Daniel 7:25

7:25 He will speak words against the Most High.

He will harass ¹  the holy ones of the Most High continually.

His intention ²  will be to change times established by law. ³ 

They will be delivered into his hand

For a time, times, ⁴  and half a time.

Proverbs 23:7

23:7 for he is ⁵  like someone calculating the cost ⁶  in his mind. ⁷ 

“Eat and drink,” he says to you,

but his heart is not with you;

Ezekiel 38:10

38:10 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind, ⁸  and you will devise an evil plan.

Matthew 9:4

9:4 When Jesus saw their reaction he said, “Why do you respond with evil in your hearts?

[7:25]  ¹ tn Aram “wear out” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV); NASB, NLT “wear down.” The word is a hapax legomenon in biblical Aramaic, but in biblical Hebrew it especially refers to wearing out such things as garments. Here it is translated “harass…continually.”

[7:25]  ² tn Aram “he will think.”

[7:25]  ³ tn Aram “times and law.” The present translation is based on the understanding that the expression is a hendiadys.

[7:25]  ⁴ sn Although the word times is vocalized in the MT as a plural, it probably should be regarded as a dual. The Masoretes may have been influenced here by the fact that in late Aramaic (and Syriac) the dual forms fall out of use. The meaning would thus be three and a half “times.”

[23:7]  ⁵ tc The line is difficult; it appears to mean that the miser is the kind of person who has calculated the cost of everything in his mind as he offers the food. The LXX has: “Eating and drinking with him is as if one should swallow a hair; do not introduce him to your company nor eat bread with him.” The Hebrew verb “to calculate” (שָׁעַר, sha’ar) with a change of vocalization and of sibilant would yield “hair” (שֵׂעָר, se’ar) – “like a hair in the throat [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh], so is he.” This would picture an irritating experience. The Instruction of Amenemope uses “blocking the throat” in a similar saying (chapt. 11, 14:7 [ANET 423]). The suggested change is plausible and is followed by NRSV; but the rare verb “to calculate” in the MT would be easier to defend on the basis of the canons of textual criticism because it is the more difficult reading.

[23:7]  ⁶ tn The phrase “the cost” does not appear in the Hebrew but is implied by the verb; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[23:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “soul.”

[38:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “words will go up upon your heart.”