2 Raja-raja 14:9-11

14:9 King Jehoash of Israel sent this message back to King Amaziah of Judah, “A thornbush in Lebanon sent this message to a cedar in Lebanon, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ Then a wild animal ¹  of Lebanon came by and trampled down the thorn. ²  14:10 You thoroughly defeated Edom ³  and it has gone to your head! ⁴  Gloat over your success, ⁵  but stay in your palace. Why bring calamity on yourself? Why bring down yourself and Judah along with you?” ⁶  14:11 But Amaziah would not heed the warning, ⁷  so King Jehoash of Israel attacked. ⁸  He and King Amaziah of Judah met face to face ⁹  in Beth Shemesh of Judah.

Ayub 31:24-25

31:24 “If I have put my confidence in gold

or said to pure gold,

‘You are my security!’

31:25 if I have rejoiced because of the extent of my wealth,

or because of the great wealth my hand had gained,

Mazmur 49:6

49:6 They trust ¹⁰  in their wealth

and boast ¹¹  in their great riches.

Mazmur 52:1

Psalm 52 ¹² 

For the music director; a well-written song ¹³  by David. It was written when Doeg the Edomite went and informed Saul: “David has arrived at the home of Ahimelech.” ¹⁴ 

52:1 Why do you boast about your evil plans, ¹⁵  O powerful man?

God’s loyal love protects me all day long! ¹⁶ 

Yeremia 9:23-24

9:23 ¹⁷ The Lord says,

“Wise people should not boast that they are wise.

Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful. ¹⁸ 

Rich people should not boast that they are rich. ¹⁹ 

9:24 If people want to boast, they should boast about this:

They should boast that they understand and know me.

They should boast that they know and understand

that I, the Lord, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth

and that I desire people to do these things,” ²⁰ 

says the Lord.

Yehezkiel 28:2

28:2 “Son of man, say to the prince ²¹  of Tyre, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Your heart is proud ²²  and you said, “I am a god; ²³ 

I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas” –

yet you are a man and not a god,

though you think you are godlike. ²⁴ 

Daniel 4:30-31

4:30 The king uttered these words: “Is this not the great Babylon that I have built for a royal residence ²⁵  by my own mighty strength ²⁶  and for my majestic honor?” 4:31 While these words were still on the king’s lips, ²⁷  a voice came down from heaven: “It is hereby announced to you, ²⁸  King Nebuchadnezzar, that your kingdom has been removed from you!

Daniel 5:20-21

5:20 And when his mind ²⁹  became arrogant ³⁰  and his spirit filled with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and his honor was removed from him. 5:21 He was driven from human society, his mind ³¹  was changed to that of an animal, he lived ³²  with the wild donkeys, he was fed grass like oxen, and his body became damp with the dew of the sky, until he came to understand that the most high God rules over human kingdoms, and he appoints over them whomever he wishes.

Daniel 5:1

Belshazzar Sees Mysterious Handwriting on a Wall

5:1 King Belshazzar ³³  prepared a great banquet ³⁴  for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in front of ³⁵  them all. ³⁶ 

Kolose 1:29

1:29 Toward this goal ³⁷  I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully ³⁸  works in me.

Kolose 3:21

3:21 Fathers, ³⁹  do not provoke ⁴⁰  your children, so they will not become disheartened.

Kolose 3:2

3:2 Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth,

Kolose 1:12

1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share ⁴¹  in the saints’ ⁴²  inheritance in the light.

Kolose 1:10-11

1:10 so that you may live ⁴³  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ⁴⁴  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God, 1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of ⁴⁵  all patience and steadfastness, joyfully

[14:9]  ¹ tn Heb “the animal of the field.”

[14:9]  ² sn Judah is the thorn in the allegory. Amaziah’s success has deceived him into thinking he is on the same level as the major powers in the area (symbolized by the cedar). In reality he is not capable of withstanding an attack by a real military power such as Israel (symbolized by the wild animal).

[14:10]  ³ tn Or “you have indeed defeated Edom.”

[14:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “and your heart has lifted you up.”

[14:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “be glorified.”

[14:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “Why get involved in calamity and fall, you and Judah with you?”

[14:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “did not listen.”

[14:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “went up.”

[14:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “looked at each other [in the] face.”

[49:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the ones who trust.” The substantival participle stands in apposition to “those who deceive me” (v. 5).

[49:6]  ¹¹ tn The imperfect verbal form emphasizes their characteristic behavior.

[52:1]  ¹² sn Psalm 52. The psalmist confidently confronts his enemy and affirms that God will destroy evildoers and vindicate the godly.

[52:1]  ¹³ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

[52:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him, ‘David has come to the house of Ahimelech.’”

[52:1]  sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm during the period when Saul was seeking his life. On one occasion Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s head shepherd (1 Sam 21:7), informed Saul of David’s whereabouts (see 1 Sam 21-22).

[52:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Why do you boast in evil?”

[52:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the loyal love of God [is] all the day.” In this context, where the psalmist is threatened by his enemy, the point seems to be that the psalmist is protected by God’s loyal love at all times.

[9:23]  ¹⁷ sn It is not always clear why verses were placed in their present position in the editorial process of collecting Jeremiah’s sermons and the words the Lord spoke to him (see Jer 36:4, 32 for reference to two of these collections). Here it is probable that vv. 23-26 were added as a further answer to the question raised in v. 12.

[9:23]  ¹⁸ tn Or “Strong people should not brag that they are strong.”

[9:23]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “…in their wisdom…in their power…in their riches.”

[9:24]  ²⁰ tn Or “fairness and justice, because these things give me pleasure.” Verse 24 reads in Hebrew, “But let the one who brags brag in this: understanding and knowing me that I, the Lord, do faithfulness, justice, and righteousness in the earth for/that I delight in these.” It is uncertain whether the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) before the clause “I delight in these things” is parallel to the כִּי introducing the clause “that I, the Lord, act…” or causal giving the grounds for the Lord acting the way he does. In the light of the contrasts in the passage and the emphasis that Jeremiah has placed on obedience to the covenant and ethical conduct in conjunction with real allegiance to the Lord not mere lip service, it is probable that the clauses are parallel. For the use of כִּי to introduce clauses of further definition after a direct object as here see GKC 365 §117.h and see BDB 393 s.v. יָדַע Qal.1.a. For parallels to the idea of Yahweh requiring these characteristics in people see Hos 6:6, Mic 6:8.

[28:2]  ²¹ tn Or “ruler” (NIV, NCV).

[28:2]  ²² tn Heb “lifted up.”

[28:2]  sn See Prov 16:5.

[28:2]  ²³ tn Or “I am divine.”

[28:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and you made your heart (mind) like the heart (mind) of gods.”

[4:30]  ²⁵ tn Aram “house.”

[4:30]  ²⁶ tn Aram “by the might of my strength.”

[4:31]  ²⁷ tn Aram “in the mouth of the king.”

[4:31]  ²⁸ tn Aram “to you they say.”

[5:20]  ²⁹ tn Aram “heart.”

[5:20]  ³⁰ sn The point of describing Nebuchadnezzar as arrogant is that he had usurped divine prerogatives, and because of his immense arrogance God had dealt decisively with him.

[5:21]  ³¹ tn Aram “heart.”

[5:21]  ³² tn Aram “his dwelling.”

[5:1]  ³³ sn As is clear from the extra-biblical records, it was actually Nabonidus (ca. 556-539 B.C.) who was king of Babylon at this time. However, Nabonidus spent long periods of time at Teima, and during those times Belshazzar his son was de facto king of Babylon. This arrangement may help to explain why later in this chapter Belshazzar promises that the successful interpreter of the handwriting on the wall will be made third ruler in the kingdom. If Belshazzar was in effect second ruler in the kingdom, this would be the highest honor he could grant.

[5:1]  ³⁴ sn This scene of a Babylonian banquet calls to mind a similar grandiose event recorded in Esth 1:3-8. Persian kings were also renowned in the ancient Near Eastern world for their lavish banquets.

[5:1]  ³⁵ sn The king probably sat at an elevated head table.

[5:1]  ³⁶ tn Aram “the thousand.”

[1:29]  ³⁷ tn The Greek phrase εἴς ὅ (eis Jo, “toward which”) implies “movement toward a goal” and has been rendered by the English phrase “Toward this goal.”

[1:29]  ³⁸ tn The prepositional phrase ἐν δυνάμει (en dunamei) seems to be functioning adverbially, related to the participle, and has therefore been translated “powerfully.”

[3:21]  ³⁹ tn Or perhaps “Parents.” The plural οἱ πατέρες (Joi patere", “fathers”) can be used to refer to both the male and female parent (BDAG 786 s.v. πατήρ 1.a).

[3:21]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “do not cause your children to become resentful” (L&N 88.168). BDAG 391 s.v. ἐρεθίζω states, “to cause someone to react in a way that suggests acceptance of a challenge, arouse, provoke mostly in bad sense irritate, embitter.”

[1:12]  ⁴¹ tn BDAG 473 s.v. ἱκανόω states, “τινὰ εἴς τι someone for someth. Col 1:12.” The point of the text is that God has qualified the saints for a “share” or “portion” in the inheritance of the saints.

[1:12]  ⁴² tn Grk “the inheritance of the saints.” The genitive noun τῶν ἁγίων (twn Jagiwn) is a possessive genitive: “the saints’ inheritance.”

[1:10]  ⁴³ tn The infinitive περιπατῆσαι (peripathsai, “to walk, to live, to live one’s life”) is best taken as an infinitive of purpose related to “praying” (προσευχόμενοι, proseucomenoi) and “asking” (αἰτούμενοι, aitoumenoi) in v. 9 and is thus translated as “that you may live.”

[1:10]  ⁴⁴ tn BDAG 129 s.v. ἀρεσκεία states that ἀρεσκείαν (areskeian) refers to a “desire to please εἰς πᾶσαν ἀ. to please (the Lord) in all respects Col 1:10.”

[1:11]  ⁴⁵ tn The expression “for the display of” is an attempt to convey in English the force of the Greek preposition εἰς (eis) in this context.