Ezekiel 30:25

30:25 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh will fall limp. Then they will know that I am the Lord when I place my sword in the hand of the king of Babylon and he extends it against the land of Egypt.

Nehemiah 6:9

6:9 All of them were wanting ¹  to scare us, supposing, “Their hands will grow slack from the work, and it won’t get done.”

So now, strengthen my hands! ² 

Psalms 18:32

18:32 The one true God ³  gives ⁴  me strength; ⁵ 

he removes ⁶  the obstacles in my way. ⁷ 

Psalms 18:39

18:39 You give me strength ⁸  for battle;

you make my foes kneel before me. ⁹ 

Psalms 144:1

Psalm 144 ¹⁰ 

By David.

144:1 The Lord, my protector, ¹¹  deserves praise ¹²  –

the one who trains my hands for battle, ¹³ 

and my fingers for war,

Isaiah 45:1

45:1 This is what the Lord says to his chosen ¹⁴  one,

to Cyrus, whose right hand I hold ¹⁵ 

in order to subdue nations before him,

and disarm kings, ¹⁶ 

to open doors before him,

so gates remain unclosed:

Isaiah 45:5

45:5 I am the Lord, I have no peer, ¹⁷ 

there is no God but me.

I arm you for battle, ¹⁸  even though you do not recognize ¹⁹  me.

Jeremiah 27:6-8

27:6 I have at this time placed all these nations of yours under the power ²⁰  of my servant, ²¹  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have even made all the wild animals subject to him. ²²  27:7 All nations must serve him and his son and grandson ²³  until the time comes for his own nation to fall. ²⁴  Then many nations and great kings will in turn subjugate Babylon. ²⁵  27:8 But suppose a nation or a kingdom will not be subject to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Suppose it will not submit to the yoke of servitude to ²⁶  him. I, the Lord, affirm that ²⁷  I will punish that nation. I will use the king of Babylon to punish it ²⁸  with war, ²⁹  starvation, and disease until I have destroyed it. ³⁰ 

Zechariah 10:11-12

10:11 The Lord ³¹  will cross the sea of storms and will calm its turbulence. The depths of the Nile will dry up, the pride of Assyria will be humbled, and the domination ³²  of Egypt will be no more. 10:12 Thus I will strengthen them by my power, ³³  and they will walk about ³⁴  in my name,” says the Lord.

[6:9]  ¹ tn The participle has a desiderative nuance here, describing the desire of the subject and not necessarily the actual outcome. See also v. 14.

[6:9]  ² tn The statement “So now, strengthen my hands” is frequently understood as an implied prayer, but is taken differently by NAB (“But instead, I now redoubled my efforts”).

[18:32]  ³ tn Heb “the God.” The prefixed article emphasizes the Lord’s distinctiveness as the one true God (cf. Deut 33:26). See v. 30.

[18:32]  ⁴ tn Heb “is the one who clothes.” For similar language see 1 Sam 2:4; Pss 65:6; 93:1. The psalmist employs a generalizing hymnic style in vv. 32-34; he uses participles in vv. 32a, 33a, and 34a to describe what God characteristically does on his behalf.

[18:32]  ⁵ tn 2 Sam 22:33 reads, “the God is my strong refuge.”

[18:32]  ⁶ tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries along the generalizing force of the preceding participle.

[18:32]  ⁷ tn Heb “he made my path smooth.” The Hebrew term תָּמִים (tamim, “smooth”) usually carries a moral or ethical connotation, “blameless, innocent.” However, in Ps 18:33 it refers to a pathway free of obstacles. The reality underlying the metaphor is the psalmist’s ability to charge into battle without tripping (see vv. 33, 36).

[18:39]  ⁸ tn Heb “clothed me.” See v. 32.

[18:39]  ⁹ tn Heb “you make those who rise against me kneel beneath me.”

[144:1]  ¹⁰ sn Psalm 144. The psalmist expresses his confidence in God, asks for a mighty display of divine intervention in an upcoming battle, and anticipates God’s rich blessings on the nation in the aftermath of military victory.

[144:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “my rocky summit.” The Lord is compared to a rocky summit where one can find protection from enemies. See Ps 18:2.

[144:1]  ¹² tn Heb “blessed [be] the Lord, my rocky summit.”

[144:1]  ¹³ sn The one who trains my hands for battle. The psalmist attributes his skill with weapons to divine enablement (see Ps 18:34). Egyptian reliefs picture gods teaching the king how to shoot a bow. See O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 265.

[45:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “anointed” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NCV “his appointed king.”

[45:1]  ¹⁵ sn The “right hand” is a symbol of activity and strength; the Lord directs Cyrus’ activities and assures his success.

[45:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and the belts of kings I will loosen”; NRSV “strip kings of their robes”; NIV “strip kings of their armor.”

[45:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and there is none besides.” On the use of עוֹד (’od) here, see BDB 729 s.v. 1.c.

[45:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “gird you” (so NASB) or “strengthen you” (so NIV).

[45:5]  ¹⁹ tn Or “know” (NAB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT); NIV “have not acknowledged.”

[27:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “have given…into the hand of.”

[27:6]  ²¹ sn See the study note on 25:9 for the significance of the application of this term to Nebuchadnezzar.

[27:6]  ²² tn Heb “I have given…to him to serve him.” The verb “give” in this syntactical situation is functioning like the Hiphil stem, i.e., as a causative. See Dan 1:9 for parallel usage. For the usage of “serve” meaning “be subject to” compare 2 Sam 22:44 and BDB 713 s.v. עָבַד 3.

[27:7]  ²³ sn This is a figure that emphasizes that they will serve for a long time but not for an unlimited duration. The kingdom of Babylon lasted a relatively short time by ancient standards. It lasted from 605 b.c. when Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho at Carchemish until the fall of Babylon in 538 b.c. There were only four rulers. Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son, Evil Merodach (cf. 52:31), and two other rulers who were not descended from him.

[27:7]  ²⁴ tn Heb “until the time of his land, even his, comes.” The independent pronoun is placed here for emphasis on the possessive pronoun. The word “time” is used by substitution for the things that are done in it (compare in the NT John 2:4; 7:30; 8:20 “his hour had not yet come”).

[27:7]  ²⁵ tn Heb “him.” This is a good example of the figure of substitution where the person is put for his descendants or the nation or subject he rules. (See Gen 28:13-14 for another good example and Acts 22:7 in the NT.)

[27:8]  ²⁶ tn Heb “put their necks in the yoke of.” See the study note on v. 2 for the figure.

[27:8]  ²⁷ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[27:8]  ²⁸ tn Heb “The nation and/or the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck in the yoke of the king of Babylon, by sword, starvation, and disease I will punish [or more literally, “visit upon”] that nation, oracle of the Lord.” The long complex Hebrew sentence has been broken up in conformity with contemporary English style and the figures interpreted for the sake of clarity. The particle אֵת, the sign of the accusative, before “which will not put…” is a little unusual here. For its use to introduce a new topic (here a second relative clause) see BDB 85 s.v. אֵת 3.α.

[27:8]  ²⁹ tn Heb “with/by the sword.”

[27:8]  ³⁰ tc The verb translated “destroy” (תָּמַם, tamam) is usually intransitive in the stem of the verb used here. It is found in a transitive sense elsewhere only in Ps 64:7. BDB 1070 s.v. תָּמַם 7 emends both texts. In this case they recommend תִּתִּי (titi): “until I give them into his hand.” That reading is suggested by the texts of the Syriac and Targumic translations (see BHS fn c). The Greek translation supports reading the verb “destroy” but treats it as though it were intransitive “until they are destroyed by his hand” (reading תֻּמָּם [tummam]). The MT here is accepted as the more difficult reading and support is seen in the transitive use of the verb in Ps 64:7.

[10:11]  ³¹ tn Heb “he,” in which case the referent is the Lord. This reading is followed by KJV, ASV, NAB (which renders it as first person), and NASB. The LXX reads “they,” referring to the Israelites themselves, a reading followed by many modern English versions (e.g., NIV, NRSV, TEV, NLT).

[10:11]  ³² tn Heb “scepter,” referring by metonymy to the dominating rule of Egypt (cf. NLT).

[10:12]  ³³ tc Heb “I will strengthen them in the Lord.” Because of the perceived problem of the Lord saying he will strengthen the people “in the Lord,” both BHK and BHS suggest emending גִּבַּרְתִּים (gibbartim, “I will strengthen them”) to גְּבֻרָתָם (gevuratam, “their strength”). This is unnecessary, however, for the Lord frequently refers to himself in that manner (see Zech 2:11).

[10:12]  ³⁴ tc The LXX and Syriac presuppose יִתְהַלָּלוּ (yithallalu, “they will glory”) for יִתְהַלְּכוּ (yithallÿkhu, “they will walk about”). Since walking about is a common idiom in Zechariah (cf. 1:10, 11; 6:7 [3x]) to speak of dominion, and dominion is a major theme of the present passage, there is no reason to reject the MT reading, which is followed by most modern English versions.