Daniel 2:12-13

2:12 Because of this the king got furiously angry ¹  and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. 2:13 So a decree went out, and the wise men were about ²  to be executed. They also sought ³  Daniel and his friends so that they could be executed.

Daniel 3:6

3:6 Whoever does not bow down and pay homage will immediately ⁴  be thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire!”

Daniel 3:20-21

3:20 He ordered strong ⁵  soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. 3:21 So those men were tied up while still wearing their cloaks, trousers, turbans, and other clothes, ⁶  and were thrown into the furnace ⁷  of blazing fire.

Daniel 3:29

3:29 I hereby decree ⁸  that any people, nation, or language group that blasphemes ⁹  the god of Shadrach, Meshach, or Abednego will be dismembered and his home reduced to rubble! For there exists no other god who can deliver in this way.”

Proverbs 16:14

16:14 A king’s wrath ¹⁰  is like ¹¹  a messenger of death, ¹² 

but a wise person appeases it. ¹³ 

John 19:11

19:11 Jesus replied, “You would have no authority ¹⁴  over me at all, unless it was given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you ¹⁵  is guilty of greater sin.” ¹⁶ 

¹ tn Aram “was angry and very furious.” The expression is a hendiadys (two words or phrases expressing a single idea).

² tn The Aramaic participle is used here to express the imminent future.

³ tn The impersonal active plural (“they sought”) of the Aramaic verb could also be translated as an English passive: “Daniel and his friends were sought” (cf. NAB).

³ tn Aram “in that hour.”

⁴ tn This is sometimes taken as a comparative: “[some of the] strongest.”

⁵ sn There is a great deal of uncertainty with regard to the specific nature of these items of clothing.

⁶ tn Aram “into the midst of the furnace.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.

⁶ tn Aram “from me is placed an edict.”

⁷ tn Aram “speaks negligence.”

⁷ sn This proverb introduces the danger of becoming a victim of the king’s wrath (cf. CEV “if the king becomes angry, someone may die”). A wise person knows how to pacify the unexpected and irrational behavior of a king. The proverb makes the statement, and then gives the response to the subject.

⁸ tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.

⁹ tn The expression uses an implied comparison, comparing “wrath” to a messenger because it will send a message. The qualification is “death,” an objective genitive, meaning the messenger will bring death, or the message will be about death. E.g., 1 Kgs 2:25, 29-34 and 46. Some have suggested a comparison with the two messengers of Baal to the god Mot (“Death”) in the Ugaritic tablets (H. L. Ginsberg, “Baal’s Two Messengers,” BASOR 95 [1944]: 25-30). If there is an allusion, it is a very slight one. The verse simply says that the king’s wrath threatens death.

¹⁰ tn The verb is כָּפַּר (kapar), which means “to pacify; to appease” and “to atone; to expiate” in Levitical passages. It would take a wise person to know how to calm or pacify the wrath of a king – especially in the ancient Near East.

⁸ tn Or “power.”

⁹ tn Or “who delivered me over to you.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “has the greater sin” (an idiom).