Daniel 8:25

8:25 By his treachery he will succeed through deceit. He will have an arrogant attitude, and he will destroy many who are unaware of his schemes. He will rise up against the Prince of princes, yet he will be broken apart – but not by human agency.

Psalms 2:9

2:9 You will break them with an iron scepter;

you will smash them like a potter’s jar!’”

Psalms 21:8-9

21:8 You prevail over 10  all your enemies;

your power is too great for those who hate you. 11 

21:9 You burn them up like a fiery furnace 12  when you appear; 13 

the Lord angrily devours them; 14 

the fire consumes them.

Isaiah 60:12

60:12 Indeed, 15  nations or kingdoms that do not serve you will perish;

such nations will be totally destroyed. 16 

Isaiah 60:1

Zion’s Future Splendor

60:1 “Arise! Shine! For your light arrives!

The splendor 17  of the Lord shines on you!

Colossians 1:24-25

1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body – for the sake of his body, the church – what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. 1:25 I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship 18  from God – given to me for you – in order to complete 19  the word of God,

Revelation 2:27

2:27 he 20  will rule 21  them with an iron rod 22 

and like clay jars he will break them to pieces, 23 

Revelation 19:15-20

19:15 From his mouth extends a sharp sword, so that with it he can strike the nations. 24  He 25  will rule 26  them with an iron rod, 27  and he stomps the winepress 28  of the furious 29  wrath of God, the All-Powerful. 30  19:16 He has a name written on his clothing and on his thigh: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

19:17 Then 31  I saw one angel standing in 32  the sun, and he shouted in a loud voice to all the birds flying high in the sky: 33 

“Come, gather around for the great banquet 34  of God,

19:18 to eat 35  your fill 36  of the flesh of kings,

the flesh of generals, 37 

the flesh of powerful people,

the flesh of horses and those who ride them,

and the flesh of all people, both free and slave, 38 

and small and great!”

19:19 Then 39  I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to do battle with the one who rode the horse and with his army. 19:20 Now 40  the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf 41  – signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur. 42 


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.

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

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

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.

tn Heb “with nothingness of hand.”

tc The LXX reads “you will shepherd them.” This reading, quoted in the Greek text of the NT in Rev 2:27; 12:5; 19:15, assumes a different vocalization of the consonantal Hebrew text and understands the verb as רָעָה (raah, “to shepherd”) rather than רָעָע (raa’, “to break”). But the presence of נָפַץ (nafats, “to smash”) in the next line strongly favors the MT vocalization.

tn The Hebrew term שֵׁבֶט (shevet) can refer to a “staff” or “rod,” but here it probably refers to the Davidic king’s royal scepter, symbolizing his sovereignty.

sn Like a potters jar. Before the Davidic king’s awesome power, the rebellious nations are like fragile pottery.

tn The king is now addressed. One could argue that the Lord is still being addressed, but v. 9 militates against this proposal, for there the Lord is mentioned in the third person and appears to be distinct from the addressee (unless, of course, one takes “Lord” in v. 9 as vocative; see the note on “them” in v. 9b). Verse 7 begins this transition to a new addressee by referring to both the king and the Lord in the third person (in vv. 1-6 the Lord is addressed and only the king referred to in the third person).

10 tn Heb “your hand finds.” The idiom pictures the king grabbing hold of his enemies and defeating them (see 1 Sam 23:17). The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 8-12 may be translated with the future tense, as long as the future is understood as generalizing.

11 tn Heb “your right hand finds those who hate you.”

12 tn Heb “you make them like a furnace of fire.” Although many modern translations retain the literal Hebrew, the statement is elliptical. The point is not that he makes them like a furnace, but like an object burned in a furnace (cf. NEB, “at your coming you shall plunge them into a fiery furnace”).

13 tn Heb “at the time of your face.” The “face” of the king here refers to his angry presence. See Lam 4:16.

14 tn Heb “the Lord, in his anger he swallows them, and fire devours them.” Some take “the Lord” as a vocative, in which case he is addressed in vv. 8-9a. But this makes the use of the third person in v. 9b rather awkward, though the king could be the subject (see vv. 1-7).

15 tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); TEV “But.”

16 tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

17 tn Or “glory” (so most English versions).

18 tn BDAG 697 s.v. οἰκονομία 1.b renders the term here as “divine office.”

19 tn See BDAG 828 s.v. πληρόω 3. The idea here seems to be that the apostle wants to “complete the word of God” in that he wants to preach it to every person in the known world (cf. Rom 15:19). See P. T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (WBC), 82.

20 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

21 tn Grk “will shepherd.”

22 tn Or “scepter.” The Greek term ῥάβδος (rJabdo") can mean either “rod” or “scepter.”

23 sn A quotation from Ps 2:9 (with the line introducing the quotation containing a partial allusion to Ps 2:8). See also Rev 12:5, 19:15.

24 tn Or “the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

25 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

26 tn Grk “will shepherd.”

27 tn Or “scepter.” The Greek term ῥάβδος (rJabdo") can mean either “rod” or “scepter.”

28 sn He stomps the winepress. See Isa 63:3, where Messiah does this alone (usually several individuals would join in the process), and Rev 14:20.

29 tn The genitive θυμοῦ (qumou) has been translated as an attributed genitive. Following BDAG 461 s.v. θυμός 2, the combination of the genitives of θυμός (qumos) and ὀργή (orgh) in Rev 16:19 and 19:15 are taken to be a strengthening of the thought as in the OT and Qumran literature (Exod 32:12; Jer 32:37; Lam 2:3; CD 10:9).

30 tn On this word BDAG 755 s.v. παντοκράτωρ states, “the Almighty, All-Powerful, Omnipotent (One) only of God…() κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ π. …Rv 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 21:22.”

31 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

32 tn The precise significance of ἐν (en) here is difficult to determine.

33 tn On μεσουρανήματι (mesouranhmati) here see L&N 1.10: “high in the sky, midpoint in the sky, directly overhead, straight above in the sky.” The birds mentioned here are carrion birds like vultures, circling high overhead, and now being summoned to feast on the corpses.

34 tn This is the same Greek word (δεῖπνον, deipnon) used in 19:9.

35 tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause, insofar as it is related to the first imperative, has the force of an imperative.

36 tn The idea of eating “your fill” is evident in the context with the use of χορτάζω (cortazw) in v. 21.

37 tn Grk “chiliarchs”; normally a chiliarch was a military officer commanding a thousand soldiers, but here probably used of higher-ranking commanders like generals (see L&N 55.15; cf. Rev 6:15).

38 tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

39 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

40 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the introduction of an unexpected development in the account: The opposing armies do not come together in battle; rather the leader of one side is captured.

41 tn For this meaning see BDAG 342 s.v. ἐνώπιον 4.b, “by the authority of, on behalf of Rv 13:12, 14; 19:20.”

42 tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”