2 Raja-raja 8:13

8:13 Hazael said, “How could your servant, who is as insignificant as a dog, accomplish this great military victory?” ¹  Elisha answered, “The Lord has revealed to me that you will be the king of Syria.” ² 

2 Raja-raja 8:1

Elisha Again Helps the Shunammite Woman

8:1 Now Elisha advised the woman whose son he had brought back to life, “You and your family should go and live somewhere else for a while, ³  for the Lord has decreed that a famine will overtake the land for seven years.”

1 Samuel 9:16

9:16 “At this time tomorrow I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin. You must consecrate ⁴  him as a leader over my people Israel. He will save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have looked with favor on my people. Their cry has reached me!”

1 Samuel 15:1

Saul Is Rejected as King

15:1 Then Samuel said to Saul, “I was the one the Lord sent to anoint you as king over his people Israel. Now listen to what the Lord says. ⁵ 

1 Samuel 15:17

15:17 Samuel said, “Is it not true that when you were insignificant in your own eyes, you became head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord chose ⁶  you as king over Israel.

1 Samuel 16:12

16:12 So Jesse had him brought in. ⁷  Now he was ruddy, with attractive eyes and a handsome appearance. The Lord said, “Go and anoint him. This is the one!”

Mazmur 75:6-7

75:6 For victory does not come from the east or west,

or from the wilderness. ⁸ 

75:7 For God is the judge! ⁹ 

He brings one down and exalts another. ¹⁰ 

Amsal 8:15-16

8:15 Kings reign by means of me,

and potentates ¹¹  decree ¹²  righteousness;

8:16 by me princes rule,

as well as nobles and ¹³  all righteous judges. ¹⁴ 

Yeremia 27:5-7

27:5 “I made the earth and the people and animals on it by my mighty power and great strength, ¹⁵  and I give it to whomever I see fit. ¹⁶  27:6 I have at this time placed all these nations of yours under the power ¹⁷  of my servant, ¹⁸  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have even made all the wild animals subject to him. ¹⁹  27:7 All nations must serve him and his son and grandson ²⁰  until the time comes for his own nation to fall. ²¹  Then many nations and great kings will in turn subjugate Babylon. ²² 

Daniel 2:1

Nebuchadnezzar Has a Disturbing Dream

2:1 In the second year of his ²³  reign Nebuchadnezzar had many dreams. ²⁴  His mind ²⁵  was disturbed and he suffered from insomnia. ²⁶ 

Daniel 4:35

4:35 All the inhabitants of the earth are regarded as nothing. ²⁷ 

He does as he wishes with the army of heaven

and with those who inhabit the earth.

No one slaps ²⁸  his hand

and says to him, ‘What have you done?’

Daniel 5:18

5:18 As for you, O king, the most high God bestowed on your father Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom, greatness, honor, and majesty. ²⁹ 

Yohanes 19:10-11

19:10 So Pilate said, ³⁰  “Do you refuse to speak to me? Don’t you know I have the authority ³¹  to release you, and to crucify you?” ³²  19:11 Jesus replied, “You would have no authority ³³  over me at all, unless it was given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you ³⁴  is guilty of greater sin.” ³⁵ 

[8:13]  ¹ tn Heb “Indeed, what is your servant, a dog, that he could do this great thing?” With his reference to a dog, Hazael is not denying that he is a “dog” and protesting that he would never commit such a dastardly “dog-like” deed. Rather, as Elisha’s response indicates, Hazael is suggesting that he, like a dog, is too insignificant to ever be in a position to lead such conquests.

[8:13]  ² tn Heb “The Lord has shown me you [as] king over Syria.”

[8:1]  ³ tn Heb “Get up and go, you and your house, and live temporarily where you can live temporarily.”

[9:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “anoint.”

[15:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “to the voice of the words of the Lord” (so KJV).

[15:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “anointed.”

[16:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he sent and brought him.”

[75:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “for not from the east or from the west, and not from the wilderness of the mountains.” If one follows this reading the sentence is elliptical. One must supply “does help come,” or some comparable statement. However, it is possible to take הָרִים (harim) as a Hiphil infinitive from רוּם (rum), the same verb used in vv. 4-5 of “lifting up” a horn. In this case one may translate the form as “victory.” In this case the point is that victory does not come from alliances with other nations.

[75:7]  ⁹ tn Or “judges.”

[75:7]  ¹⁰ tn The imperfects here emphasize the generalizing nature of the statement.

[8:15]  ¹¹ tn The verb רָזַן (razan) means “to be weighty; to be judicious; to be commanding.” It only occurs in the Qal active participle in the plural as a substantive, meaning “potentates; rulers” (e.g., Ps 1:1-3). Cf. KJV, ASV “princes”; NAB “lawgivers.”

[8:15]  ¹² sn This verb יְחֹקְקוּ (yÿkhoqqu) is related to the noun חֹק (khoq), which is a “statute; decree.” The verb is defined as “to cut in; to inscribe; to decree” (BDB 349 s.v. חָקַק). The point the verse is making is that when these potentates decree righteousness, it is by wisdom. History records all too often that these rulers acted as fools and opposed righteousness (cf. Ps 2:1-3). But people in power need wisdom to govern the earth (e.g., Isa 11:1-4 which predicts how Messiah will use wisdom to do this very thing). The point is underscored with the paronomasia in v. 15 with “kings” and “will reign” from the same root, and then in v. 16 with both “princes” and “rule” being cognate. The repetition of sounds and meanings strengthens the statements.

[8:16]  ¹³ tn The term “and” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness and readability.

[8:16]  ¹⁴ tc Many of the MT mss read “sovereigns [princes], all the judges of the earth.” The LXX has “sovereigns…rule the earth.” But the MT manuscript in the text has “judges of righteousness.” C. H. Toy suggests that the Hebrew here has assimilated Psalm 148:11 in its construction (Proverbs [ICC], 167). The expression “judges of the earth” is what one would expect, but the more difficult and unexpected reading, the one scribes might change, would be “judges of righteousness.” If that reading stands, then it would probably be interpreted as using an attributive genitive.

[27:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “by my great power and my outstretched arm.” Again “arm” is symbolical for “strength.” Compare the similar expression in 21:5.

[27:5]  ¹⁶ sn See Dan 4:17 for a similar statement.

[27:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “have given…into the hand of.”

[27:6]  ¹⁸ sn See the study note on 25:9 for the significance of the application of this term to Nebuchadnezzar.

[27:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “I have given…to him to serve him.” The verb “give” in this syntactical situation is functioning like the Hiphil stem, i.e., as a causative. See Dan 1:9 for parallel usage. For the usage of “serve” meaning “be subject to” compare 2 Sam 22:44 and BDB 713 s.v. עָבַד 3.

[27:6]  sn This statement is rhetorical, emphasizing the totality of Nebuchadnezzar’s dominion. Neither here nor in Dan 2:38 is it to be understood literally.

[27:7]  ²⁰ sn This is a figure that emphasizes that they will serve for a long time but not for an unlimited duration. The kingdom of Babylon lasted a relatively short time by ancient standards. It lasted from 605 b.c. when Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho at Carchemish until the fall of Babylon in 538 b.c. There were only four rulers. Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son, Evil Merodach (cf. 52:31), and two other rulers who were not descended from him.

[27:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “until the time of his land, even his, comes.” The independent pronoun is placed here for emphasis on the possessive pronoun. The word “time” is used by substitution for the things that are done in it (compare in the NT John 2:4; 7:30; 8:20 “his hour had not yet come”).

[27:7]  sn See Jer 25:12-14, 16.

[27:7]  ²² tn Heb “him.” This is a good example of the figure of substitution where the person is put for his descendants or the nation or subject he rules. (See Gen 28:13-14 for another good example and Acts 22:7 in the NT.)

[2:1]  ²³ tn Heb “Nebuchadnezzar’s.” The possessive pronoun is substituted in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[2:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “dreamed dreams.” The plural is used here and in v. 2, but the singular in v. 3. The plural “dreams” has been variously explained. Some interpreters take the plural as denoting an indefinite singular (so GKC 400 §124.o). But it may be that it is describing a stream of related dreams, or a dream state. In the latter case, one might translate: “Nebuchadnezzar was in a trance.” See further, J. A. Montgomery, Daniel (ICC), 142.

[2:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “his spirit.”

[2:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “his sleep left (?) him.” The use of the verb הָיָה (hayah, “to be”) here is unusual. The context suggests a meaning such as “to be finished” or “gone.” Cf. Dan 8:27. Some scholars emend the verb to read נָדְדָה (nadÿdah, “fled”); cf. Dan 6:19. See further, DCH 2:540 s.v. היה I Ni.3; HALOT 244 s.v. היה nif; BDB 227-28 s.v. הָיָה Niph.2.

[4:35]  ²⁷ tc The present translation reads כְּלָא (kÿla’), with many medieval Hebrew MSS, rather than כְּלָה (kÿlah) of BHS.

[4:35]  ²⁸ tn Aram “strikes against.”

[5:18]  ²⁹ tn Or “royal greatness and majestic honor,” if the four terms are understood as a double hendiadys.

[19:10]  ³⁰ tn Grk “said to him.” The words “to him” are not translated because they are unnecessary in contemporary English style.

[19:10]  ³¹ tn Or “the power.”

[19:10]  ³² tn Grk “know that I have the authority to release you and the authority to crucify you.” Repetition of “the authority” is unnecessarily redundant English style.

[19:10]  sn See the note on Crucify in 19:6.

[19:11]  ³³ tn Or “power.”

[19:11]  ³⁴ tn Or “who delivered me over to you.”

[19:11]  sn The one who handed me over to you appears to be a reference to Judas at first; yet Judas did not deliver Jesus up to Pilate, but to the Jewish authorities. The singular may be a reference to Caiaphas, who as high priest was representative of all the Jewish authorities, or it may be a generic singular referring to all the Jewish authorities directly. In either case the end result is more or less the same.

[19:11]  ³⁵ tn Grk “has the greater sin” (an idiom).

[19:11]  sn Because Pilate had no authority over Jesus except what had been given to him from God, the one who handed Jesus over to Pilate was guilty of greater sin. This does not absolve Pilate of guilt; it simply means his guilt was less than those who handed Jesus over to him, because he was not acting against Jesus out of deliberate hatred or calculated malice, like the Jewish religious authorities. These were thereby guilty of greater sin.