Genesis 50:20

50:20 As for you, you meant to harm me, ¹  but God intended it for a good purpose, so he could preserve the lives of many people, as you can see this day. ² 

Isaiah 14:24-27

14:24 ³ The Lord who commands armies makes this solemn vow:

“Be sure of this:

Just as I have intended, so it will be;

just as I have planned, it will happen.

14:25 I will break Assyria ⁴  in my land,

I will trample them ⁵  underfoot on my hills.

Their yoke will be removed from my people,

the burden will be lifted from their shoulders. ⁶ 

14:26 This is the plan I have devised for the whole earth;

my hand is ready to strike all the nations.” ⁷ 

14:27 Indeed, ⁸  the Lord who commands armies has a plan,

and who can possibly frustrate it?

His hand is ready to strike,

and who can possibly stop it? ⁹ 

Isaiah 45:7

45:7 I am ¹⁰  the one who forms light

and creates darkness; ¹¹ 

the one who brings about peace

and creates calamity. ¹² 

I am the Lord, who accomplishes all these things.

Acts 2:23

2:23 this man, who was handed over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you executed ¹³  by nailing him to a cross at the hands of Gentiles. ¹⁴ 

Acts 4:28

4:28 to do as much as your power ¹⁵  and your plan ¹⁶  had decided beforehand ¹⁷  would happen.

[50:20]  ¹ tn Heb “you devised against me evil.”

[50:20]  ² tn Heb “God devised it for good in order to do, like this day, to preserve alive a great nation.”

[14:24]  ³ sn Having announced the downfall of the Chaldean empire, the Lord appends to this prophecy a solemn reminder that the Assyrians, the major Mesopotamian power of Isaiah’s day, would be annihilated, foreshadowing what would subsequently happen to Babylon and the other hostile nations.

[14:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “to break Assyria.”

[14:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “him.” This is a collective singular referring to the nation, or a reference to the king of Assyria who by metonymy stands for the entire nation.

[14:25]  ⁶ tn Heb “and his [i.e., Assyria’s] yoke will be removed from them [the people?], and his [Assyria’s] burden from his [the nation’s?] shoulder will be removed.” There are no antecedents in this oracle for the suffixes in the phrases “from them” and “from his shoulder.” Since the Lord’s land and hills are referred to in the preceding line and the statement seems to echo 10:27, it is likely that God’s people are the referents of the suffixes; the translation uses “my people” to indicate this.

[14:26]  ⁷ tn Heb “and this is the hand that is outstretched over all the nations.”

[14:27]  ⁸ tn Or “For” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[14:27]  ⁹ tn Heb “His hand is outstretched and who will turn it back?”

[45:7]  ¹⁰ tn The words “I am” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the participle at the beginning of v. 7 stands in apposition to “the Lord” in v. 6.

[45:7]  ¹¹ tn On the surface v. 7a appears to describe God’s sovereign control over the cycle of day and night, but the following statement suggests that “light” and “darkness” symbolize “deliverance” and “judgment.”

[45:7]  ¹² sn This verses affirms that God is ultimately sovereign over his world, including mankind and nations. In accordance with his sovereign will, he can cause wars to cease and peace to predominate (as he was about to do for his exiled people through Cyrus), or he can bring disaster and judgment on nations (as he was about to do to Babylon through Cyrus).

[2:23]  ¹³ tn Or “you killed.”

[2:23]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “at the hands of lawless men.” At this point the term ἄνομος (anomo") refers to non-Jews who live outside the Jewish (Mosaic) law, rather than people who broke any or all laws including secular laws. Specifically it is a reference to the Roman soldiers who carried out Jesus’ crucifixion.

[4:28]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “hand,” here a metaphor for God’s strength or power or authority.

[4:28]  ¹⁶ tn Or “purpose,” “will.”

[4:28]  ¹⁷ 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.