1 Samuel 28:15-16

28:15 Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Saul replied, “I am terribly troubled! The Philistines are fighting against me and God has turned away from me. He does not answer me – not by the prophets nor by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what I should do.”

28:16 Samuel said, “Why are you asking me, now that the Lord has turned away from you and has become your enemy?

Isaiah 41:11-12

41:11 Look, all who were angry at you will be ashamed and humiliated;

your adversaries ¹  will be reduced to nothing ²  and perish.

41:12 When you will look for your opponents, ³  you will not find them;

your enemies ⁴  will be reduced to absolutely nothing.

Isaiah 54:16-17

54:16 Look, I create the craftsman,

who fans the coals into a fire

and forges a weapon. ⁵ 

I create the destroyer so he might devastate.

54:17 No weapon forged to be used against you will succeed;

you will refute everyone who tries to accuse you. ⁶ 

This is what the Lord will do for his servants –

I will vindicate them,” ⁷ 

says the Lord.

Romans 8:35-37

8:35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ⁸  8:36 As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” ⁹  8:37 No, in all these things we have complete victory ¹⁰  through him ¹¹  who loved us!

Revelation 2:10

2:10 Do not be afraid of the things you are about to suffer. The devil is about to have some of you thrown ¹²  into prison so you may be tested, ¹³  and you will experience suffering ¹⁴  for ten days. Remain faithful even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown that is life itself. ¹⁵ 

Revelation 12:7-11

War in Heaven

12:7 Then ¹⁶  war broke out in heaven: Michael ¹⁷  and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 12:8 But ¹⁸  the dragon was not strong enough to prevail, ¹⁹  so there was no longer any place left ²⁰  in heaven for him and his angels. ²¹  12:9 So ²²  that huge dragon – the ancient serpent, the one called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world – was thrown down to the earth, and his angels along with him. 12:10 Then ²³  I heard a loud voice in heaven saying,

“The salvation and the power

and the kingdom of our God,

and the ruling authority ²⁴  of his Christ, ²⁵  have now come,

because the accuser of our brothers and sisters, ²⁶ 

the one who accuses them day and night ²⁷  before our God,

has been thrown down.

12:11 But ²⁸  they overcame him

by the blood of the Lamb

and by the word of their testimony,

and they did not love their lives ²⁹  so much that they were afraid to die.

[41:11]  ¹ tn Heb “the men of your strife”; NASB “those who contend with you.”

[41:11]  ² tn Heb “like nothing”; NAB “come to nought.”

[41:12]  ³ tn Heb “the men of your struggle”; NASB “those who quarrel with you.”

[41:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “the men of your battle”; NAB “who do battle with you.”

[54:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “who brings out an implement for his work.”

[54:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “and every tongue that rises up for judgment with you will prove to be guilty.”

[54:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “this is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication from me.”

[8:35]  ⁸ tn Here “sword” is a metonymy that includes both threats of violence and acts of violence, even including death (although death is not necessarily the only thing in view here).

[8:36]  ⁹ sn A quotation from Ps 44:22.

[8:37]  ¹⁰ tn BDAG 1034 s.v. ὑπερνικάω states, “as a heightened form of νικᾶν prevail completely ὑπερνικῶμεν we are winning a most glorious victory Ro 8:37.”

[8:37]  ¹¹ tn Here the referent could be either God or Christ, but in v. 39 it is God’s love that is mentioned.

[2:10]  ¹² tn Grk “is about to throw some of you,” but the force is causative in context.

[2:10]  ¹³ tn Or “tempted.”

[2:10]  ¹⁴ tn Or “experience persecution,” “will be in distress” (see L&N 22.2).

[2:10]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “crown of life,” with the genitive “of life” (τῆς ζωῆς, th" zwh") functioning in apposition to “crown” (στέφανον, stefanon): “the crown that consists of life.”

[12:7]  ¹⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[12:7]  ¹⁷ sn The archangel Michael had a special role in protecting the nation of Israel in the OT (Dan 10:13, 21; 12:1; see also Jude 9).

[12:8]  ¹⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the implied contrast.

[12:8]  ¹⁹ tn The words “to prevail” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[12:8]  ²⁰ tn Grk “found.”

[12:8]  ²¹ tn Grk “for them”; the referent (the dragon and his angels, v. 7) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:9]  ²² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the war in heaven.

[12:10]  ²³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[12:10]  ²⁴ tn Or “the right of his Messiah to rule.” See L&N 37.35.

[12:10]  ²⁵ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[12:10]  ²⁶ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited). The translation “fellow believer” would normally apply (L&N 11.23), but since the speaker(s) are not specified in this context, it is not clear if such a translation would be appropriate here. The more generic “brothers and sisters” was chosen to emphasize the fact of a relationship without specifying its type.

[12:10]  ²⁷ tn Or “who accuses them continually.”

[12:11]  ²⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast.

[12:11]  ²⁹ sn They did not love their lives. See Matt 16:25; Luke 17:33; John 12:25.