2 Kings 6:15

6:15 The prophet’s ¹  attendant got up early in the morning. When he went outside there was an army surrounding the city, along with horses and chariots. He said to Elisha, ²  “Oh no, my master! What will we do?”

Micah 2:13

2:13 The one who can break through barriers will lead them out ³ 

they will break out, pass through the gate, and leave. ⁴ 

Their king will advance ⁵  before them,

The Lord himself will lead them. ⁶ 

Matthew 16:16-18

16:16 Simon Peter answered, ⁷  “You are the Christ, ⁸  the Son of the living God.” 16:17 And Jesus answered him, ⁹  “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood ¹⁰  did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven! 16:18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades ¹¹  will not overpower it.

Luke 19:43

19:43 For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build ¹²  an embankment ¹³  against you and surround you and close in on you from every side.

Luke 21:20

The Desolation of Jerusalem

21:20 “But when you see Jerusalem ¹⁴  surrounded ¹⁵  by armies, then know that its ¹⁶  desolation ¹⁷  has come near.

¹ tn Heb “man of God’s.”

² tn Heb “his young servant said to him.”

³ tn Heb “the one who breaks through goes up before them.” The verb form is understood as a perfect of certitude, emphasizing the certainty of this coming event.

⁴ tn The three verb forms (a perfect and two preterites with vav [ו] consecutive) indicate certitude.

⁵ tn The verb form (a preterite with vav [ו] consecutive) indicates certitude.

⁶ tn Heb “the Lord [will be] at their head.”

⁷ tn Grk “And answering, Simon Peter said.”

⁸ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

⁹ tn Grk “answering, Jesus said to him.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant, but the syntax of this phrase has been modified for clarity.

¹⁰ tn The expression “flesh and blood” could refer to “any human being” (so TEV, NLT; cf. NIV “man”), but it could also refer to Peter himself (i.e., his own intuition; cf. CEV “You didn’t discover this on your own”). Because of the ambiguity of the referent, the phrase “flesh and blood” has been retained in the translation.

¹¹ tn Or “and the power of death” (taking the reference to the gates of Hades as a metonymy).

¹² sn Jesus now predicted the events that would be fulfilled in the fall of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. The details of the siege have led some to see Luke writing this after Jerusalem’s fall, but the language of the verse is like God’s exilic judgment for covenant unfaithfulness (Hab 2:8; Jer 6:6, 14; 8:13-22; 9:1; Ezek 4:2; 26:8; Isa 29:1-4). Specific details are lacking and the procedures described (build an embankment against you) were standard Roman military tactics.

¹³ sn An embankment refers to either wooden barricades or earthworks, or a combination of the two.

¹⁴ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁵ sn See Luke 19:41-44. This passage refers to the events associated with the fall of Jerusalem, when the city is surrounded by armies.

¹⁶ tn Grk “her,” referring to the city of Jerusalem (the name “Jerusalem” in Greek is a feminine noun).

¹⁷ sn The phrase its desolation is a reference to the fall of the city, which is the only antecedent present in Luke’s account. The parallels to this in Matt 24:15 and Mark 13:14 refer to the temple’s desolation, though Matthew’s allusion is clearer. They focus on the parallel events of the end, not on the short term realization in a.d. 70. The entire passage has a prophetic “two events in one” typology, where the near term destruction (a.d. 70) is like the end. So the evangelists could choose to focus on the near time realization (Luke) or on its long term fulfillment, which mirrors it (Matthew, Mark).