Psalms 57:2

57:2 I cry out for help to the sovereign God, ¹ 

to the God who vindicates ²  me.

Psalms 78:35

78:35 They remembered that God was their protector, ³ 

and that the sovereign God was their deliverer. ⁴ 

Psalms 78:56

78:56 Yet they challenged and defied ⁵  the sovereign God, ⁶ 

and did not obey ⁷  his commands. ⁸ 

Daniel 4:2

4:2 I am delighted to tell you about the signs and wonders that the most high God has done for me.

Daniel 5:18

5:18 As for you, O king, the most high God bestowed on your father Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom, greatness, honor, and majesty. ⁹ 

Daniel 5:21

5:21 He was driven from human society, his mind ¹⁰  was changed to that of an animal, he lived ¹¹  with the wild donkeys, he was fed grass like oxen, and his body became damp with the dew of the sky, until he came to understand that the most high God rules over human kingdoms, and he appoints over them whomever he wishes.

Micah 6:6

6:6 With what should I ¹²  enter the Lord’s presence?

With what ¹³  should I bow before the sovereign God? ¹⁴ 

Should I enter his presence with burnt offerings,

with year-old calves?

Mark 5:7

5:7 Then ¹⁵  he cried out with a loud voice, “Leave me alone, ¹⁶  Jesus, Son of the Most High God! I implore you by God ¹⁷  – do not torment me!”

Acts 16:17

16:17 She followed behind Paul and us and kept crying out, ¹⁸  “These men are servants ¹⁹  of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way ²⁰  of salvation.” ²¹ 

[57:2]  ¹ tn Heb “to God Most High.” The divine title “Most High” (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Ps 47:2.

[57:2]  ² tn Or “avenges in favor of.”

[78:35]  ³ tn Heb “my high rocky summit.”

[78:35]  ⁴ tn Heb “and [that] God Most High [was] their redeemer.”

[78:56]  ⁵ tn Or “tested and rebelled against.”

[78:56]  ⁶ tn Heb “God, the Most High.”

[78:56]  ⁷ tn Or “keep.”

[78:56]  ⁸ tn Heb “his testimonies” (see Ps 25:10).

[5:18]  ⁹ tn Or “royal greatness and majestic honor,” if the four terms are understood as a double hendiadys.

[5:21]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “heart.”

[5:21]  ¹¹ tn Aram “his dwelling.”

[6:6]  ¹² sn With what should I enter the Lord’s presence? The prophet speaks again, playing the role of an inquisitive worshiper who wants to know what God really desires from his followers.

[6:6]  ¹³ tn The words “with what” do double duty in the parallelism and are supplied in the second line of the translation for clarification.

[6:6]  ¹⁴ tn Or “the exalted God.”

[5:7]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[5:7]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “What to me and to you?” (an idiom). The phrase τί ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί (ti emoi kai soi) is Semitic in origin, though it made its way into colloquial Greek (BDAG 275 s.v. ἐγώ). The equivalent Hebrew expression in the OT had two basic meanings: (1) When one person was unjustly bothering another, the injured party could say “What to me and to you?” meaning, “What have I done to you that you should do this to me?” (Judg 11:12, 2 Chr 35:21, 1 Kgs 17:18). (2) When someone was asked to get involved in a matter he felt was no business of his own, he could say to the one asking him, “What to me and to you?” meaning, “That is your business, how am I involved?” (2 Kgs 3:13, Hos 14:8). These nuances were apparently expanded in Greek, but the basic notions of defensive hostility (option 1) and indifference or disengagement (option 2) are still present. BDAG suggests the following as glosses for this expression: What have I to do with you? What have we in common? Leave me alone! Never mind! Hostility between Jesus and the demons is certainly to be understood in this context, hence the translation: “Leave me alone….”

[5:7]  ¹⁷ sn Though it seems unusual for a demon to invoke God’s name (“I implore you by God”) in his demands of Jesus, the parallel in Matt 8:29 suggests the reason: “Why have you come to torment us before the time?” There was an appointed time in which demons would face their judgment, and they seem to have viewed Jesus’ arrival on the scene as an illegitimate change in God’s plan regarding the time when their sentence would be executed.

[16:17]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “crying out, saying”; the participle λέγουσα (legousa) is redundant in English and has not been translated. The imperfect verb ἔκραζεν (ekrazen) has been translated as a progressive imperfect.

[16:17]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “slaves.” See the note on the word “servants” in 2:18. The translation “servants” was used here because in this context there appears to be more emphasis on the activity of Paul and his companions (“proclaiming to you the way of salvation”) than on their status as “slaves of the Most High God.”

[16:17]  ²⁰ tn Or “a way.” The grammar of this phrase is a bit ambiguous. The phrase in Greek is ὁδὸν σωτηρίας (Jodon swthria"). Neither the head noun nor the genitive noun has the article; this is in keeping with Apollonius’ Canon (see ExSyn 239-40). Since both nouns are anarthrous, this construction also fits Apollonius’ Corollary (see ExSyn 250-54); since the genitive noun is abstract it is most naturally qualitative, so the head noun could either be definite or indefinite without being unusual as far as the grammar is concerned. Luke’s usage of ὁδός elsewhere is indecisive as far as this passage is concerned. However, when one looks at the historical background it is clear that (1) the woman is shut up (via exorcism) not because her testimony is false but because of its source (analogous to Jesus’ treatment of demons perhaps), and (b) “the way” is a par excellence description of the new faith throughout Acts. It thus seems that at least in Luke’s presentation “the way of salvation” is the preferred translation.

[16:17]  ²¹ sn Proclaiming to you the way of salvation. The remarks were an ironic recognition of Paul’s authority, but he did not desire such a witness, possibly for fear of confusion. Her expression the Most High God might have been understood as Zeus by the audience.