Isaiah 28:29

28:29 This also comes from the Lord who commands armies,

who gives supernatural guidance and imparts great wisdom. ¹ 

Isaiah 46:10

46:10 who announces the end from the beginning

and reveals beforehand ²  what has not yet occurred,

who says, ‘My plan will be realized,

I will accomplish what I desire,’

Numbers 23:19

23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie,

nor a human being, ³  that he should change his mind.

Has he said, and will he not do it?

Or has he spoken, and will he not make it happen? ⁴ 

Psalms 33:10-11

33:10 The Lord frustrates ⁵  the decisions of the nations;

he nullifies the plans ⁶  of the peoples.

33:11 The Lord’s decisions stand forever;

his plans abide throughout the ages. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 32:17-24

32:17 ‘Oh, Lord God, ⁸  you did indeed ⁹  make heaven and earth by your mighty power and great strength. ¹⁰  Nothing is too hard for you! 32:18 You show unfailing love to thousands. ¹¹  But you also punish children for the sins of their parents. ¹²  You are the great and powerful God who is known as the Lord who rules over all. ¹³  32:19 You plan great things and you do mighty deeds. ¹⁴  You see everything people do. ¹⁵  You reward each of them for the way they live and for the things they do. ¹⁶  32:20 You did miracles and amazing deeds in the land of Egypt which have had lasting effect. By this means you gained both in Israel and among humankind a renown that lasts to this day. ¹⁷  32:21 You used your mighty power and your great strength to perform miracles and amazing deeds and to bring great terror on the Egyptians. By this means you brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁸  32:22 You kept the promise that you swore on oath to their ancestors. ¹⁹  You gave them a land flowing with milk and honey. ²⁰  32:23 But when they came in and took possession of it, they did not obey you or live as you had instructed them. They did not do anything that you commanded them to do. ²¹  So you brought all this disaster on them. 32:24 Even now siege ramps have been built up around the city ²²  in order to capture it. War, ²³  starvation, and disease are sure to make the city fall into the hands of the Babylonians ²⁴  who are attacking it. ²⁵  Lord, ²⁶  you threatened that this would happen. Now you can see that it is already taking place. ²⁷ 

Ezekiel 38:17-23

38:17 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days by my servants ²⁸  the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days ²⁹  that I would bring you against them? 38:18 On that day, when Gog invades ³⁰  the land of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord, my rage will mount up in my anger. 38:19 In my zeal, in the fire of my fury, ³¹  I declare that on that day there will be a great earthquake ³²  in the land of Israel. 38:20 The fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the wild beasts, all the things that creep on the ground, and all people who live on the face of the earth will shake ³³  at my presence. The mountains will topple, the cliffs ³⁴  will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground. 38:21 I will call for a sword to attack ³⁵  Gog ³⁶  on all my mountains, declares the sovereign Lord; every man’s sword will be against his brother. 38:22 I will judge him with plague and bloodshed. I will rain down on him, his troops and the many peoples who are with him a torrential downpour, hailstones, fire, and brimstone. 38:23 I will exalt and magnify myself; I will reveal myself before many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’

Romans 11:25-29

11:25 For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, ³⁷  so that you may not be conceited: A partial hardening has happened to Israel ³⁸  until the full number ³⁹  of the Gentiles has come in. 11:26 And so ⁴⁰  all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

“The Deliverer will come out of Zion;

he will remove ungodliness from Jacob.

11:27 And this is my covenant with them, ⁴¹ 

when I take away their sins.” ⁴² 

11:28 In regard to the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but in regard to election they are dearly loved for the sake of the fathers. 11:29 For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.

Ephesians 1:11

1:11 In Christ ⁴³  we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, ⁴⁴  since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will

Hebrews 6:17-18

6:17 In the same way ⁴⁵  God wanted to demonstrate more clearly to the heirs of the promise that his purpose was unchangeable, ⁴⁶  and so he intervened with an oath, 6:18 so that we who have found refuge in him ⁴⁷  may find strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us through two unchangeable things, since it is impossible for God to lie.

Revelation 19:11

The Son of God Goes to War

19:11 Then ⁴⁸  I saw heaven opened and here came ⁴⁹  a white horse! The ⁵⁰  one riding it was called “Faithful” and “True,” and with justice ⁵¹  he judges and goes to war.

[28:29]  ¹ sn Verses 23-29 emphasize that God possesses great wisdom and has established a natural order. Evidence of this can be seen in the way farmers utilize divinely imparted wisdom to grow and harvest crops. God’s dealings with his people will exhibit this same kind of wisdom and order. Judgment will be accomplished according to a divinely ordered timetable and, while severe enough, will not be excessive. Judgment must come, just as planting inevitably follows plowing. God will, as it were, thresh his people, but he will not crush them to the point where they will be of no use to him.

[46:10]  ² tn Or “from long ago”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “from ancient times.”

[23:19]  ³ tn Heb “son of man.”

[23:19]  ⁴ tn The verb is the Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “to cause to rise; to make stand”). The meaning here is more of the sense of fulfilling the promises made.

[33:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “breaks” or “destroys.” The Hebrew perfect verbal forms here and in the next line generalize about the Lord’s activity.

[33:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “thoughts.”

[33:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “the thoughts of his heart for generation to generation.” The verb “abides” is supplied in the translation. The Lord’s “decisions” and “plans” here refer to his decrees and purposes.

[32:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.” For an explanation of the rendering here see the study note on 1:6.

[32:17]  ⁹ tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle normally translated “behold.” See the translator’s note on 1:6 for the usage of this particle.

[32:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “by your great power and your outstretched arm.” See 21:5; 27:5 and the marginal note on 27:5 for this idiom.

[32:18]  ¹¹ tn Or “to thousands of generations.” The contrast of showing steadfast love to “thousands” to the limitation of punishing the third and fourth generation of children for their parents’ sins in Exod 20:5-6; Deut 5:9-10; Exod 34:7 has suggested to many commentators and translators (cf., e.g., NRSV, TEV, NJPS) that reference here is to “thousands of generations.” The statement is, of course, rhetorical emphasizing God’s great desire to bless as opposed to the reluctant necessity to punish. It is part of the attributes of God spelled out in Exod 34:6-7.

[32:18]  ¹² tn Heb “pays back into the bosom of their children the sin of their parents.”

[32:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “Nothing is too hard for you who show…and who punishes…the great [and] powerful God whose name is Yahweh of armies, [you who are] great in counsel…whose eyes are open…who did signs…” Jer 32:18-22 is a long series of relative clauses introduced by participles or relative pronouns in vv. 18-20a followed by second person vav consecutive imperfects carrying on the last of these relative clauses in vv. 20b-22. This is typical of hymnic introductions to hymns of praise (cf., e.g., Ps 136) but it is hard to sustain the relative subordination which all goes back to the suffix on “hard for you.” The sentences have been broken up but the connection with the end of v. 17 has been sacrificed for conformity to contemporary English style.

[32:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “[you are] great in counsel and mighty in deed.”

[32:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “your eyes are open to the ways of the sons of men.”

[32:19]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “giving to each according to his way [= behavior/conduct] and according to the fruit of his deeds.”

[32:20]  ¹⁷ tn Or “You did miracles and amazing deeds in the land of Egypt. And you continue to do them until this day both in Israel and among mankind. By this mean you have gained a renown…” The translation here follows the syntactical understanding reflected also in NJPS. The Hebrew text reads: “you did miracles and marvelous acts in the land of Egypt until this day and in Israel and in mankind and you made for yourself a name as this day.” The majority of English versions and commentaries understand the phrases “until this day and in Israel and in mankind” to be an elliptical sentence with the preceding verb and objects supplied as reflected in the alternate translation. However, the emphasis on the miraculous deeds in Egypt in this section both before and after this elliptical phrase and the dominant usage of the terms “signs and wonders” to refer to the plagues and other miraculous signs in Egypt calls this interpretation into question. The key here is understanding “both in Israel and in mankind” as an example of a casus pendens construction (a dangling subject, object, or other modifier) before a conjunction introducing the main clause (cf. GKC 327 §111.h and 458 §143.d and compare the usage in Jer 6:19; 33:24; 1 Kgs 15:13). This verse is the topic sentence which is developed further in v. 21 and initiates a narrative history of the distant past that continues until v. 22b where reference is made to the long history of disobedience which has led to the present crisis.

[32:21]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders and with a mighty hand and with outstretched arm and with great terror.” For the figurative expressions involved here see the marginal notes on 27:5. The sentence has been broken down to better conform to contemporary English style.

[32:22]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “fathers.”

[32:22]  ²⁰ tn For an alternative translation of the expression “a land flowing with milk and honey” see the translator’s note on 11:5.

[32:23]  ²¹ tn Or “They did not do everything that you commanded them to do.” This is probably a case where the negative (לֹא, lo’) negates the whole category indicated by “all” (כָּל, kol; see BDB 482 s.v. כָּל 1.e(c) and compare usage in Deut 12:16; 28:14). Jeremiah has repeatedly emphasized that the history of Israel since their entry into the land has been one of persistent disobedience and rebellion (cf., e.g. 7:22-26; 11:7-8). The statement, of course, is somewhat hyperbolical as all categorical statements of this kind are.

[32:24]  ²² tn Heb “Siege ramps have come up to the city to capture it.”

[32:24]  ²³ tn Heb “sword.”

[32:24]  ²⁴ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.

[32:24]  ²⁵ tn Heb “And the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it because of the sword, starvation, and disease.” The verb “has been given” is one of those perfects that view the action as good as done (the perfect of certainty or prophetic perfect).

[32:24]  ²⁶ tn The word “Lord” is not in the text but is supplied in the translation as a reminder that it is he who is being addressed.

[32:24]  ²⁷ tn Heb “And what you said has happened and behold you see it.”

[38:17]  ²⁸ tn Heb “by the hand of my servants.”

[38:17]  ²⁹ tn The Hebrew text adds “years” here, but this is probably a scribal gloss on the preceding phrase. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:201.

[38:18]  ³⁰ tn Heb “goes up against.”

[38:19]  ³¹ sn The phrase “in the fire of my fury” occurs in Ezek 21:31; 22:21, 31.

[38:19]  ³² tn Or “shaking.”

[38:20]  ³³ tn Or “tremble.”

[38:20]  ³⁴ tn The term occurs only here and in Song of Songs 2:14.

[38:21]  ³⁵ tn Heb “against.”

[38:21]  ³⁶ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Gog, cf. v. 18) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:25]  ³⁷ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[11:25]  ³⁸ tn Or “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.”

[11:25]  ³⁹ tn Grk “fullness.”

[11:26]  ⁴⁰ tn It is not clear whether the phrase καὶ οὕτως (kai Joutws, “and so”) is to be understood in a modal sense (“and in this way”) or in a temporal sense (“and in the end”). Neither interpretation is conclusive from a grammatical standpoint, and in fact the two may not be mutually exclusive. Some, like H. Hübner, who argue strongly against the temporal reading, nevertheless continue to give the phrase a temporal significance, saying that God will save all Israel in the end (Gottes Ich und Israel [FRLANT], 118).

[11:27]  ⁴¹ sn A quotation from Isa 59:20-21.

[11:27]  ⁴² sn A quotation from Isa 27:9; Jer 31:33-34.

[1:11]  ⁴³ tn Grk “in whom,” as a continuation of the previous verse.

[1:11]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “we were appointed by lot.” The notion of the verb κληρόω (klhrow) in the OT was to “appoint a portion by lot” (the more frequent cognate verb κληρονομέω [klhronomew] meant “obtain a portion by lot”). In the passive, as here, the idea is that “we were appointed [as a portion] by lot” (BDAG 548 s.v. κληρόω 1). The words “God’s own” have been supplied in the translation to clarify this sense of the verb. An alternative interpretation is that believers receive a portion as an inheritance: “In Christ we too have been appointed a portion of the inheritance.” See H. W. Hoehner, Ephesians, 226-27, for discussion on this interpretive issue.

[6:17]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “in which.”

[6:17]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “immutable” (here and in v. 18); Grk “the unchangeableness of his purpose.”

[6:18]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “have taken refuge”; the basis of that refuge is implied in the preceding verse.

[19:11]  ⁴⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[19:11]  ⁴⁹ tn The phrase “and here came” expresses the sense of καὶ ἰδού (kai idou).

[19:11]  ⁵⁰ tn A new sentence was started in the translation at this point and καί (kai) was not translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[19:11]  ⁵¹ tn Or “in righteousness,” but since the context here involves the punishment of the wicked and the vindication of the saints, “justice” was preferred.