal residence ²⁷  by my own mighty strength ²⁸  and for my majestic honor?” 4:31 While these words were still on the king’s lips, ²⁹  a voice came down from heaven: “It is hereby announced to you, ³⁰  King Nebuchadnezzar, that your kingdom has been removed from you!

Daniel 4:37

4:37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, for all his deeds are right and his ways are just. He is able to bring down those who live ³¹  in pride.

Daniel 5:18-23

5:18 As for you, O king, the most high God bestowed on your father Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom, greatness, honor, and majesty. ³²  5:19 Due to the greatness that he bestowed on him, all peoples, nations, and language groups were trembling with fear ³³  before him. He killed whom he wished, he spared ³⁴  whom he wished, he exalted whom he wished, and he brought low whom he wished. 5:20 And when his mind ³⁵  became arrogant ³⁶  and his spirit filled with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and his honor was removed from him. 5:21 He was driven from human society, his mind ³⁷  was changed to that of an animal, he lived ³⁸  with the wild donkeys, he was fed grass like oxen, and his body became damp with the dew of the sky, until he came to understand that the most high God rules over human kingdoms, and he appoints over them whomever he wishes.

5:22 “But you, his son ³⁹  Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, ⁴⁰  although you knew all this. 5:23 Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. You brought before you the vessels from his temple, and you and your nobles, together with your wives and concubines, drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone – gods ⁴¹  that cannot see or hear or comprehend! But you have not glorified the God who has in his control ⁴²  your very breath and all your ways!

Amos 2:14-16

2:14 Fast runners will find no place to hide; ⁴³ 

strong men will have no strength left; ⁴⁴ 

warriors will not be able to save their lives.

2:15 Archers ⁴⁵  will not hold their ground; ⁴⁶ 

fast runners will not save their lives,

nor will those who ride horses. ⁴⁷ 

2:16 Bravehearted ⁴⁸  warriors will run away naked in that day.”

The Lord is speaking!

Acts 12:22-23

12:22 But the crowd ⁴⁹  began to shout, ⁵⁰  “The voice of a god, ⁵¹  and not of a man!” 12:23 Immediately an angel of the Lord ⁵²  struck ⁵³  Herod ⁵⁴  down because he did not give the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died. ⁵⁵ 

[8:17]  ¹ tn For stylistic reasons a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 17 in the translation and the words “be careful” supplied to indicate the connection.

[8:17]  ² tn Heb “my strength and the might of my hand.”

[8:1]  ³ tn The singular term (מִצְוָה, mitsvah) includes the whole corpus of covenant stipulations, certainly the book of Deuteronomy at least (cf. Deut 5:28; 6:1, 25; 7:11; 11:8, 22; 15:5; 17:20; 19:9; 27:1; 30:11; 31:5). The plural (מִצְוֹת, mitsot) refers to individual stipulations (as in vv. 2, 6).

[8:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation (likewise in v. 11).

[8:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “multiply” (so KJV, NASB, NLT); NIV, NRSV “increase.”

[8:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 16, 18).

[17:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “an abomination” (תּוֹעֵבָה); see note on the word “offensive” in v. 1.

[17:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “gates.”

[17:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “stone them with stones so that they die” (KJV similar); NCV “throw stones at that person until he dies.”

[17:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the hand of the witnesses.” This means the two or three witnesses are to throw the first stones (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[17:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the hand of all the people.”

[17:8]  ¹² tn Heb “between blood and blood.”

[17:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “between claim and claim.”

[17:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “between blow and blow.”

[17:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “gates.”

[17:8]  ¹⁶ tc Several Greek recensions add “to place his name there,” thus completing the usual formula to describe the central sanctuary (cf. Deut 12:5, 11, 14, 18; 16:6). However, the context suggests that the local Levitical towns, and not the central sanctuary, are in mind.

[17:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “to the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 16:1.

[17:1]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “an abomination”; cf. NAB) describes persons, things, or practices offensive to ritual or moral order. See M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 4:314-18; see also the note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25.

[17:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “to the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 16:1.

[17:1]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “an abomination”; cf. NAB) describes persons, things, or practices offensive to ritual or moral order. See M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 4:314-18; see also the note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25.

[20:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “if it answers you peace.”

[20:11]  ²² tn Heb “become as a vassal and will serve you.” The Hebrew term translated slaves (מַס, mas) refers either to Israelites who were pressed into civil service, especially under Solomon (1 Kgs 5:27; 9:15, 21; 12:18), or (as here) to foreigners forced as prisoners of war to become slaves to Israel. The Gibeonites exemplify this type of servitude (Josh 9:3-27; cf. Josh 16:10; 17:13; Judg 1:28, 30-35; Isa 31:8; Lam 1:1).

[33:17]  ²³ tn Heb “a lie [is] the horse for victory.”

[10:8]  ²⁴ tn Or “For” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[36:9]  ²⁵ tn Heb “How can you turn back the face of an official [from among] the least of my master’s servants and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?” In vv. 8-9 the chief adviser develops further the argument begun in v. 6. His reasoning seems to be as follows: “In your weakened condition you obviously need military strength. Agree to the king’s terms and I will personally give you more horses than you are capable of outfitting. If I, a mere minor official, am capable of giving you such military might, just think what power the king has. There is no way the Egyptians can match our strength. It makes much better sense to deal with us.”

[3:15]  ²⁶ tn Aram “hand.” So also in v. 17.

[4:30]  ²⁷ tn Aram “house.”

[4:30]  ²⁸ tn Aram “by the might of my strength.”

[4:31]  ²⁹ tn Aram “in the mouth of the king.”

[4:31]  ³⁰ tn Aram “to you they say.”

[4:37]  ³¹ tn Aram “walk.”

[5:18]  ³² tn Or “royal greatness and majestic honor,” if the four terms are understood as a double hendiadys.

[5:19]  ³³ tn Aram “were trembling and fearing.” This can be treated as a hendiadys, “were trembling with fear.”

[5:19]  ³⁴ tn Aram “let live.” This Aramaic form is the aphel participle of חַיָה(khayah, “to live”). Theodotion and the Vulgate mistakenly take the form to be from מְחָא (mÿkha’, “to smite”).

[5:20]  ³⁵ tn Aram “heart.”

[5:20]  ³⁶ sn The point of describing Nebuchadnezzar as arrogant is that he had usurped divine prerogatives, and because of his immense arrogance God had dealt decisively with him.

[5:21]  ³⁷ tn Aram “heart.”

[5:21]  ³⁸ tn Aram “his dwelling.”

[5:22]  ³⁹ tn Or “descendant”; or “successor.”

[5:22]  ⁴⁰ tn Aram “your heart.”

[5:23]  ⁴¹ tn Aram “which.”

[5:23]  ⁴² tn Aram “in whose hand [are].”

[2:14]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and a place of refuge will perish from the swift.”

[2:14]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “the strong will not increase his strength.”

[2:15]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “the one who holds the bow.”

[2:15]  ⁴⁶ tn For the idiom of “holding [or “standing”] one’s ground” in battle, there is a similar phrase in Ezek 13:5; also related is the expression “to hold one’s own against” (or “to withstand”) in Judg 2:14; 2 Kgs 10:4; Dan 8:7 (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 97). Other options include “will not endure” or “will not survive.”

[2:15]  ⁴⁷ tn The last two lines read literally, “The one fast in his feet will not rescue [his life], and the rider of the horse will not rescue his life.” The phrase “his life” does double duty in the parallelism and should be understood in both lines.

[2:16]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “the most stouthearted” (NAB); NRSV “those who are stout of heart.”

[12:22]  ⁴⁹ tn The translation “crowd” is given by BDAG 223 s.v. δῆμος; the word often means a gathering of citizens to conduct public business. Here it is simply the group of people gathered to hear the king’s speech.

[12:22]  ⁵⁰ tn The imperfect verb ἐπεφώνει (epefwnei) is taken ingressively in the sequence of events. Presumably the king had started his speech when the crowd began shouting.

[12:22]  ⁵¹ sn The voice of a god. Contrast the response of Paul and Barnabas in Acts 14:13-15.

[12:23]  ⁵² tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 5:19.

[12:23]  ⁵³ sn On being struck…down by an angel, see Acts 23:3; 1 Sam 25:28; 2 Sam 12:15; 2 Kgs 19:35; 2 Chr 13:20; 2 Macc 9:5.

[12:23]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:23]  ⁵⁵ sn He was eaten by worms and died. Josephus, Ant. 19.8.2 (19.343-352), states that Herod Agrippa I died at Caesarea in a.d. 44. The account by Josephus, while not identical to Luke’s account, is similar in many respects: On the second day of a festival, Herod Agrippa appeared in the theater with a robe made of silver. When it sparkled in the sun, the people cried out flatteries and declared him to be a god. The king, carried away by the flattery, saw an owl (an omen of death) sitting on a nearby rope, and immediately was struck with severe stomach pains. He was carried off to his house and died five days later. The two accounts can be reconciled without difficulty, since while Luke states that Herod was immediately struck down by an angel, his death could have come several days later. The mention of worms with death adds a humiliating note to the scene. The formerly powerful ruler had been thoroughly reduced to nothing (cf. Jdt 16:17; 2 Macc 9:9; cf. also Josephus, Ant. 17.6.5 [17.168-170], which details the sickness which led to Herod the Great’s death).