32:25 The sword will make people childless outside,
and terror will do so inside;
they will destroy 4 both the young man and the virgin,
the infant and the gray-haired man.
2:11 Proud men will be brought low,
arrogant men will be humiliated; 5
the Lord alone will be exalted 6
in that day.
4:33 Now in that very moment 12 this pronouncement about 13 Nebuchadnezzar came true. 14 He was driven from human society, he ate grass like oxen, and his body became damp with the dew of the sky, until his hair became long like an eagle’s feathers, and his nails like a bird’s claws. 15
4:34 But at the end of the appointed time 16 I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up 17 toward heaven, and my sanity returned to me.
I extolled the Most High,
and I praised and glorified the one who lives forever.
For his authority is an everlasting authority,
and his kingdom extends from one generation to the next.
4:35 All the inhabitants of the earth are regarded as nothing. 18
He does as he wishes with the army of heaven
and with those who inhabit the earth.
No one slaps 19 his hand
and says to him, ‘What have you done?’
4:36 At that time my sanity returned to me. I was restored 20 to the honor of my kingdom, and my splendor returned to me. My ministers and my nobles were seeking me out, and I was reinstated 21 over my kingdom. I became even greater than before. 4:37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, for all his deeds are right and his ways are just. He is able to bring down those who live 22 in pride.
1 tn Heb “in order to humble you and in order to test you.” See 8:2.
2 tn Heb “the
3 tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NRSV, NLT); likewise in v. 15.
4 tn A verb is omitted here in the Hebrew text; for purposes of English style one suitable to the context is supplied.
5 tn Heb “and the eyes of the pride of men will be brought low, and the arrogance of men will be brought down.” The repetition of the verbs שָׁפַל (shafal) and שָׁחָח (shakhakh) from v. 9 draws attention to the appropriate nature of the judgment. Those proud men who “bow low” before idols will be forced to “bow low” before God when he judges their sin.
6 tn Or “elevated”; CEV “honored.”
7 tn Aram “house.”
8 tn Aram “by the might of my strength.”
9 tn Aram “in the mouth of the king.”
10 tn Aram “to you they say.”
11 tn Aram “until.”
12 tn Aram “hour.”
13 tn Or “on.”
14 tn Aram “was fulfilled.”
15 tn The words “feathers” and “claws” are not present in the Aramaic text, but have been added in the translation for clarity.
16 tn Aram “days.”
17 tn Aram “lifted up my eyes.”
18 tc The present translation reads כְּלָא (kÿla’), with many medieval Hebrew
19 tn Aram “strikes against.”
20 tc The translation reads הַדְרֵת (hadret, “I returned”) rather than the MT הַדְרִי (hadri, “my honor”); cf. Theodotion.
21 tc The translation reads הָתְקְנֵת (hotqÿnet, “I was established”) rather than the MT הָתְקְנַת (hotqÿnat, “it was established”). As it stands, the MT makes no sense here.
22 tn Aram “walk.”
23 tn Or “learned it.” The Greek text simply has “you learned” without the reference to “the gospel,” but “the gospel” is supplied to clarify the sense of the clause. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
24 tn The Greek word translated “fellow slave” is σύνδουλος (sundoulo"); the σύν- prefix here denotes association. Though δοῦλος is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.
25 tn The Greek text has “who (ὅς, Jos) is a faithful minister.” The above translation conveys the antecedent of the relative pronoun quite well and avoids the redundancy with the following substantival participle of v. 8, namely, “who told” (ὁ δηλώσας, Jo dhlwsa").
26 tc ‡ Judging by the superior witnesses for the first person pronoun ἡμῶν (Jhmwn, “us”; Ì46 א* A B D* F G 326* 1505 al) vs. the second person pronoun ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “you”; found in א2 C D1 Ψ 075 33 1739 1881 Ï lat sy co), ἡμῶν should be regarded as original. Although it is possible that ἡμῶν was an early alteration of ὑμῶν (either unintentionally, as dittography, since it comes seventeen letters after the previous ἡμῶν; or intentionally, to conform to the surrounding first person pronouns), this supposition is difficult to maintain in light of the varied and valuable witnesses for this reading. Further, the second person is both embedded in the verb ἐμάθετε (emaqete) and is explicit in v. 8 (ὑμῶν). Hence, the motivation to change to the first person pronoun is counterbalanced by such evidence. The second person pronoun may have been introduced unintentionally via homoioarcton with the ὑπέρ (Juper) that immediately precedes it. As well, the second person reading is somewhat harder for it seems to address Epaphras’ role only in relation to Paul and his colleagues, rather than in relation to the Colossians. Nevertheless, the decision must be based ultimately on external evidence (because the internal evidence can be variously interpreted), and this strongly supports ἡμῶν.