1 Chronicles 21:15-16

21:15 God sent an angel ¹  to ravage ²  Jerusalem. As he was doing so, ³  the Lord watched ⁴  and relented from ⁵  his judgment. ⁶  He told the angel who was destroying, “That’s enough! ⁷  Stop now!” ⁸ 

Now the Lord’s angel was standing near the threshing floor of Ornan ⁹  the Jebusite. 21:16 David looked up and saw the Lord’s messenger standing between the earth and sky with his sword drawn and in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. David and the leaders, covered with sackcloth, threw themselves down with their faces to the ground. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 95:3

95:3 For the Lord is a great God,

a great king who is superior to ¹¹  all gods.

Isaiah 37:36

37:36 The Lord’s messenger ¹²  went out and killed 185,000 troops ¹³  in the Assyrian camp. When they ¹⁴  got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses! ¹⁵ 

Matthew 13:41-42

13:41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom everything that causes sin as well as all lawbreakers. ¹⁶  13:42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, ¹⁷  where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Acts 12:7-10

12:7 Suddenly ¹⁸  an angel of the Lord ¹⁹  appeared, and a light shone in the prison cell. He struck ²⁰  Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly!” And the chains fell off Peter’s ²¹  wrists. ²²  12:8 The angel said to him, “Fasten your belt ²³  and put on your sandals.” Peter ²⁴  did so. Then the angel ²⁵  said to him, “Put on your cloak ²⁶  and follow me.” 12:9 Peter ²⁷  went out ²⁸  and followed him; ²⁹  he did not realize that what was happening through the angel was real, ³⁰  but thought he was seeing a vision. 12:10 After they had passed the first and second guards, ³¹  they came to the iron ³²  gate leading into the city. It ³³  opened for them by itself, ³⁴  and they went outside and walked down one narrow street, ³⁵  when at once the angel left him.

Acts 12:23

12:23 Immediately an angel of the Lord ³⁶  struck ³⁷  Herod ³⁸  down because he did not give the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died. ³⁹ 

[21:15]  ¹ tn The parallel text of 2 Sam 24:15 reports that God sent a plague, while 24:16-17 attributes this to the instrumentality of an angel.

[21:15]  ² tn Or “destroy.”

[21:15]  ³ tn Heb “while he was destroying.”

[21:15]  ⁴ tn Or “saw.”

[21:15]  ⁵ tn Or “was grieved because of.”

[21:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “concerning the calamity.”

[21:15]  ⁷ tn For this nuance of the Hebrew word רַב (rav), see BDB 913 s.v. 1.f.

[21:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “Now, drop your hand.”

[21:15]  ⁹ tn In the parallel text in 2 Sam 24:16 this individual is called אֲרַוְנָא (’aravna’, “Aravna”), traditionally “Araunah.” The form of the name found here also occurs in vv. 18-28.

[21:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces.”

[95:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “above.”

[37:36]  ¹² tn Traditionally, “the angel of the Lord” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[37:36]  ¹³ tn The word “troops” is supplied in the translation for smoothness and clarity.

[37:36]  ¹⁴ tn This refers to the Israelites and/or the rest of the Assyrian army.

[37:36]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “look, all of them were dead bodies”; NLT “they found corpses everywhere.”

[13:41]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “the ones who practice lawlessness.”

[13:42]  ¹⁷ sn A quotation from Dan 3:6.

[12:7]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “And behold.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here. The interjection ἰδού (idou), often difficult to translate into English, expresses the suddenness of the angel’s appearance.

[12:7]  ¹⁹ tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 5:19.

[12:7]  ²⁰ tn Grk “striking the side of Peter, he awoke him saying.” The term refers to a push or a light tap (BDAG 786 s.v. πατάσσω 1.a). The participle πατάξας (pataxa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[12:7]  ²¹ tn Grk “his”; the referent (Peter) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:7]  ²² tn Grk “the hands,” but the wrist was considered a part of the hand.

[12:8]  ²³ tn While ζώννυμι (zwnnumi) sometimes means “to dress,” referring to the fastening of the belt or sash as the final act of getting dressed, in this context it probably does mean “put on your belt” since in the conditions of a prison Peter had probably not changed into a different set of clothes to sleep. More likely he had merely removed his belt or sash, which the angel now told him to replace. The translation “put on your belt” is given by L&N 49.14 for this verse. The archaic English “girdle” for the sash or belt has an entirely different meaning today.

[12:8]  ²⁴ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Peter) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:8]  ²⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:8]  ²⁶ tn Or “outer garment.”

[12:9]  ²⁷ tn Grk “And going out he followed.”

[12:9]  ²⁸ tn Grk “Peter going out followed him.” The participle ἐξελθών (exelqwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[12:9]  ²⁹ tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[12:9]  ³⁰ tn Grk “what was done through the angel was a reality” (see BDAG 43 s.v. ἀληθής 3).

[12:10]  ³¹ tn Or perhaps, “guard posts.”

[12:10]  ³² sn The iron gate shows how important security was here. This door was more secure than one made of wood (which would be usual).

[12:10]  ³³ tn Grk “which.” The relative pronoun (“which”) was replaced by the pronoun “it,” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek.

[12:10]  ³⁴ tn The Greek term here, αὐτομάτη (automath), indicates something that happens without visible cause (BDAG 152 s.v. αὐτόματος).

[12:10]  ³⁵ tn Or “lane,” “alley” (BDAG 907 s.v. ῥύμη).

[12:23]  ³⁶ tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 5:19.

[12:23]  ³⁷ sn On being struck…down by an angel, see Acts 23:3; 1 Sam 25:28; 2 Sam 12:15; 2 Kgs 19:35; 2 Chr 13:20; 2 Macc 9:5.

[12:23]  ³⁸ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:23]  ³⁹ sn He was eaten by worms and died. Josephus, Ant. 19.8.2 (19.343-352), states that Herod Agrippa I died at Caesarea in a.d. 44. The account by Josephus, while not identical to Luke’s account, is similar in many respects: On the second day of a festival, Herod Agrippa appeared in the theater with a robe made of silver. When it sparkled in the sun, the people cried out flatteries and declared him to be a god. The king, carried away by the flattery, saw an owl (an omen of death) sitting on a nearby rope, and immediately was struck with severe stomach pains. He was carried off to his house and died five days later. The two accounts can be reconciled without difficulty, since while Luke states that Herod was immediately struck down by an angel, his death could have come several days later. The mention of worms with death adds a humiliating note to the scene. The formerly powerful ruler had been thoroughly reduced to nothing (cf. Jdt 16:17; 2 Macc 9:9; cf. also Josephus, Ant. 17.6.5 [17.168-170], which details the sickness which led to Herod the Great’s death).