Isaiah 36:19-20

36:19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? ¹  Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria ²  from my power? ³  36:20 Who among all the gods of these lands have rescued their lands from my power? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?’” ⁴ 

Isaiah 37:38

37:38 One day, ⁵  as he was worshiping ⁶  in the temple of his god Nisroch, ⁷  his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. ⁸  They ran away to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.

Daniel 3:17

3:17 If ⁹  our God whom we are serving exists, ¹⁰  he is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he will rescue us, O king, from your power as well.

Daniel 3:29

3:29 I hereby decree ¹¹  that any people, nation, or language group that blasphemes ¹²  the god of Shadrach, Meshach, or Abednego will be dismembered and his home reduced to rubble! For there exists no other god who can deliver in this way.”

Daniel 6:16

6:16 So the king gave the order, ¹³  and Daniel was brought and thrown into a den ¹⁴  of lions. The king consoled ¹⁵  Daniel by saying, “Your God whom you continually serve will rescue you!”

Daniel 6:20-22

6:20 As he approached the den, he called out to Daniel in a worried voice, ¹⁶  “Daniel, servant of the living God, was your God whom you continually serve able to rescue you from the lions?”

6:21 Then Daniel spoke to ¹⁷  the king, “O king, live forever! 6:22 My God sent his angel and closed the lions’ mouths so that they have not harmed me, because I was found to be innocent before him. Nor have I done any harm to you, O king.”

Daniel 6:27

6:27 He rescues and delivers

and performs signs and wonders

in the heavens and on the earth.

He has rescued Daniel from the power ¹⁸  of the lions!”

[36:19]  ¹ tn The rhetorical questions in v. 34a suggest the answer, “Nowhere, they seem to have disappeared in the face of Assyria’s might.”

[36:19]  ² map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[36:19]  ³ tn Heb “that they rescued Samaria from my hand?” But this gives the impression that the gods of Sepharvaim were responsible for protecting Samaria, which is obviously not the case. The implied subject of the plural verb “rescued” must be the generic “gods of the nations/lands” (vv. 18, 20).

[36:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “that the Lord might rescue Jerusalem from my hand?” The logic runs as follows: Since no god has ever been able to withstand the Assyrian onslaught, how can the people of Jerusalem possibly think the Lord will rescue them?

[37:38]  ⁵ sn The assassination of King Sennacherib probably took place in 681 b.c.

[37:38]  ⁶ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[37:38]  ⁷ sn No such Mesopotamian god is presently known. Perhaps the name Nisroch is a corruption of Nusku.

[37:38]  ⁸ sn Extra-biblical sources also mention the assassination of Sennacherib, though they refer to only one assassin. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 239-40.

[3:17]  ⁹ tc The ancient versions typically avoid the conditional element of v. 17.

[3:17]  ¹⁰ tn The Aramaic expression used here is very difficult to interpret. The question concerns the meaning and syntax of אִיתַי (’itay, “is” or “exist”). There are several possibilities. (1) Some interpreters take this word closely with the participle later in the verse יָכִל (yakhil, “able”), understanding the two words to form a periphrastic construction (“if our God is…able”; cf. H. Bauer and P. Leander, Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen, 365, §111b). But the separation of the two elements from one another is not an argument in favor of this understanding. (2) Other interpreters take the first part of v. 17 to mean “If it is so, then our God will deliver us” (cf. KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB). However, the normal sense of ’itay is existence; on this point see F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 45, §95. The present translation maintains the sense of existence for the verb (“If our God…exists”), even though the statement is admittedly difficult to understand in this light. The statement may be an implicit reference back to Nebuchadnezzar’s comment in v. 15, which denies the existence of a god capable of delivering from the king’s power.

[3:29]  ¹¹ tn Aram “from me is placed an edict.”

[3:29]  ¹² tn Aram “speaks negligence.”

[6:16]  ¹³ tn Aram “said.” So also in vv. 24, 25.

[6:16]  ¹⁴ sn The den was perhaps a pit below ground level which could be safely observed from above.

[6:16]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “answered and said [to Daniel].”

[6:20]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “The king answered and said to Daniel.” This phrase has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons; it is redundant in English.

[6:21]  ¹⁷ tn Aram “with.”

[6:27]  ¹⁸ tn Aram “hand.”