119:10 With all my heart I seek you.
Do not allow me to stray from your commands!
119:21 You reprimand arrogant people.
Those who stray from your commands are doomed. 1
119:51 Arrogant people do nothing but scoff at me. 2
Yet I do not turn aside from your law.
119:87 They have almost destroyed me here on the earth,
but I do not reject your precepts.
119:95 The wicked prepare to kill me, 3
yet I concentrate on your rules.
6:10 When Daniel realized 4 that a written decree had been issued, he entered his home, where the windows 5 in his upper room opened toward Jerusalem. 6 Three 7 times daily he was 8 kneeling 9 and offering prayers and thanks to his God just as he had been accustomed to do previously.
20:20 Then 14 they watched him carefully and sent spies who pretended to be sincere. 15 They wanted to take advantage of what he might say 16 so that they could deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction 17 of the governor. 20:21 Thus 18 they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach correctly, 19 and show no partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. 20 20:22 Is it right 21 for us to pay the tribute tax 22 to Caesar 23 or not?” 20:23 But Jesus 24 perceived their deceit 25 and said to them, 20:24 “Show me a denarius. 26 Whose image 27 and inscription are on it?” 28 They said, “Caesar’s.” 20:25 So 29 he said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 30 20:26 Thus 31 they were unable in the presence of the people to trap 32 him with his own words. 33 And stunned 34 by his answer, they fell silent.
1 tn Heb “accursed.” The traditional punctuation of the Hebrew text takes “accursed” with the previous line (“arrogant, accursed ones”), but it is preferable to take it with the second line as the predicate of the statement.
2 tn Heb “scoff at me to excess.”
3 tn Heb “the wicked wait for me to kill me.”
4 tn Aram “knew.”
5 sn In later rabbinic thought this verse was sometimes cited as a proof text for the notion that one should pray only in a house with windows. See b. Berakhot 34b.
6 map For the location of Jerusalem see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
7 sn This is apparently the only specific mention in the OT of prayer being regularly offered three times a day. The practice was probably not unique to Daniel, however.
8 tc Read with several medieval Hebrew
9 tn Aram “kneeling on his knees” (so NASB).
10 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
11 tn Or “The scribes” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.
12 tn Grk “tried to lay hands on him.”
13 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
14 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
15 tn Grk “righteous,” but in this context the point is their false sincerity.
16 tn Grk “so that they might catch him in some word.”
17 tn This word is often translated “authority” in other contexts, but here, in combination with ἀρχή (arch), it refers to the domain or sphere of the governor’s rule (L&N 37.36).
18 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “thus” to indicate the implied result of the plans by the spies.
19 tn Or “precisely”; Grk “rightly.” Jesus teaches exactly, the straight and narrow.
20 sn Teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Very few comments are as deceitful as this one; they did not really believe this at all. The question was specifically designed to trap Jesus.
21 tn Or “lawful,” that is, in accordance with God’s divine law. On the syntax of ἔξεστιν (exestin) with an infinitive and accusative, see BDF §409.3.
22 tn This was a “poll tax.” L&N 57.182 states this was “a payment made by the people of one nation to another, with the implication that this is a symbol of submission and dependence – ‘tribute tax.’”
23 tn Or “to the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).
24 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
25 tn Or “craftiness.” The term always has negative connotations in the NT (1 Cor 3:19; 2 Cor 4:2; 11:3; Eph 4:14).
26 tn Here the specific name of the coin was retained in the translation, because not all coins in circulation in Palestine at the time carried the image of Caesar. In other places δηνάριον (dhnarion) has been translated simply as “silver coin” with an explanatory note.
27 tn Or “whose likeness.”
28 tn Grk “whose likeness and inscription does it have?”
29 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate that Jesus’ pronouncement results from the opponents’ answer to his question.
30 sn Jesus’ answer to give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s was a both/and, not the questioners’ either/or. So he slipped out of their trap.
31 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “thus” to indicate the implied result of Jesus’ unexpected answer.
32 tn On this term, see BDAG 374 s.v. ἐπιλαμβάνομαι 3.
33 tn Grk “to trap him in a saying.”
34 tn Or “amazed.”