Exodus 5:2

5:2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord ¹  that ²  I should obey him ³  by releasing ⁴  Israel? I do not know the Lord, ⁵  and I will not release Israel!”

Exodus 5:2

5:2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord ⁶  that ⁷  I should obey him ⁸  by releasing ⁹  Israel? I do not know the Lord, ¹⁰  and I will not release Israel!”

Exodus 32:15

32:15 Moses turned and went down from the mountain with ¹¹  the two tablets of the testimony in his hands. The tablets were written on both sides – they were written on the front and on the back.

Psalms 12:4

12:4 They say, ¹²  “We speak persuasively; ¹³ 

we know how to flatter and boast. ¹⁴ 

Who is our master?” ¹⁵ 

Ezekiel 28:2

28:2 “Son of man, say to the prince ¹⁶  of Tyre, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Your heart is proud ¹⁷  and you said, “I am a god; ¹⁸ 

I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas” –

yet you are a man and not a god,

though you think you are godlike. ¹⁹ 

Ezekiel 28:9

28:9 Will you still say, “I am a god,” before the one who kills you –

though you are a man and not a god –

when you are in the power of those who wound you?

Ezekiel 29:3

29:3 Tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Look, I am against ²⁰  you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,

the great monster ²¹  lying in the midst of its waterways,

who has said, “My Nile is my own, I made it for myself.” ²² 

Daniel 4:30

4:30 The king uttered these words: “Is this not the great Babylon that I have built for a royal residence ²³  by my own mighty strength ²⁴  and for my majestic honor?”

Daniel 6:7

6:7 To all the supervisors of the kingdom, the prefects, satraps, counselors, and governors it seemed like a good idea for a royal edict to be issued and an interdict to be enforced. For the next thirty days anyone who prays ²⁵  to any god or human other than you, O king, should be thrown into a den of lions.

Acts 12:22-23

12:22 But the crowd ²⁶  began to shout, ²⁷  “The voice of a god, ²⁸  and not of a man!” 12:23 Immediately an angel of the Lord ²⁹  struck ³⁰  Herod ³¹  down because he did not give the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died. ³² 

Acts 12:2

12:2 He had James, the brother of John, executed with a sword. ³³ 

Colossians 4:4

4:4 Pray that I may make it known as I should. ³⁴ 

Colossians 4:2

Exhortation to Pray for the Success of Paul’s Mission

4:2 Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.

Colossians 2:4

2:4 I say this so that no one will deceive you through arguments ³⁵  that sound reasonable. ³⁶ 

Revelation 13:4

13:4 they worshiped the dragon because he had given ruling authority ³⁷  to the beast, and they worshiped the beast too, saying: “Who is like the beast?” and “Who is able to make war against him?” ³⁸ 

Revelation 13:14

13:14 and, by the signs he was permitted to perform on behalf of the beast, he deceived those who live on the earth. He told ³⁹  those who live on the earth to make an image to the beast who had been wounded by the sword, but still lived.

[5:2]  ¹ tn Heb “Yahweh.” This is a rhetorical question, expressing doubt or indignation or simply a negative thought that Yahweh is nothing (see erotesis in E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 944-45). Pharaoh is not asking for information (cf. 1 Sam 25:5-10).

[5:2]  ² tn The relative pronoun introduces the consecutive clause that depends on the interrogative clause (see GKC 318-19 §107.u).

[5:2]  ³ tn The imperfect tense here receives the classification of obligatory imperfect. The verb שָׁמַע (shama’) followed by “in the voice of” is idiomatic; rather than referring to simple audition – “that I should hear his voice” – it conveys the thought of listening that issues in action – “that I should obey him.”

[5:2]  ⁴ tn The Piel infinitive construct here has the epexegetical usage with lamed (ל); it explains the verb “obey.”

[5:2]  ⁵ sn This absolute statement of Pharaoh is part of a motif that will develop throughout the conflict. For Pharaoh, the Lord (Yahweh) did not exist. So he said “I do not know the Lord [i.e., Yahweh].” The point of the plagues and the exodus will be “that he might know.” Pharaoh will come to know this Yahweh, but not in any pleasant way.

[5:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “Yahweh.” This is a rhetorical question, expressing doubt or indignation or simply a negative thought that Yahweh is nothing (see erotesis in E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 944-45). Pharaoh is not asking for information (cf. 1 Sam 25:5-10).

[5:2]  ⁷ tn The relative pronoun introduces the consecutive clause that depends on the interrogative clause (see GKC 318-19 §107.u).

[5:2]  ⁸ tn The imperfect tense here receives the classification of obligatory imperfect. The verb שָׁמַע (shama’) followed by “in the voice of” is idiomatic; rather than referring to simple audition – “that I should hear his voice” – it conveys the thought of listening that issues in action – “that I should obey him.”

[5:2]  ⁹ tn The Piel infinitive construct here has the epexegetical usage with lamed (ל); it explains the verb “obey.”

[5:2]  ¹⁰ sn This absolute statement of Pharaoh is part of a motif that will develop throughout the conflict. For Pharaoh, the Lord (Yahweh) did not exist. So he said “I do not know the Lord [i.e., Yahweh].” The point of the plagues and the exodus will be “that he might know.” Pharaoh will come to know this Yahweh, but not in any pleasant way.

[32:15]  ¹¹ tn The disjunctive vav (ו) serves here as a circumstantial clause indicator.

[12:4]  ¹² tn Heb “which say.” The plural verb after the relative pronoun indicates a plural antecedent for the pronoun, probably “lips” in v. 3.

[12:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “to our tongue we make strong.” The Hiphil of גָבַר (gavar) occurs only here and in Dan 9:27, where it refers to making strong, or confirming, a covenant. Here in Ps 12 the evildoers “make their tongue strong” in the sense that they use their tongue to produce flattering and arrogant words to accomplish their purposes. The preposition -לְ (l) prefixed to “our tongue” may be dittographic.

[12:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “our lips [are] with us.” This odd expression probably means, “our lips are in our power,” in the sense that they say what they want, whether it be flattery or boasting. For other cases where אֵת (’et, “with”) has the sense “in the power of,” see Ps 38:10 and other texts listed by BDB 86 s.v. 3.a.

[12:4]  ¹⁵ sn The rhetorical question expresses the arrogant attitude of these people. As far as they are concerned, they are answerable to no one for how they speak.

[28:2]  ¹⁶ tn Or “ruler” (NIV, NCV).

[28:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “lifted up.”

[28:2]  ¹⁸ tn Or “I am divine.”

[28:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and you made your heart (mind) like the heart (mind) of gods.”

[29:3]  ²⁰ tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘h!nn#n' ?l?K>,’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.

[29:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “jackals,” but many medieval Hebrew mss read correctly “the serpent.” The Hebrew term appears to refer to a serpent in Exod 7:9-10, 12; Deut 32:33; and Ps 91:13. It also refers to large creatures that inhabit the sea (Gen 1:21; Ps 148:7). In several passages it is associated with the sea or with the multiheaded sea monster Leviathan (Job 7:12; Ps 74:13; Isa 27:1; 51:9). Because of the Egyptian setting of this prophecy and the reference to the creature’s scales (v. 4), many understand a crocodile to be the referent here (e.g., NCV “a great crocodile”; TEV “you monster crocodile”; CEV “a giant crocodile”).

[29:3]  ²² sn In Egyptian theology Pharaoh owned and controlled the Nile. See J. D. Currid, Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament, 240-44.

[4:30]  ²³ tn Aram “house.”

[4:30]  ²⁴ tn Aram “by the might of my strength.”

[6:7]  ²⁵ tn Aram “prays a prayer.”

[12:22]  ²⁶ tn The translation “crowd” is given by BDAG 223 s.v. δῆμος; the word often means a gathering of citizens to conduct public business. Here it is simply the group of people gathered to hear the king’s speech.

[12:22]  ²⁷ tn The imperfect verb ἐπεφώνει (epefwnei) is taken ingressively in the sequence of events. Presumably the king had started his speech when the crowd began shouting.

[12:22]  ²⁸ sn The voice of a god. Contrast the response of Paul and Barnabas in Acts 14:13-15.

[12:23]  ²⁹ tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 5:19.

[12:23]  ³⁰ sn On being struck…down by an angel, see Acts 23:3; 1 Sam 25:28; 2 Sam 12:15; 2 Kgs 19:35; 2 Chr 13:20; 2 Macc 9:5.

[12:23]  ³¹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:23]  ³² sn He was eaten by worms and died. Josephus, Ant. 19.8.2 (19.343-352), states that Herod Agrippa I died at Caesarea in a.d. 44. The account by Josephus, while not identical to Luke’s account, is similar in many respects: On the second day of a festival, Herod Agrippa appeared in the theater with a robe made of silver. When it sparkled in the sun, the people cried out flatteries and declared him to be a god. The king, carried away by the flattery, saw an owl (an omen of death) sitting on a nearby rope, and immediately was struck with severe stomach pains. He was carried off to his house and died five days later. The two accounts can be reconciled without difficulty, since while Luke states that Herod was immediately struck down by an angel, his death could have come several days later. The mention of worms with death adds a humiliating note to the scene. The formerly powerful ruler had been thoroughly reduced to nothing (cf. Jdt 16:17; 2 Macc 9:9; cf. also Josephus, Ant. 17.6.5 [17.168-170], which details the sickness which led to Herod the Great’s death).

[12:2]  ³³ sn The expression executed with a sword probably refers to a beheading. James was the first known apostolic martyr (Eusebius, Eccl. Hist. 2.9.1-3). On James, not the Lord’s brother, see Luke 5:10; 6:14. This death ended a short period of peace noted in Acts 9:31 after the persecution mentioned in 8:1-3.

[4:4]  ³⁴ tn The phrase begins with the ἵνα (Jina) clause and is subordinate to the imperative προσκαρτερεῖτε (proskartereite) in v. 2. The reference to the idea that Paul must make it known indicates that this clause is probably best viewed as purpose and not content, like the ἵνα of v. 3. It is the second purpose stated in the context; the first is expressed through the infinitive λαλῆσαι (lalhsai) in v. 3. The term “pray” at the beginning of the sentence is intended to pick up the imperative of v. 3.

[2:4]  ³⁵ tn BDAG 812 s.v. πιθανολογία states, “persuasive speech, art of persuasion (so Pla., Theaet. 162e) in an unfavorable sense in its only occurrence in our lit. ἐν πιθανολογίᾳ by specious arguments Col 2:4 (cp. PLips 40 III, 7 διὰ πιθανολογίας).”

[2:4]  ³⁶ sn Paul’s point is that even though the arguments seem to make sense (sound reasonable), they are in the end false. Paul is not here arguing against the study of philosophy or serious thinking per se, but is arguing against the uncritical adoption of a philosophy that is at odds with a proper view of Christ and the ethics of the Christian life.

[13:4]  ³⁷ tn For the translation “ruling authority” for ἐξουσία (exousia) see L&N 37.35.

[13:4]  ³⁸ tn On the use of the masculine pronoun to refer to the beast, see the note on the word “It” in 13:1.

[13:14]  ³⁹ tn Grk “earth, telling.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in Greek.