Discovery BoxNumbers 24:24
Context24:24 Ships will come from the coast of Kittim, 1
and will afflict Asshur, 2 and will afflict Eber,
and he will also perish forever.” 3
Isaiah 5:26-30
Context5:26 He lifts a signal flag for a distant nation, 4
he whistles for it to come from the far regions of the earth.
Look, they 5 come quickly and swiftly.
5:27 None tire or stumble,
they don’t stop to nap or sleep.
They don’t loosen their belts,
or unstrap their sandals to rest. 6
5:28 Their arrows are sharpened,
and all their bows are prepared. 7
The hooves of their horses are hard as flint, 8
and their chariot wheels are like a windstorm. 9
5:29 Their roar is like a lion’s;
they roar like young lions.
They growl and seize their prey;
they drag it away and no one can come to the rescue.
5:30 At that time 10 they will growl over their prey, 11
it will sound like sea waves crashing against rocks. 12
One will look out over the land and see the darkness of disaster,
clouds will turn the light into darkness. 13
Jeremiah 5:15-17
Context5:15 The Lord says, 14 “Listen, 15 nation of Israel! 16
I am about to bring a nation from far away to attack you.
It will be a nation that was founded long ago
and has lasted for a long time.
It will be a nation whose language you will not know.
Its people will speak words that you will not be able to understand.
5:16 All of its soldiers are strong and mighty. 17
Their arrows will send you to your grave. 18
5:17 They will eat up your crops and your food.
They will kill off 19 your sons and your daughters.
They will eat up your sheep and your cattle.
They will destroy your vines and your fig trees. 20
Their weapons will batter down 21
the fortified cities you trust in.
Daniel 6:22-23
Context6:22 My God sent his angel and closed the lions’ mouths so that they have not harmed me, because I was found to be innocent before him. Nor have I done any harm to you, O king.”
6:23 Then the king was delighted and gave an order to haul Daniel up from the den. So Daniel was hauled up out of the den. He had no injury of any kind, because he had trusted in his God.
Daniel 9:26
Context9:26 Now after the sixty-two weeks,
an anointed one will be cut off and have nothing. 22
As for the city and the sanctuary,
the people of the coming prince will destroy 23 them.
But his end will come speedily 24 like a flood. 25
Until the end of the war that has been decreed
there will be destruction.
Habakkuk 1:6-7
Context1:6 Look, I am about to empower 26 the Babylonians,
that ruthless 27 and greedy 28 nation.
They sweep across the surface 29 of the earth,
seizing dwelling places that do not belong to them.
1:7 They are frightening and terrifying;
they decide for themselves what is right. 30
Luke 19:43-44
Context19:43 For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build 31 an embankment 32 against you and surround you and close in on you from every side. 19:44 They will demolish you 33 – you and your children within your walls 34 – and they will not leave within you one stone 35 on top of another, 36 because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.” 37
[24:24] 1 tc The MT is difficult. The Kittim refers normally to Cyprus, or any maritime people to the west. W. F. Albright proposed emending the line to “islands will gather in the north, ships from the distant sea” (“The Oracles of Balaam,” JBL 63 [1944]: 222-23). Some commentators accept that reading as the original state of the text, since the present MT makes little sense.
[24:24] 2 tn Or perhaps “Assyria” (so NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
[24:24] 3 tn Or “it will end in utter destruction.”
[5:26] 4 tc The Hebrew text has literally, “for nations from a distance.” The following verses use singular forms to describe this nation, so the final mem (ם) on לְגּוֹיִם (lÿgoyim) may be enclitic or dittographic. In the latter case one could read לְגוֹי מֵרָחוֹק (lÿgoy merakhoq, “for a nation from a distance”; see Deut 28:49; Joel 3:8). Another possibility is to emend the text from לַגּוֹיִם מֵרָחוֹק (laggoyim merakhoq) to לְגוֹי מִמֶּרְחָק (lÿgoy mimmerkhaq, “for a nation from a distant place”) a phrase which occurs in Jer 5:15. In this case an error of misdivision has occurred in MT, the mem of the prefixed preposition being accidentally taken as a plural ending on the preceding word.
[5:26] 5 tn Heb “he.” Singular forms are used throughout vv. 26-30 to describe this nation, but for stylistic reasons the translation uses the plural for these collective singulars.
[5:27] 6 tn Heb “and the belt on his waist is not opened, and the thong of his sandals is not torn in two.”
[5:28] 7 tn Heb “bent” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “are strung.”
[5:28] 8 tn Heb “regarded like flint.”
[5:28] 9 sn They are like a windstorm in their swift movement and in the way they kick up dust.
[5:30] 10 tn Or “in that day” (KJV).
[5:30] 11 tn Heb “over it”; the referent (the prey) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[5:30] 12 tn Heb “like the growling of the sea.”
[5:30] 13 tn Heb “and one will gaze toward the land, and look, darkness of distress, and light will grow dark by its [the land’s?] clouds.”
[5:15] 14 tn Heb “oracle of the
[5:15] 16 tn Heb “house of Israel.”
[5:16] 17 tn Heb “All of them are mighty warriors.”
[5:16] 18 tn Heb “his quiver [is] an open grave.” The order of the lines has been reversed to make the transition from “nation” to “their arrows” easier.
[5:17] 20 tn Or “eat up your grapes and figs”; Heb “eat up your vines and your fig trees.”
[5:17] 21 tn Heb “They will beat down with the sword.” The term “sword” is a figure of speech (synecdoche) for military weapons in general. Siege ramps, not swords, beat down city walls; swords kill people, not city walls.
[9:26] 22 sn The expression have nothing is difficult. Presumably it refers to an absence of support or assistance for the anointed one at the time of his “cutting off.” The KJV rendering “but not for himself,” apparently suggesting a vicarious death, cannot be defended.
[9:26] 23 tc Some witnesses (e.g., the Syriac) understand a passive verb and the preposition עִם (’im, “with) rather than the noun עַם (’am, “people”), thus reading “the city and the sanctuary will be destroyed with the coming prince.”
[9:26] 24 tn The words “will come speedily” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.
[9:26] 25 sn Flood here is a metaphor for sudden destruction.
[1:6] 26 tn Heb “raise up” (so KJV, ASV).
[1:6] 27 tn Heb “bitter.” Other translation options for this word in this context include “fierce” (NASB, NRSV); “savage” (NEB); or “grim.”
[1:6] 28 tn Heb “hasty, quick.” Some translate here “impetuous” (so NEB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) or “rash,” but in this context greed may very well be the idea. The Babylonians move quickly and recklessly ahead in their greedy quest to expand their empire.
[1:6] 29 tn Heb “the open spaces.”
[1:7] 30 tn Heb “from him his justice, even his lifting up, goes out.” In this context שְׂאֵת (sÿ’et) probably has the nuance “authority.” See R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (WEC), 150.
[19:43] 31 sn Jesus now predicted the events that would be fulfilled in the fall of Jerusalem in
[19:43] 32 sn An embankment refers to either wooden barricades or earthworks, or a combination of the two.
[19:44] 33 tn Grk “They will raze you to the ground.”
[19:44] 34 tn Grk “your children within you.” The phrase “[your] walls” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that the city of Jerusalem, metaphorically pictured as an individual, is spoken of here.
[19:44] 35 sn (Not) one stone on top of another is an idiom for total destruction.
[19:44] 36 tn Grk “leave stone on stone.”
[19:44] 37 tn Grk “the time of your visitation.” To clarify what this refers to, the words “from God” are supplied at the end of the verse, although they do not occur in the Greek text.
