Exodus 1:10

1:10 Come, let’s deal wisely ¹  with them. Otherwise ²  they will continue to multiply, ³  and if ⁴  a war breaks out, they will ally themselves with ⁵  our enemies and fight against us and leave ⁶  the country.”

Esther 3:6-9

3:6 But the thought of striking out against ⁷  Mordecai alone was repugnant to him, for he had been informed ⁸  of the identity of Mordecai’s people. ⁹  So Haman sought to destroy all the Jews (that is, the people of Mordecai) ¹⁰  who were in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

3:7 In the first month (that is, the month of Nisan), in the twelfth year ¹¹  of King Ahasuerus’ reign, pur ¹²  (that is, the lot) was cast before Haman in order to determine a day and a month. ¹³  It turned out to be the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar). ¹⁴ 

3:8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a particular people ¹⁵  that is dispersed and spread among the inhabitants ¹⁶  throughout all the provinces of your kingdom whose laws differ from those of all other peoples. Furthermore, they do not observe the king’s laws. It is not appropriate for the king to provide a haven for them. ¹⁷  3:9 If the king is so inclined, ¹⁸  let an edict be issued ¹⁹  to destroy them. I will pay ten thousand talents of silver ²⁰  to be conveyed to the king’s treasuries for the officials who carry out this business.”

Proverbs 1:12

1:12 We will swallow them alive ²¹  like Sheol, ²² 

those full of vigor ²³  like those going down to the Pit.

Jeremiah 11:19

11:19 Before this I had been like a docile lamb ready to be led to the slaughter.

I did not know they were making plans to kill me. ²⁴ 

I did not know they were saying, ²⁵ 

“Let’s destroy the tree along with its fruit! ²⁶ 

Let’s remove Jeremiah ²⁷  from the world of the living

so people will not even be reminded of him any more.” ²⁸ 

Jeremiah 31:36

31:36 The Lord affirms, ²⁹  “The descendants of Israel will not

cease forever to be a nation in my sight.

That could only happen if the fixed ordering of the heavenly lights

were to cease to operate before me.” ³⁰ 

Daniel 7:25

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

He will harass ³¹  the holy ones of the Most High continually.

His intention ³²  will be to change times established by law. ³³ 

They will be delivered into his hand

For a time, times, ³⁴  and half a time.

Matthew 27:62-66

The Guard at the Tomb

27:62 The ³⁵  next day (which is after the day of preparation) the chief priests and the Pharisees ³⁶  assembled before Pilate 27:63 and said, “Sir, we remember that while that deceiver was still alive he said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 27:64 So give orders to secure the tomb until the third day. Otherwise his disciples may come and steal his body ³⁷  and say to the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” 27:65 Pilate said to them, “Take ³⁸  a guard of soldiers. Go and make it as secure as you can.” 27:66 So ³⁹  they went with the soldiers ⁴⁰  of the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.

Acts 4:17

4:17 But to keep this matter from spreading any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more ⁴¹  to anyone in this name.”

Acts 9:1-2

The Conversion of Saul

9:1 Meanwhile Saul, still breathing out threats ⁴²  to murder ⁴³  the Lord’s disciples, went to the high priest 9:2 and requested letters from him to the synagogues ⁴⁴  in Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, ⁴⁵  either men or women, he could bring them as prisoners ⁴⁶  to Jerusalem. ⁴⁷ 

[1:10]  ¹ tn The verb is the Hitpael cohortative of חָכַם (khakam, “to be wise”). This verb has the idea of acting shrewdly, dealing wisely. The basic idea in the word group is that of skill. So a skillful decision is required to prevent the Israelites from multiplying any more.

[1:10]  ² tn The word פֶּן (pen) expresses fear or precaution and can also be translated “lest” or “else” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 75-76, §461).

[1:10]  ³ tn The verb can be translated simply “will multiply,” but since Pharaoh has already indicated that he is aware they were doing that, the nuance here must mean to multiply all the more, or to continue to multiply. Cf. NIV “will become even more numerous.”

[1:10]  ⁴ tn The words וְהָיָה כִּי (vÿhayah ki) introduce a conditional clause – “if” (see GKC 335 §112.y).

[1:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “and [lest] he [Israel] also be joined to.”

[1:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “and go up from.” All the verbs coming after the particle פֶּן (pen, “otherwise, lest” in v. 10) have the same force and are therefore parallel. These are the fears of the Egyptians. This explains why a shrewd policy of population control was required. They wanted to keep Israel enslaved; they did not want them to become too numerous and escape.

[3:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “to send a hand against”; KJV, NRSV “to lay hands on.”

[3:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “they had related to him.” For stylistic reasons this has been translated as a passive construction.

[3:6]  ⁹ tc The entire first half of the verse is not included in the LXX.

[3:6]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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.

[3:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “one people.” Note the subtle absence at this point of a specific mention of the Jewish people by name.

[3:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “peoples” (so NASB, NIV); NAB “nations”

[3:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “to cause them to rest”; NASB “to let them remain”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “to tolerate them.”

[3:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “If upon the king it is good”; KJV “If it please the king.”

[3:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “let it be written” (so KJV, ASV); NASB “let it be decreed.”

[3:9]  ²⁰ sn The enormity of the monetary sum referred to here can be grasped by comparing this amount (10,000 talents of silver) to the annual income of the empire, which according to Herodotus (Histories 3.95) was 14,500 Euboic talents. In other words Haman is offering the king a bribe equal to two-thirds of the royal income. Doubtless this huge sum of money was to come (in large measure) from the anticipated confiscation of Jewish property and assets once the Jews had been destroyed. That such a large sum of money is mentioned may indicate something of the economic standing of the Jewish population in the empire of King Ahasuerus.

[1:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “lives.” The noun חַיִּים (khayyim, “lives”) functions as an adverbial accusative of manner: “alive.” The form is a plural of state, used to describe a condition of life which encompasses a long period of time – in this case a person’s entire life. Murder cuts short a person’s life.

[1:12]  ²² tn The noun שְׁאוֹל (shÿ’ol) can mean (1) “death,” cf. NCV; (2) “the grave,” cf. KJV, NIV, NLT (3) “Sheol” as the realm of departed spirits, cf. NAB “the nether world,” and (4) “extreme danger.” Here it is parallel to the noun בוֹר (vor, “the Pit”) so it is the grave or more likely “Sheol” (cf. ASV, NRSV). Elsewhere Sheol is personified as having an insatiable appetite and swallowing people alive as they descend to their death (e.g., Num 16:30, 33; Isa 5:14; Hab 2:5). In ancient Near Eastern literature, the grave is often personified in similar manner, e.g., in Ugaritic mythological texts Mot (= “death”) is referred to as “the great swallower.”

[1:12]  ²³ tn Heb “and whole.” The vav (ו) is asseverative or appositional (“even”); it is omitted in the translation for the sake of style and smoothness. The substantival adjective תָּמִים (tamim, “whole; perfect; blameless”) is an adverbial accusative describing the condition and state of the object. Used in parallel to חַיִּים (khayyim, “alive”), it must mean “full of health” (BDB 1071 s.v. תָּמִים 2). These cutthroats want to murder a person who is full of vigor.

[11:19]  ²⁴ tn Heb “against me.” The words “to kill me” are implicit from the context and are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[11:19]  ²⁵ tn The words “I did not know that they were saying” are not in the text. The quote is without formal introduction in the original. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[11:19]  ²⁶ tn This word and its pronoun (לַחְמוֹ, lakhmo, “its bread”) is often emended to read “in/with its sap” = “in its prime” (either לֵחוֹ [lekho] or לֵחְמוֹ [lekhÿmo]); the latter would be more likely and the מוֹ (mo) could be explained as a rare use of the old poetic third plural suffix for the third singular; cf. GKC 258 §91.l for general use and Ps 11:7 and Job 27:23 for third singular use. Though this fits the context nicely the emendation is probably unnecessary since the word “bread” is sometimes used of other foodstuff than grain or its products (cf. BDB 537 s.v. לֶחֶם 2.a).

[11:19]  ²⁷ tn Heb “cut it [or him] off.” The metaphor of the tree may be continued, though the verb “cut off” is used also of killing people. The rendering clarifies the meaning of the metaphor.

[11:19]  ²⁸ tn Heb “so that his name will not be remembered any more.”

[31:36]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:36]  ³⁰ tn Heb “‘If these fixed orderings were to fail to be present before me,’ oracle of the Lord, ‘then the seed of Israel could cease from being a nation before me forever (or more literally, “all the days”).’” The sentence has been broken up to conform more to modern style. The connection has been maintained by reversing the order of condition and consequence and still retaining the condition in the second clause. For the meaning of “cease to operate” for the verb מוּשׁ (mush) compare the usage in Isa 54:10; Ps 55:11 (55:12 HT); Prov 17:13 where what is usually applied to persons or things is applied to abstract things like this (see HALOT 506 s.v. II מוּשׁ Qal for general usage).

[7:25]  ³¹ 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]  ³² tn Aram “he will think.”

[7:25]  ³³ tn Aram “times and law.” The present translation is based on the understanding that the expression is a hendiadys.

[7:25]  ³⁴ 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.”

[27:62]  ³⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:62]  ³⁶ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[27:64]  ³⁷ tn Grk “him.”

[27:65]  ³⁸ tn Grk “You have a guard.”

[27:66]  ³⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of Pilate’s order.

[27:66]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “with the guard.” The words “soldiers of the” have been supplied in the translation to prevent “guard” from being misunderstood as a single individual.

[4:17]  ⁴¹ tn Or “speak no longer.”

[9:1]  ⁴² tn Or “Saul, making dire threats.”

[9:1]  ⁴³ tn The expression “breathing out threats and murder” is an idiomatic expression for “making threats to murder” (see L&N 33.293). Although the two terms “threats” and “murder” are syntactically coordinate, the second is semantically subordinate to the first. In other words, the content of the threats is to murder the disciples.

[9:2]  ⁴⁴ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[9:2]  ⁴⁵ sn The expression “the way” in ancient religious literature refers at times to “the whole way of life fr. a moral and spiritual viewpoint” (BDAG 692 s.v. ὁδός 3.c), and it has been so used of Christianity and its teachings in the book of Acts (see also 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22). It is a variation of Judaism’s idea of two ways, the true and the false, where “the Way” is the true one (1 En. 91:18; 2 En. 30:15).

[9:2]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “bring them bound”; the translation “bring someone as prisoner” for δεδεμένον ἄγειν τινά (dedemenon agein tina) is given by BDAG 221 s.v. δέω 1.b.

[9:2]  ⁴⁷ sn From Damascus to Jerusalem was a six-day journey. Christianity had now expanded into Syria.