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.”

Psalms 2:2

2:2 The kings of the earth ⁷  form a united front; ⁸ 

the rulers collaborate ⁹ 

against the Lord and his anointed king. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 37:12-13

37:12 Evil men plot against the godly ¹¹ 

and viciously attack them. ¹² 

37:13 The Lord laughs in disgust ¹³  at them,

for he knows that their day is coming. ¹⁴ 

Proverbs 21:30

21:30 There is no wisdom and there is no understanding,

and there is no counsel against ¹⁵  the Lord. ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 8:10

8:10 Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted!

Issue your orders, but they will not be executed! ¹⁷ 

For God is with us! ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 29:15

29:15 Those who try to hide their plans from the Lord are as good as dead, ¹⁹ 

who do their work in secret and boast, ²⁰ 

“Who sees us? Who knows what we’re doing?” ²¹ 

Matthew 27:1

Jesus Brought Before Pilate

27:1 When ²²  it was early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people plotted against Jesus to execute him.

Acts 4:23-28

The Followers of Jesus Pray for Boldness

4:23 When they were released, Peter and John ²³  went to their fellow believers ²⁴  and reported everything the high priests and the elders had said to them. 4:24 When they heard this, they raised their voices to God with one mind ²⁵  and said, “Master of all, ²⁶  you who made the heaven, the earth, ²⁷  the sea, and everything that is in them, 4:25 who said by the Holy Spirit through ²⁸  your servant David our forefather, ²⁹ 

‘Why do the nations ³⁰  rage, ³¹ 

and the peoples plot foolish ³²  things?

4:26 The kings of the earth stood together, ³³ 

and the rulers assembled together,

against the Lord and against his ³⁴  Christ.’ ³⁵ 

4:27 “For indeed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together in this city against ³⁶  your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, ³⁷  4:28 to do as much as your power ³⁸  and your plan ³⁹  had decided beforehand ⁴⁰  would happen.

[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.

[2:2]  ⁷ sn The expression kings of the earth refers somewhat hyperbolically to the kings who had been conquered by and were subject to the Davidic king.

[2:2]  ⁸ tn Or “take their stand.” The Hebrew imperfect verbal form describes their action as underway.

[2:2]  ⁹ tn Or “conspire together.” The verbal form is a Niphal from יָסַד (yasad). BDB 413-14 s.v. יָסַד defines the verb as “establish, found,” but HALOT 417 s.v. II יסד proposes a homonym meaning “get together, conspire” (an alternate form of סוּד, sud).

[2:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and against his anointed one.” The Davidic king is the referent (see vv. 6-7).

[37:12]  ¹¹ tn Or “innocent.” The singular is used here in a representative sense; the typical evildoer and the typical godly individual are in view.

[37:12]  ¹² tn Heb “and gnashes at him with his teeth” (see Ps 35:16). The language may picture the evil men as wild animals. The active participles in v. 12 are used for purposes of dramatic description.

[37:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “laughs.” As the next line indicates, this refers to derisive laughter (see 2:4). The Hebrew imperfect verbal form describes the action from the perspective of an eye-witness who is watching the divine response as it unfolds before his eyes.

[37:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “for he sees that his day is coming.” As the following context makes clear (vv. 15, 17, 19-20), “his day” refers to the time when God will destroy evildoers.

[21:30]  ¹⁵ tn The form לְנֶגֶד (lÿneged) means “against; over against; in opposition to.” The line indicates they cannot in reality be in opposition, for human wisdom is nothing in comparison to the wisdom of God (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 232).

[21:30]  ¹⁶ sn The verse uses a single sentence to state that all wisdom, understanding, and advice must be in conformity to the will of God to be successful. It states it negatively – these things cannot be in defiance of God (e.g., Job 5:12-13; Isa 40:13-14).

[8:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “speak a word, but it will not stand.”

[8:10]  ¹⁸ sn In these vv. 9-10 the tone shifts abruptly from judgment to hope. Hostile nations like Assyria may attack God’s people, but eventually they will be destroyed, for God is with his people, sometimes to punish, but ultimately to vindicate. In addition to being a reminder of God’s presence in the immediate crisis faced by Ahaz and Judah, Immanuel (whose name is echoed in this concluding statement) was a guarantee of the nation’s future greatness in fulfillment of God’s covenantal promises. Eventually God would deliver his people from the hostile nations (vv. 9-10) through another child, an ideal Davidic ruler who would embody God’s presence in a special way (see 9:6-7). Jesus the Messiah is the fulfillment of the Davidic ideal prophesied by Isaiah, the one whom Immanuel foreshadowed. Through the miracle of the incarnation he is literally “God with us.” Matthew realized this and applied Isaiah’s ancient prophecy of Immanuel’s birth to Jesus (Matt 1:22-23). The first Immanuel was a reminder to the people of God’s presence and a guarantee of a greater child to come who would manifest God’s presence in an even greater way. The second Immanuel is “God with us” in a heightened and infinitely superior sense. He “fulfills” Isaiah’s Immanuel prophecy by bringing the typology intended by God to realization and by filling out or completing the pattern designed by God. Of course, in the ultimate fulfillment of the type, the incarnate Immanuel’s mother must be a virgin, so Matthew uses a Greek term (παρθένος, parqenos), which carries that technical meaning (in contrast to the Hebrew word עַלְמָה [’almah], which has the more general meaning “young woman”). Matthew draws similar analogies between NT and OT events in 2:15, 18. The linking of these passages by analogy is termed “fulfillment.” In 2:15 God calls Jesus, his perfect Son, out of Egypt, just as he did his son Israel in the days of Moses, an historical event referred to in Hos 11:1. In so doing he makes it clear that Jesus is the ideal Israel prophesied by Isaiah (see Isa 49:3), sent to restore wayward Israel (see Isa 49:5, cf. Matt 1:21). In 2:18 Herod’s slaughter of the infants is another illustration of the oppressive treatment of God’s people by foreign tyrants. Herod’s actions are analogous to those of the Assyrians, who deported the Israelites, causing the personified land to lament as inconsolably as a mother robbed of her little ones (Jer 31:15).

[29:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who deeply hide counsel from the Lord.” This probably alludes to political alliances made without seeking the Lord’s guidance. See 30:1-2 and 31:1.

[29:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and their works are in darkness and they say.”

[29:15]  ²¹ tn The rhetorical questions suggest the answer, “no one.” They are confident that their deeds are hidden from others, including God.

[27:1]  ²² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[4:23]  ²³ tn Grk “they”; the referents (Peter and John) have been specified in the translation for clarity, since a new topic begins in v. 23 and the last specific reference to Peter and John in the Greek text is in 4:19.

[4:23]  ²⁴ tn Grk “to their own [people].” In context this phrase is most likely a reference to other believers rather than simply their own families and/or homes, since the group appears to act with one accord in the prayer that follows in v. 24. At the literary level, this phrase suggests how Jews were now splitting into two camps, pro-Jesus and anti-Jesus.

[4:24]  ²⁵ sn With one mind. Compare Acts 1:14.

[4:24]  ²⁶ tn Or “Lord of all.”

[4:24]  ²⁷ tn Grk “and the earth, and the sea,” but καί (kai) has not been translated before “the earth” and “the sea” since contemporary English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[4:25]  ²⁸ tn Grk “by the mouth of” (an idiom).

[4:25]  ²⁹ tn Or “ancestor”; Grk “father.”

[4:25]  ³⁰ tn Or “Gentiles.”

[4:25]  ³¹ sn The Greek word translated rage includes not only anger but opposition, both verbal and nonverbal. See L&N 88.185.

[4:25]  ³² tn Or “futile”; traditionally, “vain.”

[4:26]  ³³ tn Traditionally, “The kings of the earth took their stand.”

[4:26]  ³⁴ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[4:26]  ³⁵ sn A quotation from Ps 2:1-2.

[4:27]  ³⁶ sn The application of Ps 2:1-2 is that Jews and Gentiles are opposing Jesus. The surprise of the application is that Jews are now found among the enemies of God’s plan.

[4:27]  ³⁷ sn A wordplay on “Christ,” v. 26, which means “one who has been anointed.”

[4:28]  ³⁸ tn Grk “hand,” here a metaphor for God’s strength or power or authority.

[4:28]  ³⁹ tn Or “purpose,” “will.”

[4:28]  ⁴⁰ 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.