Acts 4:28

4:28 to do as much as your power ¹  and your plan ²  had decided beforehand ³  would happen.

Esther 3:6-7

3:6 But the thought of striking out against ⁴  Mordecai alone was repugnant to him, for he had been informed ⁵  of the identity of Mordecai’s people. ⁶  So Haman sought to destroy all the Jews (that is, the people of Mordecai) ⁷  who were in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

3:7 In the first month (that is, the month of Nisan), in the twelfth year ⁸  of King Ahasuerus’ reign, pur ⁹  (that is, the lot) was cast before Haman in order to determine a day and a month. ¹⁰  It turned out to be the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar). ¹¹ 

Esther 3:13

3:13 Letters were sent by the runners to all the king’s provinces stating that ¹²  they should destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews, from youth to elderly, both women and children, ¹³  on a particular day, namely the thirteenth day ¹⁴  of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar), and to loot and plunder their possessions.

Proverbs 19:21

19:21 There are many plans ¹⁵  in a person’s mind, ¹⁶ 

but it ¹⁷  is the counsel ¹⁸  of the Lord which will stand.

Proverbs 27:1

27:1 Do not boast ¹⁹  about tomorrow; ²⁰ 

for you do not know ²¹  what a day may bring forth.

Lamentations 3:37

מ (Mem)

3:37 Whose command was ever fulfilled ²² 

unless the Lord ²³  decreed it?

Matthew 26:5

26:5 But they said, “Not during the feast, so that there won’t be a riot among the people.” ²⁴ 

[4:28]  ¹ tn Grk “hand,” here a metaphor for God’s strength or power or authority.

[4:28]  ² tn Or “purpose,” “will.”

[4:28]  ³ tn Or “had predestined.” Since the term “predestine” is something of a technical theological term, not in wide usage in contemporary English, the translation “decide beforehand” was used instead (see L&N 30.84). God’s direction remains as the major theme.

[3:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “to send a hand against”; KJV, NRSV “to lay hands on.”

[3:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “they had related to him.” For stylistic reasons this has been translated as a passive construction.

[3:6]  ⁶ tc The entire first half of the verse is not included in the LXX.

[3:6]  ⁷ tc This parenthetical phrase is not included in the LXX. Some scholars emend the MT reading עַם (’am, “people”) to עִם (’im, “with”), arguing that the phrase is awkwardly placed and syntactically inappropriate. While there is some truth to their complaint, the MT makes sufficient sense to be acceptable here, and is followed by most English versions.

[3:7]  ⁸ sn This year would be ca. 474 b.c. The reference to first month and twelfth month indicate that about a year had elapsed between this determination and the anticipated execution.

[3:7]  ⁹ tn The term פּוּר (pur, “lot”) is an Akkadian loanword; the narrator therefore explains it for his Hebrew readers (“that is, the lot”). It is from the plural form of this word (i.e., Purim) that the festival celebrating the deliverance of the Jews takes its name (cf. 9:24, 26, 28, 31).

[3:7]  ¹⁰ tc The LXX adds the following words: “in order to destroy in one day the race of Mordecai, and the lot fell on the fourteenth day of the month.” The LXX reading is included by NAB.

[3:7]  ¹¹ tn Since v. 7 seems to interrupt the flow of the narrative, many scholars have suggested that it is a late addition to the text. But there is not enough evidence to warrant such a conclusion. Even though its placement is somewhat awkward, the verse supplies to the reader an important piece of chronological information.

[3:13]  ¹² tn The words “stating that” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[3:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “children and women.” The translation follows contemporary English idiom, which reverses the order.

[3:13]  ¹⁴ tc The LXX does not include the words “on the thirteenth day.”

[19:21]  ¹⁵ sn The plans (from the Hebrew verb חָשַׁב [khashav], “to think; to reckon; to devise”) in the human heart are many. But only those which God approves will succeed.

[19:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in the heart of a man” (cf. NAB, NIV). Here “heart” is used for the seat of thoughts, plans, and reasoning, so the translation uses “mind.” In contemporary English “heart” is more often associated with the seat of emotion than with the seat of planning and reasoning.

[19:21]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “but the counsel of the Lord, it will stand.” The construction draws attention to the “counsel of the Lord”; it is an independent nominative absolute, and the resumptive independent pronoun is the formal subject of the verb.

[19:21]  ¹⁸ tn The antithetical parallelism pairs “counsel” with “plans.” “Counsel of the Lord” (עֲצַת יְהוָה, ’atsat yehvah) is literally “advice” or “counsel” with the connotation of “plan” in this context (cf. NIV, NRSV, NLT “purpose”; NCV “plan”; TEV “the Lord’s will”).

[27:1]  ¹⁹ tn The form אַל־תִּתְהַלֵּל (’al-tithallel) is the Hitpael jussive negated; it is from the common verb “to praise,” and so in this setting means “to praise oneself” or “to boast.”

[27:1]  ²⁰ sn The word “tomorrow” is a metonymy of subject, meaning what will be done tomorrow, or in the future in general.

[27:1]  ²¹ sn The expression “you do not know” balances the presumption of the first line, reminding the disciple of his ignorance and therefore his need for humility (e.g., Matt 6:34; Luke 12:20; Jas 4:13-16).

[3:37]  ²² tn Heb “Who is this, he spoke and it came to pass?” The general sense is to ask whose commands are fulfilled. The phrase “he spoke and it came to pass” is taken as an allusion to the creation account (see Gen 1:3).

[3:37]  ²³ tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”). See the tc note at 1:14.

[26:5]  ²⁴ sn The suggestion here is that Jesus was too popular to openly arrest him.