1 Kings 10:9

10:9 May the Lord your God be praised because he favored ¹  you by placing you on the throne of Israel! Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he made you king so you could make just and right decisions.” ² 

1 Kings 10:2

10:2 She arrived in Jerusalem ³  with a great display of pomp, ⁴  bringing with her camels carrying spices, ⁵  a very large quantity of gold, and precious gems. She visited Solomon and discussed with him everything that was on her mind.

1 Kings 2:11

2:11 David reigned over Israel forty years; he reigned in Hebron seven years, and in Jerusalem ⁶  thirty-three years.

Esther 4:14

4:14 “Don’t imagine that because you are part of the king’s household you will be the one Jew ⁷  who will escape. If you keep quiet at this time, liberation and protection for the Jews will appear ⁸  from another source, ⁹  while you and your father’s household perish. It may very well be ¹⁰  that you have achieved royal status ¹¹  for such a time as this!”

Isaiah 1:25-27

1:25 I will attack you; ¹² 

I will purify your metal with flux. ¹³ 

I will remove all your slag. ¹⁴ 

1:26 I will reestablish honest judges as in former times,

wise advisers as in earlier days. ¹⁵ 

Then you will be called, ‘The Just City,

Faithful Town.’”

1:27 ¹⁶ Zion will be freed by justice, ¹⁷ 

and her returnees by righteousness. ¹⁸ 

Daniel 2:30

2:30 As for me, this mystery was revealed to me not because I possess more wisdom ¹⁹  than any other living person, but so that the king may understand ²⁰  the interpretation and comprehend the thoughts of your mind. ²¹ 

[10:9]  ¹ tn Or “delighted in.”

[10:9]  ² tn Heb “to do justice and righteousness.”

[10:2]  ³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[10:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “with very great strength.” The Hebrew term חַיִל (khayil, “strength”) may refer here to the size of her retinue (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) or to the great wealth she brought with her.

[10:2]  ⁵ tn Or “balsam oil.”

[2:11]  ⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[4:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “from all the Jews”; KJV “more than all the Jews”; NIV “you alone of all the Jews.”

[4:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “stand”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NLT “arise.”

[4:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “place” (so KJV, NIV, NLT); NRSV “from another quarter.” This is probably an oblique reference to help coming from God. D. J. A. Clines disagrees; in his view a contrast between deliverance by Esther and deliverance by God is inappropriate (Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther [NCBC], 302). But Clines’ suggestion that perhaps the reference is to deliverance by Jewish officials or by armed Jewish revolt is less attractive than seeing this veiled reference as part of the literary strategy of the book, which deliberately keeps God’s providential dealings entirely in the background.

[4:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “And who knows whether” (so NASB). The question is one of hope, but free of presumption. Cf. Jonah 3:9.

[4:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “have come to the kingdom”; NRSV “to royal dignity”; NIV “to royal position”; NLT “have been elevated to the palace.”

[1:25]  ¹² tn Heb “turn my hand against you.” The second person pronouns in vv. 25-26 are feminine singular. Personified Jerusalem is addressed. The idiom “turn the hand against” has the nuance of “strike with the hand, attack,” in Ps 81:15 HT (81:14 ET); Ezek 38:12; Am 1:8; Zech 13:7. In Jer 6:9 it is used of gleaning grapes.

[1:25]  ¹³ tn Heb “I will purify your dross as [with] flux.” “Flux” refers here to minerals added to the metals in a furnace to prevent oxides from forming. For this interpretation of II בֹּר (bor), see HALOT 153 s.v. II בֹּר and 750 s.v. סִיג.

[1:25]  ¹⁴ sn The metaphor comes from metallurgy; slag is the substance left over after the metallic ore has been refined.

[1:26]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I will restore your judges as in the beginning; and your counselors as in the beginning.” In this context, where social injustice and legal corruption are denounced (see v. 23), the “judges” are probably government officials responsible for making legal decisions, while the “advisers” are probably officials who helped the king establish policies. Both offices are also mentioned in 3:2.

[1:27]  ¹⁶ sn The third person reference to the Lord in v. 28 indicates that the prophet is again (see vv. 21-24a) speaking. Since v. 27 is connected to v. 28 by a conjunction, it is likely that the prophet’s words begin with v. 27.

[1:27]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Zion will be ransomed with justice.” Both cola in this verse end with similar terms: justice and righteousness (and both are preceded by a בְּ [bet] preposition). At issue is whether these virtues describe the means or result of the deliverance and whether they delineate God’s justice/righteousness or that of the covenant people. If the righteousness of Israelite returnees is in view, the point seems to be that the reestablishment of Zion as a center of justice (God’s people living in conformity with God’s demand for equity and justice) will deliver the city from its past humiliation and restore it to a place of prominence (see 2:2-4; cf. E. Kissane, Isaiah, 1:19). Most scholars conclude that “righteousness and “justice” refers to God alone (J. Ridderbos, Isaiah [BSC], 50; J. Watts, Isaiah [WBC], 1:25; E. J. Young, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:89; cf. NLT, TEV) or serves as a double reference to both divine and human justice and righteousness (J. A. Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah, 51; J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:10; H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:72). If it refers to both sides of the coin, these terms highlight the objective divine work of redemption and the subjective human response of penitence (Motyer, 51).

[1:27]  ¹⁸ tc The Hebrew text has, “her repentant ones/returnees with righteousness.” The form שָׁבֶיהָ (shaveha, “her repentant ones”), as pointed in MT, is a masculine plural Qal participle from שׁוּב (shuv, “return”). Used substantivally, it refers to the “returning (i.e., repentant) ones.” It is possible that the parallel line (with its allusion to being freed by a ransom payment) suggests that the form be repointed to שִׁבְיָהּ (shivyah, “her captivity”), a reading that has support from the LXX. Some slightly emend the form to read וְשָׁבָה (vÿshavah, “and will return”). According to this view, the verb from the first line applies to the second line as well with the following translation as a result: “she will be released when fairness is restored.” Regardless, it makes best sense in the context to regard this as a reference to repentant Israelites returning to the land of promise. This understanding provides a better contrast with the rebels and sinners in 1:28.

[2:30]  ¹⁹ tn Aram “not for any wisdom which is in me more than [in] any living man.”

[2:30]  ²⁰ tn Aram “they might cause the king to know.” The impersonal plural is used here to refer to the role of God’s spirit in revealing the dream and its interpretation to the king. As J. A. Montgomery says, “it appropriately here veils the mysterious agency” (Daniel [ICC], 164-65).

[2:30]  ²¹ tn Aram “heart.”