1 Kings 4:24

4:24 His royal court was so large because ¹  he ruled over all the kingdoms west of the Euphrates River from Tiphsah ²  to Gaza; he was at peace with all his neighbors. ³ 

Ezra 7:12

7:12 ⁴ “Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the perfect law of the God of heaven:

Isaiah 10:8

10:8 Indeed, ⁵  he says:

“Are not my officials all kings?

Isaiah 47:5

47:5 “Sit silently! Go to a hiding place, ⁶ 

O daughter of the Babylonians!

Indeed, ⁷  you will no longer be called ‘Queen of kingdoms.’

Jeremiah 27:6-7

27:6 I have at this time placed all these nations of yours under the power ⁸  of my servant, ⁹  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have even made all the wild animals subject to him. ¹⁰  27:7 All nations must serve him and his son and grandson ¹¹  until the time comes for his own nation to fall. ¹²  Then many nations and great kings will in turn subjugate Babylon. ¹³ 

Ezekiel 26:7

26:7 “For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Take note that ¹⁴  I am about to bring King Nebuchadrezzar ¹⁵  of Babylon, king of kings, against Tyre from the north, with horses, chariots, and horsemen, an army and hordes of people.

Hosea 8:10

8:10 Even though they have hired lovers among the nations, ¹⁶ 

I will soon gather them together for judgment. ¹⁷ 

Then ¹⁸  they will begin to waste away

under the oppression of a mighty king. ¹⁹ 

Revelation 1:5

1:5 and from Jesus Christ – the faithful ²⁰  witness, ²¹  the firstborn from among the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and has set us free ²²  from our sins at the cost of ²³  his own blood

Revelation 17:14

17:14 They will make war with the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those accompanying ²⁴  the Lamb are the called, chosen, and faithful.”

[4:24]  ¹ tn Heb “because.” The words “his royal court was so large” are added to facilitate the logical connection with the preceding verse.

[4:24]  ² sn Tiphsah. This was located on the Euphrates River.

[4:24]  ³ tn Heb “for he was ruling over all [the region] beyond the River, from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kingdoms beyond the River, and he had peace on every side all around.”

[7:12]  ⁴ sn Ezra 7:12-26 is written in Aramaic rather than Hebrew.

[10:8]  ⁵ tn Or “For” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[47:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “darkness,” which may indicate a place of hiding where a fugitive would seek shelter and protection.

[47:5]  ⁷ tn Or “For” (NASB, NRSV).

[27:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “have given…into the hand of.”

[27:6]  ⁹ sn See the study note on 25:9 for the significance of the application of this term to Nebuchadnezzar.

[27:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I have given…to him to serve him.” The verb “give” in this syntactical situation is functioning like the Hiphil stem, i.e., as a causative. See Dan 1:9 for parallel usage. For the usage of “serve” meaning “be subject to” compare 2 Sam 22:44 and BDB 713 s.v. עָבַד 3.

[27:7]  ¹¹ sn This is a figure that emphasizes that they will serve for a long time but not for an unlimited duration. The kingdom of Babylon lasted a relatively short time by ancient standards. It lasted from 605 b.c. when Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho at Carchemish until the fall of Babylon in 538 b.c. There were only four rulers. Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son, Evil Merodach (cf. 52:31), and two other rulers who were not descended from him.

[27:7]  ¹² tn Heb “until the time of his land, even his, comes.” The independent pronoun is placed here for emphasis on the possessive pronoun. The word “time” is used by substitution for the things that are done in it (compare in the NT John 2:4; 7:30; 8:20 “his hour had not yet come”).

[27:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “him.” This is a good example of the figure of substitution where the person is put for his descendants or the nation or subject he rules. (See Gen 28:13-14 for another good example and Acts 22:7 in the NT.)

[26:7]  ¹⁴ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something.

[26:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Nebuchadrezzar” is a variant and more correct spelling of Nebuchadnezzar, as the Babylonian name Nabu-kudurri-usur has an an “r” rather than an “n.”

[8:10]  ¹⁶ tn Or “they have hired themselves out to lovers”; cf. NASB “they hire allies among the nations.”

[8:10]  ¹⁷ tn The Piel stem of קָבַץ (qavats) is often used in a positive sense, meaning “to regather” a dispersed people (HALOT 1063 s.v. קבץ 3.a; BDB 868 s.v. קָבַץ 1.α). However, in Hosea 8:10 it is used in a negative sense, meaning “to assemble (people) for judgment” (e.g., Ezek 20:34; Hos 9:6; HALOT 1063 s.v. 3.e.i). Cf. JPS “I will hold them fast” (in judgment, see the parallel in 9:6).

[8:10]  ¹⁸ tn The vav consecutive + preterite וַיָּחֵלּוּ (vayyakhellu, Hiphil preterite 3rd person common plural from חָלַל, khalal, “to begin”]) denotes temporal subordination to the preceding clause: “then…” (so NLT); cf. TEV, CEV “Soon.”

[8:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “a king of princes” (cf. KJV, NASB); TEV “the emperor of Assyria.”

[1:5]  ²⁰ tn Or “Jesus Christ – the faithful one, the witness…” Some take ὁ πιστός (Jo pistos) as a second substantive in relation to ὁ μάρτυς (Jo martus). In the present translation, however, ὁ πιστός was taken as an adjective in attributive position to ὁ μάρτυς. The idea of martyrdom and faithfulness are intimately connected. See BDAG 820 s.v. πιστός 1.a.α: “ὁ μάρτυς μου ὁ πιστός μου Rv 2:13 (μάρτυς 3); in this ‘book of martyrs’ Christ is ὁ μάρτυς ὁ πιστὸς (καὶ ὁ ἀληθινός) 1:5; 3:14; cp. 19:11 (the combination of ἀληθινός and πιστός in the last two passages is like 3 Macc 2:11). Cp. Rv 17:14.”

[1:5]  ²¹ sn The Greek term translated witness can mean both “witness” and “martyr.”

[1:5]  ²² tc The reading “set free” (λύσαντι, lusanti) has better ms support (̹⁸ א A C 1611 2050 2329 2351 Ï^A sy) than its rival, λούσαντι (lousanti, “washed”; found in P 1006 1841 1854 2053 2062 Ï^K lat bo). Internally, it seems that the reading “washed” could have arisen in at least one of three ways: (1) as an error of hearing (both “released” and “washed” are pronounced similarly in Greek); (2) an error of sight (both “released” and “washed” look very similar – a difference of only one letter – which could have resulted in a simple error during the copying of a ms); (3) through scribal inability to appreciate that the Hebrew preposition ב can be used with a noun to indicate the price paid for something. Since the author of Revelation is influenced significantly by a Semitic form of Greek (e.g., 13:10), and since the Hebrew preposition “in” (ב) can indicate the price paid for something, and is often translated with the preposition “in” (ἐν, en) in the LXX, the author may have tried to communicate by the use of ἐν the idea of a price paid for something. That is, John was trying to say that Christ delivered us at the price of his own blood. This whole process, however, may have been lost on a later scribe, who being unfamiliar with Hebrew, found the expression “delivered in his blood” too difficult, and noticing the obvious similarities between λύσαντι and λούσαντι, assumed an error and then proceeded to change the text to “washed in his blood” – a thought more tolerable in his mind. Both readings, of course, are true to scripture; the current question is what the author wrote in this verse.

[1:5]  ²³ tn The style here is somewhat Semitic, with the use of the ἐν (en) + the dative to mean “at the price of.” The addition of “own” in the English is stylistic and is an attempt to bring out the personal nature of the statement and the sacrificial aspect of Jesus’ death – a frequent refrain in the Apocalypse.

[17:14]  ²⁴ tn See BDAG 636 s.v. μετά A.2.a.α.