Jeremiah 50:45

50:45 So listen to what I, the Lord, have planned against Babylon,

what I intend to do to the people who inhabit the land of Babylonia. ¹ 

Their little ones will be dragged off.

I will completely destroy their land because of what they have done.

Psalms 33:11

33:11 The Lord’s decisions stand forever;

his plans abide throughout the ages. ² 

Proverbs 19:21

19:21 There are many plans ³  in a person’s mind, ⁴ 

but it ⁵  is the counsel ⁶  of the Lord which will stand.

Isaiah 14:24-27

14:24 ⁷ The Lord who commands armies makes this solemn vow:

“Be sure of this:

Just as I have intended, so it will be;

just as I have planned, it will happen.

14:25 I will break Assyria ⁸  in my land,

I will trample them ⁹  underfoot on my hills.

Their yoke will be removed from my people,

the burden will be lifted from their shoulders. ¹⁰ 

14:26 This is the plan I have devised for the whole earth;

my hand is ready to strike all the nations.” ¹¹ 

14:27 Indeed, ¹²  the Lord who commands armies has a plan,

and who can possibly frustrate it?

His hand is ready to strike,

and who can possibly stop it? ¹³ 

Isaiah 46:10-11

46:10 who announces the end from the beginning

and reveals beforehand ¹⁴  what has not yet occurred,

who says, ‘My plan will be realized,

I will accomplish what I desire,’

46:11 who summons an eagle ¹⁵  from the east,

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

Yes, I have decreed, ¹⁶ 

yes, I will bring it to pass;

I have formulated a plan,

yes, I will carry it out.

Acts 4:28

4:28 to do as much as your power ¹⁷  and your plan ¹⁸  had decided beforehand ¹⁹  would happen.

Ephesians 1:11

1:11 In Christ ²⁰  we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, ²¹  since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will

[50:45]  ¹ tn The words “of Babylonia” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They have been supplied in the translation to clarify the referent.

[33:11]  ² 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.

[19:21]  ³ sn The plans (from the Hebrew verb חָשַׁב [khashav], “to think; to reckon; to devise”) in the human heart are many. But only those which God approves will succeed.

[19:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “in the heart of a man” (cf. NAB, NIV). Here “heart” is used for the seat of thoughts, plans, and reasoning, so the translation uses “mind.” In contemporary English “heart” is more often associated with the seat of emotion than with the seat of planning and reasoning.

[19:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “but the counsel of the Lord, it will stand.” The construction draws attention to the “counsel of the Lord”; it is an independent nominative absolute, and the resumptive independent pronoun is the formal subject of the verb.

[19:21]  ⁶ tn The antithetical parallelism pairs “counsel” with “plans.” “Counsel of the Lord” (עֲצַת יְהוָה, ’atsat yehvah) is literally “advice” or “counsel” with the connotation of “plan” in this context (cf. NIV, NRSV, NLT “purpose”; NCV “plan”; TEV “the Lord’s will”).

[14:24]  ⁷ sn Having announced the downfall of the Chaldean empire, the Lord appends to this prophecy a solemn reminder that the Assyrians, the major Mesopotamian power of Isaiah’s day, would be annihilated, foreshadowing what would subsequently happen to Babylon and the other hostile nations.

[14:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “to break Assyria.”

[14:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “him.” This is a collective singular referring to the nation, or a reference to the king of Assyria who by metonymy stands for the entire nation.

[14:25]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and his [i.e., Assyria’s] yoke will be removed from them [the people?], and his [Assyria’s] burden from his [the nation’s?] shoulder will be removed.” There are no antecedents in this oracle for the suffixes in the phrases “from them” and “from his shoulder.” Since the Lord’s land and hills are referred to in the preceding line and the statement seems to echo 10:27, it is likely that God’s people are the referents of the suffixes; the translation uses “my people” to indicate this.

[14:26]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and this is the hand that is outstretched over all the nations.”

[14:27]  ¹² tn Or “For” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[14:27]  ¹³ tn Heb “His hand is outstretched and who will turn it back?”

[46:10]  ¹⁴ tn Or “from long ago”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “from ancient times.”

[46:11]  ¹⁵ tn Or, more generally, “a bird of prey” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV; see 18:6).

[46:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “spoken”; KJV “I have spoken it.”

[4:28]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “hand,” here a metaphor for God’s strength or power or authority.

[4:28]  ¹⁸ tn Or “purpose,” “will.”

[4:28]  ¹⁹ 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.

[1:11]  ²⁰ tn Grk “in whom,” as a continuation of the previous verse.

[1:11]  ²¹ tn Grk “we were appointed by lot.” The notion of the verb κληρόω (klhrow) in the OT was to “appoint a portion by lot” (the more frequent cognate verb κληρονομέω [klhronomew] meant “obtain a portion by lot”). In the passive, as here, the idea is that “we were appointed [as a portion] by lot” (BDAG 548 s.v. κληρόω 1). The words “God’s own” have been supplied in the translation to clarify this sense of the verb. An alternative interpretation is that believers receive a portion as an inheritance: “In Christ we too have been appointed a portion of the inheritance.” See H. W. Hoehner, Ephesians, 226-27, for discussion on this interpretive issue.