47:12 Persist 1 in trusting 2 your amulets
and your many incantations,
which you have faithfully recited 3 since your youth!
Maybe you will be successful 4 –
maybe you will scare away disaster. 5
47:13 You are tired out from listening to so much advice. 6
Let them take their stand –
the ones who see omens in the sky,
who gaze at the stars,
who make monthly predictions –
let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you! 7
47:14 Look, they are like straw,
which the fire burns up;
they cannot rescue themselves
from the heat 8 of the flames.
There are no coals to warm them,
no firelight to enjoy. 9
21:25 “And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, 10 and on the earth nations will be in distress, 11 anxious 12 over the roaring of the sea and the surging waves. 21:26 People will be fainting from fear 13 and from the expectation of what is coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 14 21:27 Then 15 they will see the Son of Man arriving in a cloud 16 with power and great glory. 21:28 But when these things 17 begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption 18 is drawing near.”
1 tn Heb “stand” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “Stand fast.”
2 tn The word “trusting” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See v. 9.
3 tn Heb “in that which you have toiled.”
4 tn Heb “maybe you will be able to profit.”
5 tn Heb “maybe you will cause to tremble.” The object “disaster” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See the note at v. 9.
6 tn Heb “you are tired because of the abundance of your advice.”
7 tn Heb “let them stand and rescue you – the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make known by months – from those things which are coming upon you.”
8 tn Heb “hand,” here a metaphor for the strength or power of the flames.
9 tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “there is no coal [for?] their food, light to sit before it.” Some emend לַחְמָם (lakhmam, “their food”) to לְחֻמָּם (lÿkhummam, “to warm them”; see HALOT 328 s.v. חמם). This statement may allude to Isa 44:16, where idolaters are depicted warming themselves over a fire made from wood, part of which was used to form idols. The fire of divine judgment will be no such campfire; its flames will devour and destroy.
10 sn Signs in the sun and moon and stars are cosmic signs that turn our attention to the end and the Son of Man’s return for the righteous. OT imagery is present: See Isa 13:9-10; 24:18-20; 34:4; Ezek 32:7-8; Joel 2:1, 30-31; 3:15.
11 tn Grk “distress of nations.”
12 tn Or “in consternation” (L&N 32.9).
13 tn According to L&N 23.184 this could be mainly a psychological experience rather than actual loss of consciousness. It could also refer to complete discouragement because of fear, leading people to give up hope (L&N 25.293).
14 sn An allusion to Isa 34:4. The heavens were seen as the abode of heavenly forces, so their shaking indicates distress in the spiritual realm. Although some take the powers as a reference to bodies in the heavens (like stars and planets, “the heavenly bodies,” NIV) this is not as likely.
15 tn Grk “And then” (καὶ τότε, kai tote). Here καί has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
16 sn An allusion to Dan 7:13. Here is Jesus returning with full judging authority.
17 sn These things are all the events of vv. 8-27. Disciples represent the righteous here. The events surrounding the fall of the nation are a down payment on a fuller judgment to come on all humanity. The presence of one guarantees the other.
18 sn With Jesus’ return comes the manifestation of judgment and final salvation (redemption).