Isaiah 10:13-15

10:13 For he says:

“By my strong hand I have accomplished this,

by my strategy that I devised.

I invaded the territory of nations, ¹ 

and looted their storehouses.

Like a mighty conqueror, ²  I brought down rulers. ³ 

10:14 My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest,

as one gathers up abandoned eggs,

I gathered up the whole earth.

There was no wing flapping,

or open mouth chirping.” ⁴ 

10:15 Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it,

or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it? ⁵ 

As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it,

or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!

Isaiah 14:13-14

14:13 You said to yourself, ⁶ 

“I will climb up to the sky.

Above the stars of El ⁷ 

I will set up my throne.

I will rule on the mountain of assembly

on the remote slopes of Zaphon. ⁸ 

14:14 I will climb up to the tops ⁹  of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High!” ¹⁰ 

Exodus 9:17

9:17 You are still exalting ¹¹  yourself against my people by ¹²  not releasing them.

Proverbs 30:13

30:13 There is a generation whose eyes are so lofty, ¹³ 

and whose eyelids are lifted up disdainfully. ¹⁴ 

Ezekiel 28:2

28:2 “Son of man, say to the prince ¹⁵  of Tyre, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Your heart is proud ¹⁶  and you said, “I am a god; ¹⁷ 

I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas” –

yet you are a man and not a god,

though you think you are godlike. ¹⁸ 

Ezekiel 28:9

28:9 Will you still say, “I am a god,” before the one who kills you –

though you are a man and not a god –

when you are in the power of those who wound you?

Daniel 5:20-23

5:20 And when his mind ¹⁹  became arrogant ²⁰  and his spirit filled with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and his honor was removed from him. 5:21 He was driven from human society, his mind ²¹  was changed to that of an animal, he lived ²²  with the wild donkeys, he was fed grass like oxen, and his body became damp with the dew of the sky, until he came to understand that the most high God rules over human kingdoms, and he appoints over them whomever he wishes.

5:22 “But you, his son ²³  Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, ²⁴  although you knew all this. 5:23 Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. You brought before you the vessels from his temple, and you and your nobles, together with your wives and concubines, drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone – gods ²⁵  that cannot see or hear or comprehend! But you have not glorified the God who has in his control ²⁶  your very breath and all your ways!

Daniel 7:25

7:25 He will speak words against the Most High.

He will harass ²⁷  the holy ones of the Most High continually.

His intention ²⁸  will be to change times established by law. ²⁹ 

They will be delivered into his hand

For a time, times, ³⁰  and half a time.

Daniel 7:2

7:2 Daniel explained: ³¹  “I was watching in my vision during the night as ³²  the four winds of the sky ³³  were stirring up the great sea. ³⁴ 

Daniel 2:4

2:4 The wise men replied to the king: [What follows is in Aramaic ³⁵ ] “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will disclose its ³⁶  interpretation.”

[10:13]  ¹ tn Heb “removed the borders of nations”; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV “boundaries.”

[10:13]  ² tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has כְּאַבִּיר (kÿ’abir, “like a strong one”); the marginal reading (Qere) is כַּבִיר (kavir, “mighty one”).

[10:13]  ³ tn Heb “and I brought down, like a strong one, ones sitting [or “living”].” The participle יוֹשְׁבִים (yoshÿvim, “ones sitting”) could refer to the inhabitants of the nations, but the translation assumes that it refers to those who sit on thrones, i.e., rulers. See BDB 442 s.v. יָשַׁב and HALOT 444 s.v. ישׁב.

[10:14]  ⁴ sn The Assyrians’ conquests were relatively unopposed, like robbing a bird’s nest of its eggs when the mother bird is absent.

[10:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “the one who pushes it back and forth”; KJV “him that shaketh it”; ASV “him that wieldeth it.”

[14:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “you, you said in your heart.”

[14:13]  ⁷ sn In Canaanite mythology the stars of El were astral deities under the authority of the high god El.

[14:13]  ⁸ sn Zaphon, the Canaanite version of Olympus, was the “mountain of assembly” where the gods met.

[14:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “the high places.” This word often refers to the high places where pagan worship was conducted, but here it probably refers to the “backs” or tops of the clouds. See HALOT 136 s.v. בָּמָה.

[14:14]  ¹⁰ sn Normally in the OT the title “Most High” belongs to the God of Israel, but in this context, where the mythological overtones are so strong, it probably refers to the Canaanite high god El.

[9:17]  ¹¹ tn מִסְתּוֹלֵל (mistolel) is a Hitpael participle, from a root that means “raise up, obstruct.” So in the Hitpael it means to “raise oneself up,” “elevate oneself,” or “be an obstructionist.” See W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:363; U. Cassuto, Exodus, 116.

[9:17]  ¹² tn The infinitive construct with lamed here is epexegetical; it explains how Pharaoh has exalted himself – “by not releasing the people.”

[30:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “how high are its eyes!” This is a use of the interrogative pronoun in exclamatory sentences (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 25, §127).

[30:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “its eyelids are lifted up,” a gesture indicating arrogance and contempt or disdain for others. To make this clear, the present translation supplies the adverb “disdainfully” at the end of the verse.

[28:2]  ¹⁵ tn Or “ruler” (NIV, NCV).

[28:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “lifted up.”

[28:2]  ¹⁷ tn Or “I am divine.”

[28:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and you made your heart (mind) like the heart (mind) of gods.”

[5:20]  ¹⁹ tn Aram “heart.”

[5:20]  ²⁰ sn The point of describing Nebuchadnezzar as arrogant is that he had usurped divine prerogatives, and because of his immense arrogance God had dealt decisively with him.

[5:21]  ²¹ tn Aram “heart.”

[5:21]  ²² tn Aram “his dwelling.”

[5:22]  ²³ tn Or “descendant”; or “successor.”

[5:22]  ²⁴ tn Aram “your heart.”

[5:23]  ²⁵ tn Aram “which.”

[5:23]  ²⁶ tn Aram “in whose hand [are].”

[7:25]  ²⁷ tn Aram “wear out” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV); NASB, NLT “wear down.” The word is a hapax legomenon in biblical Aramaic, but in biblical Hebrew it especially refers to wearing out such things as garments. Here it is translated “harass…continually.”

[7:25]  ²⁸ tn Aram “he will think.”

[7:25]  ²⁹ tn Aram “times and law.” The present translation is based on the understanding that the expression is a hendiadys.

[7:25]  ³⁰ sn Although the word times is vocalized in the MT as a plural, it probably should be regarded as a dual. The Masoretes may have been influenced here by the fact that in late Aramaic (and Syriac) the dual forms fall out of use. The meaning would thus be three and a half “times.”

[7:2]  ³¹ tn Aram “answered and said.”

[7:2]  ³² tn Aram “and behold.”

[7:2]  ³³ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[7:2]  ³⁴ sn The referent of the great sea is unclear. The common view that the expression refers to the Mediterranean Sea is conjectural.

[2:4]  ³⁵ sn Contrary to common belief, the point here is not that the wise men (Chaldeans) replied to the king in the Aramaic language, or that this language was uniquely the language of the Chaldeans. It was this view that led in the past to Aramaic being referred to as “Chaldee.” Aramaic was used as a lingua franca during this period; its origins and usage were not restricted to the Babylonians. Rather, this phrase is better understood as an editorial note (cf. NAB) marking the fact that from 2:4b through 7:28 the language of the book shifts from Hebrew to Aramaic. In 8:1, and for the remainder of the book, the language returns to Hebrew. Various views have been advanced to account for this change of language, most of which are unconvincing. Most likely the change in language is a reflection of stages in the transmission history of the book of Daniel.

[2:4]  ³⁶ tn Or “the.”