Judges 14:19

14:19 The Lord’s spirit empowered him. He went down to Ashkelon and murdered thirty men. He took their clothes ¹  and gave them ²  to the men who had solved the riddle. He was furious as he went back home. ³ 

Judges 15:8

15:8 He struck them down and defeated them. ⁴  Then he went down and lived for a time in the cave in the cliff of Etam.

Judges 15:15

15:15 He happened to see ⁵  a solid ⁶  jawbone of a donkey. He grabbed it ⁷  and struck down ⁸  a thousand men.

Genesis 3:15

3:15 And I will put hostility ⁹  between you and the woman

and between your offspring and her offspring; ¹⁰ 

her offspring will attack ¹¹  your head,

and ¹²  you ¹³  will attack her offspring’s heel.” ¹⁴ 

Philippians 2:8

2:8 He humbled himself,

by becoming obedient to the point of death

– even death on a cross!

Colossians 2:15

2:15 Disarming ¹⁵  the rulers and authorities, he has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross. ¹⁶ 

Hebrews 2:14-15

2:14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he likewise shared in ¹⁷  their humanity, ¹⁸  so that through death he could destroy ¹⁹  the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil), 2:15 and set free those who were held in slavery all their lives by their fear of death.

[14:19]  ¹ tn Heb “equipment”; or “gear.”

[14:19]  ² tn Heb “changes [of clothes].”

[14:19]  ³ tn Heb “he went up to his father’s house.”

[15:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “He struck them, calf on thigh, [with] a great slaughter.” The precise meaning of the phrase “calf on thigh” is uncertain.

[15:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “he found.”

[15:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “fresh,” i.e., not decayed and brittle.

[15:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “he reached out his hand and took it.”

[15:15]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text adds “with it.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[3:15]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew word translated “hostility” is derived from the root אֵיב (’ev, “to be hostile, to be an adversary [or enemy]”). The curse announces that there will be continuing hostility between the serpent and the woman. The serpent will now live in a “battle zone,” as it were.

[3:15]  ¹⁰ sn The Hebrew word translated “offspring” is a collective singular. The text anticipates the ongoing struggle between human beings (the woman’s offspring) and deadly poisonous snakes (the serpent’s offspring). An ancient Jewish interpretation of the passage states: “He made the serpent, cause of the deceit, press the earth with belly and flank, having bitterly driven him out. He aroused a dire enmity between them. The one guards his head to save it, the other his heel, for death is at hand in the proximity of men and malignant poisonous snakes.” See Sib. Or. 1:59-64. For a similar interpretation see Josephus, Ant. 1.1.4 (1.50-51).

[3:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he will attack [or “bruise”] you [on] the head.” The singular pronoun and verb agree grammatically with the collective singular noun “offspring.” For other examples of singular verb and pronominal forms being used with the collective singular “offspring,” see Gen 16:10; 22:17; 24:60. The word “head” is an adverbial accusative, locating the blow. A crushing blow to the head would be potentially fatal.

[3:15]  ¹² tn Or “but you will…”; or “as they attack your head, you will attack their heel.” The disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) is understood as contrastive. Both clauses place the subject before the verb, a construction that is sometimes used to indicate synchronic action (see Judg 15:14).

[3:15]  ¹³ sn You will attack her offspring’s heel. Though the conflict will actually involve the serpent’s offspring (snakes) and the woman’s offspring (human beings), v. 15b for rhetorical effect depicts the conflict as being between the serpent and the woman’s offspring, as if the serpent will outlive the woman. The statement is personalized for the sake of the addressee (the serpent) and reflects the ancient Semitic concept of corporate solidarity, which emphasizes the close relationship between a progenitor and his offspring. Note Gen 28:14, where the Lord says to Jacob, “Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you [second masculine singular] will spread out in all directions.” Jacob will “spread out” in all directions through his offspring, but the text states the matter as if this will happen to him personally.

[3:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “you will attack him [on] the heel.” The verb (translated “attack”) is repeated here, a fact that is obscured by some translations (e.g., NIV “crush…strike”). The singular pronoun agrees grammatically with the collective singular noun “offspring.” For other examples of singular verb and pronominal forms being used with the collective singular “offspring,” see Gen 16:10; 22:17; 24:60. The word “heel” is an adverbial accusative, locating the blow. A bite on the heel from a poisonous serpent is potentially fatal.

[2:15]  ¹⁵ tn See BDAG 100 s.v. ἀπεκδύομαι 2.

[2:15]  ¹⁶ tn The antecedent of the Greek pronoun αὐτῷ (autw) could either be “Christ” or the “cross.” There are several reasons for choosing “the cross” as the antecedent for αὐτῷ in verse 15: (1) The nearest antecedent is τῷ σταυρῷ (tw staurw) in v. 14; (2) the idea of ἐδειγμάτισεν ἐν παρρησία (edeigmatisen en parrhsia, “made a public disgrace”) seems to be more in keeping with the idea of the cross; (3) a reference to Christ seems to miss the irony involved in the idea of triumph – the whole point is that where one would expect defeat, there came the victory; (4) if Christ is the subject of the participles in v. 15 then almost certainly the cross is the referent for αὐτῷ. Thus the best solution is to see αὐτῷ as a reference to the cross and the preposition ἐν (en) indicating “means” (i.e., by means of the cross) or possibly (though less likely) location (on the cross).

[2:14]  ¹⁷ tn Or “partook of” (this is a different word than the one in v. 14a).

[2:14]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “the same.”

[2:14]  ¹⁹ tn Or “break the power of,” “reduce to nothing.”