Isaiah 11:9

11:9 They will no longer injure or destroy

on my entire royal mountain. ¹ 

For there will be universal submission to the Lord’s sovereignty,

just as the waters completely cover the sea. ² 

Daniel 2:34-35

2:34 You were watching as ³  a stone was cut out, ⁴  but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its iron and clay feet, breaking them in pieces. 2:35 Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were broken in pieces without distinction ⁵  and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors that the wind carries away. Not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a large mountain that filled the entire earth.

Habakkuk 2:14

2:14 For recognition of the Lord’s sovereign majesty will fill the earth

just as the waters fill up the sea. ⁶ 

Matthew 13:31-32

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

13:31 He gave ⁷  them another parable: ⁸  “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed ⁹  that a man took and sowed in his field. 13:32 It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest garden plant and becomes a tree, ¹⁰  so that the wild birds ¹¹  come and nest in its branches.” ¹² 

Revelation 7:9

7:9 After these things I looked, and here was ¹³  an enormous crowd that no one could count, made up of persons from every nation, tribe, ¹⁴  people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb dressed in long white robes, and with palm branches in their hands.

Revelation 11:15

The Seventh Trumpet

11:15 Then ¹⁵  the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying:

“The kingdom of the world

has become the kingdom of our Lord

and of his Christ, ¹⁶ 

and he will reign for ever and ever.”

Revelation 20:2-4

20:2 He ¹⁷  seized the dragon – the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan – and tied him up for a thousand years. 20:3 The angel ¹⁸  then ¹⁹  threw him into the abyss and locked ²⁰  and sealed it so that he could not deceive the nations until the one thousand years were finished. (After these things he must be released for a brief period of time.)

20:4 Then ²¹  I saw thrones and seated on them were those who had been given authority to judge. ²²  I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. These ²³  had not worshiped the beast or his image and had refused to receive his mark on their forehead or hand. They ²⁴  came to life ²⁵  and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

[11:9]  ¹ tn Heb “in all my holy mountain.” In the most basic sense the Lord’s “holy mountain” is the mountain from which he rules over his kingdom (see Ezek 28:14, 16). More specifically it probably refers to Mount Zion/Jerusalem or to the entire land of Israel (see Pss 2:6; 15:1; 43:3; Isa 56:7; 57:13; Ezek 20:40; Ob 16; Zeph 3:11). If the Lord’s universal kingdom is in view in this context (see the note on “earth” at v. 4), then the phrase would probably be metonymic here, standing for God’s worldwide dominion (see the next line).

[11:9]  ² tn Heb “for the earth will be full of knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” The translation assumes that a universal kingdom is depicted here, but אֶרֶץ (’erets) could be translated “land” (see the note at v. 4). “Knowledge of the Lord” refers here to a recognition of the Lord’s sovereignty which results in a willingness to submit to his authority. See the note at v. 2.

[2:34]  ³ tn Aram “until.”

[2:34]  ⁴ tc The LXX, Theodotion, and the Vulgate have “from a mountain,” though this is probably a harmonization with v. 45.

[2:35]  ⁵ tn Aram “as one.” For the meaning “without distinction” see the following: F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 36, §64, and p. 93; E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 60.

[2:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, just as the waters cover over the sea.”

[13:31]  ⁷ tn Grk “put before.”

[13:31]  ⁸ tn Grk “He set before them another parable, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant and has not been translated.

[13:31]  ⁹ sn The mustard seed was noted for its tiny size.

[13:32]  ¹⁰ sn This is rhetorical hyperbole, since technically a mustard plant is not a tree. This could refer to one of two types of mustard plant popular in Palestine and would be either ten or twenty-five ft (3 or 7.5 m) tall.

[13:32]  ¹¹ tn Grk “the birds of the sky” or “the birds of the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated either “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).

[13:32]  ¹² sn The point of the parable seems to be that while the kingdom of God may appear to have insignificant and unnoticeable beginnings (i.e., in the ministry of Jesus), it will someday (i.e., at the second advent) be great and quite expansive. The kingdom, however, is not to be equated with the church, but rather the church is an expression of the kingdom. Also, there is important OT background in the image of the mustard seed that grew and became a tree: Ezek 17:22-24 pictures the reemergence of the Davidic house where people can find calm and shelter. Like the mustard seed, it would start out small but grow to significant size.

[7:9]  ¹³ tn The phrase “and here was” expresses the sense of καὶ ἰδού (kai idou).

[7:9]  ¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated before each of the following categories, since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[11:15]  ¹⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[11:15]  ¹⁶ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[20:2]  ¹⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[20:3]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the angel introduced in v. 1) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:3]  ¹⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[20:3]  ²⁰ tn Or “and shut.” While the lexical force of the term is closer to “shut,” it is acceptable to render the verb ἔκλεισεν (ekleisen) as “locked” here in view of the mention of the key in the previous verse.

[20:4]  ²¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[20:4]  ²² tn Grk “I saw thrones, and those seated on them, and judgment was given to them.” BDAG 567 s.v. κρίμα 3 says, “judging, judgment, the κρίμα ἐδόθη αὐτοῖς authority to judge was given to them Rv 20:4.”

[20:4]  ²³ tn Grk “God, and who.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the pronoun “these” as subject.

[20:4]  ²⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[20:4]  ²⁵ tn On the use of the aorist ἔζησαν (ezhsan) BDAG 425 s.v. ζάω 1.a.β says, “of dead persons who return to life become alive again: of humans in general (3 Km 17:23) Mt 9:18; Ac 9:41; 20:12; Rv 20:4, 5.”