Isaiah 44:20

44:20 He feeds on ashes; ¹ 

his deceived mind misleads him.

He cannot rescue himself,

nor does he say, ‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’ ² 

Obadiah 1:3

1:3 Your presumptuous heart ³  has deceived you –

you who reside in the safety of the rocky cliffs, ⁴ 

whose home is high in the mountains. ⁵ 

You think to yourself, ⁶ 

‘No one can ⁷  bring me down to the ground!’ ⁸ 

Luke 21:8

21:8 He ⁹  said, “Watch out ¹⁰  that you are not misled. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ ¹¹  and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them!

Galatians 6:3

6:3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

James 1:26

1:26 If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile.

Revelation 12:9

12:9 So ¹²  that huge dragon – the ancient serpent, the one called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world – was thrown down to the earth, and his angels along with him.

Revelation 13:14

13:14 and, by the signs he was permitted to perform on behalf of the beast, he deceived those who live on the earth. He told ¹³  those who live on the earth to make an image to the beast who had been wounded by the sword, but still lived.

¹ tn Or perhaps, “he eats on an ash heap.”

² tn Heb “Is it not a lie in my right hand?”

³ tn Heb “the presumption of your heart”; NAB, NIV “the pride of your heart”; NASB “arrogance of your heart.”

⁴ tn Heb “in the concealed places of the rock”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “in the clefts of the rock”; NCV “the hollow places of the cliff”; CEV “a mountain fortress.”

⁵ tn Heb “on high (is) his dwelling”; NASB “in the loftiness of your dwelling place”; NRSV “whose dwelling (abode NAB) is in the heights.”

⁶ tn Heb “the one who says in his heart.”

⁷ tn The Hebrew imperfect verb used here is best understood in a modal sense (“Who can bring me down?”) rather than in the sense of a simple future (“Who will bring me down?”). So also in v. 4 (“I can bring you down”). The question is not so much whether this will happen at some time in the future, but whether it even lies in the realm of possible events. In their hubris the Edomites were boasting that no one had the capability of breaching their impregnable defenses. However, their pride caused them to fail to consider the vast capabilities of Yahweh as warrior.

⁸ tn Heb “Who can bring me down?” This rhetorical question implies a negative answer: “No one!”

⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹⁰ tn Or “Be on guard.”

¹¹ tn That is, “I am the Messiah.”

¹² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the war in heaven.

¹³ tn Grk “earth, telling.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in Greek.