115:4 Their 4 idols are made of silver and gold –
they are man-made. 5
115:5 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see,
115:6 ears, but cannot hear,
noses, but cannot smell,
115:7 hands, but cannot touch,
feet, but cannot walk.
They cannot even clear their throats. 6
115:8 Those who make them will end up 7 like them,
as will everyone who trusts in them.
135:15 The nations’ idols are made of silver and gold,
they are man-made. 8
135:16 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see,
135:17 and ears, but cannot hear.
Indeed, they cannot breathe. 9
135:18 Those who make them will end up 10 like them,
as will everyone who trusts in them.
135:19 O family 11 of Israel, praise the Lord!
O family of Aaron, praise the Lord!
135:20 O family of Levi, praise the Lord!
You loyal followers 12 of the Lord, praise the Lord!
44:17 With the rest of it he makes a god, his idol;
he bows down to it and worships it.
He prays to it, saying,
‘Rescue me, for you are my god!’
45:20 Gather together and come!
Approach together, you refugees from the nations!
Those who carry wooden idols know nothing,
those who pray to a god that cannot deliver.
10:5 Such idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field.
They cannot talk.
They must be carried
because they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them
because they cannot hurt you.
And they do not have any power to help you.” 17
2:18 What good 20 is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? 21
What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? 22
Why would its creator place his trust in it 23
and make 24 such mute, worthless things?
2:1 I will stand at my watch post;
I will remain stationed on the city wall. 25
I will keep watching, so I can see what he says to me
and can know 26 how I should answer
when he counters my argument. 27
1:19 For God 29 was pleased to have all his 30 fullness dwell 31 in the Son 32
1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, 33 whether things on earth or things in heaven.
1 tn Elijah now directly addresses the prophets.
2 tn Heb “the God.”
3 tn Heb “The matter [i.e., proposal] is good [i.e., acceptable].”
4 tn The referent of the pronominal suffix is “the nations” (v. 2).
5 tn Heb “the work of the hands of man.”
6 tn Heb “they cannot mutter in their throats.” Verse 5a refers to speaking, v. 7c to inarticulate sounds made in the throat (see M. Dahood, Psalms [AB], 3:140-41).
7 tn Heb “will be.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a prayer, “may those who make them end up like them.”
8 tn Heb “the work of the hands of man.”
9 tn Heb “indeed, there is not breath in their mouth.” For the collocation אַף אֵין (’af ’en, “indeed, there is not”) see Isa 41:26. Another option is to take אַף as “nose” (see Ps 115:6), in which case one might translate, “a nose, [but] they have no breath in their mouths.”
10 tn Heb “will be.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a prayer, “may those who make them end up like them.”
11 tn Heb “house” (here and in the next two lines).
12 tn Heb “fearers.”
13 sn The assassination of King Sennacherib probably took place in 681
14 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
15 sn No such Mesopotamian god is presently known. Perhaps the name Nisroch is a corruption of Nusku.
16 sn Extra-biblical sources also mention the assassination of Sennacherib, though they refer to only one assassin. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 239-40.
17 tn Heb “And it is not in them to do good either.”
18 tn Aram “which.”
19 tn Aram “in whose hand [are].”
20 tn Or “of what value.”
21 tn Heb “so that the one who forms it fashions it?” Here כִּי (ki) is taken as resultative after the rhetorical question. For other examples of this use, see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §450.
22 tn Heb “or a metal image, a teacher of lies.” The words “What good is” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line. “Teacher of lies” refers to the false oracles that the so-called god would deliver through a priest. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 126.
23 tn Heb “so that the one who forms his image trusts in it?” As earlier in the verse, כִּי (ki) is resultative.
24 tn Heb “to make.”
25 sn Habakkuk compares himself to a watchman stationed on the city wall who keeps his eyes open for approaching messengers or danger.
26 tn The word “know” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
27 tn Heb “concerning my correction [or, “reproof”].”
28 tn The adverbial participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") is understood to be temporal and translated with “since.” A causal idea may also be in the apostle’s mind, but the context emphasizes temporal ideas, e.g., “from the day” (v. 6).
29 tn The noun “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but since God is the one who reconciles the world to himself (cf. 2 Cor 5:19), he is clearly the subject of εὐδόκησεν (eudokhsen).
30 tn The Greek article τό (to), insofar as it relates to God, may be translated as a possessive pronoun, i.e., “his.” BDAG 404 s.v. εὐδοκέω 1 translates the phrase as “all the fullness willed to dwell in him” thus leaving the referent as impersonal. Insofar as Paul is alluding to the so-called emanations from God this is acceptable. But the fact that “the fullness” dwells in a person (i.e., “in him”) seems to argue for the translation “his fullness” where “his” refers to God.
31 tn The aorist verb κατοικῆσαι (katoikhsai) could be taken as an ingressive, in which case it refers to the incarnation and may be translated as “begin to dwell, to take up residence.” It is perhaps better, though, to take it as a constative aorist and simply a reference to the fact that the fullness of God dwells in Jesus Christ. This is a permanent dwelling, though, not a temporary one, as the present tense in 2:9 makes clear.
32 tn Grk “him”; the referent (the Son; see v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
33 tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì46 א A C D1 Ψ 048vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.
34 tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.
35 tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).
36 tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”
37 tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these