Psalms 73:19

73:19 How desolate they become in a mere moment!

Terrifying judgments make their demise complete! ¹ 

Isaiah 30:13

30:13 So this sin will become your downfall.

You will be like a high wall

that bulges and cracks and is ready to collapse;

it crumbles suddenly, in a flash. ² 

Isaiah 37:38

37:38 One day, ³  as he was worshiping ⁴  in the temple of his god Nisroch, ⁵  his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. ⁶  They ran away to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.

Daniel 5:30

5:30 And in that very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, ⁷  was killed. ⁸ 

Luke 12:20

12:20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life ⁹  will be demanded back from ¹⁰  you, but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ ¹¹ 

Acts 12:23

12:23 Immediately an angel of the Lord ¹²  struck ¹³  Herod ¹⁴  down because he did not give the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died. ¹⁵ 

Acts 12:1

James is Killed and Peter Imprisoned

12:1 About that time King Herod ¹⁶  laid hands on ¹⁷  some from the church to harm them. ¹⁸ 

Acts 5:2

5:2 He ¹⁹  kept back for himself part of the proceeds with his wife’s knowledge; he brought ²⁰  only part of it and placed it at the apostles’ feet.

Acts 5:2

5:2 He ²¹  kept back for himself part of the proceeds with his wife’s knowledge; he brought ²²  only part of it and placed it at the apostles’ feet.

Acts 2:3

2:3 And tongues spreading out like a fire ²³  appeared to them and came to rest on each one of them.

[73:19]  ¹ tn Heb “they come to an end, they are finished, from terrors.”

[30:13]  ² tn The verse reads literally, “So this sin will become for you like a breach ready to fall, bulging on a high wall, the breaking of which comes suddenly, in a flash.” Their sin produces guilt and will result in judgment. Like a wall that collapses their fall will be swift and sudden.

[37:38]  ³ sn The assassination of King Sennacherib probably took place in 681 b.c.

[37:38]  ⁴ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[37:38]  ⁵ sn No such Mesopotamian god is presently known. Perhaps the name Nisroch is a corruption of Nusku.

[37:38]  ⁶ sn Extra-biblical sources also mention the assassination of Sennacherib, though they refer to only one assassin. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 239-40.

[5:30]  ⁷ tn Aram “king of the Chaldeans.”

[5:30]  ⁸ sn The year was 539 B.C. At this time Daniel would have been approximately eighty-one years old. The relevant extra-biblical records describing the fall of Babylon include portions of Herodotus, Xenophon, Berossus (cited in Josephus), the Cyrus Cylinder, and the Babylonian Chronicle.

[12:20]  ⁹ tn Grk “your soul,” but ψυχή (yuch) is frequently used of one’s physical life. It clearly has that meaning in this context.

[12:20]  ¹⁰ tn Or “required back.” This term, ἀπαιτέω (apaitew), has an economic feel to it and is often used of a debt being called in for repayment (BDAG 96 s.v. 1).

[12:20]  ¹¹ tn Grk “the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” The words “for yourself” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[12:23]  ¹² tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 5:19.

[12:23]  ¹³ sn On being struck…down by an angel, see Acts 23:3; 1 Sam 25:28; 2 Sam 12:15; 2 Kgs 19:35; 2 Chr 13:20; 2 Macc 9:5.

[12:23]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:23]  ¹⁵ sn He was eaten by worms and died. Josephus, Ant. 19.8.2 (19.343-352), states that Herod Agrippa I died at Caesarea in a.d. 44. The account by Josephus, while not identical to Luke’s account, is similar in many respects: On the second day of a festival, Herod Agrippa appeared in the theater with a robe made of silver. When it sparkled in the sun, the people cried out flatteries and declared him to be a god. The king, carried away by the flattery, saw an owl (an omen of death) sitting on a nearby rope, and immediately was struck with severe stomach pains. He was carried off to his house and died five days later. The two accounts can be reconciled without difficulty, since while Luke states that Herod was immediately struck down by an angel, his death could have come several days later. The mention of worms with death adds a humiliating note to the scene. The formerly powerful ruler had been thoroughly reduced to nothing (cf. Jdt 16:17; 2 Macc 9:9; cf. also Josephus, Ant. 17.6.5 [17.168-170], which details the sickness which led to Herod the Great’s death).

[12:1]  ¹⁶ sn King Herod was Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod I (Herod the Great). His mediocre career is summarized in Josephus, Ant. 18-19. This event took place in a.d. 42 or 43.

[12:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “King Herod had some from the church arrested.”

[12:1]  ¹⁸ tn Or “to cause them injury.”

[5:2]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “And he.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[5:2]  ²⁰ tn The participle ἐνέγκας (enenka") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[5:2]  ²¹ tn Grk “And he.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[5:2]  ²² tn The participle ἐνέγκας (enenka") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[2:3]  ²³ tn Or “And divided tongues as of fire.” The precise meaning of διαμερίζομαι (diamerizomai) in Acts 2:3 is difficult to determine. The meaning could be “tongues as of fire dividing up one to each person,” but it is also possible that the individual tongues of fire were divided (“And divided tongues as of fire appeared”). The translation adopted in the text (“tongues spreading out like a fire”) attempts to be somewhat ambiguous.