Nehemiah 6:9

6:9 All of them were wanting ¹  to scare us, supposing, “Their hands will grow slack from the work, and it won’t get done.”

So now, strengthen my hands! ² 

Nehemiah 6:13

6:13 He had been hired to scare me so that I would do this and thereby sin. They would thus bring reproach on me and I ³  would be discredited. ⁴ 

Isaiah 37:10-14

37:10 “Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” 37:11 Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands. ⁵  Do you really think you will be rescued? ⁶  37:12 Were the nations whom my predecessors ⁷  destroyed – the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar – rescued by their gods? ⁸  37:13 Where are the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the kings of Lair, ⁹  Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”

37:14 Hezekiah took the letter ¹⁰  from the messengers and read it. ¹¹  Then Hezekiah went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord.

Acts 4:18-21

4:18 And they called them in and ordered ¹²  them not to speak or teach at all in the name ¹³  of Jesus. 4:19 But Peter and John replied, ¹⁴  “Whether it is right before God to obey ¹⁵  you rather than God, you decide, 4:20 for it is impossible ¹⁶  for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.” 4:21 After threatening them further, they released them, for they could not find how to punish them on account of the people, because they were all praising ¹⁷  God for what had happened.

¹ tn The participle has a desiderative nuance here, describing the desire of the subject and not necessarily the actual outcome. See also v. 14.

² tn The statement “So now, strengthen my hands” is frequently understood as an implied prayer, but is taken differently by NAB (“But instead, I now redoubled my efforts”).

³ tc The translation reads לִי (li, “to me”) rather than the MT reading לָהֶם (lahem, “to them”).

⁴ tn Heb “would have a bad name.”

⁵ tn Heb “Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, annihilating them.”

⁶ tn Heb “and will you be rescued?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No, of course not!”

⁷ tn Heb “fathers” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); NIV “forefathers”; NCV “ancestors.”

⁸ tn Heb “Did the gods of the nations whom my fathers destroyed rescue them – Gozan and Haran, and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who are in Telassar?”

⁹ sn Lair was a city located in northeastern Babylon. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 235.

¹⁰ tc The Hebrew text has the plural, “letters.” The final mem (ם) may be dittographic (note the initial mem on the form that immediately follows). Some Greek and Aramaic witnesses have the singular. If so, one still has to deal with the yod that is part of the plural ending. J. N. Oswalt refers to various commentators who have suggested ways to understand the plural form (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:652).

¹¹ tn In the parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:14 the verb has the plural suffix, “them,” but this probably reflects a later harmonization to the preceding textual corruption (of “letter” to “letters”).

¹² tn Or “commanded.”

¹³ sn In the name of Jesus. Once again, the “name” reflects the person. The person of Jesus and his authority is the “troubling” topic that, as far as the Jewish leadership is concerned, needs controlling.

¹⁴ tn Grk “answered and said to them.”

¹⁵ tn Grk “hear,” but the idea of “hear and obey” or simply “obey” is frequently contained in the Greek verb ἀκούω (akouw; see L&N 36.14).

¹⁶ tn Grk “for we are not able not to speak about what we have seen and heard,” but the double negative, which cancels out in English, is emphatic in Greek. The force is captured somewhat by the English translation “it is impossible for us not to speak…” although this is slightly awkward.

¹⁷ tn Or “glorifying.”