Isaiah 8:9-10

8:9 You will be broken, ¹  O nations;

you will be shattered! ² 

Pay attention, all you distant lands of the earth!

Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered!

Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered! ³ 

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

Issue your orders, but they will not be executed! ⁴ 

For God is with us! ⁵ 

Isaiah 10:7-14

10:7 But he does not agree with this,

his mind does not reason this way, ⁶ 

for his goal is to destroy,

and to eliminate many nations. ⁷ 

10:8 Indeed, ⁸  he says:

“Are not my officials all kings?

10:9 Is not Calneh like Carchemish?

Hamath like Arpad?

Samaria like Damascus? ⁹ 

10:10 I overpowered kingdoms ruled by idols, ¹⁰ 

whose carved images were more impressive than Jerusalem’s ¹¹  or Samaria’s.

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

so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.” ¹² 

10:12 But when ¹³  the sovereign master ¹⁴  finishes judging ¹⁵  Mount Zion and Jerusalem, then I ¹⁶  will punish the king of Assyria for what he has proudly planned and for the arrogant attitude he displays. ¹⁷  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, ¹⁸ 

and looted their storehouses.

Like a mighty conqueror, ¹⁹  I brought down rulers. ²⁰ 

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.” ²¹ 

Isaiah 17:13

17:13 Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves, ²² 

when he shouts at ²³  them, they will flee to a distant land,

driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills,

or like dead thistles ²⁴  before a strong gale.

Isaiah 29:5-8

29:5 But the horde of invaders will be like fine dust,

the horde of tyrants ²⁵  like chaff that is blown away.

It will happen suddenly, in a flash.

29:6 Judgment will come from the Lord who commands armies, ²⁶ 

accompanied by thunder, earthquake, and a loud noise,

by a strong gale, a windstorm, and a consuming flame of fire.

29:7 It will be like a dream, a night vision.

There will be a horde from all the nations that fight against Ariel,

those who attack her and her stronghold and besiege her.

29:8 It will be like a hungry man dreaming that he is eating,

only to awaken and find that his stomach is empty. ²⁷ 

It will be like a thirsty man dreaming that he is drinking,

only to awaken and find that he is still weak and his thirst unquenched. ²⁸ 

So it will be for the horde from all the nations

that fight against Mount Zion.

Isaiah 59:4

59:4 No one is concerned about justice; ²⁹ 

no one sets forth his case truthfully.

They depend on false words ³⁰  and tell lies;

they conceive of oppression ³¹ 

and give birth to sin.

Job 15:35

15:35 They conceive ³²  trouble and bring forth evil;

their belly ³³  prepares deception.”

Psalms 2:1

Psalm 2 ³⁴ 

2:1 Why ³⁵  do the nations rebel? ³⁶ 

Why ³⁷  are the countries ³⁸  devising ³⁹  plots that will fail? ⁴⁰ 

Psalms 7:14

7:14 See the one who is pregnant with wickedness,

who conceives destructive plans,

and gives birth to harmful lies – ⁴¹ 

Psalms 83:5-18

83:5 Yes, ⁴²  they devise a unified strategy; ⁴³ 

they form an alliance ⁴⁴  against you.

83:6 It includes ⁴⁵  the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,

Moab and the Hagrites, ⁴⁶ 

83:7 Gebal, ⁴⁷  Ammon, and Amalek,

Philistia and the inhabitants of Tyre. ⁴⁸ 

83:8 Even Assyria has allied with them,

lending its strength to the descendants of Lot. ⁴⁹  (Selah)

83:9 Do to them as you did to Midian ⁵⁰  –

as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River! ⁵¹ 

83:10 They were destroyed at Endor; ⁵² 

their corpses were like manure ⁵³  on the ground.

83:11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, ⁵⁴ 

and all their rulers like Zebah and Zalmunna, ⁵⁵ 

83:12 who said, ⁵⁶  “Let’s take over ⁵⁷  the pastures of God!”

83:13 O my God, make them like dead thistles, ⁵⁸ 

like dead weeds blown away by ⁵⁹  the wind!

83:14 Like the fire that burns down the forest,

or the flames that consume the mountainsides, ⁶⁰ 

83:15 chase them with your gale winds,

and terrify ⁶¹  them with your windstorm.

83:16 Cover ⁶²  their faces with shame,

so they might seek ⁶³  you, ⁶⁴  O Lord.

83:17 May they be humiliated and continually terrified! ⁶⁵ 

May they die in shame! ⁶⁶ 

83:18 Then they will know ⁶⁷  that you alone are the Lord, ⁶⁸ 

the sovereign king ⁶⁹  over all the earth.

Acts 5:4

5:4 Before it was sold, ⁷⁰  did it not ⁷¹  belong to you? And when it was sold, was the money ⁷²  not at your disposal? How have you thought up this deed in your heart? ⁷³  You have not lied to people ⁷⁴  but to God!”

James 1:15

1:15 Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death.

[8:9]  ¹ tn The verb רֹעוּ (ro’u) is a Qal imperative, masculine plural from רָעַע (ra’a’, “break”). Elsewhere both transitive (Job 34:24; Ps 2:9; Jer 15:12) and intransitive (Prov 25:19; Jer 11:16) senses are attested for the Qal of this verb. Because no object appears here, the form is likely intransitive: “be broken.” In this case the imperative is rhetorical (like “be shattered” later in the verse) and equivalent to a prediction, “you will be broken.” On the rhetorical use of the imperative in general, see IBHS 572 §34.4c; GKC 324 §110.c.

[8:9]  ² tn The imperatival form (Heb “be shattered”) is rhetorical and expresses the speaker’s firm conviction of the outcome of the nations’ attack. See the note on “be broken.”

[8:9]  ³ tn The initial imperative (“get ready for battle”) acknowledges the reality of the nations’ hostility; the concluding imperative (Heb “be shattered”) is rhetorical and expresses the speakers’ firm conviction of the outcome of the nations’ attack. (See the note on “be broken.”) One could paraphrase, “Okay, go ahead and prepare for battle since that’s what you want to do, but your actions will backfire and you’ll be shattered.” This rhetorical use of the imperatives is comparable to saying to a child who is bent on climbing a high tree, “Okay, go ahead, climb the tree and break your arm!” What this really means is: “Okay, go ahead and climb the tree since that’s what you really want to do, but your actions will backfire and you’ll break your arm.” The repetition of the statement in the final two lines of the verse gives the challenge the flavor of a taunt (ancient Israelite “trash talking,” as it were).

[8:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “speak a word, but it will not stand.”

[8:10]  ⁵ 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).

[10:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “but he, not so does he intend, and his heart, not so does it think.”

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

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

[10:9]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 16, 23, 24, 33 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[10:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “his work on/against.” Cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV “on”; NIV “against.”

[10:12]  ¹⁶ tn The Lord is speaking here, as in vv. 5-6a.

[10:12]  ¹⁷ 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.

[10:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “removed the borders of nations”; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV “boundaries.”

[10:13]  ¹⁹ tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has כְּאַבִּיר (kÿ’abir, “like a strong one”); the marginal reading (Qere) is כַּבִיר (kavir, “mighty one”).

[10:13]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ sn The Assyrians’ conquests were relatively unopposed, like robbing a bird’s nest of its eggs when the mother bird is absent.

[17:13]  ²² tn Heb “the peoples are in an uproar like the uproar of mighty waters.”

[17:13]  ²³ tn Or “rebukes.” The verb and related noun are used in theophanies of God’s battle cry which terrifies his enemies. See, for example, Pss 18:15; 76:7; 106:9; Isa 50:2; Nah 1:4, and A. Caquot, TDOT 3:49-53.

[17:13]  ²⁴ tn Or perhaps “tumbleweed” (NAB, NIV, CEV); KJV “like a rolling thing.”

[29:5]  ²⁵ tn Or “violent men”; cf. NASB “the ruthless ones.”

[29:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “from the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] there will be visitation.” The third feminine singular passive verb form תִּפָּקֵד (tippaqed, “she/it will be visited”) is used here in an impersonal sense. See GKC 459 §144.b.

[29:8]  ²⁷ tn Or “that he [or “his appetite”] is unsatisfied.”

[29:8]  ²⁸ tn Or “that he is faint and that he [or “his appetite”] longs [for water].”

[59:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “no one pleads with justice.”

[59:4]  ³⁰ tn Heb “nothing”; NAB “emptiness.”

[59:4]  ³¹ tn Or “trouble” (NIV), or “harm.”

[15:35]  ³² tn Infinitives absolute are used in this verse in the place of finite verbs. They lend a greater vividness to the description, stressing the basic meaning of the words.

[15:35]  ³³ tn At the start of the speech Eliphaz said Job’s belly was filled with the wind; now it is there that he prepares deception. This inclusio frames the speech.

[2:1]  ³⁴ sn Psalm 2. In this royal psalm the author asserts the special status of the divinely chosen Davidic king and warns the nations and their rulers to submit to the authority of God and his chosen vice-regent.

[2:1]  ³⁵ tn The question is rhetorical. Rather than seeking information, the psalmist expresses his outrage that the nations would have the audacity to rebel against God and his chosen king.

[2:1]  ³⁶ tn The Hebrew verb רָגַשׁ (ragash) occurs only here. In Dan 6:6, 11, 15 the Aramaic cognate verb describes several officials acting as a group. A Hebrew nominal derivative is used in Ps 55:14 of a crowd of people in the temple.

[2:1]  ³⁷ tn The interrogative לָמָּה (lamah, “why?”) is understood by ellipsis in the second line.

[2:1]  ³⁸ tn Or “peoples” (so many English versions).

[2:1]  ³⁹ tn The Hebrew imperfect form describes the rebellion as underway. The verb הָגָה (hagah), which means “to recite quietly, meditate,” here has the metonymic nuance “devise, plan, plot” (see Ps 38:12; Prov 24:2).

[2:1]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “devising emptiness.” The noun רִיק (riq, “emptiness”) may characterize their behavior as “worthless, morally bankrupt” but more likely refers to the outcome of their plots (i.e., failure). As the rest of the psalm emphasizes, their rebellion will fail.

[7:14]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and he conceives harm and gives birth to a lie.”

[83:5]  ⁴² tn Or “for.”

[83:5]  ⁴³ tn Heb “they consult [with] a heart together.”

[83:5]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[83:6]  ⁴⁵ tn The words “it includes” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[83:6]  ⁴⁶ sn The Hagrites are also mentioned in 1 Chr 5:10, 19-20.

[83:7]  ⁴⁷ sn Some identify Gebal with the Phoenician coastal city of Byblos (see Ezek 27:9, where the name is spelled differently), though others locate this site south of the Dead Sea (see BDB 148 s.v. גְּבַל; HALOT 174 s.v. גְּבַל).

[83:7]  ⁴⁸ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[83:8]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “they are an arm for the sons of Lot.” The “arm” is here a symbol of military might.

[83:9]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “do to them like Midian.”

[83:9]  ⁵¹ sn The psalmist alludes here to Gideon’s victory over the Midianites (see Judg 7-8) and to Barak’s victory over Jabin’s army, which was led by his general Sisera (Judg 4-5).

[83:10]  ⁵² sn Endor is not mentioned in the accounts of Gideon’s or Barak’s victories, but both battles took place in the general vicinity of the town. (See Y. Aharoni and M. Avi-Yonah, The Macmillan Bible Atlas, 46, 54.) Because Sisera and Jabin are mentioned in v. 9b, many understand them to be the subject of the verbs in v. 10, though they relate v. 10 to Gideon’s victory, which is referred to in v. 9a, 11. (See, for example, Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible, 263.)

[83:10]  ⁵³ tn Heb “they were manure.” In addition to this passage, corpses are compared to manure in 2 Kgs 9:37; Jer 8:2; 9:21; 16:4; 25:33.

[83:11]  ⁵⁴ sn Oreb and Zeeb were the generals of the Midianite army that was defeated by Gideon. The Ephraimites captured and executed both of them and sent their heads to Gideon (Judg 7:24-25).

[83:11]  ⁵⁵ sn Zebah and Zalmunna were the Midianite kings. Gideon captured them and executed them (Judg 8:1-21).

[83:12]  ⁵⁶ tn The translation assumes that “Zebah and Zalmunna” are the antecedents of the relative pronoun (“who [said]”). Another option is to take “their nobles…all their rulers” as the antecedent and to translate, “those who say.”

[83:12]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “let’s take possession for ourselves.”

[83:13]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “tumbleweed.” The Hebrew noun גַּלְגַּל (galgal) refers to a “wheel” or, metaphorically, to a whirling wind (see Ps 77:18). If taken in the latter sense here, one could understand the term as a metonymical reference to dust blown by a whirlwind (cf. NRSV “like whirling dust”). However, HALOT 190 s.v. II גַּלְגַּל understands the noun as a homonym referring to a “dead thistle” here and in Isa 17:13. The parallel line, which refers to קַשׁ (qash, “chaff”), favors this interpretation.

[83:13]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “before.”

[83:14]  ⁶⁰ sn The imagery of fire and flames suggests unrelenting, destructive judgment.

[83:15]  ⁶¹ tn The two imperfect verbal forms in v. 15 express the psalmist’s wish or prayer.

[83:16]  ⁶² tn Heb “fill.”

[83:16]  ⁶³ tn After the preceding imperative, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose or result (“then they will seek”).

[83:16]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “your name,” which stands here for God’s person.

[83:17]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “and may they be terrified to perpetuity.” The Hebrew expression עֲדֵי־עַד (’adey-’ad, “to perpetuity”) can mean “forevermore” (see Pss 92:7; 132:12, 14), but here it may be used hyperbolically, for the psalmist asks that the experience of judgment might lead the nations to recognize (v. 18) and even to seek (v. 16) God.

[83:17]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “may they be ashamed and perish.” The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse are understood as jussives. The psalmist concludes his prayer with an imprecation, calling severe judgment down on his enemies. The strong language of the imprecation seems to run contrary to the positive outcome of divine judgment envisioned in v. 16b. Perhaps the language of v. 17 is overstated for effect. Another option is that v. 16b expresses an ideal, while the strong imprecation of vv. 17-18 anticipates reality. It would be nice if the defeated nations actually pursued a relationship with God, but if judgment does not bring them to that point, the psalmist asks that they be annihilated so that they might at least be forced to acknowledge God’s power.

[83:18]  ⁶⁷ tn After the preceding jussives (v. 17), the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose (“so that they may know”) or result.

[83:18]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “that you, your name [is] the Lord, you alone.”

[83:18]  ⁶⁹ tn Traditionally “the Most High.”

[5:4]  ⁷⁰ tn Grk “Remaining to you.”

[5:4]  ⁷¹ tn The negative interrogative particle οὐχί (ouci) expects a positive reply to this question and the following one (“And when it was sold, was it not at your disposal?”).

[5:4]  ⁷² tn Grk “it”; the referent of the pronoun (the money generated from the sale of the land) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:4]  ⁷³ tn Grk “How is it that you have [or Why have you] placed this deed in your heart?” Both of these literal translations differ from the normal way of expressing the thought in English.

[5:4]  ⁷⁴ tn Grk “to men.” If Peter’s remark refers only to the apostles, the translation “to men” would be appropriate. But if (as is likely) the action was taken to impress the entire congregation (who would presumably have witnessed the donation or been aware of it) then the more general “to people” is more appropriate, since the audience would have included both men and women.