1:24 Now to the one who is able to keep you from falling, 9 and to cause you to stand, rejoicing, 10 without blemish 11 before his glorious presence, 12
4:28 Now all of this happened 29 to King Nebuchadnezzar. 4:29 After twelve months, he happened to be walking around on the battlements 30 of the royal palace of Babylon. 4:30 The king uttered these words: “Is this not the great Babylon that I have built for a royal residence 31 by my own mighty strength 32 and for my majestic honor?” 4:31 While these words were still on the king’s lips, 33 a voice came down from heaven: “It is hereby announced to you, 34 King Nebuchadnezzar, that your kingdom has been removed from you! 4:32 You will be driven from human society, and you will live with the wild animals. You will be fed grass like oxen, and seven periods of time will pass by for you before 35 you understand that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms and gives them to whomever he wishes.”
1 tn Or “keep.”
2 tn Or “waiting for.”
3 tn Grk “unto eternal life.”
4 tn Grk “and save.”
5 tn Grk “and have mercy.”
6 tn Grk “with fear.” But as this contrasts with ἀφόβως (afobw") in v. 12 (without reverence), the posture of the false teachers, it most likely refers to reverence for God.
7 sn The imagery here suggests that the things close to the sinners are contaminated by them, presumably during the process of sinning.
8 tn Grk “hating even the tunic spotted by the flesh.” The “flesh” in this instance could refer to the body or to the sin nature. It makes little difference in one sense: Jude is thinking primarily of sexual sins, which are borne of the sin nature and manifest themselves in inappropriate deeds done with the body. At the same time, he is not saying that the body is intrinsically bad, a view held by the opponents of Christianity. Hence, it is best to see “flesh” as referring to the sin nature here and the language as metaphorical.
9 tn The construction in Greek is a double accusative object-complement. “You” is the object and “free from falling” is the adjectival complement.
10 tn Grk “with rejoicing.” The prepositional clause is placed after “his glorious presence” in Greek, but most likely goes with “cause you to stand.”
11 tn The construction in Greek is a double accusative object-complement. “You” is the object and “without blemish” is the adjectival complement.
12 tn Or “in the presence of his glory,” “before his glory.”
13 tn Heb “by my great power and my outstretched arm.” Again “arm” is symbolical for “strength.” Compare the similar expression in 21:5.
14 sn See Dan 4:17 for a similar statement.
15 tn Heb “have given…into the hand of.”
16 sn See the study note on 25:9 for the significance of the application of this term to Nebuchadnezzar.
17 tn Heb “I have given…to him to serve him.” The verb “give” in this syntactical situation is functioning like the Hiphil stem, i.e., as a causative. See Dan 1:9 for parallel usage. For the usage of “serve” meaning “be subject to” compare 2 Sam 22:44 and BDB 713 s.v. עָבַד 3.
18 sn This is a figure that emphasizes that they will serve for a long time but not for an unlimited duration. The kingdom of Babylon lasted a relatively short time by ancient standards. It lasted from 605
19 tn Heb “until the time of his land, even his, comes.” The independent pronoun is placed here for emphasis on the possessive pronoun. The word “time” is used by substitution for the things that are done in it (compare in the NT John 2:4; 7:30; 8:20 “his hour had not yet come”).
20 tn Heb “him.” This is a good example of the figure of substitution where the person is put for his descendants or the nation or subject he rules. (See Gen 28:13-14 for another good example and Acts 22:7 in the NT.)
21 tn The Aramaic indefinite active plural is used here like the English passive. So also in v. 28, 29,32.
22 tn Aram “from mankind.” So also in v. 32.
23 tn Aram “your dwelling will be.” So also in v. 32.
24 tn Or perhaps “be made to eat.”
25 sn Nebuchadnezzar’s insanity has features that are associated with the mental disorder known as boanthropy, in which the person so afflicted imagines himself to be an ox or a similar animal and behaves accordingly.
26 tn Aram “until.”
27 sn The reference to heaven here is a circumlocution for God. There was a tendency in Jewish contexts to avoid direct reference to God. Cf. the expression “kingdom of heaven” in the NT and such statements as “I have sinned against heaven and in your sight” (Luke 15:21).
28 tn Aram “if there may be a lengthening to your prosperity.”
29 tn Aram “reached.”
30 tn The word “battlements” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied from context. Many English versions supply “roof” here (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); cf. NLT “on the flat roof.”
31 tn Aram “house.”
32 tn Aram “by the might of my strength.”
33 tn Aram “in the mouth of the king.”
34 tn Aram “to you they say.”
35 tn Aram “until.”
36 tn Or “royal greatness and majestic honor,” if the four terms are understood as a double hendiadys.