Job 40:9

40:9 Do you have an arm as powerful as God’s, ¹ 

and can you thunder with a voice like his?

Psalms 76:7

76:7 You are awesome! Yes, you!

Who can withstand your intense anger? ² 

Isaiah 27:4

27:4 I am not angry.

I wish I could confront some thorns and briers!

Then I would march against them ³  for battle;

I would set them ⁴  all on fire,

Ephesians 6:13-14

6:13 For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground ⁵  on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand. 6:14 Stand firm therefore, by fastening ⁶  the belt of truth around your waist, ⁷  by putting on the breastplate of righteousness,

Revelation 16:14

16:14 For they are the spirits of the demons performing signs who go out to the kings of the earth ⁸  to bring them together for the battle that will take place on the great day of God, the All-Powerful. ⁹ 

Revelation 20:8-9

20:8 and will go out to deceive ¹⁰  the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, ¹¹  to bring them together for the battle. They are as numerous as the grains of sand in the sea. ¹²  20:9 They ¹³  went up ¹⁴  on the broad plain of the earth ¹⁵  and encircled ¹⁶  the camp ¹⁷  of the saints and the beloved city, but ¹⁸  fire came down from heaven and devoured them completely. ¹⁹ 

¹ tn Heb “do you have an arm like God?” The words “as powerful as” have been supplied in the translation to clarify the metaphor.

² tc Heb “and who can stand before you from the time of your anger?” The Hebrew expression מֵאָז (me’az, “from the time of”) is better emended to מֵאֹז (me’oz, “from [i.e., “because of”] the strength of your anger”; see Ps 90:11).

³ tn Heb “it.” The feminine singular suffix apparently refers back to the expression “thorns and briers,” understood in a collective sense. For other examples of a cohortative expressing resolve after a hypothetical statement introduced by נָתַן with מִי (miwith natan), see Judg 9:29; Jer 9:1-2; Ps 55:6.

⁴ tn Heb “it.” The feminine singular suffix apparently refers back to the expression “thorns and briers,” understood in a collective sense.

⁵ tn The term ἀνθίστημι (anqisthmi) carries the idea of resisting or opposing something or someone (BDAG 80 s.v.). In Eph 6:13, when used in combination with στῆναι (sthnai; cf. also στῆτε [sthte] in v. 14) and in a context of battle imagery, it seems to have the idea of resisting, standing firm, and being able to stand your ground.

⁶ sn The four participles fastening… putting on…fitting…taking up… indicate the means by which believers can take their stand against the devil and his schemes. The imperative take in v. 17 communicates another means by which to accomplish the standing, i.e., by the word of God.

⁷ tn Grk “girding your waist with truth.” In this entire section the author is painting a metaphor for his readers based on the attire of a Roman soldier prepared for battle and its similarity to the Christian prepared to do battle against spiritually evil forces. Behind the expression “with truth” is probably the genitive idea “belt of truth.” Since this is an appositional genitive (i.e., belt which is truth), the author simply left unsaid the idea of the belt and mentioned only his real focus, namely, the truth. (The analogy would have been completely understandable to his 1st century readers.) The idea of the belt is supplied in the translation to clarify the sense in English.

⁸ tn BDAG 699 s.v. οἰκουμένη 1 states, “the inhabited earth, the world…ὅλη ἡ οἰκ. the whole inhabited earth…Mt 24:14; Ac 11:28; Rv 3:10; 16:14.”

⁹ tn On this word BDAG 755 s.v. παντοκράτωρ states, “the Almighty, All-Powerful, Omnipotent (One) only of God…(ὁ) κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ π. …Rv 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 21:22.”

¹⁰ tn Or “mislead.”

¹¹ sn The battle with Gog and Magog is described in the OT in Ezek 38:1-39:20.

¹² tn Grk “of whom the number of them [is] like the sand of the sea” (an allusion to Isa 10:22).

¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

¹⁴ tn The shift here to past tense reflects the Greek text.

¹⁵ tn On the phrase “broad plain of the earth” BDAG 823 s.v. πλάτος states, “τὸ πλάτος τῆς γῆς Rv 20:9 comes fr. the OT (Da 12:2 LXX. Cp. Hab 1:6; Sir 1:3), but the sense is not clear: breadth = the broad plain of the earth is perh. meant to provide room for the countless enemies of God vs. 8, but the ‘going up’ is better suited to Satan (vs. 7) who has recently been freed, and who comes up again fr. the abyss (vs. 3).” The referent here thus appears to be a plain large enough to accommodate the numberless hoards that have drawn up for battle against the Lord Christ and his saints.

¹⁶ tn Or “surrounded.”

¹⁷ tn On the term παρεμβολή (parembolh) BDAG 775 s.v. states, “Mostly used as a military t.t.…so always in our lit.…1. a (fortified) camp…ἡ παρεμβολὴ τῶν ἁγίων Rv 20:9 is also to be understood fr. the OT use of the word.”

¹⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

¹⁹ tn See L&N 20.45 for the translation of κατεσθίω (katesqiw) as “to destroy utterly, to consume completely.”