1 Kings 22:6

22:6 So the king of Israel assembled about four hundred prophets and asked them, “Should I attack Ramoth Gilead or not?” ¹  They said, “Attack! The sovereign one ²  will hand it over to the king.”

1 Kings 22:8

22:8 The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man through whom we can seek the Lord’s will. ³  But I despise ⁴  him because he does not prophesy prosperity for me, but disaster. His name is Micaiah son of Imlah. ⁵  Jehoshaphat said, “The king should not say such things.”

1 Kings 22:13

22:13 Now the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the prophets are in complete agreement that the king will succeed. ⁶  Your words must agree with theirs; you must predict success.” ⁷ 

Psalms 109:28

109:28 They curse, but you will bless. ⁸ 

When they attack, they will be humiliated, ⁹ 

but your servant will rejoice.

Proverbs 26:2

26:2 Like a fluttering bird or like a flying swallow,

so a curse without cause ¹⁰  does not come to rest. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 47:12-13

47:12 Persist ¹²  in trusting ¹³  your amulets

and your many incantations,

which you have faithfully recited ¹⁴  since your youth!

Maybe you will be successful ¹⁵  –

maybe you will scare away disaster. ¹⁶ 

47:13 You are tired out from listening to so much advice. ¹⁷ 

Let them take their stand –

the ones who see omens in the sky,

who gaze at the stars,

who make monthly predictions –

let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you! ¹⁸ 

Ezekiel 13:6

13:6 They see delusion and their omens are a lie. ¹⁹  They say, “the Lord declares,” though the Lord has not sent them; ²⁰  yet they expect their word to be confirmed. ²¹ 

Acts 8:9-10

8:9 Now in that city was a man named Simon, who had been practicing magic ²²  and amazing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great. 8:10 All the people, ²³  from the least to the greatest, paid close attention to him, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called ‘Great.’” ²⁴ 

Acts 16:16

Paul and Silas Are Thrown Into Prison

16:16 Now ²⁵  as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit that enabled her to foretell the future by supernatural means. ²⁶  She ²⁷  brought her owners ²⁸  a great profit by fortune-telling. ²⁹ 

[22:6]  ¹ tn Heb “Should I go against Ramoth Gilead for war or should I refrain?”

[22:6]  ² tn Though Jehoshaphat requested an oracle from “the Lord” (יְהוָה, Yahweh), they stop short of actually using this name and substitute the title אֲדֹנָי (’adonai, “lord; master”). This ambiguity may explain in part Jehoshaphat’s hesitancy and caution (vv. 7-8). He seems to doubt that the four hundred are genuine prophets of the Lord.

[22:8]  ³ tn Heb “to seek the Lord from him.”

[22:8]  ⁴ tn Or “hate.”

[22:8]  ⁵ tn The words “his name is” are supplied for stylistic reasons.

[22:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “the words of the prophets are [with] one mouth good for the king.”

[22:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “let your words be like the word of each of them and speak good.”

[109:28]  ⁸ tn Another option is to translate the imperfect as a prayer/request (“may you bless”).

[109:28]  ⁹ tn The verbal sequence is perfect + prefixed form with vav (ו) consecutive. Since the psalmist seems to be anticipating the demise of his enemies, he may be using these forms rhetorically to describe the enemies’ defeat as if it were already accomplished. Some emend the text to קָמוּ יֵבֹשׁוּ (qamu yevoshu, “may those who attack me be humiliated”). See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 75.

[26:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “causeless curse” (KJV similar) describes an undeserved curse (cf. NIV, NRSV). The Hebrew word translated “causeless” is the adverb from ָחנַן (khanan); it means “without cause; gratuitous.”

[26:2]  ¹¹ tc The MT has the negative with the verb “to enter; to come” to mean “will not come” (לֹא תָבֹא, lo’ tavo’). This is interpreted to mean “will not come to rest” or “will not come home.” Some commentators have taken the Qere reading of לוֹ (lo) instead, and read it as “will come home to him.” This is also a little difficult; but it gives the idea that an undeserved curse will come [back] to him [who gave it]. Just as a bird will fly around and eventually come home, so will the undeserved curse return on the one who gave it. This is plausible; but there is no referent for the suffix, making it syntactically difficult.

[47:12]  ¹² tn Heb “stand” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “Stand fast.”

[47:12]  ¹³ tn The word “trusting” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See v. 9.

[47:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in that which you have toiled.”

[47:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “maybe you will be able to profit.”

[47:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “maybe you will cause to tremble.” The object “disaster” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See the note at v. 9.

[47:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “you are tired because of the abundance of your advice.”

[47:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “let them stand and rescue you – the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make known by months – from those things which are coming upon you.”

[13:6]  ¹⁹ sn The same description of a false prophet is found in Micah 2:11.

[13:6]  ²⁰ sn The Lord has not sent them. A similar concept is found in Jer 14:14; 23:21.

[13:6]  ²¹ tn Or “confirmed”; NIV “to be fulfilled”; TEV “to come true.”

[8:9]  ²² tn On the idiom προϋπῆρχεν μαγεύων (prouphrcen mageuwn) meaning “had been practicing magic” see BDAG 889 s.v. προϋπάρχω.

[8:10]  ²³ tn Grk “all of them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:10]  ²⁴ tn Or “This man is what is called the Great Power of God.” The translation “what is called the Great Power of God” is given by BDAG 263 s.v. δύναμις 5, but the repetition of the article before καλουμένη μεγάλη (kaloumenh megalh) suggests the translation “the power of God that is called ‘Great.’”

[16:16]  ²⁵ tn Grk “Now it happened that.” 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.

[16:16]  ²⁶ tn Or “who had a spirit of divination”; Grk “who had a spirit of Python.” According to BDAG 896-97 s.v. πύθων, originally Πύθων (Puqwn) was the name of the serpent or dragon that guarded the Delphic oracle. According to Greek mythology, it lived at the foot of Mount Parnassus and was killed by Apollo. From this, the word came to designate a person who was thought to have a spirit of divination. Pagan generals, for example, might consult someone like this. So her presence here suggests a supernatural encounter involving Paul and her “spirit.” W. Foerster, TDNT 6:920, connects the term with ventriloquism but states: “We must assume, however, that for this girl, as for those mentioned by Origen…, the art of ventriloquism was inseparably connected with a (supposed or authentic) gift of soothsaying.” It should also be noted that if the girl in question here were only a ventriloquist, the exorcism performed by Paul in v. 18 would not have been effective.

[16:16]  ²⁷ tn Grk “who.” Because of the awkwardness in English of having two relative clauses follow one another (“who had a spirit…who brought her owners a great profit”) the relative pronoun here (“who”) has been translated as a pronoun (“she”) and a new sentence begun in the translation.

[16:16]  ²⁸ tn Or “masters.”

[16:16]  ²⁹ tn On this term see BDAG 616 s.v. μαντεύομαι. It was used of those who gave oracles.