Joshua 10:16-18

10:16 The five Amorite kings ¹  ran away and hid in the cave at Makkedah. 10:17 Joshua was told, “The five kings have been found hiding in the cave at Makkedah.” 10:18 Joshua said, “Roll large stones over the mouth of the cave and post guards in front of it. ² 

Joshua 10:22-25

10:22 Joshua said, “Open the cave’s mouth and bring the five kings ³  out of the cave to me.” 10:23 They did as ordered; ⁴  they brought the five kings ⁵  out of the cave to him – the kings of Jerusalem, ⁶  Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon. 10:24 When they brought the kings out to Joshua, he ⁷  summoned all the men of Israel and said to the commanders of the troops who accompanied him, “Come here ⁸  and put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So they came up ⁹  and put their feet on their necks. 10:25 Then Joshua said to them, “Don’t be afraid and don’t panic! ¹⁰  Be strong and brave, for the Lord will do the same thing to all your enemies you fight.

Job 12:16-21

12:16 With him are strength and prudence; ¹¹ 

both the one who goes astray ¹² 

and the one who misleads are his.

12:17 He ¹³  leads ¹⁴  counselors away stripped ¹⁵ 

and makes judges ¹⁶  into fools. ¹⁷ 

12:18 He loosens ¹⁸  the bonds ¹⁹  of kings

and binds a loincloth ²⁰  around their waist.

12:19 He leads priests away stripped ²¹ 

and overthrows ²²  the potentates. ²³ 

12:20 He deprives the trusted advisers ²⁴  of speech ²⁵ 

and takes away the discernment ²⁶  of elders.

12:21 He pours contempt on noblemen

and disarms ²⁷  the powerful. ²⁸ 

Job 34:19

34:19 who shows no partiality to princes,

and does not take note of ²⁹  the rich more than the poor,

because all of them are the work of his hands?

Psalms 83:11

83:11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, ³⁰ 

and all their rulers like Zebah and Zalmunna, ³¹ 

Amos 2:14

2:14 Fast runners will find no place to hide; ³² 

strong men will have no strength left; ³³ 

warriors will not be able to save their lives.

Revelation 6:15-16

6:15 Then ³⁴  the kings of the earth, the ³⁵  very important people, the generals, ³⁶  the rich, the powerful, and everyone, slave ³⁷  and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 6:16 They ³⁸  said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, ³⁹ 

Revelation 19:19-21

19:19 Then ⁴⁰  I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to do battle with the one who rode the horse and with his army. 19:20 Now ⁴¹  the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf ⁴²  – signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur. ⁴³  19:21 The ⁴⁴  others were killed by the sword that extended from the mouth of the one who rode the horse, and all the birds gorged ⁴⁵  themselves with their flesh.

[10:16]  ¹ tn Heb “these five kings.”

[10:18]  ² tn Heb “and appoint by it men to guard them.”

[10:22]  ³ tn Heb “these five kings.”

[10:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “they did so.”

[10:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “these five kings.”

[10:23]  ⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[10:24]  ⁷ tn Heb “Joshua.” The translation has replaced the proper name with the pronoun (“he”) because a repetition of the proper name here would be redundant according to English style.

[10:24]  ⁸ tn Or “Draw near.”

[10:24]  ⁹ tn Or “drew near.”

[10:25]  ¹⁰ tn Or perhaps “and don’t get discouraged!”

[12:16]  ¹¹ tn The word תּוּשִׁיָּה (tushiyyah) is here rendered “prudence.” Some object that God’s power is intended here, and so a word for power and not wisdom should be included. But v. 13 mentioned wisdom. The point is that it is God’s efficient wisdom that leads to success. One could interpret this as a metonymy of cause, the intended meaning being victory or success.

[12:16]  ¹² tn The Hebrew text uses a wordplay here: שֹׁגֵג (shogeg) is “the one going astray,” i.e., the one who is unable to guard and guide his life. The second word is מַשְׁגֶּה (mashgeh), from a different but historically related root שָׁגָה (shagah), which here in the Hiphil means “the one who misleads, causes to go astray.” These two words are designed to include everybody – all are under the wisdom of God.

[12:17]  ¹³ tn The personal pronoun normally present as the subject of the participle is frequently omitted (see GKC 381 §119.s).

[12:17]  ¹⁴ tn GKC 361-62 §116.x notes that almost as a rule a participle beginning a sentence is continued with a finite verb with or without a ו (vav). Here the participle (“leads”) is followed by an imperfect (“makes fools”) after a ו (vav).

[12:17]  ¹⁵ tn The word שׁוֹלָל (sholal), from the root שָׁלַל (shalal, “to plunder; to strip”), is an adjective expressing the state (and is in the singular, as if to say, “in the state of one naked” [GKC 375 §118.o]). The word is found in military contexts (see Mic 1:8). It refers to the carrying away of people in nakedness and shame by enemies who plunder (see also Isa 8:1-4). They will go away as slaves and captives, deprived of their outer garments. Some (cf. NAB) suggest “barefoot,” based on the LXX of Mic 1:8; but the meaning of that is uncertain. G. R. Driver wanted to derive the word from an Arabic root “to be mad; to be giddy,” forming a better parallel.

[12:17]  ¹⁶ sn The judges, like the counselors, are nobles in the cities. God may reverse their lot, either by captivity or by shame, and they cannot resist his power.

[12:17]  ¹⁷ tn Some translate this “makes mad” as in Isa 44:25, but this gives the wrong connotation today; more likely God shows them to be fools.

[12:18]  ¹⁸ tn The verb may be classified as a gnomic perfect, or possibly a potential perfect – “he can loosen.” The Piel means “to untie; to unbind” (Job 30:11; 38:31; 39:5).

[12:18]  ¹⁹ tc There is a potential textual difficulty here. The MT has מוּסַר (musar, “discipline”), which might have replaced מוֹסֵר (moser, “bond, chain”) from אָסַר (’asar, “to bind”). Or מוּסַר might be an unusual form of אָסַר (an option noted in HALOT 557 s.v. *מוֹסֵר). The line is saying that if the kings are bound, God can set them free, and in the second half, if they are free, he can bind them. Others take the view that this word “bond” refers to the power kings have over others, meaning that God can reduce kings to slavery.

[12:18]  ²⁰ tn Some commentators want to change אֵזוֹר (’ezor, “girdle”) to אֵסוּר (’esur, “bond”) because binding the loins with a girdle was an expression for strength. But H. H. Rowley notes that binding the king’s loins this way would mean so that he would do servitude, menial tasks. Such a reference would certainly indicate troubled times.

[12:19]  ²¹ tn Except for “priests,” the phraseology is identical to v. 17a.

[12:19]  ²² tn The verb has to be defined by its context: it can mean “falsify” (Exod 23:8), “make tortuous” (Prov 19:3), or “plunge” into misfortune (Prov 21:12). God overthrows those who seem to be solid.

[12:19]  ²³ tn The original meaning of אֵיתָן (’eytan) is “perpetual.” It is usually an epithet for a torrent that is always flowing. It carries the connotations of permanence and stability; here applied to people in society, it refers to one whose power and influence does not change. These are the pillars of society.

[12:20]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew נֶאֱמָנִים (ne’emanim) is the Niphal participle; it is often translated “the faithful” in the Bible. The Rabbis rather fancifully took the word from נְאֻם (nÿ’um, “oracle, utterance”) and so rendered it “those who are eloquent, fluent in words.” But that would make this the only place in the Bible where this form came from that root or any other root besides אָמַן (’aman, “confirm, support”). But to say that God takes away the speech of the truthful or the faithful would be very difficult. It has to refer to reliable men, because it is parallel to the elders or old men. The NIV has “trusted advisers,” which fits well with kings and judges and priests.

[12:20]  ²⁵ tn Heb “he removes the lip of the trusted ones.”

[12:20]  ²⁶ tn Heb “taste,” meaning “opinion” or “decision.”

[12:21]  ²⁷ tn The expression in Hebrew uses מְזִיחַ (mÿziakh, “belt”) and the Piel verb רִפָּה (rippah, “to loosen”) so that “to loosen the belt of the mighty” would indicate “to disarm/incapacitate the mighty.” Others have opted to change the text: P. Joüon emends to read “forehead” – “he humbles the brow of the mighty.”

[12:21]  ²⁸ tn The word אָפַק (’afaq, “to be strong”) is well-attested, and the form אָפִיק (’afiq) is a normal adjective formation. So a translation like “mighty” (KJV, NIV) or “powerful” is acceptable, and further emendations are unnecessary.

[34:19]  ²⁹ tn The verb means “to give recognition; to take note of” and in this passage with לִפְנֵי (lifne, “before”) it means to show preferential treatment to the rich before the poor. The word for “rich” here is an unusual word, found parallel to “noble” (Isa 32:2). P. Joüon thinks it is a term of social distinction (Bib 18 [1937]: 207-8).

[83:11]  ³⁰ sn Oreb and Zeeb were the generals of the Midianite army that was defeated by Gideon. The Ephraimites captured and executed both of them and sent their heads to Gideon (Judg 7:24-25).

[83:11]  ³¹ sn Zebah and Zalmunna were the Midianite kings. Gideon captured them and executed them (Judg 8:1-21).

[2:14]  ³² tn Heb “and a place of refuge will perish from the swift.”

[2:14]  ³³ tn Heb “the strong will not increase his strength.”

[6:15]  ³⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[6:15]  ³⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated; nor is it translated before each of the following categories, since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[6:15]  ³⁶ tn Grk “chiliarchs.” A chiliarch was normally a military officer commanding a thousand soldiers, but here probably used of higher-ranking commanders like generals (see L&N 55.15; cf. Rev 6:15).

[6:15]  ³⁷ tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

[6:16]  ³⁸ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[6:16]  ³⁹ tn It is difficult to say where this quotation ends. The translation ends it after “withstand it” at the end of v. 17, but it is possible that it should end here, after “Lamb” at the end of v. 16. If it ends after “Lamb,” v. 17 is a parenthetical explanation by the author.

[19:19]  ⁴⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[19:20]  ⁴¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the introduction of an unexpected development in the account: The opposing armies do not come together in battle; rather the leader of one side is captured.

[19:20]  ⁴² tn For this meaning see BDAG 342 s.v. ἐνώπιον 4.b, “by the authority of, on behalf of Rv 13:12, 14; 19:20.”

[19:20]  ⁴³ tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”

[19:21]  ⁴⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[19:21]  ⁴⁵ tn On the translation of ἐχορτάσθησαν (ecortasqhsan) BDAG 1087 s.v. χορτάζω 1.a states, “of animals, pass. in act. sense πάντα τὰ ὄρνεα ἐχορτάσθησαν ἐκ τῶν σαρκῶν αὐτῶν all the birds gorged themselves with their flesh Rv 19:21 (cp. TestJud. 21:8).”