Numbers 22:16-17

22:16 And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak son of Zippor: ‘Please do not let anything hinder you from coming ¹  to me. 22:17 For I will honor you greatly, ²  and whatever you tell me I will do. So come, put a curse on this nation for me.’”

Numbers 24:11

24:11 So now, go back where you came from! ³  I said that I would greatly honor you; but now the Lord has stood in the way of your honor.”

Psalms 75:6

75:6 For victory does not come from the east or west,

or from the wilderness. ⁴ 

Matthew 4:8-9

4:8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their grandeur. ⁵  4:9 And he said to him, “I will give you all these things if you throw yourself to the ground and worship ⁶  me.”

Luke 4:6

4:6 And he ⁷  said to him, “To you ⁸  I will grant this whole realm ⁹  – and the glory that goes along with it, ¹⁰  for it has been relinquished ¹¹  to me, and I can give it to anyone I wish.

John 5:44

5:44 How can you believe, if you accept praise ¹²  from one another and don’t seek the praise ¹³  that comes from the only God? ¹⁴ 

¹ tn The infinitive construct is the object of the preposition.

² tn The construction uses the Piel infinitive כַּבֵּד (kabbed) to intensify the verb, which is the Piel imperfect/cohortative אֲכַבֶּדְךָ (’akhabbedkha). The great honor could have been wealth, prestige, or position.

³ tn Heb “flee to your place.”

⁴ tn Heb “for not from the east or from the west, and not from the wilderness of the mountains.” If one follows this reading the sentence is elliptical. One must supply “does help come,” or some comparable statement. However, it is possible to take הָרִים (harim) as a Hiphil infinitive from רוּם (rum), the same verb used in vv. 4-5 of “lifting up” a horn. In this case one may translate the form as “victory.” In this case the point is that victory does not come from alliances with other nations.

⁵ tn Grk “glory.”

⁶ tn Grk “if, falling down, you will worship.” BDAG 815 s.v. πίπτω 1.b.α.ב has “fall down, throw oneself to the ground as a sign of devotion, before high-ranking persons or divine beings.”

⁷ tn Grk “And the devil.”

⁸ sn In Greek, this phrase is in an emphatic position. In effect, the devil is tempting Jesus by saying, “Look what you can have!”

⁹ tn Or “authority.” BDAG 353 s.v. ἐξουσία 6 suggests, concerning this passage, that the term means “the sphere in which the power is exercised, domain.” Cf. also Luke 22:53; 23:7; Acts 26:18; Eph 2:2.

¹⁰ tn The addendum referring to the glory of the kingdoms of the world forms something of an afterthought, as the following pronoun (“it”) makes clear, for the singular refers to the realm itself.

¹¹ tn For the translation of παραδέδοται (paradedotai) see L&N 57.77. The devil is erroneously implying that God has given him such authority with the additional capability of sharing the honor.

¹² tn Or “honor” (Grk “glory,” in the sense of respect or honor accorded to a person because of their status).

¹³ tn Or “honor” (Grk “glory,” in the sense of respect or honor accorded to a person because of their status).

¹⁴ tc Several early and important witnesses (Ì^66,75 B W a b sa) lack θεοῦ (qeou, “God”) here, thus reading “the only one,” while most of the rest of the tradition, including some important mss, has the name ({א A D L Θ Ψ 33 Ï}). Internally, it could be argued that the name of God was not used here, in keeping with the NT practice of suppressing the name of God at times for rhetorical effect, drawing the reader inexorably to the conclusion that the one being spoken of is God himself. On the other hand, never is ὁ μόνος (Jo mono") used absolutely in the NT (i.e., without a noun or substantive with it), and always the subject of the adjunct is God (cf. Matt 24:36; John 17:3; 1 Tim 6:16). What then is to explain the shorter reading? In uncial script, with θεοῦ written as a nomen sacrum, envisioning accidental omission of the name by way of homoioteleuton requires little imagination, largely because of the succession of words ending in -ου: toumonouqMuou. It is thus preferable to retain the word in the text.