Genesis 22:1-2

The Sacrifice of Isaac

22:1 Some time after these things God tested ¹  Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” Abraham ²  replied. 22:2 God ³  said, “Take your son – your only son, whom you love, Isaac ⁴  – and go to the land of Moriah! ⁵  Offer him up there as a burnt offering ⁶  on one of the mountains which I will indicate to ⁷  you.”

Psalms 91:13

91:13 You will subdue ⁸  a lion and a snake; ⁹ 

you will trample underfoot a young lion and a serpent.

Mark 16:18

16:18 they will pick up snakes with their hands, and whatever poison they drink will not harm them; ¹⁰  they will place their hands on the sick and they will be well.”

Luke 10:19

10:19 Look, I have given you authority to tread ¹¹  on snakes and scorpions ¹²  and on the full force of the enemy, ¹³  and nothing will ¹⁴  hurt you.

Acts 28:3-6

28:3 When Paul had gathered a bundle of brushwood ¹⁵  and was putting it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand. 28:4 When the local people ¹⁶  saw the creature hanging from Paul’s ¹⁷  hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer! Although he has escaped from the sea, Justice herself ¹⁸  has not allowed him to live!” ¹⁹  28:5 However, ²⁰  Paul ²¹  shook ²²  the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm. 28:6 But they were expecting that he was going to swell up ²³  or suddenly drop dead. So after they had waited ²⁴  a long time and had seen ²⁵  nothing unusual happen ²⁶  to him, they changed their minds ²⁷  and said he was a god. ²⁸ 

[22:1]  ¹ sn The Hebrew verb used here means “to test; to try; to prove.” In this passage God tests Abraham to see if he would be obedient. See T. W. Mann, The Book of the Torah, 44-48. See also J. L. Crenshaw, A Whirlpool of Torment (OBT), 9-30; and J. I. Lawlor, “The Test of Abraham,” GTJ 1 (1980): 19-35.

[22:1]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:2]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:2]  ⁴ sn Take your son…Isaac. The instructions are very clear, but the details are deliberate. With every additional description the commandment becomes more challenging.

[22:2]  ⁵ sn There has been much debate over the location of Moriah; 2 Chr 3:1 suggests it may be the site where the temple was later built in Jerusalem.

[22:2]  ⁶ sn A whole burnt offering signified the complete surrender of the worshiper and complete acceptance by God. The demand for a human sacrifice was certainly radical and may have seemed to Abraham out of character for God. Abraham would have to obey without fully understanding what God was about.

[22:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “which I will say to.”

[91:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “walk upon.”

[91:13]  ⁹ tn Or perhaps “cobra” (see Ps 58:4).

[16:18]  ¹⁰ tn For further comment on the nature of this statement, whether it is a promise or prediction, see ExSyn 403-6.

[10:19]  ¹¹ tn Or perhaps, “trample on” (which emphasizes the impact of the feet on the snakes). See L&N 15.226.

[10:19]  ¹² sn Snakes and scorpions are examples of the hostility in the creation that is defeated by Jesus. The use of battle imagery shows who the kingdom fights against. See Acts 28:3-6.

[10:19]  ¹³ tn Or “I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and [authority] over the full force of the enemy.” The second prepositional phrase can be taken either as modifying the infinitive πατεῖν (patein, “to tread”) or the noun ἐξουσίαν (exousian, “power”). The former is to be preferred and has been represented in the translation.

[10:19]  ¹⁴ tn This is an emphatic double negative in the Greek text.

[28:3]  ¹⁵ tn Or “sticks.”

[28:4]  ¹⁶ tn Although this is literally βάρβαροι (barbaroi; “foreigners, barbarians”) used for non-Greek or non-Romans, as BDAG 166 s.v. βάρβαρος 2.b notes, “Of the inhabitants of Malta, who apparently spoke in their native language Ac 28:2, 4 (here β. certainly without derogatory tone…).”

[28:4]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “his”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:4]  ¹⁸ tn That is, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live. BDAG 250 s.v. δίκη 2 states, “Justice personified as a deity Ac 28:4”; L&N 12.27, “a goddess who personifies justice in seeking out and punishing the guilty – ‘the goddess Justice.’ ἡ δίκη ζῆν οὐκ εἴασεν ‘the goddess Justice would not let him live’ Ac 28:4.” Although a number of modern English translations have rendered δίκη (dikh) “justice,” preferring to use an abstraction, in the original setting it is almost certainly a reference to a pagan deity. In the translation, the noun “justice” was capitalized and the reflexive pronoun “herself” was supplied to make the personification clear. This was considered preferable to supplying a word like ‘goddess’ in connection with δίκη.

[28:4]  ¹⁹ sn The entire scene is played out initially as a kind of oracle from the gods resulting in the judgment of a guilty person (Justice herself has not allowed him to live). Paul’s survival of this incident without ill effects thus spoke volumes about his innocence.

[28:5]  ²⁰ tn BDAG 737 s.v. οὖν 4 indicates the particle has an adversative sense here: “but, however.”

[28:5]  ²¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:5]  ²² tn Grk “shaking the creature off…he suffered no harm.” The participle ἀποτινάξας (apotinaxa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[28:6]  ²³ tn Or “going to burn with fever.” According to BDAG 814 s.v. πίμπρημι, either meaning (“swell up” or “burn with fever”) is possible for Acts 28:6.

[28:6]  ²⁴ tn The participle προσδοκώντων (prosdokwntwn) has been taken temporally.

[28:6]  ²⁵ tn The participle θεωρούντων (qewrountwn) has been taken temporally.

[28:6]  ²⁶ tn Grk “happening.” The participle γινόμενον (ginomenon) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[28:6]  ²⁷ tn Grk “changing their minds.” The participle μεταβαλόμενοι (metabalomenoi) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[28:6]  ²⁸ sn And said he was a god. The reaction is like Acts 14:11-19 where the crowd wanted to make Paul and Barnabas into gods. The providence of God had protected Paul again.