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 41:5-7

41:5 The coastlands ⁶  see and are afraid;

the whole earth ⁷  trembles;

they approach and come.

41:6 They help one another; ⁸ 

one says to the other, ‘Be strong!’

41:7 The craftsman encourages the metalsmith,

the one who wields the hammer encourages ⁹  the one who pounds on the anvil.

He approves the quality of the welding, ¹⁰ 

and nails it down so it won’t fall over.”

Acts 9:24-27

9:24 but Saul learned of their plot against him. ¹¹  They were also watching ¹²  the city gates ¹³  day and night so that they could kill him. 9:25 But his disciples took him at night and let him down through an opening ¹⁴  in the wall by lowering him in a basket. ¹⁵ 

Saul Returns to Jerusalem

9:26 When he arrived in Jerusalem, ¹⁶  he attempted to associate ¹⁷  with the disciples, and they were all afraid of him, because they did not believe ¹⁸  that he was a disciple. 9:27 But Barnabas took ¹⁹  Saul, ²⁰  brought ²¹  him to the apostles, and related to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, that ²²  the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly ²³  in the name of Jesus.

Acts 21:28

21:28 shouting, “Men of Israel, ²⁴  help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, our law, ²⁵  and this sanctuary! ²⁶  Furthermore ²⁷  he has brought Greeks into the inner courts of the temple ²⁸  and made this holy place ritually unclean!” ²⁹ 

Revelation 16:14

16:14 For they are the spirits of the demons performing signs who go out to the kings of the earth ³⁰  to bring them together for the battle that will take place on the great day of God, the All-Powerful. ³¹ 

Revelation 20:8-10

20:8 and will go out to deceive ³²  the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, ³³  to bring them together for the battle. They are as numerous as the grains of sand in the sea. ³⁴  20:9 They ³⁵  went up ³⁶  on the broad plain of the earth ³⁷  and encircled ³⁸  the camp ³⁹  of the saints and the beloved city, but ⁴⁰  fire came down from heaven and devoured them completely. ⁴¹  20:10 And the devil who deceived ⁴²  them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, ⁴³  where the beast and the false prophet are ⁴⁴  too, and they will be tormented there day and night forever and ever.

[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).

[41:5]  ⁶ tn Or “islands” (NIV, CEV); NCV “faraway places”; NLT “lands beyond the sea.”

[41:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “the ends of the earth,” but this is a merism, where the earth’s extremities stand for its entirety, i.e., the extremities and everything in between them.

[41:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “each his neighbor helps”; NCV “The workers help each other.”

[41:7]  ⁹ tn The verb “encourages” is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[41:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “saying of the welding, ‘It is good.’”

[9:24]  ¹¹ tn The words “against him” are implied, as suggested by L&N 30.71.

[9:24]  ¹² tn Or “guarding.” This is a negative term in Luke-Acts (Luke 6:7; 14:1; 20:20).

[9:24]  ¹³ tn The word πύλη (pulh) may refer to a house door or gate, or to the large gates used in a palace, temple, or city wall. Here the context clearly indicates a reference to the latter, so the translation “city gates” is used.

[9:25]  ¹⁴ tn The opening in the wall is not specifically mentioned here, but the parallel account in 2 Cor 11:33 mentions a “window” or “opening” (θυρίς, quris) in the city wall through which Paul was lowered. One alternative to introducing mention of the opening is to translate Acts 9:25 “they let him down over the wall,” as suggested in L&N 7.61. This option is not employed by many translations, however, because for the English reader it creates an (apparent) contradiction between Acts 9:25 and 2 Cor 11:33. In reality the account here is simply more general, omitting the detail about the window.

[9:25]  ¹⁵ tn On the term for “basket” used here, see BDAG 940 s.v. σπυρίς.

[9:26]  ¹⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[9:26]  ¹⁷ tn Or “join.”

[9:26]  ¹⁸ tn The participle πιστεύοντες (pisteuonte") has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.

[9:27]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “taking Saul, brought him.” The participle ἐπιλαβόμενος (epilabomeno") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[9:27]  ²⁰ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:27]  ²¹ tn Grk “and brought,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[9:27]  ²² tn Grk “and that,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[9:27]  ²³ tn On this verb which is used 7 times in Acts, see BDAG 782 s.v. παρρησιάζομαι 1. See also v. 28.

[21:28]  ²⁴ tn Or “Israelite men,” although this is less natural English. The Greek term here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which only exceptionally is used in a generic sense of both males and females. In this context, it is conceivable that this is a generic usage since “the whole crowd” is mentioned in v. 27, although it can also be argued that these remarks were addressed primarily to the men present, even if women were there.

[21:28]  ²⁵ sn The law refers to the law of Moses.

[21:28]  ²⁶ tn Grk “this place.”

[21:28]  ²⁷ tn BDAG 400 s.v. ἔτι 2.b has “ἔ. δὲ καί furthermore…al. ἔ. τε καί…Lk 14:26; Ac 21:28.” This is a continuation of the same sentence in Greek, but due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences, a new sentence was begun here in the translation.

[21:28]  ²⁸ tn Grk “into the temple.” The specific reference is to the Court of the Sons of Israel (see the note following the term “unclean” at the end of this verse). To avoid giving the modern reader the impression that they entered the temple building itself, the phrase “the inner courts of the temple” has been used in the translation.

[21:28]  ²⁹ tn Or “and has defiled this holy place.”

[16:14]  ³⁰ tn BDAG 699 s.v. οἰκουμένη 1 states, “the inhabited earth, the world…ὅλη ἡ οἰκ. the whole inhabited earth…Mt 24:14; Ac 11:28; Rv 3:10; 16:14.”

[16:14]  ³¹ tn On this word BDAG 755 s.v. παντοκράτωρ states, “the Almighty, All-Powerful, Omnipotent (One) only of God…(ὁ) κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ π. …Rv 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 21:22.”

[20:8]  ³² tn Or “mislead.”

[20:8]  ³³ sn The battle with Gog and Magog is described in the OT in Ezek 38:1-39:20.

[20:8]  ³⁴ tn Grk “of whom the number of them [is] like the sand of the sea” (an allusion to Isa 10:22).

[20:9]  ³⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[20:9]  ³⁶ tn The shift here to past tense reflects the Greek text.

[20:9]  ³⁷ tn On the phrase “broad plain of the earth” BDAG 823 s.v. πλάτος states, “τὸ πλάτος τῆς γῆς Rv 20:9 comes fr. the OT (Da 12:2 LXX. Cp. Hab 1:6; Sir 1:3), but the sense is not clear: breadth = the broad plain of the earth is perh. meant to provide room for the countless enemies of God vs. 8, but the ‘going up’ is better suited to Satan (vs. 7) who has recently been freed, and who comes up again fr. the abyss (vs. 3).” The referent here thus appears to be a plain large enough to accommodate the numberless hoards that have drawn up for battle against the Lord Christ and his saints.

[20:9]  ³⁸ tn Or “surrounded.”

[20:9]  ³⁹ tn On the term παρεμβολή (parembolh) BDAG 775 s.v. states, “Mostly used as a military t.t.…so always in our lit.…1. a (fortified) camp…ἡ παρεμβολὴ τῶν ἁγίων Rv 20:9 is also to be understood fr. the OT use of the word.”

[20:9]  ⁴⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[20:9]  ⁴¹ tn See L&N 20.45 for the translation of κατεσθίω (katesqiw) as “to destroy utterly, to consume completely.”

[20:10]  ⁴² tn Or “misled.”

[20:10]  ⁴³ tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”

[20:10]  ⁴⁴ tn The verb in this clause is elided. In keeping with the previous past tenses some translations supply a past tense verb here (“were”), but in view of the future tense that follows (“they will be tormented”), a present tense verb was used to provide a transition from the previous past tense to the future tense that follows.