Psalms 2:8-9

2:8 Ask me,

and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, ¹ 

the ends of the earth as your personal property.

2:9 You will break them ²  with an iron scepter; ³ 

you will smash them like a potter’s jar!’” ⁴ 

Psalms 7:6

7:6 Stand up angrily, ⁵  Lord!

Rise up with raging fury against my enemies! ⁶ 

Wake up for my sake and execute the judgment you have decreed for them! ⁷ 

Psalms 76:8-9

76:8 From heaven you announced what their punishment would be. ⁸ 

The earth ⁹  was afraid and silent

76:9 when God arose to execute judgment,

and to deliver all the oppressed of the earth. (Selah)

Psalms 96:13

96:13 before the Lord, for he comes!

For he comes to judge the earth!

He judges the world fairly, ¹⁰ 

and the nations in accordance with his justice. ¹¹ 

Psalms 98:9

98:9 before the Lord!

For he comes to judge the earth!

He judges the world fairly, ¹² 

and the nations in a just manner.

Psalms 110:5-6

110:5 O sovereign Lord, ¹³  at your right hand

he strikes down ¹⁴  kings in the day he unleashes his anger. ¹⁵ 

110:6 He executes judgment ¹⁶  against ¹⁷  the nations;

he fills the valleys with corpses; ¹⁸ 

he shatters their heads over the vast battlefield. ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 2:4

2:4 He will judge disputes between nations;

he will settle cases for many peoples.

They will beat their swords into plowshares, ²⁰ 

and their spears into pruning hooks. ²¹ 

Nations will not take up the sword against other nations,

and they will no longer train for war.

Isaiah 3:13

3:13 The Lord takes his position to judge;

he stands up to pass sentence on his people. ²² 

Ezekiel 30:3

30:3 For the day is near,

the day of the Lord is near;

it will be a day of storm clouds, ²³ 

it will be a time of judgment ²⁴  for the nations.

Micah 4:3

4:3 He will arbitrate ²⁵  between many peoples

and settle disputes between many ²⁶  distant nations. ²⁷ 

They will beat their swords into plowshares, ²⁸ 

and their spears into pruning hooks. ²⁹ 

Nations will not use weapons ³⁰  against other nations,

and they will no longer train for war.

Revelation 19:11

The Son of God Goes to War

19:11 Then ³¹  I saw heaven opened and here came ³²  a white horse! The ³³  one riding it was called “Faithful” and “True,” and with justice ³⁴  he judges and goes to war.

[2:8]  ¹ sn I will give you the nations. The Lord promises the Davidic king universal dominion.

[2:9]  ² tc The LXX reads “you will shepherd them.” This reading, quoted in the Greek text of the NT in Rev 2:27; 12:5; 19:15, assumes a different vocalization of the consonantal Hebrew text and understands the verb as רָעָה (ra’ah, “to shepherd”) rather than רָעָע (ra’a’, “to break”). But the presence of נָפַץ (nafats, “to smash”) in the next line strongly favors the MT vocalization.

[2:9]  ³ tn The Hebrew term שֵׁבֶט (shevet) can refer to a “staff” or “rod,” but here it probably refers to the Davidic king’s royal scepter, symbolizing his sovereignty.

[2:9]  ⁴ sn Like a potter’s jar. Before the Davidic king’s awesome power, the rebellious nations are like fragile pottery.

[7:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “in your anger.”

[7:6]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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.

[76:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “a [legal] decision,” or “sentence.”

[76:8]  ⁹ tn “The earth” stands here by metonymy for its inhabitants.

[96:13]  ¹⁰ tn The verbal forms in v. 13 probably describe God’s typical, characteristic behavior, though they may depict in dramatic fashion the outworking of divine judgment or anticipate a future judgment of worldwide proportions, in which case they could be translated “will judge the world.”

[96:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and the nations with his integrity.”

[98:9]  ¹² tn The verbal forms in v. 9 probably describe God’s typical, characteristic behavior, though they may depict in dramatic fashion the outworking of divine judgment or anticipate a future judgment of worldwide proportions (“will judge…”).

[110:5]  ¹³ tn As pointed in the Hebrew text, this title refers to God (many medieval Hebrew mss read יְהוָה, yehveh, “Lord” here). The present translation assumes that the psalmist here addresses the Lord as he celebrates what the king is able to accomplish while positioned at God’s “right hand.” According to this view the king is the subject of the third person verb forms in vv. 5b-7. (2) Another option is to understand the king as the addressee (as in vv. 2-3). In this case “the Lord” is the subject of the third person verbs throughout vv. 5-7 and is depicted as a warrior in a very anthropomorphic manner. In this case the Lord is pictured as being at the psalmist’s right hand (just the opposite of v. 1). See Pss 16:8; 121:5. (3) A third option is to revocalize אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “Lord”) as אֲדֹנִי (’adoniy, “my lord”; see v. 1). In this case one may translate, “My lord, at his [God’s] right hand, strikes down.” In this case the king is the subject of the third person verbs in vv. 5b-7.

[110:5]  ¹⁴ tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 5-6 are understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing. Another option is to take them as rhetorical. In this case the psalmist describes anticipated events as if they had already taken place.

[110:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in the day of his anger.”

[110:6]  ¹⁶ tn The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 6-7 are understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing, though they could be taken as future.

[110:6]  ¹⁷ tn Or “among.”

[110:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “he fills [with] corpses,” but one expects a double accusative here. The translation assumes an emendation to גְוִיּוֹת גֵאָיוֹת(בִּ) מִלֵּא or מִלֵּא גֵאָיוֹת גְּוִיוֹת (for a similar construction see Ezek 32:5). In the former case גֵאָיוֹת(ge’ayot) has accidentally dropped from the text due to homoioteleuton; in the latter case it has dropped out due to homoioarcton.

[110:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he strikes [the verb is מָחַץ (makhats), translated “strikes down” in v. 5] head[s] over a great land.” The Hebrew term רַבָּה (rabbah, “great”) is here used of distance or spatial measurement (see 1 Sam 26:13).

[2:4]  ²⁰ sn Instead of referring to the large plow as a whole, the plowshare is simply the metal tip which actually breaks the earth and cuts the furrow.

[2:4]  ²¹ sn This implement was used to prune the vines, i.e., to cut off extra leaves and young shoots (H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:93; M. Klingbeil, NIDOTTE 1:1117-18). It was a short knife with a curved hook at the end sharpened on the inside like a sickle. Breaking weapons and fashioning agricultural implements indicates a transition from fear and stress to peace and security.

[3:13]  ²² tc The Hebrew text has “nations,” but the preceding and following contexts make it clear that the Lord is judging his covenant people. עָמִים (’amim) should be changed (with support from the LXX) to עמו. The final mem (ם) on the form in the Hebrew is either dittographic or enclitic. When the mem was added or read as a plural ending, the vav (ו) was then misread as a yod (י).

[30:3]  ²³ tn Heb “a day of clouds.” The expression occurs also in Joel 2:2 and Zeph 1:15; it recalls the appearance of God at Mount Sinai (Exod 19:9, 16, 18).

[30:3]  ²⁴ tn Heb “a time.” The words “of judgment” have been added in the translation for clarification (see the following verses).

[4:3]  ²⁵ tn Or “judge.”

[4:3]  ²⁶ tn Or “mighty” (NASB); KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV “strong”; TEV “among the great powers.”

[4:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “[for many nations] to a distance.”

[4:3]  ²⁸ sn Instead of referring to the large plow as a whole, the plowshare is simply the metal tip which actually breaks the earth and cuts the furrow.

[4:3]  ²⁹ sn This implement was used to prune the vines, i.e., to cut off extra leaves and young shoots (M. Klingbeil, NIDOTTE 1:1117-18). It was a short knife with a curved hook at the end sharpened on the inside like a sickle.

[4:3]  ³⁰ tn Heb “take up the sword.”

[19:11]  ³¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[19:11]  ³² tn The phrase “and here came” expresses the sense of καὶ ἰδού (kai idou).

[19:11]  ³³ 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]  ³⁴ tn Or “in righteousness,” but since the context here involves the punishment of the wicked and the vindication of the saints, “justice” was preferred.