1 Kings 12:28

12:28 After the king had consulted with his advisers, ¹  he made two golden calves. Then he said to the people, ²  “It is too much trouble for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look, Israel, here are your gods who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”

Jeremiah 10:5

10:5 Such idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field.

They cannot talk.

They must be carried

because they cannot walk.

Do not be afraid of them

because they cannot hurt you.

And they do not have any power to help you.” ³ 

Daniel 3:1

Daniel’s Friends Are Tested

3:1 ⁴ King Nebuchadnezzar had a golden ⁵  statue made. ⁶  It was ninety feet ⁷  tall and nine feet ⁸  wide. He erected it on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.

Daniel 3:14

3:14 Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you don’t serve my gods and that you don’t pay homage to the golden statue that I erected?

Habakkuk 2:18

2:18 What good ⁹  is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? ¹⁰ 

What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? ¹¹ 

Why would its creator place his trust in it ¹² 

and make ¹³  such mute, worthless things?

Acts 19:26

19:26 And you see and hear that this Paul has persuaded ¹⁴  and turned away ¹⁵  a large crowd, ¹⁶  not only in Ephesus ¹⁷  but in practically all of the province of Asia, ¹⁸  by saying ¹⁹  that gods made by hands are not gods at all. ²⁰ 

Acts 19:1

Disciples of John the Baptist at Ephesus

19:1 While ²¹  Apollos was in Corinth, ²²  Paul went through the inland ²³  regions ²⁴  and came to Ephesus. ²⁵  He ²⁶  found some disciples there ²⁷ 

Colossians 1:4

1:4 since ²⁸  we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints.

[12:28]  ¹ tn The words “with his advisers” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[12:28]  ² tn Heb “to them,” although this may be a corruption of “to the people.” Cf. the Old Greek translation.

[10:5]  ³ tn Heb “And it is not in them to do good either.”

[3:1]  ⁴ sn The LXX introduces this chapter with the following chronological note: “in the eighteenth year of.” Such a date would place these events at about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. (cf. 2 Kgs 25:8). However, there seems to be no real basis for associating the events of Daniel 3 with this date.

[3:1]  ⁵ sn There is no need to think of Nebuchadnezzar’s image as being solid gold. No doubt the sense is that it was overlaid with gold (cf. Isa 40:19; Jer 10:3-4), with the result that it presented a dazzling self-compliment to the greatness of Nebuchadnezzar’s achievements.

[3:1]  ⁶ sn According to a number of patristic authors, the image represented a deification of Nebuchadnezzar himself. This is not clear from the biblical text, however.

[3:1]  ⁷ tn Aram “sixty cubits.” Assuming a length of 18 inches for the standard cubit, the image would be 90 feet (27.4 m) high.

[3:1]  ⁸ tn Aram “six cubits.” Assuming a length of 18 inches for the standard cubit, the image would be 9 feet (2.74 m) wide.

[2:18]  ⁹ tn Or “of what value.”

[2:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “so that the one who forms it fashions it?” Here כִּי (ki) is taken as resultative after the rhetorical question. For other examples of this use, see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §450.

[2:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “or a metal image, a teacher of lies.” The words “What good is” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line. “Teacher of lies” refers to the false oracles that the so-called god would deliver through a priest. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 126.

[2:18]  ¹² tn Heb “so that the one who forms his image trusts in it?” As earlier in the verse, כִּי (ki) is resultative.

[2:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “to make.”

[19:26]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “persuading.” The participle πείσας (peisa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[19:26]  ¹⁵ tn Or “misled.”

[19:26]  ¹⁶ tn BDAG 472 s.v. ἱκανός 3.a has “of pers. ὄχλος a large crowd…Ac 11:24, 26; 19:26.”

[19:26]  ¹⁷ map For location see JP1 D2; JP2 D2; JP3 D2; JP4 D2.

[19:26]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “Asia”; see the note on this word in v. 22.

[19:26]  ¹⁹ tn The participle λέγων (legwn) has been regarded as indicating instrumentality.

[19:26]  ²⁰ tn The words “at all” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

[19:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “It happened that while.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[19:1]  ²² map For location see JP1 C2; JP2 C2; JP3 C2; JP4 C2.

[19:1]  ²³ tn Or “interior.”

[19:1]  ²⁴ tn BDAG 92 s.v. ἀνωτερικός has “upper τὰ ἀ. μέρη the upper (i.e. inland) country, the interior Ac 19:1.”

[19:1]  ²⁵ map For location see JP1 D2; JP2 D2; JP3 D2; JP4 D2.

[19:1]  ²⁶ tn Grk “and found.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the sequencing with the following verse the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.

[19:1]  ²⁷ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text but is implied.

[1:4]  ²⁸ tn The adverbial participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") is understood to be temporal and translated with “since.” A causal idea may also be in the apostle’s mind, but the context emphasizes temporal ideas, e.g., “from the day” (v. 6).