Genesis 10:22

10:22 The sons of Shem were Elam, ¹  Asshur, ²  Arphaxad, ³  Lud, ⁴  and Aram. ⁵ 

Genesis 14:1

The Blessing of Victory for God’s People

14:1 At that time ⁶  Amraphel king of Shinar, ⁷  Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations ⁸ 

Genesis 14:1

The Blessing of Victory for God’s People

14:1 At that time ⁹  Amraphel king of Shinar, ¹⁰  Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations ¹¹ 

Genesis 1:17

1:17 God placed the lights ¹²  in the expanse of the sky to shine on the earth,

Jeremiah 25:25

25:25 all the kings of Zimri; ¹³  all the kings of Elam; ¹⁴  all the kings of Media; ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 49:34-39

Judgment Against Elam

49:34 Early in the reign ¹⁶  of King Zedekiah of Judah, the Lord spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about Elam. ¹⁷ 

49:35 The Lord who rules over all said,

“I will kill all the archers of Elam,

who are the chief source of her military might. ¹⁸ 

49:36 I will cause enemies to blow through Elam from every direction

like the winds blowing in from the four quarters of heaven.

I will scatter the people of Elam to the four winds.

There will not be any nation where the refugees of Elam will not go. ¹⁹ 

49:37 I will make the people of Elam terrified of their enemies,

who are seeking to kill them.

I will vent my fierce anger

and bring disaster upon them,” ²⁰  says the Lord. ²¹ 

“I will send armies chasing after them ²² 

until I have completely destroyed them.

49:38 I will establish my sovereignty over Elam. ²³ 

I will destroy their king and their leaders,” ²⁴  says the Lord. ²⁵ 

49:39 “Yet in days to come

I will reverse Elam’s ill fortune.” ²⁶ 

says the Lord. ²⁷ 

Daniel 8:2

8:2 In this ²⁸  vision I saw myself in Susa ²⁹  the citadel, ³⁰  which is located in the province of Elam. In the vision I saw myself at the Ulai Canal. ³¹ 

[10:22]  ¹ sn The Hebrew name Elam (עֵילָם, ’elam) means “highland.” The Elamites were a non-Semitic people who lived east of Babylon.

[10:22]  ² sn Asshur is the name for the Assyrians. Asshur was the region in which Nimrod expanded his power (see v. 11, where the name is also mentioned). When names appear in both sections of a genealogical list, it probably means that there were both Hamites and Shemites living in that region in antiquity, especially if the name is a place name.

[10:22]  ³ sn The descendants of Arphaxad may have lived northeast of Nineveh.

[10:22]  ⁴ sn Lud may have been the ancestor of the Ludbu, who lived near the Tigris River.

[10:22]  ⁵ sn Aram became the collective name of the northern tribes living in the steppes of Mesopotamia and speaking Aramaic dialects.

[14:1]  ⁶ tn The sentence begins with the temporal indicator וַיְהִי (vayÿhi) followed by “in the days of.”

[14:1]  ⁷ sn Shinar (also in v. 9) is the region of Babylonia.

[14:1]  ⁸ tn Or “king of Goyim.” The Hebrew term גּוֹיִם (goyim) means “nations,” but a number of modern translations merely transliterate the Hebrew (cf. NEB “Goyim”; NIV, NRSV “Goiim”).

[14:1]  ⁹ tn The sentence begins with the temporal indicator וַיְהִי (vayÿhi) followed by “in the days of.”

[14:1]  ¹⁰ sn Shinar (also in v. 9) is the region of Babylonia.

[14:1]  ¹¹ tn Or “king of Goyim.” The Hebrew term גּוֹיִם (goyim) means “nations,” but a number of modern translations merely transliterate the Hebrew (cf. NEB “Goyim”; NIV, NRSV “Goiim”).

[1:17]  ¹² tn Heb “them”; the referent (the lights mentioned in the preceding verses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:25]  ¹³ sn The kingdom of Zimri is mentioned nowhere else, so its location is unknown.

[25:25]  ¹⁴ sn See further Jer 49:34-39 for judgment against Elam.

[25:25]  ¹⁵ sn Elam and Media were east of Babylon; Elam in the south and Media in the north. They were in what is now western Iran.

[49:34]  ¹⁶ tn Or “In the beginning of the reign.” For a discussion of the usage of the terms here see the translator’s note on 28:1. If this refers to the accession year the dating would be 598/97 b.c.

[49:34]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “That which came [as] the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet about the Elam.” See the translator’s note on 14:1 for the construction here and compare also 46:1; 47:1; 50:1.

[49:35]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “I will break the bow of Elam, the chief source of their might.” The phrase does not mean that God will break literal bows or that he will destroy their weapons (synecdoche of species for genus) or their military power (so Hos 1:5). Because of the parallelism, the “bow” here stands for the archers who wield the bow, and were the strongest force (or chief contingent) in their military.

[49:36]  ¹⁹ tn Or more simply, “I will bring enemies against Elam from every direction. / And I will scatter the people of Elam to the four winds. // There won’t be any nation / where the refugees of Elam will not go.” Or more literally, “I will bring the four winds against Elam / from the four quarters of heaven. / I will scatter….” However, the winds are not to be understood literally here. God isn’t going to “blow the Elamites” out of Elam with natural forces. The winds must figuratively represent enemy forces that God will use to drive them out. Translating literally would be misleading at this point.

[49:37]  ²⁰ tn Heb “I will bring disaster upon them, even my fierce anger.”

[49:37]  ²¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[49:37]  ²² tn Heb “I will send the sword after them.”

[49:38]  ²³ tn Or “I will sit in judgment over Elam”; Heb “I will set up my throne in Elam.” Commentators are divided over whether this refers to a king sitting in judgment over his captured enemies or whether it refers to formally establishing his rule over the country. Those who argue for the former idea point to the supposed parallels in 1:15 (which the present translation understands not to refer to this but to setting up siege) and 43:8-13. The parallelism in the verse here, however, argues that it refers to the Lord taking over the reins of government by destroying their former leaders.

[49:38]  ²⁴ tn Heb “I will destroy king and leaders from there.”

[49:38]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[49:39]  ²⁶ tn See Jer 29:14; 30:3 and the translator’s note on 29:14 for the idiom used here.

[49:39]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[8:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the.”

[8:2]  ²⁹ sn Susa (Heb. שׁוּשַׁן, shushan), located some 230 miles (380 km) east of Babylon, was a winter residence for Persian kings during the Achaemenid period. The language of v. 2 seems to suggest that Daniel may not have been physically present at Susa, but only saw himself there in the vision. However, the Hebrew is difficult, and some have concluded that the first four words of v. 2 in the MT are a later addition (cf. Theodotion).

[8:2]  ³⁰ tn The Hebrew word בִּירָה (birah, “castle, palace”) usually refers to a fortified structure within a city, but here it is in apposition to the city name Susa and therefore has a broader reference to the entire city (against this view, however, see BDB 108 s.v. 2). Cf. NAB “the fortress of Susa”; TEV “the walled city of Susa.”

[8:2]  ³¹ tn The term אוּבַל (’uval = “stream, river”) is a relatively rare word in biblical Hebrew, found only here and in vv. 3 and 6. The Ulai was apparently a sizable artificial canal in Susa (cf. NASB, NIV, NCV), and not a river in the ordinary sense of that word.