47:2 For the sovereign Lord 5 is awe-inspiring; 6
he is the great king who rules the whole earth! 7
47:8 God reigns 8 over the nations!
God sits on his holy throne!
4:17 This announcement is by the decree of the sentinels;
this decision is by the pronouncement of the holy ones,
so that 22 those who are alive may understand
that the Most High has authority over human kingdoms, 23
and he bestows them on whomever he wishes.
He establishes over them even the lowliest of human beings.’
4:33 Now in that very moment 31 this pronouncement about 32 Nebuchadnezzar came true. 33 He was driven from human society, he ate grass like oxen, and his body became damp with the dew of the sky, until his hair became long like an eagle’s feathers, and his nails like a bird’s claws. 34
4:34 But at the end of the appointed time 35 I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up 36 toward heaven, and my sanity returned to me.
I extolled the Most High,
and I praised and glorified the one who lives forever.
For his authority is an everlasting authority,
and his kingdom extends from one generation to the next.
4:35 All the inhabitants of the earth are regarded as nothing. 37
He does as he wishes with the army of heaven
and with those who inhabit the earth.
No one slaps 38 his hand
and says to him, ‘What have you done?’
1 tn The words “and sovereign” are added in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
2 tn Heb “head.”
3 tn Heb “wealth and honor [are] from before you.”
4 tn Heb “and in your hand [is] strength and might and in your hand to magnify and to give strength to all.”
5 tn Heb “the
6 tn Or “awesome.” The Niphal participle נוֹרָא (nora’), when used of God in the psalms, focuses on the effect that his royal splendor and powerful deeds have on those witnessing his acts (Pss 66:3, 5; 68:35; 76:7, 12; 89:7; 96:4; 99:3; 111:9). Here it refers to his capacity to fill his defeated foes with terror and his people with fearful respect.
7 tn Heb “a great king over all the earth.”
7 tn When a new king was enthroned, his followers would acclaim him king using this enthronement formula (Qal perfect 3ms מָלַךְ, malakh, “to reign,” followed by the name of the king). See 2 Sam 15:10; 1 Kgs 1:11, 13, 18; 2 Kgs 9:13, as well as Isa 52:7. In this context the perfect verbal form is generalizing, but the declaration logically follows the historical reference in v. 5 to the
9 tn Heb “by my great power and my outstretched arm.” Again “arm” is symbolical for “strength.” Compare the similar expression in 21:5.
10 sn See Dan 4:17 for a similar statement.
11 tn Heb “have given…into the hand of.”
12 sn See the study note on 25:9 for the significance of the application of this term to Nebuchadnezzar.
13 tn Heb “I have given…to him to serve him.” The verb “give” in this syntactical situation is functioning like the Hiphil stem, i.e., as a causative. See Dan 1:9 for parallel usage. For the usage of “serve” meaning “be subject to” compare 2 Sam 22:44 and BDB 713 s.v. עָבַד 3.
13 sn This is a figure that emphasizes that they will serve for a long time but not for an unlimited duration. The kingdom of Babylon lasted a relatively short time by ancient standards. It lasted from 605
14 tn Heb “until the time of his land, even his, comes.” The independent pronoun is placed here for emphasis on the possessive pronoun. The word “time” is used by substitution for the things that are done in it (compare in the NT John 2:4; 7:30; 8:20 “his hour had not yet come”).
15 tn Heb “him.” This is a good example of the figure of substitution where the person is put for his descendants or the nation or subject he rules. (See Gen 28:13-14 for another good example and Acts 22:7 in the NT.)
15 tn Heb “put their necks in the yoke of.” See the study note on v. 2 for the figure.
16 tn Heb “oracle of the
17 tn Heb “The nation and/or the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck in the yoke of the king of Babylon, by sword, starvation, and disease I will punish [or more literally, “visit upon”] that nation, oracle of the
18 tn Heb “with/by the sword.”
19 tc The verb translated “destroy” (תָּמַם, tamam) is usually intransitive in the stem of the verb used here. It is found in a transitive sense elsewhere only in Ps 64:7. BDB 1070 s.v. תָּמַם 7 emends both texts. In this case they recommend תִּתִּי (titi): “until I give them into his hand.” That reading is suggested by the texts of the Syriac and Targumic translations (see BHS fn c). The Greek translation supports reading the verb “destroy” but treats it as though it were intransitive “until they are destroyed by his hand” (reading תֻּמָּם [tummam]). The MT here is accepted as the more difficult reading and support is seen in the transitive use of the verb in Ps 64:7.
17 tc The present translation follows an underlying reading of עַל־דִּבְרַת (’al-divrat, “so that”) rather than MT עַד־דִּבְרַת (’ad-divrat, “until”).
18 tn Aram “the kingdom of man”; NASB “the realm of mankind”; NCV “every kingdom on earth.”
19 tn The Aramaic indefinite active plural is used here like the English passive. So also in v. 28, 29,32.
20 tn Aram “from mankind.” So also in v. 32.
21 tn Aram “your dwelling will be.” So also in v. 32.
22 tn Or perhaps “be made to eat.”
23 sn Nebuchadnezzar’s insanity has features that are associated with the mental disorder known as boanthropy, in which the person so afflicted imagines himself to be an ox or a similar animal and behaves accordingly.
24 tn Aram “until.”
21 tn Aram “until.”
23 tn Aram “hour.”
24 tn Or “on.”
25 tn Aram “was fulfilled.”
26 tn The words “feathers” and “claws” are not present in the Aramaic text, but have been added in the translation for clarity.
25 tn Aram “days.”
26 tn Aram “lifted up my eyes.”
27 tc The present translation reads כְּלָא (kÿla’), with many medieval Hebrew
28 tn Aram “strikes against.”