1 Samuel 2:7-8

2:7 The Lord impoverishes and makes wealthy;

he humbles and he exalts.

2:8 He lifts the weak ¹  from the dust;

he raises ²  the poor from the ash heap

to seat them with princes

and to bestow on them an honored position. ³ 

The foundations of the earth belong to the Lord,

and he has placed the world on them.

Psalms 72:11

72:11 All kings will bow down to him;

all nations will serve him.

Psalms 113:7-8

113:7 He raises the poor from the dirt,

and lifts up the needy from the garbage pile, ⁴ 

113:8 that he might seat him with princes,

with the princes of his people.

Proverbs 8:15

8:15 Kings reign by means of me,

and potentates ⁵  decree ⁶  righteousness;

Jeremiah 27:5-6

27:5 “I made the earth and the people and animals on it by my mighty power and great strength, ⁷  and I give it to whomever I see fit. ⁸  27:6 I have at this time placed all these nations of yours under the power ⁹  of my servant, ¹⁰  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have even made all the wild animals subject to him. ¹¹ 

Daniel 2:37-38

Daniel Interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

2:37 “You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has granted you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor. 2:38 Wherever human beings, ¹²  wild animals, ¹³  and birds of the sky live – he has given them into your power. ¹⁴  He has given you authority over them all. You are the head of gold.

Daniel 4:32

4:32 You will be driven from human society, and you will live with the wild animals. You will be fed grass like oxen, and seven periods of time will pass by for you before ¹⁵  you understand that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms and gives them to whomever he wishes.”

Daniel 5:18-19

5:18 As for you, O king, the most high God bestowed on your father Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom, greatness, honor, and majesty. ¹⁶  5:19 Due to the greatness that he bestowed on him, all peoples, nations, and language groups were trembling with fear ¹⁷  before him. He killed whom he wished, he spared ¹⁸  whom he wished, he exalted whom he wished, and he brought low whom he wished.

Daniel 5:26-28

5:26 This is the interpretation of the words: ¹⁹  As for mene ²⁰  – God has numbered your kingdom’s days and brought it to an end. 5:27 As for teqel – you are weighed on the balances and found to be lacking. 5:28 As for peres ²¹  – your kingdom is divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.”

John 12:31

12:31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world ²²  will be driven out. ²³ 

John 14:30

14:30 I will not speak with you much longer, ²⁴  for the ruler of this world is coming. ²⁵  He has no power over me, ²⁶ 

John 16:11

16:11 and concerning judgment, ²⁷  because ²⁸  the ruler of this world ²⁹  has been condemned. ³⁰ 

Revelation 19:16

19:16 He has a name written on his clothing and on his thigh: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

[2:8]  ¹ tn Or “lowly”; Heb “insignificant.”

[2:8]  ² tn The imperfect verbal form, which is parallel to the participle in the preceding line, is best understood here as indicating what typically happens.

[2:8]  ³ tn Heb “a seat of honor.”

[113:7]  ⁴ sn The language of v. 7 is almost identical to that of 1 Sam 2:8.

[8:15]  ⁵ tn The verb רָזַן (razan) means “to be weighty; to be judicious; to be commanding.” It only occurs in the Qal active participle in the plural as a substantive, meaning “potentates; rulers” (e.g., Ps 1:1-3). Cf. KJV, ASV “princes”; NAB “lawgivers.”

[8:15]  ⁶ sn This verb יְחֹקְקוּ (yÿkhoqqu) is related to the noun חֹק (khoq), which is a “statute; decree.” The verb is defined as “to cut in; to inscribe; to decree” (BDB 349 s.v. חָקַק). The point the verse is making is that when these potentates decree righteousness, it is by wisdom. History records all too often that these rulers acted as fools and opposed righteousness (cf. Ps 2:1-3). But people in power need wisdom to govern the earth (e.g., Isa 11:1-4 which predicts how Messiah will use wisdom to do this very thing). The point is underscored with the paronomasia in v. 15 with “kings” and “will reign” from the same root, and then in v. 16 with both “princes” and “rule” being cognate. The repetition of sounds and meanings strengthens the statements.

[27:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “by my great power and my outstretched arm.” Again “arm” is symbolical for “strength.” Compare the similar expression in 21:5.

[27:5]  ⁸ sn See Dan 4:17 for a similar statement.

[27:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “have given…into the hand of.”

[27:6]  ¹⁰ sn See the study note on 25:9 for the significance of the application of this term to Nebuchadnezzar.

[27:6]  ¹¹ 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.

[2:38]  ¹² tn Aram “the sons of man.”

[2:38]  ¹³ tn Aram “the beasts of the field.”

[2:38]  ¹⁴ tn Aram “hand.”

[4:32]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “until.”

[5:18]  ¹⁶ tn Or “royal greatness and majestic honor,” if the four terms are understood as a double hendiadys.

[5:19]  ¹⁷ tn Aram “were trembling and fearing.” This can be treated as a hendiadys, “were trembling with fear.”

[5:19]  ¹⁸ tn Aram “let live.” This Aramaic form is the aphel participle of חַיָה(khayah, “to live”). Theodotion and the Vulgate mistakenly take the form to be from מְחָא (mÿkha’, “to smite”).

[5:26]  ¹⁹ tn Or “word” or “event.” See HALOT 1915 s.v. מִלָּה.

[5:26]  ²⁰ tn The Aramaic term מְנֵא (mÿne’) is a noun referring to a measure of weight. The linkage here to the verb “to number” (Aram. מְנָה, mÿnah) is a case of paronomasia rather than strict etymology. So also with תְּקֵל (tÿqel) and פַרְסִין (farsin). In the latter case there is an obvious wordplay with the name “Persian.”

[5:28]  ²¹ sn Peres (פְּרֵס) is the singular form of פַרְסִין (pharsin) in v. 25.

[12:31]  ²² sn The ruler of this world is a reference to Satan.

[12:31]  ²³ tn Or “will be thrown out.” This translation regards the future passive ἐκβληθήσεται (ekblhqhsetai) as referring to an event future to the time of speaking.

[14:30]  ²⁴ tn Grk “I will no longer speak many things with you.”

[14:30]  ²⁵ sn The ruler of this world is a reference to Satan.

[14:30]  ²⁶ tn Grk “in me he has nothing.”

[16:11]  ²⁷ sn The world is proven wrong concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. Jesus’ righteousness before the Father, as proven by his return to the Father, his glorification, constitutes a judgment against Satan. This is parallel to the judgment of the world which Jesus provokes in 3:19-21: Jesus’ presence in the world as the Light of the world provokes the judgment of those in the world, because as they respond to the light (either coming to Jesus or rejecting him) so are they judged. That judgment is in a sense already realized. So it is here, where the judgment of Satan is already realized in Jesus’ glorification. This does not mean that Satan does not continue to be active in the world, and to exercise some power over it, just as in 3:19-21 the people in the world who have rejected Jesus and thus incurred judgment continue on in their opposition to Jesus for a time. In both cases the judgment is not immediately executed. But it is certain.

[16:11]  ²⁸ tn Or “that.”

[16:11]  ²⁹ sn The ruler of this world is a reference to Satan.

[16:11]  ³⁰ tn Or “judged.”