Numbers 24:17

24:17 ‘I see him, but not now;

I behold him, but not close at hand. ¹ 

A star ²  will march forth ³  out of Jacob,

and a scepter ⁴  will rise out of Israel.

He will crush the skulls ⁵  of Moab,

and the heads ⁶  of all the sons of Sheth. ⁷ 

Genesis 49:27

49:27 Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;

in the morning devouring the prey,

and in the evening dividing the plunder.”

Daniel 2:44

2:44 In the days of those kings the God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will not be destroyed and a kingdom that will not be left to another people. It will break in pieces and bring about the demise of all these kingdoms. But it will stand forever.

Micah 5:8-9

5:8 Those survivors from Jacob will live among the nations,

in the midst of many peoples.

They will be like a lion among the animals of the forest,

like a young lion among the flocks of sheep,

which attacks when it passes through;

it rips its prey ⁸  and there is no one to stop it. ⁹ 

5:9 Lift your hand triumphantly against your adversaries; ¹⁰ 

may all your enemies be destroyed! ¹¹ 

Zechariah 10:4-5

10:4 From him will come the cornerstone, ¹²  the wall peg, ¹³  the battle bow, and every ruler. ¹⁴  10:5 And they will be like warriors trampling the mud of the streets in battle. They will fight, for the Lord will be with them, and will defeat the enemy cavalry. ¹⁵ 

Zechariah 12:6

12:6 On that day ¹⁶  I will make the leaders of Judah like an igniter ¹⁷  among sticks and a burning torch among sheaves, and they will burn up all the surrounding nations right and left. Then the people of Jerusalem will settle once more in their place, the city of Jerusalem.

Revelation 19:11-21

The Son of God Goes to War

19:11 Then ¹⁸  I saw heaven opened and here came ¹⁹  a white horse! The ²⁰  one riding it was called “Faithful” and “True,” and with justice ²¹  he judges and goes to war. 19:12 His eyes are like a fiery ²²  flame and there are many diadem crowns ²³  on his head. He has ²⁴  a name written ²⁵  that no one knows except himself. 19:13 He is dressed in clothing dipped ²⁶  in blood, and he is called ²⁷  the Word of God. 19:14 The ²⁸  armies that are in heaven, dressed in white, clean, fine linen, ²⁹  were following him on white horses. 19:15 From his mouth extends a sharp sword, so that with it he can strike the nations. ³⁰  He ³¹  will rule ³²  them with an iron rod, ³³  and he stomps the winepress ³⁴  of the furious ³⁵  wrath of God, the All-Powerful. ³⁶  19:16 He has a name written on his clothing and on his thigh: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

19:17 Then ³⁷  I saw one angel standing in ³⁸  the sun, and he shouted in a loud voice to all the birds flying high in the sky: ³⁹ 

“Come, gather around for the great banquet ⁴⁰  of God,

19:18 to eat ⁴¹  your fill ⁴²  of the flesh of kings,

the flesh of generals, ⁴³ 

the flesh of powerful people,

the flesh of horses and those who ride them,

and the flesh of all people, both free and slave, ⁴⁴ 

and small and great!”

19:19 Then ⁴⁵  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 ⁴⁶  the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf ⁴⁷  – 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. ⁴⁸  19:21 The ⁴⁹  others were killed by the sword that extended from the mouth of the one who rode the horse, and all the birds gorged ⁵⁰  themselves with their flesh.

[24:17]  ¹ tn Heb “near.”

[24:17]  ² sn This is a figure for a king (see also Isa 14:12) not only in the Bible but in the ancient Near Eastern literature as a whole. The immediate reference of the prophecy seems to be to David, but the eschatological theme goes beyond him. There is to be a connection made between this passage and the sighting of a star in its ascendancy by the magi, who then traveled to Bethlehem to see the one born King of the Jews (Matt 2:2). The expression “son of a star” (Aram Bar Kochba) became a title for a later claimant to kingship, but he was doomed by the Romans in a.d. 135.

[24:17]  ³ tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it is equal to the imperfect expressing the future. The verb דָּרַךְ (darakh), related to the noun “way, road,” seems to mean something like tread on, walk, march.”

[24:17]  ⁴ sn The “scepter” is metonymical for a king who will rise to power. NEB strangely rendered this as “comet” to make a parallel with “star.”

[24:17]  ⁵ tn The word is literally “corners,” but may refer to the corners of the head, and so “skull.”

[24:17]  ⁶ tc The MT reads “shatter, devastate.” Smr reads קֹדְקֹד (qodqod, “head; crown; pate”). Smr follows Jer 48:45 which appears to reflect Num 24:17.

[24:17]  ⁷ sn The prophecy begins to be fulfilled when David defeated Moab and Edom and established an empire including them. But the Messianic promise extends far beyond that to the end of the age and the inclusion of these defeated people in the program of the coming King.

[5:8]  ⁸ tn The words “its prey” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “and there is no deliverer.”

[5:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “let your hand be lifted against your adversaries.”

[5:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “be cut off.”

[10:4]  ¹² sn On the NT use of the image of the cornerstone, see Luke 20:17; Eph 2:20; 1 Pet 2:6.

[10:4]  ¹³ sn The metaphor of the wall peg (Heb. יָתֵד, yated), together with the others in this list, describes the remarkable change that will take place at the inauguration of God’s eschatological kingdom. Israel, formerly sheep-like, will be turned into a mighty warhorse. The peg refers to a wall hook (although frequently translated “tent peg,” but cf. ASV “nail”; TWOT 1:419) from which tools and weapons were suspended, but figuratively also to the promise of God upon which all of Israel’s hopes were hung (cf. Isa 22:15-25; Ezra 9:8).

[10:4]  ¹⁴ tn This is not the usual word to describe a king of Israel or Judah (such as מֶלֶךְ, melekh, or נָשִׂיא, nasi’), but נוֹגֵשׂ, noges, “dictator” (cf. KJV “oppressor”). The author is asserting by this choice of wording that in the messianic age God’s rule will be by force.

[10:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and the riders on horses will be put to shame,” figurative for the defeat of mounted troops. The word “enemy” in the translation is supplied from context.

[12:6]  ¹⁶ sn On that day (referring to the day of the Lord) the Davidic monarchy will be restored and the Lord’s people will recognize once more the legitimacy and divine sanction of David’s dynasty. But there will also be a democratizing that will not give Jerusalem and its rulers undue priority over the people of the countryside (v. 7).

[12:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a firepot” (so NASB, NIV); NRSV “a blazing pot”; NLT “a brazier.”

[19:11]  ¹⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[19:11]  ¹⁹ tn The phrase “and here came” expresses the sense of καὶ ἰδού (kai idou).

[19:11]  ²⁰ tn A new sentence was started in the translation at this point and καί (kai) was not translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[19:11]  ²¹ tn Or “in righteousness,” but since the context here involves the punishment of the wicked and the vindication of the saints, “justice” was preferred.

[19:12]  ²² tn The genitive noun πυρός (puros) has been translated as an attributive genitive (see also Rev 1:14).

[19:12]  ²³ tn For the translation of διάδημα (diadhma) as “diadem crown” see L&N 6.196.

[19:12]  ²⁴ tn Grk “head, having.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[19:12]  ²⁵ tn Although many translations supply a prepositional phrase to specify what the name was written on (“upon Him,” NASB; “on him,” NIV), there is no location for the name specified in the Greek text.

[19:13]  ²⁶ tc It appears that “dipped” (βεβαμμένον, bebammenon), supported by several uncials and other witnesses (A 051 Ï), is the original reading. Due to the lack of the preposition “in” (ἐν, en) after the verb (βεβαμμένον αἵματι, bebammenon {aimati), and also probably because of literary allusions to Isa 63:3, several mss and versions seem to have changed the text to “sprinkled” (either ῥεραντισμένον [rJerantismenon] in P 2329 al; ἐρραντισμένον [errantismenon] in 1006 1841; ἐρραμμένον [errammenon] in 2053 2062; or ῥεραμμένον [rJerammenon] in 1611; or in one case περιρεραμμένον [perirerammenon] in א^[2]). The reading most likely to give rise to the others is “dipped.”

[19:13]  ²⁷ tn Grk “the name of him is called.”

[19:14]  ²⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[19:14]  ²⁹ tn On the term translated “fine linen,” BDAG 185 s.v. βύσσινος states, “made of fine linen, subst. τὸ β. fine linen, linen garment…Rv 18:12, 16; 19:8, 14.”

[19:15]  ³⁰ tn Or “the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[19:15]  ³¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[19:15]  ³² tn Grk “will shepherd.”

[19:15]  ³³ tn Or “scepter.” The Greek term ῥάβδος (rJabdo") can mean either “rod” or “scepter.”

[19:15]  ³⁴ sn He stomps the winepress. See Isa 63:3, where Messiah does this alone (usually several individuals would join in the process), and Rev 14:20.

[19:15]  ³⁵ tn The genitive θυμοῦ (qumou) has been translated as an attributed genitive. Following BDAG 461 s.v. θυμός 2, the combination of the genitives of θυμός (qumos) and ὀργή (orgh) in Rev 16:19 and 19:15 are taken to be a strengthening of the thought as in the OT and Qumran literature (Exod 32:12; Jer 32:37; Lam 2:3; CD 10:9).

[19:15]  ³⁶ tn On this word BDAG 755 s.v. παντοκράτωρ states, “the Almighty, All-Powerful, Omnipotent (One) only of God…(ὁ) κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ π. …Rv 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 21:22.”

[19:17]  ³⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[19:17]  ³⁸ tn The precise significance of ἐν (en) here is difficult to determine.

[19:17]  ³⁹ tn On μεσουρανήματι (mesouranhmati) here see L&N 1.10: “high in the sky, midpoint in the sky, directly overhead, straight above in the sky.” The birds mentioned here are carrion birds like vultures, circling high overhead, and now being summoned to feast on the corpses.

[19:17]  ⁴⁰ tn This is the same Greek word (δεῖπνον, deipnon) used in 19:9.

[19:18]  ⁴¹ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause, insofar as it is related to the first imperative, has the force of an imperative.

[19:18]  ⁴² tn The idea of eating “your fill” is evident in the context with the use of χορτάζω (cortazw) in v. 21.

[19:18]  ⁴³ tn Grk “chiliarchs”; normally a chiliarch was 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).

[19:18]  ⁴⁴ tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

[19:19]  ⁴⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[19:20]  ⁴⁶ 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]  ⁴⁷ 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]  ⁴⁸ tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”

[19:21]  ⁴⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[19:21]  ⁵⁰ 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).”