Isaiah 2:17-21

2:17 Proud men will be humiliated,

arrogant men will be brought low; ¹ 

the Lord alone will be exalted ² 

in that day.

2:18 The worthless idols will be completely eliminated. ³ 

2:19 They ⁴  will go into caves in the rocky cliffs

and into holes in the ground, ⁵ 

trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lord ⁶ 

and his royal splendor,

when he rises up to terrify the earth. ⁷ 

2:20 At that time ⁸  men will throw

their silver and gold idols,

which they made for themselves to worship, ⁹ 

into the caves where rodents and bats live, ¹⁰ 

2:21 so they themselves can go into the crevices of the rocky cliffs

and the openings under the rocky overhangs, ¹¹ 

trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lord ¹² 

and his royal splendor,

when he rises up to terrify the earth. ¹³ 

Jeremiah 16:19

16:19 Then I said, ¹⁴ 

“Lord, you give me strength and protect me.

You are the one I can run to for safety when I am in trouble. ¹⁵ 

Nations from all over the earth

will come to you and say,

‘Our ancestors had nothing but false gods –

worthless idols that could not help them at all. ¹⁶ 

Zephaniah 2:11

2:11 The Lord will terrify them, ¹⁷ 

for ¹⁸  he will weaken ¹⁹  all the gods of the earth.

All the distant nations will worship the Lord in their own lands. ²⁰ 

Zechariah 8:20-23

8:20 The Lord who rules over all says, ‘It will someday come to pass that people – residents of many cities – will come. 8:21 The inhabitants of one will go to another and say, “Let’s go up at once to ask the favor of the Lord, to seek the Lord who rules over all. Indeed, I’ll go with you.”’ 8:22 Many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord who rules over all and to ask his favor. 8:23 The Lord who rules over all says, ‘In those days ten people from all languages and nations will grasp hold of – indeed, grab – the robe of one Jew and say, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’” ²¹ 

Malachi 1:11

1:11 For from the east to the west my name will be great among the nations. Incense and pure offerings will be offered in my name everywhere, for my name will be great among the nations,” ²²  says the Lord who rules over all.

Acts 14:15

14:15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We too are men, with human natures ²³  just like you! We are proclaiming the good news to you, so that you should turn ²⁴  from these worthless ²⁵  things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, ²⁶  the sea, and everything that is in them.

Acts 26:17-18

26:17 I will rescue ²⁷  you from your own people ²⁸  and from the Gentiles, to whom ²⁹  I am sending you 26:18 to open their eyes so that they turn ³⁰  from darkness to light and from the power ³¹  of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share ³²  among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

Acts 26:1

Paul Offers His Defense

26:1 So Agrippa ³³  said to Paul, “You have permission ³⁴  to speak for yourself.” Then Paul held out his hand ³⁵  and began his defense: ³⁶ 

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ³⁷  brothers and sisters ³⁸  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ³⁹  from God our Father! ⁴⁰ 

Galatians 4:8-9

Heirs of Promise Are Not to Return to Law

4:8 Formerly when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods at all. ⁴¹  4:9 But now that you have come to know God (or rather to be known by God), how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless ⁴²  basic forces? ⁴³  Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again? ⁴⁴ 

[2:17]  ¹ tn Heb “and the pride of men will be brought down, and the arrogance of men will be brought low.” As in v. 11, the repetition of the verbs שָׁפַל (shafal) and שָׁחָח (shakhakh) from v. 9 draws attention to the appropriate nature of the judgment. Those proud men who “bow low” before idols will be forced to “bow low” before God when he judges their sin.

[2:17]  ² tn Or “elevated”; NCV “praised”; CEV “honored.”

[2:18]  ³ tc The verb “pass away” is singular in the Hebrew text, despite the plural subject (“worthless idols”) that precedes. The verb should be emended to a plural; the final vav (ו) has been accidentally omitted by haplography (note the vav at the beginning of the immediately following form).

[2:19]  ⁴ tn The identity of the grammatical subject is unclear. The “idols” could be the subject; they will “go” into the caves and holes when the idolaters throw them there in their haste to escape God’s judgment (see vv. 20-21). The picture of the idols, which represent the foreign deities worshiped by the people, fleeing from the Lord would be highly polemical and fit the overall mood of the chapter. However it seems more likely that the idolaters themselves are the subject, for v. 10 uses similar language in sarcastically urging them to run from judgment.

[2:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “dust”; ASV “into the holes of the earth.”

[2:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “from the dread of the Lord,” that is, from the dread that he produces in the objects of his judgment.” The words “trying to escape” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[2:19]  ⁷ tn Or “land.” It is not certain if these verses are describing the judgment of Judah (see vv. 6-9) or a more universal judgment on all proud men.

[2:20]  ⁸ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[2:20]  ⁹ tn Or “bow down to.”

[2:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to the shrews and to the bats.” On the meaning of חֲפַרְפָּרָה (khafarparah, “shrew”), see HALOT 341 s.v. חֲפַרְפָּרָה. The BHS text as it stands (לַחְפֹּר פֵּרוֹת, perot lakhpor), makes no sense. Based on Theodotion’s transliteration and a similar reading in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, most scholars suggest that the MT mistakenly divided a noun (a hapax legomenon) that should be translated “moles,” “shrews,” or “rodents.”

[2:21]  ¹¹ sn The precise point of vv. 20-21 is not entirely clear. Are they taking the idols into their hiding places with them, because they are so attached to their man-made images? Or are they discarding the idols along the way as they retreat into the darkest places they can find? In either case it is obvious that the gods are incapable of helping them.

[2:21]  ¹² tn Heb “from the dread of the Lord,” that is, from the dread that he produces in the objects of his judgment.” The words “trying to escape” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[2:21]  ¹³ tn Or “land.” It is not certain if these verses are describing the judgment of Judah (see vv. 6-9) or a more universal judgment on all proud men. Almost all English versions translate “earth,” taking this to refer to universal judgment.

[16:19]  ¹⁴ tn The words “Then I said” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation to show the shift from God, who has been speaking to Jeremiah, to Jeremiah, who here addresses God.

[16:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “O Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of trouble. The literal which piles up attributes is of course more forceful than the predications. However, piling up poetic metaphors like this adds to the length of the English sentence and risks lack of understanding on the part of some readers. Some rhetorical force has been sacrificed for the sake of clarity.

[16:19]  ¹⁶ tn Once again the translation has sacrificed some of the rhetorical force for the sake of clarity and English style: Heb “Only falsehood did our ancestors possess, vanity and [things in which?] there was no one profiting in them.”

[2:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “will be awesome over [or, “against”] them.”

[2:11]  ¹⁸ tn Or “certainly.”

[2:11]  ¹⁹ tn The meaning of this rare Hebrew word is unclear. If the meaning is indeed “weaken,” then this line may be referring to the reduction of these gods’ territory through conquest (see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah [AB 25A], 110-11). Cf. NEB “reduce to beggary”; NASB “starve”; NIV “when he destroys”; NRSV “shrivel.”

[2:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and all the coastlands of the nations will worship [or, “bow down”] to him, each from his own place.”

[8:23]  ²¹ sn This scene of universal and overwhelming attraction of the nations to Israel’s God finds initial fulfillment in the establishment of the church (Acts 2:5-11) but ultimate completion in the messianic age (Isa 45:14, 24; 60:14; Zech 14:16-21).

[1:11]  ²² sn My name will be great among the nations. In what is clearly a strongly ironic shift of thought, the Lord contrasts the unbelief and virtual paganism of the postexilic community with the conversion and obedience of the nations that will one day worship the God of Israel.

[14:15]  ²³ tn Grk “with the same kinds of feelings,” L&N 25.32. BDAG 706 s.v. ὁμοιοπαθής translates the phrase “with the same nature τινί as someone.” In the immediate context, the contrast is between human and divine nature, and the point is that Paul and Barnabas are mere mortals, not gods.

[14:15]  ²⁴ tn Grk “in order that you should turn,” with ἐπιστρέφειν (epistrefein) as an infinitive of purpose, but this is somewhat awkward contemporary English. To translate the infinitive construction “proclaim the good news, that you should turn,” which is much smoother English, could give the impression that the infinitive clause is actually the content of the good news, which it is not. The somewhat less formal “to get you to turn” would work, but might convey to some readers manipulativeness on the part of the apostles. Thus “proclaim the good news, so that you should turn,” is used, to convey that the purpose of the proclamation of good news is the response by the hearers. The emphasis here is like 1 Thess 1:9-10.

[14:15]  ²⁵ tn Or “useless,” “futile.” The reference is to idols and idolatry, worshiping the creation over the Creator (Rom 1:18-32). See also 1 Kgs 16:2, 13, 26; 2 Kgs 17:15; Jer 2:5; 8:19; 3 Macc 6:11.

[14:15]  ²⁶ tn Grk “and the earth, and the sea,” but καί (kai) has not been translated before “the earth” and “the sea” since contemporary English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[26:17]  ²⁷ tn Grk “rescuing.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the participle ἐξαιρούμενος (exairoumeno") has been translated as a finite verb and a new sentence started in the translation at the beginning of v. 17.

[26:17]  ²⁸ tn That is, from the Jewish people. Grk “the people”; the words “your own” have been supplied to clarify the meaning.

[26:17]  ²⁹ tn The antecedent of the relative pronoun is probably both the Jews (“your own people”) and the Gentiles, indicating the comprehensive commission Paul received.

[26:18]  ³⁰ sn To open their eyes so that they turn… Here is Luke’s most comprehensive report of Paul’s divine calling. His role was to call humanity to change their position before God and experience God’s forgiveness as a part of God’s family. The image of turning is a key one in the NT: Luke 1:79; Rom 2:19; 13:12; 2 Cor 4:6; 6:14; Eph 5:8; Col 1:12; 1 Thess 5:5. See also Luke 1:77-79; 3:3; 24:47.

[26:18]  ³¹ tn BDAG 352-53 s.v. ἐξουσία 2 states, “Also of Satan’s power Ac 26:18.” It is also possible to translate this “the domain of Satan” (cf. BDAG 353 s.v. 6)

[26:18]  ³² tn Or “and an inheritance.”

[26:1]  ³³ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

[26:1]  ³⁴ tn Grk “It is permitted for you.”

[26:1]  ³⁵ tn Or “extended his hand” (a speaker’s gesture).

[26:1]  ³⁶ tn Or “and began to speak in his own defense.”

[1:2]  ³⁷ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ³⁸ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ³⁹ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ⁴⁰ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

[4:8]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “those that by nature…” with the word “beings” implied. BDAG 1070 s.v. φύσις 2 sees this as referring to pagan worship: “Polytheists worship…beings that are by nature no gods at all Gal 4:8.”

[4:9]  ⁴² tn Or “useless.” See L&N 65.16.

[4:9]  ⁴³ tn See the note on the phrase “basic forces” in 4:3.

[4:9]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “basic forces, to which you want to be enslaved…” Verse 9 is a single sentence in the Greek text, but has been divided into two in the translation because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence.