Isaiah 8:10

8:10 Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted!

Issue your orders, but they will not be executed! ¹ 

For God is with us! ² 

Isaiah 10:6-12

10:6 I sent him ³  against a godless ⁴  nation,

I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, ⁵ 

to take plunder and to carry away loot,

to trample them down ⁶  like dirt in the streets.

10:7 But he does not agree with this,

his mind does not reason this way, ⁷ 

for his goal is to destroy,

and to eliminate many nations. ⁸ 

10:8 Indeed, ⁹  he says:

“Are not my officials all kings?

10:9 Is not Calneh like Carchemish?

Hamath like Arpad?

Samaria like Damascus? ¹⁰ 

10:10 I overpowered kingdoms ruled by idols, ¹¹ 

whose carved images were more impressive than Jerusalem’s ¹²  or Samaria’s.

10:11 As I have done to Samaria and its idols,

so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.” ¹³ 

10:12 But when ¹⁴  the sovereign master ¹⁵  finishes judging ¹⁶  Mount Zion and Jerusalem, then I ¹⁷  will punish the king of Assyria for what he has proudly planned and for the arrogant attitude he displays. ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 37:29

37:29 Because you rage against me

and the uproar you create has reached my ears, ¹⁹ 

I will put my hook in your nose, ²⁰ 

and my bridle between your lips,

and I will lead you back

the way you came.”

Isaiah 46:10-11

46:10 who announces the end from the beginning

and reveals beforehand ²¹  what has not yet occurred,

who says, ‘My plan will be realized,

I will accomplish what I desire,’

46:11 who summons an eagle ²²  from the east,

from a distant land, one who carries out my plan.

Yes, I have decreed, ²³ 

yes, I will bring it to pass;

I have formulated a plan,

yes, I will carry it out.

Psalms 2:4-6

2:4 The one enthroned ²⁴  in heaven laughs in disgust; ²⁵ 

the Lord taunts ²⁶  them.

2:5 Then he angrily speaks to them

and terrifies them in his rage, ²⁷  saying, ²⁸ 

2:6 “I myself ²⁹  have installed ³⁰  my king

on Zion, my holy hill.”

Psalms 33:11

33:11 The Lord’s decisions stand forever;

his plans abide throughout the ages. ³¹ 

Psalms 76:10

76:10 Certainly ³²  your angry judgment upon men will bring you praise; ³³ 

you reveal your anger in full measure. ³⁴ 

Proverbs 21:30

21:30 There is no wisdom and there is no understanding,

and there is no counsel against ³⁵  the Lord. ³⁶ 

Lamentations 3:37

מ (Mem)

3:37 Whose command was ever fulfilled ³⁷ 

unless the Lord ³⁸  decreed it?

Daniel 4:35

4:35 All the inhabitants of the earth are regarded as nothing. ³⁹ 

He does as he wishes with the army of heaven

and with those who inhabit the earth.

No one slaps ⁴⁰  his hand

and says to him, ‘What have you done?’

Acts 4:25-28

4:25 who said by the Holy Spirit through ⁴¹  your servant David our forefather, ⁴² 

‘Why do the nations ⁴³  rage, ⁴⁴ 

and the peoples plot foolish ⁴⁵  things?

4:26 The kings of the earth stood together, ⁴⁶ 

and the rulers assembled together,

against the Lord and against his ⁴⁷  Christ.’ ⁴⁸ 

4:27 “For indeed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together in this city against ⁴⁹  your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, ⁵⁰  4:28 to do as much as your power ⁵¹  and your plan ⁵²  had decided beforehand ⁵³  would happen.

[8:10]  ¹ tn Heb “speak a word, but it will not stand.”

[8:10]  ² sn In these vv. 9-10 the tone shifts abruptly from judgment to hope. Hostile nations like Assyria may attack God’s people, but eventually they will be destroyed, for God is with his people, sometimes to punish, but ultimately to vindicate. In addition to being a reminder of God’s presence in the immediate crisis faced by Ahaz and Judah, Immanuel (whose name is echoed in this concluding statement) was a guarantee of the nation’s future greatness in fulfillment of God’s covenantal promises. Eventually God would deliver his people from the hostile nations (vv. 9-10) through another child, an ideal Davidic ruler who would embody God’s presence in a special way (see 9:6-7). Jesus the Messiah is the fulfillment of the Davidic ideal prophesied by Isaiah, the one whom Immanuel foreshadowed. Through the miracle of the incarnation he is literally “God with us.” Matthew realized this and applied Isaiah’s ancient prophecy of Immanuel’s birth to Jesus (Matt 1:22-23). The first Immanuel was a reminder to the people of God’s presence and a guarantee of a greater child to come who would manifest God’s presence in an even greater way. The second Immanuel is “God with us” in a heightened and infinitely superior sense. He “fulfills” Isaiah’s Immanuel prophecy by bringing the typology intended by God to realization and by filling out or completing the pattern designed by God. Of course, in the ultimate fulfillment of the type, the incarnate Immanuel’s mother must be a virgin, so Matthew uses a Greek term (παρθένος, parqenos), which carries that technical meaning (in contrast to the Hebrew word עַלְמָה [’almah], which has the more general meaning “young woman”). Matthew draws similar analogies between NT and OT events in 2:15, 18. The linking of these passages by analogy is termed “fulfillment.” In 2:15 God calls Jesus, his perfect Son, out of Egypt, just as he did his son Israel in the days of Moses, an historical event referred to in Hos 11:1. In so doing he makes it clear that Jesus is the ideal Israel prophesied by Isaiah (see Isa 49:3), sent to restore wayward Israel (see Isa 49:5, cf. Matt 1:21). In 2:18 Herod’s slaughter of the infants is another illustration of the oppressive treatment of God’s people by foreign tyrants. Herod’s actions are analogous to those of the Assyrians, who deported the Israelites, causing the personified land to lament as inconsolably as a mother robbed of her little ones (Jer 31:15).

[10:6]  ³ sn Throughout this section singular forms are used to refer to Assyria; perhaps the king of Assyria is in view (see v. 12).

[10:6]  ⁴ tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “impious”; NCV “separated from God.”

[10:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “and against the people of my anger I ordered him.”

[10:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “to make it [i.e., the people] a trampled place.”

[10:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “but he, not so does he intend, and his heart, not so does it think.”

[10:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “for to destroy [is] in his heart, and to cut off nations, not a few.”

[10:8]  ⁹ tn Or “For” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[10:9]  ¹⁰ sn Calneh … Carchemish … Hamath … Arpad … Samaria … Damascus. The city states listed here were conquered by the Assyrians between 740-717 b.c. The point of the rhetorical questions is that no one can stand before Assyria’s might. On the geographical, rather than chronological arrangement of the cities, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:264, n. 4.

[10:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Just as my hand found the kingdoms of the idol[s].” The comparison is expanded in v. 11a (note “as”) and completed in v. 11b (note “so”).

[10:10]  ¹² map For the location of Jerusalem see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[10:11]  ¹³ tn The statement is constructed as a rhetorical question in the Hebrew text: “Is it not [true that] just as I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols?”

[10:12]  ¹⁴ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[10:12]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 16, 23, 24, 33 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[10:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “his work on/against.” Cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV “on”; NIV “against.”

[10:12]  ¹⁷ tn The Lord is speaking here, as in vv. 5-6a.

[10:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “I will visit [judgment] on the fruit of the greatness of the heart of the king of Assyria, and on the glory of the height of his eyes.” The proud Assyrian king is likened to a large, beautiful fruit tree.

[37:29]  ¹⁹ tc Heb “and your complacency comes up into my ears.” The parallelism is improved if שַׁאֲנַנְךָ (sha’anankha, “your complacency”) is emended to שְׁאוֹנְךָ (shÿ’onÿkha, “your uproar”). See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 237-38. However, the LXX seems to support the MT and Sennacherib’s cavalier dismissal of Yahweh depicts an arrogant complacency (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:658, n. 10).

[37:29]  ²⁰ sn The word-picture has a parallel in Assyrian sculpture. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 238.

[46:10]  ²¹ tn Or “from long ago”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “from ancient times.”

[46:11]  ²² tn Or, more generally, “a bird of prey” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV; see 18:6).

[46:11]  ²³ tn Heb “spoken”; KJV “I have spoken it.”

[2:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “sitting.” The Hebrew verb יָשַׁב (yashav) is here used metonymically of “sitting enthroned” (see Pss 9:7; 29:10; 55:19; 102:12; 123:1).

[2:4]  ²⁵ tn As the next line indicates, this refers to derisive laughter. The Hebrew imperfect verbal forms in vv. 4-5 describe the action from the perspective of an eyewitness who is watching the divine response as it unfolds before his eyes.

[2:4]  ²⁶ tn Or “scoffs at”; “derides”; “mocks.”

[2:5]  ²⁷ sn And terrifies them in his rage. This line focuses on the effect that God’s angry response (see previous line) has on the rebellious kings.

[2:5]  ²⁸ tn The word “saying” is supplied in the translation for clarification to indicate that the speaker is the Lord (cf. RSV, NIV).

[2:6]  ²⁹ tn The first person pronoun appears before the first person verbal form for emphasis, reflected in the translation by “myself.”

[2:6]  ³⁰ tn Or perhaps “consecrated.”

[33:11]  ³¹ 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.

[76:10]  ³² tn Or “for.”

[76:10]  ³³ tn Heb “the anger of men will praise you.” This could mean that men’s anger (subjective genitive), when punished by God, will bring him praise, but this interpretation does not harmonize well with the next line. The translation assumes that God’s anger is in view here (see v. 7) and that “men” is an objective genitive. God’s angry judgment against men brings him praise because it reveals his power and majesty (see vv. 1-4).

[76:10]  ³⁴ tn Heb “the rest of anger you put on.” The meaning of the statement is not entirely clear. Perhaps the idea is that God, as he prepares for battle, girds himself with every last ounce of his anger, as if it were a weapon.

[21:30]  ³⁵ tn The form לְנֶגֶד (lÿneged) means “against; over against; in opposition to.” The line indicates they cannot in reality be in opposition, for human wisdom is nothing in comparison to the wisdom of God (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 232).

[21:30]  ³⁶ sn The verse uses a single sentence to state that all wisdom, understanding, and advice must be in conformity to the will of God to be successful. It states it negatively – these things cannot be in defiance of God (e.g., Job 5:12-13; Isa 40:13-14).

[3:37]  ³⁷ tn Heb “Who is this, he spoke and it came to pass?” The general sense is to ask whose commands are fulfilled. The phrase “he spoke and it came to pass” is taken as an allusion to the creation account (see Gen 1:3).

[3:37]  ³⁸ tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”). See the tc note at 1:14.

[4:35]  ³⁹ tc The present translation reads כְּלָא (kÿla’), with many medieval Hebrew MSS, rather than כְּלָה (kÿlah) of BHS.

[4:35]  ⁴⁰ tn Aram “strikes against.”

[4:25]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “by the mouth of” (an idiom).

[4:25]  ⁴² tn Or “ancestor”; Grk “father.”

[4:25]  ⁴³ tn Or “Gentiles.”

[4:25]  ⁴⁴ sn The Greek word translated rage includes not only anger but opposition, both verbal and nonverbal. See L&N 88.185.

[4:25]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “futile”; traditionally, “vain.”

[4:26]  ⁴⁶ tn Traditionally, “The kings of the earth took their stand.”

[4:26]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[4:26]  ⁴⁸ sn A quotation from Ps 2:1-2.

[4:27]  ⁴⁹ sn The application of Ps 2:1-2 is that Jews and Gentiles are opposing Jesus. The surprise of the application is that Jews are now found among the enemies of God’s plan.

[4:27]  ⁵⁰ sn A wordplay on “Christ,” v. 26, which means “one who has been anointed.”

[4:28]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “hand,” here a metaphor for God’s strength or power or authority.

[4:28]  ⁵² tn Or “purpose,” “will.”

[4:28]  ⁵³ tn Or “had predestined.” Since the term “predestine” is something of a technical theological term, not in wide usage in contemporary English, the translation “decide beforehand” was used instead (see L&N 30.84). God’s direction remains as the major theme.