Yesaya 40:19

40:19 A craftsman casts ¹  an idol;

a metalsmith overlays it with gold

and forges silver chains for it.

Yesaya 44:12

44:12 A blacksmith works with his tool ² 

and forges metal over the coals.

He forms it ³  with hammers;

he makes it with his strong arm.

He gets hungry and loses his energy; ⁴ 

he drinks no water and gets tired.

Yesaya 44:1

The Lord Will Renew Israel

44:1 “Now, listen, Jacob my servant,

Israel whom I have chosen!”

1 Samuel 4:7-9

4:7 The Philistines were scared because they thought that gods had come to the camp. ⁵  They said, “Too bad for ⁶  us! We’ve never seen anything like this! 4:8 Too bad for us! Who can deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all sorts of plagues in the desert! 4:9 Be strong and act like men, you Philistines, or else you will wind up serving the Hebrews the way they have served you! Act like men and fight!”

1 Samuel 5:3-5

5:3 When the residents of Ashdod got up early the next day, ⁷  Dagon was lying on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and set him back in his place. 5:4 But when they got up early the following day, Dagon was again lying on the ground before the ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and his two hands were sheared off and were lying at the threshold. Only Dagon’s body was left intact. ⁸  5:5 (For this reason, to this very day, neither Dagon’s priests nor anyone else who enters Dagon’s temple step on Dagon’s threshold in Ashdod.)

Daniel 3:1-7

Daniel’s Friends Are Tested

3:1 ⁹ King Nebuchadnezzar had a golden ¹⁰  statue made. ¹¹  It was ninety feet ¹²  tall and nine feet ¹³  wide. He erected it on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. 3:2 Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent out a summons to assemble the satraps, prefects, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, ¹⁴  and all the other authorities of the province to attend the dedication of the statue that he ¹⁵  had erected. 3:3 So the satraps, prefects, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the other provincial authorities assembled for the dedication of the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had erected. They were standing in front of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar had erected. ¹⁶ 

3:4 Then the herald ¹⁷  made a loud ¹⁸  proclamation: “To you, O peoples, nations, and language groups, the following command is given: ¹⁹  3:5 When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, ²⁰  trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must ²¹  bow down and pay homage to the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has erected. 3:6 Whoever does not bow down and pay homage will immediately ²²  be thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire!” 3:7 Therefore when they all ²³  heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, ²⁴  and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations, and language groups began bowing down and paying homage to the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had erected.

Kisah Para Rasul 19:24-28

19:24 For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines ²⁵  of Artemis, ²⁶  brought a great deal ²⁷  of business ²⁸  to the craftsmen. 19:25 He gathered ²⁹  these ³⁰  together, along with the workmen in similar trades, ³¹  and said, “Men, you know that our prosperity ³²  comes from this business. 19:26 And you see and hear that this Paul has persuaded ³³  and turned away ³⁴  a large crowd, ³⁵  not only in Ephesus ³⁶  but in practically all of the province of Asia, ³⁷  by saying ³⁸  that gods made by hands are not gods at all. ³⁹  19:27 There is danger not only that this business of ours will come into disrepute, ⁴⁰  but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis ⁴¹  will be regarded as nothing, ⁴²  and she whom all the province of Asia ⁴³  and the world worship will suffer the loss of her greatness.” ⁴⁴ 

19:28 When ⁴⁵  they heard ⁴⁶  this they became enraged ⁴⁷  and began to shout, ⁴⁸  “Great is Artemis ⁴⁹  of the Ephesians!”

[40:19]  ¹ tn Heb “pours out”; KJV “melteth.”

[44:12]  ² tn The noun מַעֲצָד (ma’atsad), which refers to some type of tool used for cutting, occurs only here and in Jer 10:3. See HALOT 615 s.v. מַעֲצָד.

[44:12]  ³ tn Some English versions take the pronoun “it” to refer to an idol being fashioned by the blacksmith (cf. NIV, NCV, CEV). NLT understands the referent to be “a sharp tool,” which is then used by the carpenter in the following verse to carve an idol from wood.

[44:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “and there is no strength”; NASB “his strength fails.”

[4:7]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text has a direct quote, “because they said, ‘Gods have come to the camp.’” Even though the verb translated “have come” is singular, the following subject should be taken as plural (“gods”), as v. 8 indicates. Some emend the verb to a plural form.

[4:7]  ⁶ tn Traditionally “woe to.” They thought disaster was imminent.

[5:3]  ⁷ tc The LXX adds “they entered the temple of Dagon and saw.”

[5:4]  ⁸ tc Heb “only Dagon was left.” We should probably read the word גֵּו (gev, “back”) before Dagon, understanding it to have the sense of the similar word גְּוִיָּה (gÿviyyah, “body”). This variant is supported by the following evidence: The LXX has ἡ ῥάχις (Jh rJacis, “the back” or “trunk”); the Syriac Peshitta has wegusmeh (“and the body of”); the Targum has gupyeh (“the body of”); the Vulgate has truncus (“the trunk of,” cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT). On the strength of this evidence the present translation employs the phrase “Dagon’s body.”

[3:1]  ⁹ sn The LXX introduces this chapter with the following chronological note: “in the eighteenth year of.” Such a date would place these events at about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. (cf. 2 Kgs 25:8). However, there seems to be no real basis for associating the events of Daniel 3 with this date.

[3:1]  ¹⁰ sn There is no need to think of Nebuchadnezzar’s image as being solid gold. No doubt the sense is that it was overlaid with gold (cf. Isa 40:19; Jer 10:3-4), with the result that it presented a dazzling self-compliment to the greatness of Nebuchadnezzar’s achievements.

[3:1]  ¹¹ sn According to a number of patristic authors, the image represented a deification of Nebuchadnezzar himself. This is not clear from the biblical text, however.

[3:1]  ¹² tn Aram “sixty cubits.” Assuming a length of 18 inches for the standard cubit, the image would be 90 feet (27.4 m) high.

[3:1]  ¹³ tn Aram “six cubits.” Assuming a length of 18 inches for the standard cubit, the image would be 9 feet (2.74 m) wide.

[3:1]  sn The dimensions of the image (ninety feet high and nine feet wide) imply that it did not possess normal human proportions, unless a base for the image is included in the height dimension. The ancient world knew of other tall statues. For example, the Colossus of Rhodes – the huge statue of Helios which stood (ca. 280-224 B.C.) at the entrance to the harbor at Rhodes and was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world – was said to be seventy cubits (105 ft or 32 m) in height, which would make it even taller than Nebuchadnezzar’s image.

[3:2]  ¹⁴ sn The specific duties of the seven types of officials listed here (cf. vv. 3, 27) are unclear. The Aramaic words that are used are transliterations of Akkadian or Persian technical terms whose exact meanings are uncertain. The translations given here follow suggestions set forth in BDB.

[3:2]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “Nebuchadnezzar the king.” The proper name and title have been replaced by the relative pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[3:3]  ¹⁶ tc The LXX and Theodotion lack the words “that Nebuchadnezzar had erected.”

[3:4]  ¹⁷ tn According to BDB 1097 s.v. כָּרוֹז the Aramaic word used here is a Greek loanword, but other scholars have argued instead for a Persian derivation (HALOT 1902 s.v. *כָּרוֹז).

[3:4]  ¹⁸ tn Aram “in strength.”

[3:4]  ¹⁹ tn Aram “they are saying.”

[3:5]  ²⁰ sn The word zither (Aramaic קִיתָרוֹס [qitaros]), and the words for harp (Aramaic פְּסַנְתֵּרִין [pÿsanterin]) and pipes (Aramaic סוּמְפֹּנְיָה [sumponÿyah]), are of Greek derivation. Though much has been made of this in terms of suggesting a date in the Hellenistic period for the writing of the book, it is not surprising that a few Greek cultural terms, all of them the names of musical instruments, should appear in this book. As a number of scholars have pointed out, the bigger surprise (if, in fact, the book is to be dated to the Hellenistic period) may be that there are so few Greek loanwords in Daniel.

[3:5]  ²¹ tn The imperfect Aramaic verbs have here an injunctive nuance.

[3:6]  ²² tn Aram “in that hour.”

[3:7]  ²³ tn Aram “all the peoples.”

[3:7]  ²⁴ tc Though not in the Aramaic text of BHS, this word appears in many medieval Hebrew MSS, some LXX MSS, and Vulgate. Cf. vv. 5, 10, 15.

[19:24]  ²⁵ tn BDAG 665 s.v. ναός 1.a states, “Specif. of temples: of replicas of the temple of Artemis at Ephesus 19:24…but here, near ἱερόν vs. 27…ναός can be understood in the more restricted sense shrine, where the image of the goddess stood.”

[19:24]  ²⁶ sn Artemis was the name of a Greek goddess worshiped particularly in Asia Minor, whose temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was located just outside the city of Ephesus.

[19:24]  ²⁷ tn Grk “brought not a little business” (an idiom).

[19:24]  ²⁸ sn A great deal of business. The charge that Christianity brought economic and/or social upheaval was made a number of times in Acts: 16:20-21; 17:6-7; 18:13.

[19:25]  ²⁹ tn Grk “gathering.” The participle συναθροίσας (sunaqroisa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[19:25]  ³⁰ tn Grk “whom”; because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“whom”) has been replaced with a pronoun (“these”) and a new sentence begun in the translation.

[19:25]  ³¹ sn Workmen in similar trades. In effect, Demetrius gathered the Ephesian chamber of commerce together to hear about the threat to their prosperity.

[19:25]  ³² tn Another possible meaning is “that this business is an easy way for us to earn a living.”

[19:26]  ³³ tn Grk “persuading.” The participle πείσας (peisa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[19:26]  ³⁴ tn Or “misled.”

[19:26]  ³⁵ tn BDAG 472 s.v. ἱκανός 3.a has “of pers. ὄχλος a large crowd…Ac 11:24, 26; 19:26.”

[19:26]  ³⁶ map For location see JP1 D2; JP2 D2; JP3 D2; JP4 D2.

[19:26]  ³⁷ tn Grk “Asia”; see the note on this word in v. 22.

[19:26]  ³⁸ tn The participle λέγων (legwn) has been regarded as indicating instrumentality.

[19:26]  ³⁹ tn The words “at all” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

[19:26]  sn Gods made by hands are not gods at all. Paul preached against paganism’s idolatry. Here is a one-line summary of a speech like that in Acts 17:22-31.

[19:27]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “come under public criticism.” BDAG 101 s.v. ἀπελεγμός has “come into disrepute Ac 19:27.”

[19:27]  ⁴¹ sn Artemis was the name of a Greek goddess worshiped particularly in Asia Minor, whose temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was located just outside the city of Ephesus.

[19:27]  ⁴² tn BDAG 597 s.v. λογίζομαι 1.b has “εἰς οὐθὲν λογισθῆναι be looked upon as nothing…Ac 19:27.”

[19:27]  ⁴³ tn Grk “Asia”; see the note on this word in v. 22.

[19:27]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “her magnificence.” BDAG 488 s.v. καθαιρέω 2.b has “καθαιρεῖσθαι τῆς μεγαλειότητος αὐτῆς suffer the loss of her magnificence Ac 19:27”; L&N 13.38 has “‘and to have her greatness done away with’ Ac 19:27.”

[19:27]  sn Suffer the loss of her greatness. It is important to appreciate that money alone was not the issue, even for the pagan Ephesians. The issue was ultimately the dishonor of their goddess to whom they were devoted in worship. The battle was a “cosmic” one between deities.

[19:28]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “And when.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[19:28]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “And hearing.” The participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") has been taken temporally.

[19:28]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “they became filled with rage” (an idiom). The reaction of the Ephesians here is like that of the Jews earlier, though Luke referred to “zeal” or “jealousy” in the former case (Acts 7:54).

[19:28]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “and began shouting, saying.” The imperfect verb ἔκραζον (ekrazon) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect. The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[19:28]  ⁴⁹ sn Artemis was a Greek goddess worshiped particularly in Asia Minor, whose temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was located just outside the city of Ephesus.