Joshua 5:14-15

5:14 He answered, ¹  “Truly I am the commander of the Lord’s army. ²  Now I have arrived!” ³  Joshua bowed down with his face to the ground ⁴  and asked, “What does my master want to say to his servant?” 5:15 The commander of the Lord’s army answered Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, because the place where you stand is holy.” Joshua did so.

Hebrews 2:10

2:10 For it was fitting for him, for whom and through whom all things exist, ⁵  in bringing many sons to glory, to make the pioneer ⁶  of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Revelation 17:14

17:14 They will make war with the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those accompanying ⁷  the Lamb are the called, chosen, and faithful.”

Revelation 19:13-16

19:13 He is dressed in clothing dipped ⁸  in blood, and he is called ⁹  the Word of God. 19:14 The ¹⁰  armies that are in heaven, dressed in white, clean, fine linen, ¹¹  were following him on white horses. 19:15 From his mouth extends a sharp sword, so that with it he can strike the nations. ¹²  He ¹³  will rule ¹⁴  them with an iron rod, ¹⁵  and he stomps the winepress ¹⁶  of the furious ¹⁷  wrath of God, the All-Powerful. ¹⁸  19:16 He has a name written on his clothing and on his thigh: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

¹ tc Heb “He said, “Neither.” An alternative reading is לוֹ (lo, “[He said] to him”; cf. NEB). This reading is supported by many Hebrew mss, as well as the LXX and Syriac versions. The traditional reading of the MT (לֹא, lo’, “no, neither”) is probably the product of aural confusion (the two variant readings sound the same in Hebrew). Although followed by a number of modern translations (cf. NIV, NRSV), this reading is problematic, for the commander of the Lord’s army would hardly have declared himself neutral.

² sn The Lord’s heavenly army, like an earthly army, has a commander who leads the troops. For the phrase שַׂר־צְבָא (sar-tsÿva’, “army commander”) in the human sphere, see among many other references Gen 21:22, 32; 26:26; Judg 4:2, 7; 1 Sam 12:9.

³ sn The commander’s appearance seems to be for Joshua’s encouragement. Joshua could now lead Israel into battle knowing that the Lord’s invisible army would ensure victory.

⁴ tn Heb “Joshua fell on his face to the ground and bowed down.”

⁵ tn Grk “for whom are all things and through whom are all things.”

⁶ sn The Greek word translated pioneer is used of a “prince” or leader, the representative head of a family. It also carries nuances of “trailblazer,” one who breaks through to new ground for those who follow him. It is used some thirty-five times in the Greek OT and four times in the NT, always of Christ (Acts 3:15; 5:31; Heb 2:10; 12:2).

⁷ tn See BDAG 636 s.v. μετά A.2.a.α.

⁸ tc It appears that “dipped” (βεβαμμένον, bebammenon), supported by several uncials and other witnesses (A 051 Ï), is the original reading. Due to the lack of the preposition “in” (ἐν, en) after the verb (βεβαμμένον αἵματι, bebammenon {aimati), and also probably because of literary allusions to Isa 63:3, several mss and versions seem to have changed the text to “sprinkled” (either ῥεραντισμένον [rJerantismenon] in P 2329 al; ἐρραντισμένον [errantismenon] in 1006 1841; ἐρραμμένον [errammenon] in 2053 2062; or ῥεραμμένον [rJerammenon] in 1611; or in one case περιρεραμμένον [perirerammenon] in א^[2]). The reading most likely to give rise to the others is “dipped.”

⁹ tn Grk “the name of him is called.”

¹⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

¹¹ tn On the term translated “fine linen,” BDAG 185 s.v. βύσσινος states, “made of fine linen, subst. τὸ β. fine linen, linen garment…Rv 18:12, 16; 19:8, 14.”

¹² tn Or “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 He stomps the winepress. See Isa 63:3, where Messiah does this alone (usually several individuals would join in the process), and Rev 14:20.

¹⁷ tn The genitive θυμοῦ (qumou) has been translated as an attributed genitive. Following BDAG 461 s.v. θυμός 2, the combination of the genitives of θυμός (qumos) and ὀργή (orgh) in Rev 16:19 and 19:15 are taken to be a strengthening of the thought as in the OT and Qumran literature (Exod 32:12; Jer 32:37; Lam 2:3; CD 10:9).

¹⁸ 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.”