Daniel 6:11

6:11 Then those officials who had gone to the king ¹  came by collusion and found Daniel praying and asking for help before his God.

Psalms 56:6

56:6 They stalk ²  and lurk; ³ 

they watch my every step, ⁴ 

as ⁵  they prepare to take my life. ⁶ 

Psalms 62:3

62:3 How long will you threaten ⁷  a man?

All of you are murderers, ⁸ 

as dangerous as a leaning wall or an unstable fence. ⁹ 

Psalms 64:2-6

64:2 Hide me from the plots of evil men,

from the crowd of evildoers. ¹⁰ 

64:3 They ¹¹  sharpen their tongues like a sword;

they aim their arrow, a slanderous charge, ¹² 

64:4 in order to shoot down the innocent ¹³  in secluded places.

They shoot at him suddenly and are unafraid of retaliation. ¹⁴ 

64:5 They encourage one another to carry out their evil deed. ¹⁵ 

They plan how to hide ¹⁶  snares,

and boast, ¹⁷  “Who will see them?” ¹⁸ 

64:6 They devise ¹⁹  unjust schemes;

they disguise ²⁰  a well-conceived plot. ²¹ 

Man’s inner thoughts cannot be discovered. ²² 

Matthew 27:23-25

27:23 He asked, “Why? What wrong has he done?” But they shouted more insistently, “Crucify him!”

Jesus is Condemned and Mocked

27:24 When ²³  Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but that instead a riot was starting, he took some water, washed his hands before the crowd and said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. You take care of it yourselves!” ²⁴  27:25 In ²⁵  reply all the people said, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”

Luke 23:23-25

23:23 But they were insistent, ²⁶  demanding with loud shouts that he be crucified. And their shouts prevailed. 23:24 So ²⁷  Pilate ²⁸  decided ²⁹  that their demand should be granted. 23:25 He released the man they asked for, who had been thrown in prison for insurrection and murder. But he handed Jesus over ³⁰  to their will. ³¹ 

Acts 22:22-23

The Roman Commander Questions Paul

22:22 The crowd ³²  was listening to him until he said this. ³³  Then ³⁴  they raised their voices and shouted, ³⁵  “Away with this man ³⁶  from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live!” ³⁷  22:23 While they were screaming ³⁸  and throwing off their cloaks ³⁹  and tossing dust ⁴⁰  in the air,

[6:11]  ¹ tn Aram “those men”; the referent (the administrative officials who had earlier approached the king about the edict) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[56:6]  ² tn The verb is from the root גּוּר (gur), which means “to challenge, attack” in Isa 54:15 and “to stalk” (with hostile intent) in Ps 59:3.

[56:6]  ³ tn Or “hide.”

[56:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “my heels.”

[56:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “according to,” in the sense of “inasmuch as; since,” or “when; while.”

[56:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “they wait [for] my life.”

[62:3]  ⁷ tn The verb form is plural; the psalmist addresses his enemies. The verb הוּת occurs only here in the OT. An Arabic cognate means “shout at.”

[62:3]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text has a Pual (passive) form, but the verb form should be vocalized as a Piel (active) form. See BDB 953-54 s.v. רָצַח.

[62:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “like a bent wall and a broken fence.” The point of the comparison is not entirely clear. Perhaps the enemies are depicted as dangerous, like a leaning wall or broken fence that is in danger of falling on someone (see C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms [ICC], 2:69).

[64:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “workers of wickedness.”

[64:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[64:3]  ¹² tn Heb “a bitter word.”

[64:4]  ¹³ tn The psalmist uses the singular because he is referring to himself here as representative of a larger group.

[64:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and are unafraid.” The words “of retaliation” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[64:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “they give strength to themselves, an evil matter [or “word”].”

[64:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “they report about hiding.”

[64:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “they say.”

[64:5]  ¹⁸ tn If this is a direct quotation (cf. NASB, NIV), the pronoun “them” refers to the snares mentioned in the previous line. If it is an indirect quotation, then the pronoun may refer to the enemies themselves (cf. NEB, which is ambiguous). Some translations retain the direct quotation but alter the pronoun to “us,” referring clearly to the enemies (cf. NRSV).

[64:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “search out, examine,” which here means (by metonymy) “devise.”

[64:6]  ²⁰ tc The MT has תַּמְנוּ (tamnu, “we are finished”), a Qal perfect first common plural form from the verbal root תָּמַם (tamam). Some understand this as the beginning of a quotation of the enemies’ words and translate, “we have completed,” but the Hiphil would seem to be required in this case. The present translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss in reading טָמְנוּ (tomnu, “they hide”), a Qal perfect third common plural form from the verbal root טָמַן (taman).

[64:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “a searched-out search,” which is understood as referring here to a thoroughly planned plot to destroy the psalmist.

[64:6]  ²² tn Heb “and the inner part of man, and a heart [is] deep.” The point seems to be that a man’s inner thoughts are incapable of being discovered. No one is a mind reader! Consequently the psalmist is vulnerable to his enemies’ well-disguised plots.

[27:24]  ²³ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:24]  ²⁴ sn You take care of it yourselves! Compare the response of the chief priests and elders to Judas in 27:4. The expression is identical except that in 27:4 it is singular and here it is plural.

[27:25]  ²⁵ tn Grk “answering, all the people said.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.

[23:23]  ²⁶ tn Though a different Greek term is used here (BDAG 373 s.v. ἐπίκειμαι), this remark is like 23:5.

[23:24]  ²⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the crowd’s cries prevailing.

[23:24]  ²⁸ sn Finally Pilate gave in. He decided crucifying one Galilean teacher was better than facing a riot. Justice lost out in the process, because he did not follow his own verdict.

[23:24]  ²⁹ tn Although some translations render ἐπέκρινεν (epekrinen) here as “passed sentence” or “gave his verdict,” the point in context is not that Pilate sentenced Jesus to death here, but that finally, although convinced of Jesus’ innocence, he gave in to the crowd’s incessant demand to crucify an innocent man.

[23:25]  ³⁰ tn Or “delivered up.”

[23:25]  ³¹ sn He handed Jesus over to their will. Here is where Luke places the major blame for Jesus’ death. It lies with the Jewish nation, especially the leadership, though in Acts 4:24-27 he will bring in the opposition of Herod, Pilate, and all people.

[22:22]  ³² tn Grk “They were listening”; the referent (the crowd) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:22]  ³³ tn Grk “until this word.”

[22:22]  ³⁴ tn Grk “And.” To indicate the logical sequence, καί (kai) has been translated as “then” here.

[22:22]  ³⁵ tn Grk “and said.”

[22:22]  ³⁶ tn Grk “this one.”

[22:22]  ³⁷ tn BDAG 491 s.v. καθήκω has “to be appropriate, come/reach to, be proper/fitting…Usu. impers. καθήκει it comes (to someone)…foll. by acc. and inf….οὐ καθῆκεν αὐτὸν ζῆν he should not be allowed to live Ac 22:22.”

[22:23]  ³⁸ tn The participle κραυγαζόντων (kraugazontwn) has been translated temporally.

[22:23]  ³⁹ tn Or “outer garments.”

[22:23]  ⁴⁰ sn The crowd’s act of tossing dust in the air indicated they had heard something disturbing and offensive. This may have been a symbolic gesture, indicating Paul’s words deserved to be thrown to the wind, or it may have simply resulted from the fact they had nothing else to throw at him at the moment.