Daniel 4:17

4:17 This announcement is by the decree of the sentinels;

this decision is by the pronouncement of the holy ones,

so that ¹  those who are alive may understand

that the Most High has authority over human kingdoms, ² 

and he bestows them on whomever he wishes.

He establishes over them even the lowliest of human beings.’

Daniel 4:25

4:25 You will be driven ³  from human society, ⁴  and you will live ⁵  with the wild animals. You will be fed ⁶  grass like oxen, ⁷  and you will become damp with the dew of the sky. Seven periods of time will pass by for you, before ⁸  you understand that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms and gives them to whomever he wishes.

Exodus 8:10

8:10 He said, “Tomorrow.” And Moses said, ⁹  “It will be ¹⁰  as you say, ¹¹  so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God.

Exodus 9:14

9:14 For this time I will send all my plagues ¹²  on your very self ¹³  and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.

Exodus 9:29

9:29 Moses said to him, “When I leave the city ¹⁴  I will spread my hands to the Lord, the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth belongs to the Lord. ¹⁵ 

Joshua 4:24

4:24 He has done this so ¹⁶  all the nations ¹⁷  of the earth might recognize the Lord’s power ¹⁸  and so you might always obey ¹⁹  the Lord your God.”

Job 12:18-21

12:18 He loosens ²⁰  the bonds ²¹  of kings

and binds a loincloth ²²  around their waist.

12:19 He leads priests away stripped ²³ 

and overthrows ²⁴  the potentates. ²⁵ 

12:20 He deprives the trusted advisers ²⁶  of speech ²⁷ 

and takes away the discernment ²⁸  of elders.

12:21 He pours contempt on noblemen

and disarms ²⁹  the powerful. ³⁰ 

Proverbs 8:15-16

8:15 Kings reign by means of me,

and potentates ³¹  decree ³²  righteousness;

8:16 by me princes rule,

as well as nobles and ³³  all righteous judges. ³⁴ 

Isaiah 37:20

37:20 Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power, so all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.” ³⁵ 

Isaiah 45:3

45:3 I will give you hidden treasures, ³⁶ 

riches stashed away in secret places,

so you may recognize that I am the Lord,

the one who calls you by name, the God of Israel.

Jeremiah 27:5

27:5 “I made the earth and the people and animals on it by my mighty power and great strength, ³⁷  and I give it to whomever I see fit. ³⁸ 

[4:17]  ¹ tc The present translation follows an underlying reading of עַל־דִּבְרַת (’al-divrat, “so that”) rather than MT עַד־דִּבְרַת (’ad-divrat, “until”).

[4:17]  ² tn Aram “the kingdom of man”; NASB “the realm of mankind”; NCV “every kingdom on earth.”

[4:25]  ³ tn The Aramaic indefinite active plural is used here like the English passive. So also in v. 28, 29,32.

[4:25]  ⁴ tn Aram “from mankind.” So also in v. 32.

[4:25]  ⁵ tn Aram “your dwelling will be.” So also in v. 32.

[4:25]  ⁶ tn Or perhaps “be made to eat.”

[4:25]  ⁷ sn Nebuchadnezzar’s insanity has features that are associated with the mental disorder known as boanthropy, in which the person so afflicted imagines himself to be an ox or a similar animal and behaves accordingly.

[4:25]  ⁸ tn Aram “until.”

[8:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “And he said”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:10]  ¹⁰ tn “It will be” has been supplied.

[8:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “according to your word” (so NASB).

[9:14]  ¹² tn The expression “all my plagues” points to the rest of the plagues and anticipates the proper outcome. Another view is to take the expression to mean the full brunt of the attack on the Egyptian people.

[9:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “to your heart.” The expression is unusual, but it may be an allusion to the hard heartedness of Pharaoh – his stubbornness and blindness (B. Jacob, Exodus, 274).

[9:29]  ¹⁴ tn כְּצֵאתִי (kÿtse’ti) is the Qal infinitive construct of יָצָא (yatsa’); it functions here as the temporal clause before the statement about prayer.

[9:29]  ¹⁵ sn This clause provides the purpose/result of Moses’ intention: he will pray to Yahweh and the storms will cease “that you might know….” It was not enough to pray and have the plague stop. Pharaoh must “know” that Yahweh is the sovereign Lord over the earth. Here was that purpose of knowing through experience. This clause provides the key for the exposition of this plague: God demonstrated his power over the forces of nature to show his sovereignty – the earth is Yahweh’s. He can destroy it. He can preserve it. If people sin by ignoring his word and not fearing him, he can bring judgment on them. If any fear Yahweh and obey his instructions, they will be spared. A positive way to express the expositional point of the chapter is to say that those who fear Yahweh and obey his word will escape the powerful destruction he has prepared for those who sinfully disregard his word.

[4:24]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in order that.”

[4:24]  ¹⁷ tn Or “peoples.”

[4:24]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “know the hand of the Lord that it is strong.”

[4:24]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “fear.”

[12:18]  ²⁰ tn The verb may be classified as a gnomic perfect, or possibly a potential perfect – “he can loosen.” The Piel means “to untie; to unbind” (Job 30:11; 38:31; 39:5).

[12:18]  ²¹ tc There is a potential textual difficulty here. The MT has מוּסַר (musar, “discipline”), which might have replaced מוֹסֵר (moser, “bond, chain”) from אָסַר (’asar, “to bind”). Or מוּסַר might be an unusual form of אָסַר (an option noted in HALOT 557 s.v. *מוֹסֵר). The line is saying that if the kings are bound, God can set them free, and in the second half, if they are free, he can bind them. Others take the view that this word “bond” refers to the power kings have over others, meaning that God can reduce kings to slavery.

[12:18]  ²² tn Some commentators want to change אֵזוֹר (’ezor, “girdle”) to אֵסוּר (’esur, “bond”) because binding the loins with a girdle was an expression for strength. But H. H. Rowley notes that binding the king’s loins this way would mean so that he would do servitude, menial tasks. Such a reference would certainly indicate troubled times.

[12:19]  ²³ tn Except for “priests,” the phraseology is identical to v. 17a.

[12:19]  ²⁴ tn The verb has to be defined by its context: it can mean “falsify” (Exod 23:8), “make tortuous” (Prov 19:3), or “plunge” into misfortune (Prov 21:12). God overthrows those who seem to be solid.

[12:19]  ²⁵ tn The original meaning of אֵיתָן (’eytan) is “perpetual.” It is usually an epithet for a torrent that is always flowing. It carries the connotations of permanence and stability; here applied to people in society, it refers to one whose power and influence does not change. These are the pillars of society.

[12:20]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew נֶאֱמָנִים (ne’emanim) is the Niphal participle; it is often translated “the faithful” in the Bible. The Rabbis rather fancifully took the word from נְאֻם (nÿ’um, “oracle, utterance”) and so rendered it “those who are eloquent, fluent in words.” But that would make this the only place in the Bible where this form came from that root or any other root besides אָמַן (’aman, “confirm, support”). But to say that God takes away the speech of the truthful or the faithful would be very difficult. It has to refer to reliable men, because it is parallel to the elders or old men. The NIV has “trusted advisers,” which fits well with kings and judges and priests.

[12:20]  ²⁷ tn Heb “he removes the lip of the trusted ones.”

[12:20]  ²⁸ tn Heb “taste,” meaning “opinion” or “decision.”

[12:21]  ²⁹ tn The expression in Hebrew uses מְזִיחַ (mÿziakh, “belt”) and the Piel verb רִפָּה (rippah, “to loosen”) so that “to loosen the belt of the mighty” would indicate “to disarm/incapacitate the mighty.” Others have opted to change the text: P. Joüon emends to read “forehead” – “he humbles the brow of the mighty.”

[12:21]  ³⁰ tn The word אָפַק (’afaq, “to be strong”) is well-attested, and the form אָפִיק (’afiq) is a normal adjective formation. So a translation like “mighty” (KJV, NIV) or “powerful” is acceptable, and further emendations are unnecessary.

[8:15]  ³¹ 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]  ³² 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.

[8:16]  ³³ tn The term “and” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness and readability.

[8:16]  ³⁴ tc Many of the MT mss read “sovereigns [princes], all the judges of the earth.” The LXX has “sovereigns…rule the earth.” But the MT manuscript in the text has “judges of righteousness.” C. H. Toy suggests that the Hebrew here has assimilated Psalm 148:11 in its construction (Proverbs [ICC], 167). The expression “judges of the earth” is what one would expect, but the more difficult and unexpected reading, the one scribes might change, would be “judges of righteousness.” If that reading stands, then it would probably be interpreted as using an attributive genitive.

[37:20]  ³⁵ tn The parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:19 reads, “that you, Lord, are the only God.”

[45:3]  ³⁶ tn Heb “treasures of darkness” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “treasures from dark, secret places.”

[27:5]  ³⁷ 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]  ³⁸ sn See Dan 4:17 for a similar statement.