Psalms 18:38-42

18:38 I beat them ¹  to death; ² 

they fall at my feet. ³ 

18:39 You give me strength ⁴  for battle;

you make my foes kneel before me. ⁵ 

18:40 You make my enemies retreat; ⁶ 

I destroy those who hate me. ⁷ 

18:41 They cry out, but there is no one to help them; ⁸ 

they cry out to the Lord, ⁹  but he does not answer them.

18:42 I grind them as fine windblown dust; ¹⁰ 

I beat them underfoot ¹¹  like clay ¹²  in the streets.

Psalms 118:12

118:12 They surrounded me like bees.

But they disappeared as quickly ¹³  as a fire among thorns. ¹⁴ 

Indeed, in the name of the Lord I pushed them away.

Isaiah 8:15

8:15 Many will stumble over the stone and the rock, ¹⁵ 

and will fall and be seriously injured,

and will be ensnared and captured.”

John 18:3-6

18:3 So Judas obtained a squad of soldiers ¹⁶  and some officers of the chief priests and Pharisees. ¹⁷  They came to the orchard ¹⁸  with lanterns ¹⁹  and torches and weapons.

18:4 Then Jesus, because he knew everything that was going to happen to him, ²⁰  came and asked them, “Who are you looking for?” ²¹  18:5 They replied, ²²  “Jesus the Nazarene.” He told them, “I am he.” (Now Judas, the one who betrayed him, was standing there with them.) ²³  18:6 So when Jesus ²⁴  said to them, “I am he,” they retreated ²⁵  and fell to the ground. ²⁶ 

[18:38]  ¹ tn Or “smash them.” 2 Sam 22:39 reads, “and I wiped them out and smashed them.”

[18:38]  ² tn Heb “until they are unable to rise.” 2 Sam 22:39 reads, “until they do not rise.”

[18:38]  ³ sn They fall at my feet. For ancient Near Eastern parallels, see O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 294-97.

[18:39]  ⁴ tn Heb “clothed me.” See v. 32.

[18:39]  ⁵ tn Heb “you make those who rise against me kneel beneath me.”

[18:40]  ⁶ tn Heb “and [as for] my enemies, you give to me [the] back [or “neck”].” The idiom “give [the] back” means “to cause [one] to turn the back and run away.” Cf. Exod 23:27.

[18:40]  ⁷ sn Those who hate me. See v. 17, where it is the Lord who delivered the psalmist from those who hated him.

[18:41]  ⁸ tn Heb “but there is no deliverer.”

[18:41]  ⁹ tn Heb “to the Lord.” The words “they cry out” are supplied in the translation because they are understood by ellipsis (see the preceding line).

[18:42]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I pulverize them like dust upon the face of the wind.” The phrase “upon the face of” here means “before.” 2 Sam 22:43 reads, “like dust of the earth.”

[18:42]  ¹¹ tc Ps 18:42 reads, “I empty them out” (Hiphil of ריק), while 2 Sam 22:43 reads, “I crush them, I stomp on them” (juxtaposing the synonyms דקק and רקע). It is likely that the latter is a conflation of variants. One, but not both, of the verbs in 2 Sam 22:43 is probably original; “empty out” does not form as good a parallel with “grind, pulverize” in the parallel line.

[18:42]  ¹² tn Or “mud.”

[118:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “were extinguished.”

[118:12]  ¹⁴ tn The point seems to be that the hostility of the nations (v. 10) is short-lived, like a fire that quickly devours thorns and then burns out. Some, attempting to create a better parallel with the preceding line, emend דֹּעֲכוּ (do’akhu, “they were extinguished”) to בָּעֲרוּ (ba’aru, “they burned”). In this case the statement emphasizes their hostility.

[8:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “over them” (so NASB); NCV “over this rock.”

[18:3]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “a cohort.” The word σπεῖραν (speiran) is a technical term for a Roman cohort, normally a force of 600 men (one tenth of a legion). It was under the command of a χιλίαρχος (ciliarco", v. 12). Because of the improbability of an entire cohort being sent to arrest a single man, some have suggested that σπεῖραν here refers only to a maniple, a force of 200. But the use of the word here does not necessarily mean the entire cohort was present on this mission, but only that it was the cohort which performed the task (for example, saying the fire department put out the fire does not mean that every fireman belonging to the department was on the scene at the time). These Roman soldiers must have been ordered to accompany the servants of the chief priests and Pharisees by Pilate, since they would have been under the direct command of the Roman prefect or procurator. It is not difficult to understand why Pilate would have been willing to assist the Jewish authorities in such a way. With a huge crowd of pilgrims in Jerusalem for the Passover, the Romans would have been especially nervous about an uprising of some sort. No doubt the chief priests and Pharisees had informed Pilate that this man Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah, or in the terms Pilate would understand, king of Israel.

[18:3]  ¹⁷ tn The phrase “officers of the chief priests and Pharisees” is a comprehensive name for the groups represented in the ruling council (the Sanhedrin) as in John 7:32, 45; 18:3, 12, 18, 22; 19:6. They are different from the Levites who served as “temple police” according to K. H. Rengstorf (TDNT 8:540). In John 7:32ff. these officers had made an unsuccessful attempt to arrest Jesus, and perhaps this is part of the reason why their leaders had made sure they were accompanied by Roman soldiers this time. No more mistakes were to be tolerated.

[18:3]  ¹⁸ tn The words “to the orchard” are not in the Greek text but are repeated from v. 1 for clarity.

[18:3]  ¹⁹ tn These were lamps that had some sort of covering to protect them from wind and rain. In earlier usage the word meant “torch” but by NT times it apparently meant a lamp designed to be used outdoors, so “lantern” is a good contemporary English equivalent.

[18:4]  ²⁰ tn Grk “knowing all things that were coming upon him.”

[18:4]  ²¹ tn Grk “Whom do you seek?”

[18:5]  ²² tn Grk “They answered.”

[18:5]  ²³ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. Before he states the response to Jesus’ identification of himself, the author inserts a parenthetical note that Judas, again identified as the one who betrayed him (cf. 18:2), was standing with the group of soldiers and officers of the chief priests. Many commentators have considered this to be an awkward insertion, but in fact it heightens considerably the dramatic effect of the response to Jesus’ self-identification in the following verse, and has the added effect of informing the reader that along with the others the betrayer himself ironically falls down at Jesus’ feet (18:6).

[18:6]  ²⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:6]  ²⁵ tn Grk “moved back” (but here a fairly rapid movement is implied).

[18:6]  ²⁶ sn When Jesus said to those who came to arrest him “I am,” they retreated and fell to the ground. L. Morris says that “it is possible that those in front recoiled from Jesus’ unexpected advance, so that they bumped those behind them, causing them to stumble and fall” (John [NICNT], 743-44). Perhaps this is what in fact happened on the scene; but the theological significance given to this event by the author implies that more is involved. The reaction on the part of those who came to arrest Jesus comes in response to his affirmation that he is indeed the one they are seeking, Jesus the Nazarene. But Jesus makes this affirmation of his identity using a formula which the reader has encountered before in the Fourth Gospel, e.g., 8:24, 28, 58. Jesus has applied to himself the divine Name of Exod 3:14, “I AM.” Therefore this amounts to something of a theophany which causes even his enemies to recoil and prostrate themselves, so that Jesus has to ask a second time, “Who are you looking for?” This is a vivid reminder to the reader of the Gospel that even in this dark hour, Jesus holds ultimate power over his enemies and the powers of darkness, because he is the one who bears the divine Name.