Joshua 1:9

1:9 I repeat, ¹  be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic, ²  for I, the Lord your God, am with you in all you do.” ³ 

Psalms 7:6

7:6 Stand up angrily, ⁴  Lord!

Rise up with raging fury against my enemies! ⁵ 

Wake up for my sake and execute the judgment you have decreed for them! ⁶ 

Isaiah 13:2-5

13:2 ⁷ On a bare hill raise a signal flag,

shout to them,

wave your hand,

so they might enter the gates of the princes!

13:3 I have given orders to my chosen soldiers; ⁸ 

I have summoned the warriors through whom I will vent my anger, ⁹ 

my boasting, arrogant ones. ¹⁰ 

13:4 ¹¹ There is a loud noise on the mountains –

it sounds like a large army! ¹² 

There is great commotion among the kingdoms ¹³  –

nations are being assembled!

The Lord who commands armies is mustering

forces for battle.

13:5 They come from a distant land,

from the horizon. ¹⁴ 

It is the Lord with his instruments of judgment, ¹⁵ 

coming to destroy the whole earth. ¹⁶ 

Acts 13:47

13:47 For this ¹⁷  is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have appointed ¹⁸  you to be a light ¹⁹  for the Gentiles, to bring salvation ²⁰  to the ends of the earth.’” ²¹ 

[1:9]  ¹ tn Heb “Have I not commanded you?” The rhetorical question emphasizes the importance of the following command by reminding the listener that it is being repeated.

[1:9]  ² tn Or perhaps, “don’t get discouraged!”

[1:9]  ³ tn Heb “in all which you go.”

[7:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “in your anger.”

[7:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “Lift yourself up in the angry outbursts of my enemies.” Many understand the preposition prefixed to עַבְרוֹת (’avrot, “angry outbursts”) as adversative, “against,” and the following genitive “enemies” as subjective. In this case one could translate, “rise up against my furious enemies” (cf. NIV, NRSV). The present translation, however, takes the preposition as indicating manner (cf. “in your anger” in the previous line) and understands the plural form of the noun as indicating an abstract quality (“fury”) or excessive degree (“raging fury”). Cf. Job 21:30.

[7:6]  ⁶ tc Heb “Wake up to me [with the] judgment [which] you have commanded.” The LXX understands אֵלִי (’eliy, “my God”) instead of אֵלַי (’elay, “to me”; the LXX reading is followed by NEB, NIV, NRSV.) If the reading of the MT is retained, the preposition probably has the sense of “on account of, for the sake of.” The noun מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat, “judgment”) is probably an adverbial accusative, modifying the initial imperative, “wake up.” In this case צִוִּיתָ (tsivvita, “[which] you have commanded”) is an asyndetic relative clause. Some take the perfect as precative. In this case one could translate the final line, “Wake up for my sake! Decree judgment!” (cf. NIV). However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.

[13:2]  ⁷ sn The Lord is speaking here (see v. 3).

[13:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “my consecrated ones,” i.e., those who have been set apart by God for the special task of carrying out his judgment.

[13:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “my warriors with respect to my anger.”

[13:3]  ¹² tn Heb “the boasting ones of my pride”; cf. ASV, NASB, NRSV “my proudly exulting ones.”

[13:4]  ¹³ sn In vv. 4-10 the prophet appears to be speaking, since the Lord is referred to in the third person. However, since the Lord refers to himself in the third person later in this chapter (see v. 13), it is possible that he speaks throughout the chapter.

[13:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a sound, a roar [is] on the mountains, like many people.”

[13:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “a sound, tumult of kingdoms.”

[13:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “from the end of the sky.”

[13:5]  ¹⁷ tn Or “anger”; cf. KJV, ASV “the weapons of his indignation.”

[13:5]  ¹⁸ tn Or perhaps, “land” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NLT). Even though the heading and subsequent context (see v. 17) indicate Babylon’s judgment is in view, the chapter has a cosmic flavor that suggests that the coming judgment is universal in scope. Perhaps Babylon’s downfall occurs in conjunction with a wider judgment, or the cosmic style is poetic hyperbole used to emphasize the magnitude and importance of the coming event.

[13:47]  ¹⁹ tn Here οὕτως (Joutws) is taken to refer to what follows, the content of the quotation, as given for this verse by BDAG 742 s.v. οὕτω/οὕτως 2.

[13:47]  ²⁰ tn BDAG 1004 s.v. τίθημι 3.a has “τιθέναι τινὰ εἴς τι place/appoint someone to or for (to function as) someth….Ac 13:47.” This is a double accusative construction of object (“you”) and complement (“a light”).

[13:47]  ²¹ sn Paul alludes here to the language of the Servant in Isaiah, pointing to Isa 42:6; 49:6. He and Barnabas do the work of the Servant in Isaiah.

[13:47]  ²² tn Grk “that you should be for salvation,” but more simply “to bring salvation.”

[13:47]  ²³ sn An allusion to Isa 42:6 and 49:6. The expression the ends of the earth recalls Luke 3:6 and Acts 1:8. Paul sees himself and Barnabas as carrying out the commission of Luke 24:27. (See 2 Cor 6:2, where servant imagery also appears concerning Paul’s message.)