Jeremiah 50:24

50:24 I set a trap for you, Babylon;

you were caught before you knew it.

You fought against me.

So you were found and captured. ¹ 

Jeremiah 50:32

50:32 You will stumble and fall, you proud city;

no one will help you get up.

I will set fire to your towns;

it will burn up everything that surrounds you.” ² 

Exodus 10:3

10:3 So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and told him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: ‘How long do you refuse ³  to humble yourself before me? ⁴  Release my people so that they may serve me!

Isaiah 14:13-14

14:13 You said to yourself, ⁵ 

“I will climb up to the sky.

Above the stars of El ⁶ 

I will set up my throne.

I will rule on the mountain of assembly

on the remote slopes of Zaphon. ⁷ 

14:14 I will climb up to the tops ⁸  of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High!” ⁹ 

Isaiah 37:23

37:23 Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at?

At whom have you shouted

and looked so arrogantly? ¹⁰ 

At the Holy One of Israel! ¹¹ 

Isaiah 47:10

47:10 You were complacent in your evil deeds; ¹² 

you thought, ¹³  ‘No one sees me.’

Your self-professed ¹⁴  wisdom and knowledge lead you astray,

when you say, ‘I am unique! No one can compare to me!’ ¹⁵ 

Daniel 4:37

4:37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, for all his deeds are right and his ways are just. He is able to bring down those who live ¹⁶  in pride.

Daniel 5:23

5:23 Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. You brought before you the vessels from his temple, and you and your nobles, together with your wives and concubines, drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone – gods ¹⁷  that cannot see or hear or comprehend! But you have not glorified the God who has in his control ¹⁸  your very breath and all your ways!

Daniel 11:36

11:36 “Then the king ¹⁹  will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every deity and he will utter presumptuous things against the God of gods. He will succeed until the time of ²⁰  wrath is completed, for what has been decreed must occur. ²¹ 

Daniel 11:2

11:2 Now I will tell you the truth.

The Angel Gives a Message to Daniel

“Three ²²  more kings will arise for Persia. Then a fourth ²³  king will be unusually rich, ²⁴  more so than all who preceded him. When he has amassed power through his riches, he will stir up everyone against ²⁵  the kingdom of Greece.

Daniel 2:4

2:4 The wise men replied to the king: [What follows is in Aramaic ²⁶ ] “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will disclose its ²⁷  interpretation.”

Revelation 13:5-6

13:5 The beast ²⁸  was given a mouth speaking proud words ²⁹  and blasphemies, and he was permitted ³⁰  to exercise ruling authority ³¹  for forty-two months. 13:6 So ³²  the beast ³³  opened his mouth to blaspheme against God – to blaspheme both his name and his dwelling place, ³⁴  that is, those who dwell in heaven.

[50:24]  ¹ tn Heb “You were found [or found out] and captured because you fought against the Lord.” The same causal connection is maintained by the order of the translation but it puts more emphasis on the cause and connects it also more closely with the first half of the verse. The first person is used because the Lord is speaking of himself first in the first person “I set” and then in the third. The first person has been maintained throughout. Though it would be awkward, perhaps one could retain the reference to the Lord by translating, “I, the Lord.”

[50:32]  ² tn Heb “And the proud one will fall and there will be no one to help him up. I will start a fire in his towns and it will consume all that surround him.” The personification continues but now the stance is indirect (third person) rather than direct (second person). It is easier for the modern reader who is not accustomed to such sudden shifts if the second person is maintained. The personification of the city (or nation) as masculine is a little unusual; normally cities and nations are personified as feminine, as daughters or mothers.

[10:3]  ³ tn The verb is מֵאַנְתָּ (me’anta), a Piel perfect. After “how long,” the form may be classified as present perfect (“how long have you refused), for it describes actions begun previously but with the effects continuing. (See GKC 311 §106.g-h). The use of a verb describing a state or condition may also call for a present translation (“how long do you refuse”) that includes past, present, and potentially future, in keeping with the question “how long.”

[10:3]  ⁴ tn The clause is built on the use of the infinitive construct to express the direct object of the verb – it answers the question of what Pharaoh was refusing to do. The Niphal infinitive construct (note the elision of the ה [hey] prefix after the preposition [see GKC 139 §51.l]) is from the verb עָנָה (’anah). The verb in this stem would mean “humble oneself.” The question is somewhat rhetorical, since God was not yet through humbling Pharaoh, who would not humble himself. The issue between Yahweh and Pharaoh is deeper than simply whether or not Pharaoh will let the Israelites leave Egypt.

[14:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “you, you said in your heart.”

[14:13]  ⁶ sn In Canaanite mythology the stars of El were astral deities under the authority of the high god El.

[14:13]  ⁷ sn Zaphon, the Canaanite version of Olympus, was the “mountain of assembly” where the gods met.

[14:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “the high places.” This word often refers to the high places where pagan worship was conducted, but here it probably refers to the “backs” or tops of the clouds. See HALOT 136 s.v. בָּמָה.

[14:14]  ⁹ sn Normally in the OT the title “Most High” belongs to the God of Israel, but in this context, where the mythological overtones are so strong, it probably refers to the Canaanite high god El.

[37:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and lifted your eyes on high?” Cf. NIV “lifted your eyes in pride”; NRSV “haughtily lifted your eyes.”

[37:23]  ¹¹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[47:10]  ¹² tn Heb “you trusted in your evil”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “wickedness.”

[47:10]  ¹³ tn Or “said”; NAB “said to yourself”’ NASB “said in your heart.”

[47:10]  ¹⁴ tn The words “self-professed” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[47:10]  ¹⁵ tn See the note at v. 8.

[4:37]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “walk.”

[5:23]  ¹⁷ tn Aram “which.”

[5:23]  ¹⁸ tn Aram “in whose hand [are].”

[11:36]  ¹⁹ sn The identity of this king is problematic. If vv. 36-45 continue the description of Antiochus Epiphanes, the account must be viewed as erroneous, since the details do not match what is known of Antiochus’ latter days. Most modern scholars take this view, concluding that this section was written just shortly before the death of Antiochus and that the writer erred on several key points as he tried to predict what would follow the events of his own day. Conservative scholars, however, usually understand the reference to shift at this point to an eschatological figure, viz., the Antichrist. The chronological gap that this would presuppose to be in the narrative is not necessarily a problem, since by all accounts there are many chronological gaps throughout the chapter, as the historical figures intended by such expressions as “king of the north” and “king of the south” repeatedly shift.

[11:36]  ²⁰ tn The words “the time of” are added in the translation for clarification.

[11:36]  ²¹ tn Heb “has been done.” The Hebrew verb used here is the perfect of certitude, emphasizing the certainty of fulfillment.

[11:2]  ²² sn Perhaps these three more kings are Cambyses (ca. 530-522 B.C.), Pseudo-Smerdis (ca. 522 B.C.), and Darius I Hystaspes (ca. 522-486 B.C.).

[11:2]  ²³ sn This fourth king is Xerxes I (ca. 486-465 B.C.). The following reference to one of his chiefs apparently has in view Seleucus Nicator.

[11:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “rich with great riches.”

[11:2]  ²⁵ tn The text is difficult. The Hebrew has here אֶת (’et), the marker of a definite direct object. As it stands, this would suggest the meaning that “he will arouse everyone, that is, the kingdom of Greece.” The context, however, seems to suggest the idea that this Persian king will arouse in hostility against Greece the constituent elements of his own empire. This requires supplying the word “against,” which is not actually present in the Hebrew text.

[2:4]  ²⁶ sn Contrary to common belief, the point here is not that the wise men (Chaldeans) replied to the king in the Aramaic language, or that this language was uniquely the language of the Chaldeans. It was this view that led in the past to Aramaic being referred to as “Chaldee.” Aramaic was used as a lingua franca during this period; its origins and usage were not restricted to the Babylonians. Rather, this phrase is better understood as an editorial note (cf. NAB) marking the fact that from 2:4b through 7:28 the language of the book shifts from Hebrew to Aramaic. In 8:1, and for the remainder of the book, the language returns to Hebrew. Various views have been advanced to account for this change of language, most of which are unconvincing. Most likely the change in language is a reflection of stages in the transmission history of the book of Daniel.

[2:4]  ²⁷ tn Or “the.”

[13:5]  ²⁸ tn Grk “and there was given to him.” Here the passive construction has been simplified, the referent (the beast) has been specified for clarity, and καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[13:5]  ²⁹ tn For the translation “proud words” (Grk “great things” or “important things”) see BDAG 624 s.v. μέγας 4.b.

[13:5]  ³⁰ tn Grk “to it was granted.”

[13:5]  ³¹ tn For the translation “ruling authority” for ἐξουσία (exousia) see L&N 37.35.

[13:6]  ³² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the permission granted to the beast.

[13:6]  ³³ tn Grk “he” (or “it”); the referent (the beast) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:6]  ³⁴ tc The reading “and his dwelling place” does not occur in codex C, but its omission is probably due to scribal oversight since the phrase has the same ending as the phrase before it, i.e., they both end in “his” (αὐτοῦ, autou). This is similar to the mistake this scribe made in 12:14 with the omission of the reading “and half a time” (καὶ ἥμισυ καιροῦ, kai {hmisu kairou).