Revelation 12:9

12:9 So ¹  that huge dragon – the ancient serpent, the one called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world – was thrown down to the earth, and his angels along with him.

Revelation 18:23

18:23 Even the light from a lamp

will never shine in you again!

The voices of the bridegroom and his bride

will never be heard in you again.

For your merchants were the tycoons of the world,

because all the nations ²  were deceived by your magic spells! ³ 

Revelation 19:20

19:20 Now ⁴  the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf ⁵  – signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur. ⁶ 

Revelation 20:3

20:3 The angel ⁷  then ⁸  threw him into the abyss and locked ⁹  and sealed it so that he could not deceive the nations until the one thousand years were finished. (After these things he must be released for a brief period of time.)

Revelation 20:10

20:10 And the devil who deceived ¹⁰  them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, ¹¹  where the beast and the false prophet are ¹²  too, and they will be tormented there day and night forever and ever.

Revelation 20:2

20:2 He ¹³  seized the dragon – the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan – and tied him up for a thousand years.

Revelation 22:20

22:20 The one who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

Job 12:16

12:16 With him are strength and prudence; ¹⁴ 

both the one who goes astray ¹⁵ 

and the one who misleads are his.

Isaiah 44:20

44:20 He feeds on ashes; ¹⁶ 

his deceived mind misleads him.

He cannot rescue himself,

nor does he say, ‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’ ¹⁷ 

Ezekiel 14:9

14:9 “‘As for the prophet, if he is made a fool by being deceived into speaking a prophetic word – I, the Lord, have made a fool of ¹⁸  that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel.

Ezekiel 14:2

14:2 The word of the Lord came to me:

Ezekiel 2:9

2:9 Then I looked and realized a hand was stretched out to me, and in it was a written scroll.

[12:9]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the war in heaven.

[18:23]  ² tn Or “all the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[18:23]  ³ tn On the term φαρμακεία (farmakeia, “magic spells”) see L&N 53.100: “the use of magic, often involving drugs and the casting of spells upon people – ‘to practice magic, to cast spells upon, to engage in sorcery, magic, sorcery.’ φαρμακεία: ἐν τῇ φαρμακείᾳ σου ἐπλανήθησαν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ‘with your magic spells you deceived all the peoples (of the world)’ Re 18:23.”

[19:20]  ⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the introduction of an unexpected development in the account: The opposing armies do not come together in battle; rather the leader of one side is captured.

[19:20]  ⁵ tn For this meaning see BDAG 342 s.v. ἐνώπιον 4.b, “by the authority of, on behalf of Rv 13:12, 14; 19:20.”

[19:20]  ⁶ tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”

[20:3]  ⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the angel introduced in v. 1) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:3]  ⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[20:3]  ⁹ tn Or “and shut.” While the lexical force of the term is closer to “shut,” it is acceptable to render the verb ἔκλεισεν (ekleisen) as “locked” here in view of the mention of the key in the previous verse.

[20:10]  ¹⁰ tn Or “misled.”

[20:10]  ¹¹ tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”

[20:10]  ¹² tn The verb in this clause is elided. In keeping with the previous past tenses some translations supply a past tense verb here (“were”), but in view of the future tense that follows (“they will be tormented”), a present tense verb was used to provide a transition from the previous past tense to the future tense that follows.

[20:2]  ¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[12:16]  ¹⁴ tn The word תּוּשִׁיָּה (tushiyyah) is here rendered “prudence.” Some object that God’s power is intended here, and so a word for power and not wisdom should be included. But v. 13 mentioned wisdom. The point is that it is God’s efficient wisdom that leads to success. One could interpret this as a metonymy of cause, the intended meaning being victory or success.

[12:16]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew text uses a wordplay here: שֹׁגֵג (shogeg) is “the one going astray,” i.e., the one who is unable to guard and guide his life. The second word is מַשְׁגֶּה (mashgeh), from a different but historically related root שָׁגָה (shagah), which here in the Hiphil means “the one who misleads, causes to go astray.” These two words are designed to include everybody – all are under the wisdom of God.

[44:20]  ¹⁶ tn Or perhaps, “he eats on an ash heap.”

[44:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Is it not a lie in my right hand?”

[14:9]  ¹⁸ tn The translation is uncertain due to difficulty both in determining the meaning of the verb’s stem and its conjugation in this context. In the Qal stem the basic meaning of the verbal root פָּתַה (patah) is “to be gullible, foolish.” The doubling stems (the Pual and Piel used in this verse) typically give such stative verbs a factitive sense, hence either “make gullible” (i.e., “entice”) or “make into a fool” (i.e., “to show to be a fool”). The latter represents the probable meaning of the term in Jer 20:7, 10 and is followed here (see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:193; R. Mosis “Ez 14, 1-11 - ein Ruf zur Umkehr,” BZ 19 [1975]: 166-69 and ThWAT 4:829-31). In this view, if a prophet speaks when not prompted by God, he will be shown to be a fool, but this does not reflect negatively on the Lord because it is God who shows him to be a fool. Secondly, the verb is in the perfect conjugation and may be translated “I have made a fool of him” or “I have enticed him,” or to show determination (see IBHS 439-41 §27.2f and g), or in certain syntactical constructions as future. Any of these may be plausible if the doubling stems used are understood in the sense of “making a fool of.” But if understood as “to make gullible,” more factors come into play. As the Hebrew verbal form is a perfect, it is often translated as present perfect: “I have enticed.” In this case the Lord states that he himself enticed the prophet to cooperate with the idolaters. Such enticement to sin would seem to be a violation of God’s moral character, but sometimes he does use such deception and enticement to sin as a form of punishment against those who have blatantly violated his moral will (see, e.g., 2 Sam 24). If one follows this line of interpretation in Ezek 14:9, one would have to assume that the prophet had already turned from God in his heart. However, the context gives no indication of this. Therefore, it is better to take the perfect as indicating certitude and to translate it with the future tense: “I will entice.” In this case the Lord announces that he will judge the prophet appropriately. If a prophet allows himself to be influenced by idolaters, then the Lord will use deception as a form of punishment against that deceived prophet. A comparison with the preceding oracles also favors this view. In 14:4 the perfect of certitude is used for emphasis (see “I will answer”), though in v. 7 a participle is employed. For a fuller discussion of this text, see R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “Does God Deceive?” BSac 155 (1998): 23-25.