7:8 “As I was contemplating the horns, another horn – a small one – came up between them, and three of the former horns were torn out by the roots to make room for it. 1 This horn had eyes resembling human eyes and a mouth speaking arrogant 2 things.
7:25 He will speak words against the Most High.
He will harass 6 the holy ones of the Most High continually.
His intention 7 will be to change times established by law. 8
They will be delivered into his hand
For a time, times, 9 and half a time.
14:13 You said to yourself, 10
“I will climb up to the sky.
Above the stars of El 11
I will set up my throne.
I will rule on the mountain of assembly
on the remote slopes of Zaphon. 12
2:4 He will judge disputes between nations;
he will settle cases for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares, 14
and their spears into pruning hooks. 15
Nations will not take up the sword against other nations,
and they will no longer train for war.
1 tn Aram “were uprooted from before it.”
2 tn Aram “great.” So also in vv. 11, 20.
3 tn The words “I also wanted to know” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons.
4 tc The conjunction in the MT before “eyes” is odd. The ancient versions do not seem to presuppose it.
5 tn Aram “greater than its companions.”
6 tn Aram “wear out” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV); NASB, NLT “wear down.” The word is a hapax legomenon in biblical Aramaic, but in biblical Hebrew it especially refers to wearing out such things as garments. Here it is translated “harass…continually.”
7 tn Aram “he will think.”
8 tn Aram “times and law.” The present translation is based on the understanding that the expression is a hendiadys.
9 sn Although the word times is vocalized in the MT as a plural, it probably should be regarded as a dual. The Masoretes may have been influenced here by the fact that in late Aramaic (and Syriac) the dual forms fall out of use. The meaning would thus be three and a half “times.”
10 tn Heb “you, you said in your heart.”
11 sn In Canaanite mythology the stars of El were astral deities under the authority of the high god El.
12 sn Zaphon, the Canaanite version of Olympus, was the “mountain of assembly” where the gods met.
13 tn Heb “and the house of Jacob will take possession of them [i.e., the nations], on the land of the Lord, as male servants and female servants.”
14 sn Instead of referring to the large plow as a whole, the plowshare is simply the metal tip which actually breaks the earth and cuts the furrow.
15 sn This implement was used to prune the vines, i.e., to cut off extra leaves and young shoots (H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:93; M. Klingbeil, NIDOTTE 1:1117-18). It was a short knife with a curved hook at the end sharpened on the inside like a sickle. Breaking weapons and fashioning agricultural implements indicates a transition from fear and stress to peace and security.
16 tn Grk “and there was given to him.” Here the passive construction has been simplified, the referent (the beast) has been specified for clarity, and καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
17 tn For the translation “proud words” (Grk “great things” or “important things”) see BDAG 624 s.v. μέγας 4.b.
18 tn Grk “to it was granted.”
19 tn For the translation “ruling authority” for ἐξουσία (exousia) see L&N 37.35.
20 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the angel’s invitation to witness the fate of the prostitute.
21 tn Or “in the spirit.” “Spirit” could refer either to the Holy Spirit or the human spirit, but in either case John was in “a state of spiritual exaltation best described as a trance” (R. H. Mounce, Revelation [NICNT], 75).
22 tn Or “desert.”
23 tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.