Daniel 7:19

7:19 “Then I wanted to know the meaning ¹  of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others. It was very dreadful, with two rows of iron teeth and bronze claws, and it devoured, crushed, and trampled anything that was left with its feet.

Daniel 8:10

8:10 It grew so big it reached the army ²  of heaven, and it brought about the fall of some of the army and some of the stars ³  to the ground, where it trampled them.

Daniel 8:24-25

8:24 His power will be great, but it will not be by his strength alone. He will cause terrible destruction. ⁴  He will be successful in what he undertakes. ⁵  He will destroy powerful people and the people of the holy ones. ⁶  8:25 By his treachery ⁷  he will succeed through deceit. ⁸  He will have an arrogant attitude, ⁹  and he will destroy many who are unaware of his schemes. ¹⁰  He will rise up against the Prince of princes, yet he will be broken apart – but not by human agency. ¹¹ 

Matthew 5:13

Salt and Light

5:13 “You are the salt ¹²  of the earth. But if salt loses its flavor, ¹³  how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled on by people.

Hebrews 10:29

10:29 How much greater punishment do you think that person deserves who has contempt for ¹⁴  the Son of God, and profanes ¹⁵  the blood of the covenant that made him holy, ¹⁶  and insults the Spirit of grace?

¹ tn Aram “to make certain.”

² tn Traditionally, “host.” The term refers to God’s heavenly angelic assembly, which he sometimes leads into battle as an army.

³ sn In prescientific Israelite thinking the stars were associated with the angelic members of God’s heavenly assembly. See Judg 5:20; Job 38:7; Isa 40:26. In west Semitic mythology the stars were members of the high god’s divine assembly (see Isa 14:13).

⁴ tn Heb “extraordinarily he will destroy.”

⁵ tn Heb “he will succeed and act.”

⁶ tn See the corresponding Aramaic expression in 7:27. If the “holy ones” are angels, then this probably refers to the angels as protectors of God’s people. One could translate, “people belonging to (i.e., protected by) the holy ones.” If the “holy ones” are God’s people, then this is an appositional construction, “the people who are the holy ones.” One could translate simply “holy people.” For examples of a plural appositional genitive after “people,” see 11:15, 32. Because either interpretation is possible, the translation has deliberately preserved the ambiguity of the Hebrew grammar here.

⁷ tn The Hebrew term has a primary meaning of “skill, insight,” but here it has the connotation “cunning, treachery.” See BDB 968 s.v. שֵׂכֶל, שֶׂכֶל.

⁸ tn Heb “he will cause deceit to succeed by his hand.”

⁹ tn Heb “in his heart he will act arrogantly.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “in peace.” The Hebrew word used here is difficult. It may refer to the security felt by those who did not realize the danger of imminent attack, or it may refer to the condition of being unaware of the impending danger. The latter idea is reflected in the present translation. See further, BDB 1017 s.v. שַׁלְוָה.

¹¹ tn Heb “with nothingness of hand.”

¹² sn Salt was used as seasoning or fertilizer (BDAG 41 s.v. ἅλας a), or as a preservative. If salt ceased to be useful, it was thrown away. With this illustration Jesus warned about a disciple who ceased to follow him.

¹³ sn The difficulty of this saying is understanding how salt could lose its flavor since its chemical properties cannot change. It is thus often assumed that Jesus was referring to chemically impure salt, perhaps a natural salt which, when exposed to the elements, had all the genuine salt leached out, leaving only the sediment or impurities behind. Others have suggested that the background of the saying is the use of salt blocks by Arab bakers to line the floor of their ovens; under the intense heat these blocks would eventually crystallize and undergo a change in chemical composition, finally being thrown out as unserviceable. A saying in the Talmud (b. Bekhorot 8b) attributed to R. Joshua ben Chananja (ca. a.d. 90), when asked the question “When salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again?” is said to have replied, “By salting it with the afterbirth of a mule.” He was then asked, “Then does the mule (being sterile) bear young?” to which he replied: “Can salt lose its flavor?” The point appears to be that both are impossible. The saying, while admittedly late, suggests that culturally the loss of flavor by salt was regarded as an impossibility. Genuine salt can never lose its flavor. In this case the saying by Jesus here may be similar to Matt 19:24, where it is likewise impossible for the camel to go through the eye of a sewing needle.

¹⁴ tn Grk “tramples under foot.”

¹⁵ tn Grk “regarded as common.”

¹⁶ tn Grk “by which he was made holy.”