Psalms 149:6-9

149:6 May they praise God

while they hold a two-edged sword in their hand, ¹ 

149:7 in order to take ²  revenge on the nations,

and punish foreigners.

149:8 They bind ³  their kings in chains,

and their nobles in iron shackles,

149:9 and execute the judgment to which their enemies ⁴  have been sentenced. ⁵ 

All his loyal followers will be vindicated. ⁶ 

Praise the Lord!

Isaiah 13:3-5

13:3 I have given orders to my chosen soldiers; ⁷ 

I have summoned the warriors through whom I will vent my anger, ⁸ 

my boasting, arrogant ones. ⁹ 

13:4 ¹⁰ There is a loud noise on the mountains –

it sounds like a large army! ¹¹ 

There is great commotion among the kingdoms ¹²  –

nations are being assembled!

The Lord who commands armies is mustering

forces for battle.

13:5 They come from a distant land,

from the horizon. ¹³ 

It is the Lord with his instruments of judgment, ¹⁴ 

coming to destroy the whole earth. ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 44:28

44:28 who commissions ¹⁶  Cyrus, the one I appointed as shepherd ¹⁷ 

to carry out all my wishes ¹⁸ 

and to decree concerning Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt,’

and concerning the temple, ‘It will be reconstructed.’” ¹⁹ 

Revelation 17:5-6

17:5 On ²⁰  her forehead was written a name, a mystery: ²¹  “Babylon the Great, the Mother of prostitutes and of the detestable things of the earth.” 17:6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of those who testified to Jesus. ²²  I ²³  was greatly astounded ²⁴  when I saw her.

Revelation 17:14

17:14 They will make war with the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those accompanying ²⁵  the Lamb are the called, chosen, and faithful.”

Revelation 18:6

18:6 Repay her the same way she repaid others; ²⁶  pay her back double ²⁷  corresponding to her deeds. In the cup she mixed, mix double the amount for her.

Revelation 18:20

18:20 (Rejoice over her, O heaven,

and you saints and apostles and prophets,

for God has pronounced judgment ²⁸  against her on your behalf!) ²⁹ 

[149:6]  ¹ tn Heb “[May] praises of God [be] in their throat, and a two-edged sword in their hand.”

[149:7]  ² tn Heb “to do.”

[149:8]  ³ tn Heb “to bind.”

[149:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the enemies of the people of God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[149:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “to do against them judgment [that] is written.”

[149:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “it is honor for all his godly ones.” The judgment of the oppressive kings will bring vindication and honor to God’s people (see vv. 4-5).

[13:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “my consecrated ones,” i.e., those who have been set apart by God for the special task of carrying out his judgment.

[13:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “my warriors with respect to my anger.”

[13:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “the boasting ones of my pride”; cf. ASV, NASB, NRSV “my proudly exulting ones.”

[13:4]  ¹⁰ sn In vv. 4-10 the prophet appears to be speaking, since the Lord is referred to in the third person. However, since the Lord refers to himself in the third person later in this chapter (see v. 13), it is possible that he speaks throughout the chapter.

[13:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a sound, a roar [is] on the mountains, like many people.”

[13:4]  ¹² tn Heb “a sound, tumult of kingdoms.”

[13:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “from the end of the sky.”

[13:5]  ¹⁴ tn Or “anger”; cf. KJV, ASV “the weapons of his indignation.”

[13:5]  ¹⁵ tn Or perhaps, “land” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NLT). Even though the heading and subsequent context (see v. 17) indicate Babylon’s judgment is in view, the chapter has a cosmic flavor that suggests that the coming judgment is universal in scope. Perhaps Babylon’s downfall occurs in conjunction with a wider judgment, or the cosmic style is poetic hyperbole used to emphasize the magnitude and importance of the coming event.

[44:28]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “says to.” It is possible that the sentence is not completed, as the description of Cyrus and his God-given role is developed in the rest of the verse. 45:1 picks up where 44:28a leaves off with the Lord’s actual words to Cyrus finally being quoted in 45:2.

[44:28]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “my shepherd.” The shepherd motif is sometimes applied, as here, to a royal figure who is responsible for the well-being of the people whom he rules.

[44:28]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “that he might bring to completion all my desire.”

[44:28]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and [concerning the] temple, you will be founded.” The preposition -לְ (lÿ) is understood by ellipsis at the beginning of the second line. The verb תִּוָּסֵד (tivvased, “you will be founded”) is second masculine singular and is probably addressed to the personified temple (הֵיכָל [hekhal, “temple”] is masculine).

[17:5]  ²⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[17:5]  ²¹ tn Some translations consider the word μυστήριον (musthrion, “mystery”) a part of the name written (“Mystery Babylon the Great,” so KJV, NIV), but the gender of both ὄνομα (onoma, “name”) and μυστήριον are neuter, while the gender of “Babylon” is feminine. This strongly suggests that μυστήριον should be understood as an appositive to ὄνομα (“a name, i.e., a mystery”).

[17:6]  ²² tn Or “of the witnesses to Jesus.” Here the genitive ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou) is taken as an objective genitive; Jesus is the object of their testimony.

[17:6]  ²³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[17:6]  ²⁴ tn Grk “I marveled a great marvel” (an idiom for great astonishment).

[17:14]  ²⁵ tn See BDAG 636 s.v. μετά A.2.a.α.

[18:6]  ²⁶ tn The word “others” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[18:6]  ²⁷ tn On this term BDAG 252 s.v. διπλόω states, “to double τὰ διπλᾶ pay back double Rv 18:6.”

[18:20]  ²⁸ tn On the phrase “pronounced judgment” BDAG 567 s.v. κρίμα 4.b states, “The OT is the source of the expr. κρίνειν τὸ κρ. (cp. Zech 7:9; 8:16; Ezk 44:24) ἔκρινεν ὁ θεὸς τὸ κρίμα ὑμῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς God has pronounced judgment for you against her or God has pronounced on her the judgment she wished to impose on you (HHoltzmann, Hdb. 1893 ad loc.) Rv 18:20.”

[18:20]  ²⁹ tn Grk “God has judged a judgment of you of her.” Verse 20 is set in parentheses because in it the saints, etc. are addressed directly in the second person.