2:8 Ask me,
and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, 1
the ends of the earth as your personal property.
2:9 You will break them 2 with an iron scepter; 3
you will smash them like a potter’s jar!’” 4
14:1 The Lord will certainly have compassion on Jacob; 5 he will again choose Israel as his special people 6 and restore 7 them to their land. Resident foreigners will join them and unite with the family 8 of Jacob. 14:2 Nations will take them and bring them back to their own place. Then the family of Jacob will make foreigners their servants as they settle in the Lord’s land. 9 They will make their captors captives and rule over the ones who oppressed them.
2:27 he 13 will rule 14 them with an iron rod 15
and like clay jars he will break them to pieces, 16
1 sn I will give you the nations. The
2 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 (ra’ah, “to shepherd”) rather than רָעָע (ra’a’, “to break”). But the presence of נָפַץ (nafats, “to smash”) in the next line strongly favors the MT vocalization.
3 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.
4 sn Like a potter’s jar. Before the Davidic king’s awesome power, the rebellious nations are like fragile pottery.
5 tn The sentence begins with כִּי (ki), which is understood as asseverative (“certainly”) in the translation. Another option is to translate, “For the Lord will have compassion.” In this case one of the reasons for Babylon’s coming demise (13:22b) is the Lord’s desire to restore his people.
6 tn The words “as his special people” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
7 tn Or “settle” (NASB, NIV, NCV, NLT).
8 tn Heb “house.”
9 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.”
10 tn Or “who is victorious”; traditionally, “who overcomes.”
11 tn Grk “keeps.” In a context that speaks of “holding on to what you have,” the idea here is one of continued faithful behavior (BDAG 1002 s.v. τηρέω 3 has “ὁ τηρῶν τὰ ἔργα μου the one who takes my deeds to heart Rv 2:26”).
12 tn Or “over the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).
13 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
14 tn Grk “will shepherd.”
15 tn Or “scepter.” The Greek term ῥάβδος (rJabdo") can mean either “rod” or “scepter.”
16 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.