Psalms 4:4

4:4 Tremble with fear and do not sin! ¹ 

Meditate as you lie in bed, and repent of your ways! ²  (Selah)

Psalms 46:10

46:10 He says, ³  “Stop your striving and recognize ⁴  that I am God!

I will be exalted ⁵  over ⁶  the nations! I will be exalted over ⁷  the earth!”

Exodus 11:7

11:7 But against any of the Israelites not even a dog will bark ⁸  against either people or animals, ⁹  so that you may know that the Lord distinguishes ¹⁰  between Egypt and Israel.’

Exodus 15:16

15:16 Fear and dread ¹¹  will fall ¹²  on them;

by the greatness ¹³  of your arm they will be as still as stone ¹⁴ 

until ¹⁵  your people pass by, O Lord,

until the people whom you have bought ¹⁶  pass by.

Joshua 2:9-11

2:9 She said to the men, “I know the Lord is handing this land over to you. ¹⁷  We are absolutely terrified of you, ¹⁸  and all who live in the land are cringing before ¹⁹  you. ²⁰  2:10 For we heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you left Egypt and how you annihilated the two Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, on the other side of the Jordan. ²¹  2:11 When we heard the news we lost our courage and no one could even breathe for fear of you. ²²  For the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below!

Joshua 2:1

Joshua Sends Spies into the Land

2:1 Joshua son of Nun sent two spies out from Shittim secretly and instructed them: ²³  “Find out what you can about the land, especially Jericho.” ²⁴  They stopped at the house of a prostitute named Rahab and spent the night there. ²⁵ 

Joshua 2:9

2:9 She said to the men, “I know the Lord is handing this land over to you. ²⁶  We are absolutely terrified of you, ²⁷  and all who live in the land are cringing before ²⁸  you. ²⁹ 

Isaiah 37:20-29

37:20 Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power, so all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.” ³⁰ 

37:21 Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Because you prayed to me concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria, ³¹  37:22 this is what the Lord says about him: ³² 

“The virgin daughter Zion ³³ 

despises you – she makes fun of you;

daughter Jerusalem

shakes her head after you. ³⁴ 

37:23 Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at?

At whom have you shouted

and looked so arrogantly? ³⁵ 

At the Holy One of Israel! ³⁶ 

37:24 Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master, ³⁷ 

‘With my many chariots I climbed up

the high mountains,

the slopes of Lebanon.

I cut down its tall cedars

and its best evergreens.

I invaded its most remote regions, ³⁸ 

its thickest woods.

37:25 I dug wells

and drank water. ³⁹ 

With the soles of my feet I dried up

all the rivers of Egypt.’

37:26 ⁴⁰ Certainly you must have heard! ⁴¹ 

Long ago I worked it out,

in ancient times I planned ⁴²  it,

and now I am bringing it to pass.

The plan is this:

Fortified cities will crash

into heaps of ruins. ⁴³ 

37:27 Their residents are powerless; ⁴⁴ 

they are terrified and ashamed.

They are as short-lived as plants in the field

or green vegetation. ⁴⁵ 

They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftops ⁴⁶ 

when it is scorched by the east wind. ⁴⁷ 

37:28 I know where you live

and everything you do

and how you rage against me. ⁴⁸ 

37:29 Because you rage against me

and the uproar you create has reached my ears, ⁴⁹ 

I will put my hook in your nose, ⁵⁰ 

and my bridle between your lips,

and I will lead you back

the way you came.”

Isaiah 37:36-38

37:36 The Lord’s messenger ⁵¹  went out and killed 185,000 troops ⁵²  in the Assyrian camp. When they ⁵³  got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses! ⁵⁴  37:37 So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh. ⁵⁵  37:38 One day, ⁵⁶  as he was worshiping ⁵⁷  in the temple of his god Nisroch, ⁵⁸  his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. ⁵⁹  They ran away to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.

Habakkuk 2:20

2:20 But the Lord is in his majestic palace. ⁶⁰ 

The whole earth is speechless in his presence!” ⁶¹ 

[4:4]  ¹ sn The psalmist warns his enemies that they need to tremble with fear before God and repudiate their sinful ways.

[4:4]  ² tn Heb “say in your heart(s) on your bed(s) and wail/lament.” The verb דֹמּוּ (dommu) is understood as a form of דָמָם (“wail, lament”) in sorrow and repentance. Another option is to take the verb from II דָמָם (damam, “be quiet”); cf. NIV, NRSV “be silent.”

[46:10]  ³ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[46:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “do nothing/be quiet (see 1 Sam 15:16) and know.” This statement may be addressed to the hostile nations, indicating they should cease their efforts to destroy God’s people, or to Judah, indicating they should rest secure in God’s protection. Since the psalm is an expression of Judah’s trust and confidence, it is more likely that the words are directed to the nations, who are actively promoting chaos and are in need of a rebuke.

[46:10]  ⁵ tn Elsewhere in the psalms the verb רוּם (rum, “be exalted”) when used of God, refers to his exalted position as king (Pss 18:46; 99:2; 113:4; 138:6) and/or his self-revelation as king through his mighty deeds of deliverance (Pss 21:13; 57:5, 11).

[46:10]  ⁶ tn Or “among.”

[46:10]  ⁷ tn Or “in.”

[11:7]  ⁸ tn Or perhaps “growl”; Heb “not a dog will sharpen his tongue.” The expression is unusual, but it must indicate that not only would no harm come to the Israelites, but that no unfriendly threat would come against them either – not even so much as a dog barking. It is possible this is to be related to the watchdog (see F. C. Fensham, “Remarks on Keret 114^b – 136^a,” JNSL 11 [1983]: 75).

[11:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “against man or beast.”

[11:7]  ¹⁰ tn The verb פָּלָה (palah) in Hiphil means “to set apart, make separate, make distinct.” See also Exod 8:22 (18 HT); 9:4; 33:16.

[15:16]  ¹¹ tn The two words can form a nominal hendiadys, “a dreadful fear,” though most English versions retain the two separate terms.

[15:16]  ¹² tn The form is an imperfect.

[15:16]  ¹³ tn The adjective is in construct form and governs the noun “arm” (“arm” being the anthropomorphic expression for what God did). See GKC 428 §132.c.

[15:16]  ¹⁴ sn For a study of the words for fear, see N. Waldman, “A Comparative Note on Exodus 15:14-16,” JQR 66 (1976): 189-92.

[15:16]  ¹⁵ tn Clauses beginning with עַד (’ad) express a limit that is not absolute, but only relative, beyond which the action continues (GKC 446-47 §138.g).

[15:16]  ¹⁶ tn The verb קָנָה (qanah) here is the verb “acquire, purchase,” and probably not the homonym “to create, make” (see Gen 4:1; Deut 32:6; and Prov 8:22).

[2:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “has given the land to you.” Rahab’s statement uses the Hebrew perfect, suggesting certitude.

[2:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “terror of you has fallen upon us.”

[2:9]  ¹⁹ tn Or “melting away because of.”

[2:9]  ²⁰ tn Both of these statements are actually subordinated to “I know” in the Hebrew text, which reads, “I know that the Lord…and that terror of you…and that all the inhabitants….”

[2:10]  ²¹ tn Heb “and what you did to the two Amorite kings who were beyond the Jordan, Sihon and Og, how you annihilated them.”

[2:11]  ²² tn Heb “And we heard and our heart[s] melted and there remained no longer breath in a man because of you.”

[2:1]  ²³ tn Heb “Joshua, son of Nun, sent from Shittim two men, spies, secretly, saying.”

[2:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “go, see the land, and Jericho.”

[2:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “they went and entered the house of a woman, a prostitute, and her name was Rahab, and they slept there.”

[2:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “has given the land to you.” Rahab’s statement uses the Hebrew perfect, suggesting certitude.

[2:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “terror of you has fallen upon us.”

[2:9]  ²⁸ tn Or “melting away because of.”

[2:9]  ²⁹ tn Both of these statements are actually subordinated to “I know” in the Hebrew text, which reads, “I know that the Lord…and that terror of you…and that all the inhabitants….”

[37:20]  ³⁰ tn The parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:19 reads, “that you, Lord, are the only God.”

[37:21]  ³¹ tn The parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:20 reads, “That which you prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.” The verb “I have heard” does not appear in Isa 37:21, where אֲשֶׁר (’asher) probably has a causal sense: “because.”

[37:22]  ³² tn Heb “this is the word which the Lord has spoken about him.”

[37:22]  ³³ sn Zion (Jerusalem) is pictured here as a young, vulnerable daughter whose purity is being threatened by the would-be Assyrian rapist. The personification hints at the reality which the young girls of the city would face if the Assyrians conquer it.

[37:22]  ³⁴ sn Shaking the head was a mocking gesture of derision.

[37:23]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and lifted your eyes on high?” Cf. NIV “lifted your eyes in pride”; NRSV “haughtily lifted your eyes.”

[37:23]  ³⁶ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[37:24]  ³⁷ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[37:24]  ³⁸ tn Heb “the height of its extremity”; ASV “its farthest height.”

[37:25]  ³⁹ tc The Hebrew text has simply, “I dug and drank water.” But the parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:24 has “foreign waters.” זָרִים (zarim, “foreign”) may have accidentally dropped out of the Isaianic text by homoioteleuton (cf. NCV, NIV, NLT). Note that the preceding word, מַיִם (mayim, “water) also ends in mem (ם). The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has “foreign waters” for this line. However, in several other passages the 1QIsa^a scroll harmonizes with 2 Kgs 19 against the MT (Isa 36:5; 37:9, 20). Since the addition of “foreign” to this text in Isaiah by a later scribe would be more likely than its deletion, the MT reading should be accepted.

[37:26]  ⁴⁰ tn Having quoted the Assyrian king’s arrogant words in vv. 23-24, the Lord now speaks to the king.

[37:26]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “Have you not heard?” The rhetorical question expresses the Lord’s amazement that anyone might be ignorant of what he is about to say.

[37:26]  ⁴² tn Heb “formed” (so KJV, ASV).

[37:26]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and it is to cause to crash into heaps of ruins fortified cities.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb תְהִי (tÿhi) is the implied plan, referred to in the preceding lines with third feminine singular pronominal suffixes.

[37:27]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “short of hand”; KJV, ASV “of small power”; NASB “short of strength.”

[37:27]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “they are plants in the field and green vegetation.” The metaphor emphasizes how short-lived these seemingly powerful cities really were. See Ps 90:5-6; Isa 40:6-8, 24.

[37:27]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “[they are] grass on the rooftops.” See the preceding note.

[37:27]  ⁴⁷ tc The Hebrew text has “scorched before the standing grain” (perhaps meaning “before it reaches maturity”), but it is preferable to emend קָמָה (qamah, “standing grain”) to קָדִים (qadim, “east wind”) with the support of 1Q Isa^a; cf. J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:657, n. 8.

[37:28]  ⁴⁸ tc Heb “your going out and your coming in and how you have raged against me.” Several scholars have suggested that this line is probably dittographic (note the beginning of the next line). However, most English translations include the statement in question at the end of v. 28 and the beginning of v. 29. Interestingly, the LXX does not have this clause at the end of v. 28 and the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a does not have it at the beginning of v. 29. In light of this ambiguous manuscript evidence, it appears best to retain the clause in both verses.

[37:29]  ⁴⁹ tc Heb “and your complacency comes up into my ears.” The parallelism is improved if שַׁאֲנַנְךָ (sha’anankha, “your complacency”) is emended to שְׁאוֹנְךָ (shÿ’onÿkha, “your uproar”). See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 237-38. However, the LXX seems to support the MT and Sennacherib’s cavalier dismissal of Yahweh depicts an arrogant complacency (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:658, n. 10).

[37:29]  ⁵⁰ sn The word-picture has a parallel in Assyrian sculpture. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 238.

[37:36]  ⁵¹ tn Traditionally, “the angel of the Lord” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[37:36]  ⁵² tn The word “troops” is supplied in the translation for smoothness and clarity.

[37:36]  ⁵³ tn This refers to the Israelites and/or the rest of the Assyrian army.

[37:36]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “look, all of them were dead bodies”; NLT “they found corpses everywhere.”

[37:37]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “and Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went and returned and lived in Nineveh.”

[37:38]  ⁵⁶ sn The assassination of King Sennacherib probably took place in 681 b.c.

[37:38]  ⁵⁷ 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]  ⁵⁸ sn No such Mesopotamian god is presently known. Perhaps the name Nisroch is a corruption of Nusku.

[37:38]  ⁵⁹ 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.

[2:20]  ⁶⁰ tn Or “holy temple.” The Lord’s heavenly palace, rather than the earthly temple, is probably in view here (see Ps 11:4; Mic 1:2-3). The Hebrew word ֹקדֶשׁ (qodesh, “holy”) here refers to the sovereign transcendence associated with his palace.

[2:20]  ⁶¹ tn Or “Be quiet before him, all the earth!”