Yesaya 10:5-7

The Lord Turns on Arrogant Assyria

10:5 Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, is as good as dead, ¹ 

a cudgel with which I angrily punish. ² 

10:6 I sent him ³  against a godless ⁴  nation,

I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, ⁵ 

to take plunder and to carry away loot,

to trample them down ⁶  like dirt in the streets.

10:7 But he does not agree with this,

his mind does not reason this way, ⁷ 

for his goal is to destroy,

and to eliminate many nations. ⁸ 

Yesaya 10:12

10:12 But when ⁹  the sovereign master ¹⁰  finishes judging ¹¹  Mount Zion and Jerusalem, then I ¹²  will punish the king of Assyria for what he has proudly planned and for the arrogant attitude he displays. ¹³ 

Yesaya 46:10-11

46:10 who announces the end from the beginning

and reveals beforehand ¹⁴  what has not yet occurred,

who says, ‘My plan will be realized,

I will accomplish what I desire,’

46:11 who summons an eagle ¹⁵  from the east,

from a distant land, one who carries out my plan.

Yes, I have decreed, ¹⁶ 

yes, I will bring it to pass;

I have formulated a plan,

yes, I will carry it out.

Habakuk 1:12

Habakkuk Voices Some Concerns

1:12 Lord, you have been active from ancient times; ¹⁷ 

my sovereign God, ¹⁸  you are immortal. ¹⁹ 

Lord, you have made them ²⁰  your instrument of judgment. ²¹ 

Protector, ²²  you have appointed them as your instrument of punishment. ²³ 

Kisah Para Rasul 4:27-28

4:27 “For indeed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together in this city against ²⁴  your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, ²⁵  4:28 to do as much as your power ²⁶  and your plan ²⁷  had decided beforehand ²⁸  would happen.

Roma 11:33

11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how fathomless his ways!

[10:5]  ¹ tn Heb “Woe [to] Assyria, the club of my anger.” On הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) see the note on the first phrase of 1:4.

[10:5]  ² tn Heb “a cudgel is he, in their hand is my anger.” It seems likely that the final mem (ם) on בְיָדָם (bÿyadam) is not a pronominal suffix (“in their hand”), but an enclitic mem. If so, one can translate literally, “a cudgel is he in the hand of my anger.”

[10:6]  ³ sn Throughout this section singular forms are used to refer to Assyria; perhaps the king of Assyria is in view (see v. 12).

[10:6]  ⁴ tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “impious”; NCV “separated from God.”

[10:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “and against the people of my anger I ordered him.”

[10:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “to make it [i.e., the people] a trampled place.”

[10:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “but he, not so does he intend, and his heart, not so does it think.”

[10:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “for to destroy [is] in his heart, and to cut off nations, not a few.”

[10:12]  ⁹ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[10:12]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 16, 23, 24, 33 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[10:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “his work on/against.” Cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV “on”; NIV “against.”

[10:12]  ¹² tn The Lord is speaking here, as in vv. 5-6a.

[10:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “I will visit [judgment] on the fruit of the greatness of the heart of the king of Assyria, and on the glory of the height of his eyes.” The proud Assyrian king is likened to a large, beautiful fruit tree.

[46:10]  ¹⁴ tn Or “from long ago”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “from ancient times.”

[46:11]  ¹⁵ tn Or, more generally, “a bird of prey” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV; see 18:6).

[46:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “spoken”; KJV “I have spoken it.”

[1:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Are you not from antiquity, O Lord?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Yes, of course.” The present translation reflects the force of the rhetorical question, rendering it as an affirmation. When used in a temporal sense the phrase מִקֶדֶם (miqedem) means “from antiquity, ancient times,” often referring to earlier periods in Israel’s history. See its use in Neh 12:46; Pss 74:12; 77:11; Isa 45:21; 46:10; Mic 5:2.

[1:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “My God, my holy one.” God’s “holiness” in this context is his sovereign transcendence as the righteous judge of the world (see vv. 12b-13a), thus the translation “My sovereign God.”

[1:12]  ¹⁹ tc The MT reads, “we will not die,” but an ancient scribal tradition has “you [i.e., God] will not die.” This is preferred as a more difficult reading that can explain the rise of the other variant. Later scribes who copied the manuscripts did not want to associate the idea of death with God in any way, so they softened the statement to refer to humanity.

[1:12]  ²⁰ tn Heb “him,” a collective singular referring to the Babylonians. The plural pronoun “them” has been used in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style.

[1:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “for judgment.”

[1:12]  ²² tn Heb “Rock” or “Cliff.” This divine epithet views God as a place where one can go to be safe from danger. The translation “Protector” conveys the force of the metaphor (cf. KJV, NEB “O mighty God”).

[1:12]  ²³ tn Heb “to correct, reprove.”

[4:27]  ²⁴ sn The application of Ps 2:1-2 is that Jews and Gentiles are opposing Jesus. The surprise of the application is that Jews are now found among the enemies of God’s plan.

[4:27]  ²⁵ sn A wordplay on “Christ,” v. 26, which means “one who has been anointed.”

[4:28]  ²⁶ tn Grk “hand,” here a metaphor for God’s strength or power or authority.

[4:28]  ²⁷ tn Or “purpose,” “will.”

[4:28]  ²⁸ tn Or “had predestined.” Since the term “predestine” is something of a technical theological term, not in wide usage in contemporary English, the translation “decide beforehand” was used instead (see L&N 30.84). God’s direction remains as the major theme.