Psalms 49:14

49:14 They will travel to Sheol like sheep, ¹ 

with death as their shepherd. ² 

The godly will rule ³  over them when the day of vindication dawns; ⁴ 

Sheol will consume their bodies and they will no longer live in impressive houses. ⁵ 

Isaiah 41:15-16

41:15 “Look, I am making you like ⁶  a sharp threshing sledge,

new and double-edged. ⁷ 

You will thresh the mountains and crush them;

you will make the hills like straw. ⁸ 

41:16 You will winnow them and the wind will blow them away;

the wind will scatter them.

You will rejoice in the Lord;

you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.

Ezekiel 17:24

17:24 All the trees of the field will know that I am the Lord.

I make the high tree low; I raise up the low tree.

I make the green tree wither, and I make the dry tree sprout.

I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it!’”

Daniel 7:18-27

7:18 The holy ones ⁹  of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will take possession of the kingdom forever and ever.’

7:19 “Then I wanted to know the meaning ¹⁰  of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others. It was very dreadful, with two rows of iron teeth and bronze claws, and it devoured, crushed, and trampled anything that was left with its feet. 7:20 I also wanted to know ¹¹  the meaning of the ten horns on its head, and of that other horn which came up and before which three others fell. This was the horn that had eyes ¹²  and a mouth speaking arrogant things, whose appearance was more formidable than the others. ¹³  7:21 While I was watching, that horn began to wage war against the holy ones and was defeating ¹⁴  them, 7:22 until the Ancient of Days arrived and judgment was rendered ¹⁵  in favor of the holy ones of the Most High. Then the time came for the holy ones to take possession of the kingdom.

7:23 “This is what he told me: ¹⁶ 

‘The fourth beast means that there will be a fourth kingdom on earth

that will differ from all the other kingdoms.

It will devour all the earth

and will trample and crush it.

7:24 The ten horns

mean that ten kings will arise from that kingdom.

Another king will arise after them,

but he will be different from the earlier ones.

He will humiliate ¹⁷  three kings.

7:25 He will speak words against the Most High.

He will harass ¹⁸  the holy ones of the Most High continually.

His intention ¹⁹  will be to change times established by law. ²⁰ 

They will be delivered into his hand

For a time, times, ²¹  and half a time.

7:26 But the court will convene, ²²  and his ruling authority will be removed –

destroyed and abolished forever!

7:27 Then the kingdom, authority,

and greatness of the kingdoms under all of heaven

will be delivered to the people of the holy ones ²³  of the Most High.

His kingdom is an eternal kingdom;

all authorities will serve him and obey him.’

Romans 8:37

8:37 No, in all these things we have complete victory ²⁴  through him ²⁵  who loved us!

Revelation 2:26-27

2:26 And to the one who conquers ²⁶  and who continues in ²⁷  my deeds until the end, I will give him authority over the nations ²⁸  –

2:27 he ²⁹  will rule ³⁰  them with an iron rod ³¹ 

and like clay jars he will break them to pieces, ³² 

Revelation 3:9

3:9 Listen! ³³  I am going to make those people from the synagogue ³⁴  of Satan – who say they are Jews yet ³⁵  are not, but are lying – Look, I will make ³⁶  them come and bow down ³⁷  at your feet and acknowledge ³⁸  that I have loved you.

[49:14]  ¹ tn Heb “like sheep to Sheol they are appointed.” The verb form שַׁתּוּ (shatu) is apparently derived from שָׁתַת (shatat), which appears to be a variant of the more common שִׁית (shiyt, “to place; to set”; BDB 1060 s.v. שָׁתַת and GKC 183 §67.ee). Some scholars emend the text to שָׁחוּ (shakhu; from the verbal root שׁוּח [shukh, “sink down”]) and read “they descend.” The present translation assumes an emendation to שָׁטוּ (shatu; from the verbal root שׁוּט [shut, “go; wander”]), “they travel, wander.” (The letter tet [ט] and tav [ת] sound similar; a scribe transcribing from dictation could easily confuse them.) The perfect verbal form is used in a rhetorical manner to speak of their destiny as if it were already realized (the so-called perfect of certitude or prophetic perfect).

[49:14]  ² tn Heb “death will shepherd them,” that is, death itself (personified here as a shepherd) will lead them like a flock of helpless, unsuspecting sheep to Sheol, the underworld, the land of the dead.

[49:14]  ³ tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries the same force as the perfect verbal form in v. 14a. The psalmist speaks of this coming event as if it were already accomplished.

[49:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “will rule over them in the morning.” “Morning” here is a metaphor for a time of deliverance and vindication after the dark “night” of trouble (see Pss 30:5; 46:5; 59:16; 90:14; 143:8; Isa 17:14). In this context the psalmist confidently anticipates a day of vindication when the Lord will deliver the oppressed from the rich (see v. 15) and send the oppressors to Sheol.

[49:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “their form [will become an object] for the consuming of Sheol, from a lofty residence, to him.” The meaning of this syntactically difficult text is uncertain. The translation assumes that צוּר (tsur, “form”; this is the Qere [marginal] reading; the Kethib has צִירָם [tsiram, “their image”]) refers to their physical form or bodies. “Sheol” is taken as the subject of “consume” (on the implied “become” before the infinitive “to consume” see GKC 349 §114.k). The preposition מִן (min) prefixed to “lofty residence” is understood as privative, “away from; so as not.” The preposition -ל (lamed) is possessive, while the third person pronominal suffix is understood as a representative singular.

[41:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “into” (so NIV); ASV “have made thee to be.”

[41:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “owner of two-mouths,” i.e., double-edged.

[41:15]  ⁸ sn The mountains and hills symbolize hostile nations that are obstacles to Israel’s restoration.

[7:18]  ⁹ sn The expression holy ones is either a reference to angels or to human beings devoted to God.

[7:19]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “to make certain.”

[7:20]  ¹¹ tn The words “I also wanted to know” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[7:20]  ¹² tc The conjunction in the MT before “eyes” is odd. The ancient versions do not seem to presuppose it.

[7:20]  ¹³ tn Aram “greater than its companions.”

[7:21]  ¹⁴ tn Aram “prevailing against” (KJV and ASV both similar); NASB “overpowering them”; TEV “conquered them.”

[7:22]  ¹⁵ tc In the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate the verb is active, understanding “judgment” to be the object rather than the subject of the verb (i.e., “the Ancient of Days rendered judgment”). This presupposes a different vocalization of the verb ( יְהַב [yÿhav] rather than the MT יְהִב [yÿhiv]).

[7:23]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “thus he said.”

[7:24]  ¹⁷ tn Or “subjugate”; KJV, NASB, NIV “subdue”; ASV, NRSV “put down.”

[7:25]  ¹⁸ tn Aram “wear out” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV); NASB, NLT “wear down.” The word is a hapax legomenon in biblical Aramaic, but in biblical Hebrew it especially refers to wearing out such things as garments. Here it is translated “harass…continually.”

[7:25]  ¹⁹ tn Aram “he will think.”

[7:25]  ²⁰ tn Aram “times and law.” The present translation is based on the understanding that the expression is a hendiadys.

[7:25]  ²¹ sn Although the word times is vocalized in the MT as a plural, it probably should be regarded as a dual. The Masoretes may have been influenced here by the fact that in late Aramaic (and Syriac) the dual forms fall out of use. The meaning would thus be three and a half “times.”

[7:26]  ²² tn Aram “judgment will sit” (KJV similar).

[7:27]  ²³ tn If the “holy ones” are angels, then this probably refers to the angels as protectors of God’s people. If the “holy ones” are God’s people, then this is an appositional construction, “the people who are the holy ones.” See 8:24 for the corresponding Hebrew phrase and the note there.

[8:37]  ²⁴ tn BDAG 1034 s.v. ὑπερνικάω states, “as a heightened form of νικᾶν prevail completely ὑπερνικῶμεν we are winning a most glorious victory Ro 8:37.”

[8:37]  ²⁵ tn Here the referent could be either God or Christ, but in v. 39 it is God’s love that is mentioned.

[2:26]  ²⁶ tn Or “who is victorious”; traditionally, “who overcomes.”

[2:26]  ²⁷ tn Grk “keeps.” In a context that speaks of “holding on to what you have,” the idea here is one of continued faithful behavior (BDAG 1002 s.v. τηρέω 3 has “ὁ τηρῶν τὰ ἔργα μου the one who takes my deeds to heart Rv 2:26”).

[2:26]  ²⁸ tn Or “over the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[2:27]  ²⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[2:27]  ³⁰ tn Grk “will shepherd.”

[2:27]  ³¹ tn Or “scepter.” The Greek term ῥάβδος (rJabdo") can mean either “rod” or “scepter.”

[2:27]  ³² sn A quotation from Ps 2:9 (with the line introducing the quotation containing a partial allusion to Ps 2:8). See also Rev 12:5, 19:15.

[3:9]  ³³ tn Grk “behold” (L&N 91.13).

[3:9]  ³⁴ sn See the note on synagogue in 2:9.

[3:9]  ³⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “yet” to indicate the contrast between what these people claimed and what they were.

[3:9]  ³⁶ tn The verb here is ποιέω (poiew), but in this context it has virtually the same meaning as δίδωμι (didwmi) used at the beginning of the verse. Stylistic variation like this is typical of Johannine literature.

[3:9]  ³⁷ tn The verb here is προσκυνήσουσιν (proskunhsousin), normally used to refer to worship.

[3:9]  ³⁸ tn Or “and know,” “and recognize.”