Yesaya 10:5-6

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.

Yesaya 10:2

10:2 to keep the poor from getting fair treatment,

and to deprive ⁷  the oppressed among my people of justice,

so they can steal what widows own,

and loot what belongs to orphans. ⁸ 

Kisah Para Rasul 17:6

17:6 When they did not find them, they dragged ⁹  Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, ¹⁰  screaming, “These people who have stirred up trouble ¹¹  throughout the world ¹²  have come here too,

Kisah Para Rasul 18:13

18:13 saying, “This man is persuading ¹³  people to worship God in a way contrary to ¹⁴  the law!”

Yehezkiel 21:19-23

21:19 “You, son of man, mark out two routes for the king of Babylon’s sword to take; both of them will originate in a single land. Make a signpost and put it at the beginning of the road leading to the city. 21:20 Mark out the routes for the sword to take: “Rabbah of the Ammonites” and “Judah with Jerusalem in it.” ¹⁵  21:21 For the king of Babylon stands at the fork ¹⁶  in the road at the head of the two routes. He looks for omens: ¹⁷  He shakes arrows, he consults idols, ¹⁸  he examines ¹⁹  animal livers. ²⁰  21:22 Into his right hand ²¹  comes the portent for Jerusalem – to set up battering rams, to give the signal ²²  for slaughter, to shout out the battle cry, ²³  to set up battering rams against the gates, to erect a siege ramp, to build a siege wall. 21:23 But those in Jerusalem ²⁴  will view it as a false omen. They have sworn solemn oaths, ²⁵  but the king of Babylon ²⁶  will accuse them of violations ²⁷  in order to seize them. ²⁸ 

[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.”

[10:2]  ⁷ tn Or “rob” (ASV, NASB, NCV, NRSV); KJV “take away the right from the poor.”

[10:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “so that widows are their plunder, and they can loot orphans.”

[10:2]  sn On the socio-economic background of vv. 1-2, see the note at 1:23.

[17:6]  ⁹ tn See BDAG 977-78 s.v. σύρω on this verb. It was used in everyday speech of dragging in fish by a net, or dragging away someone’s (presumably) dead body (Paul in Acts 14:19).

[17:6]  ¹⁰ tn L&N 37.93 defines πολιτάρχης (politarch") as “a public official responsible for administrative matters within a town or city and a member of the ruling council of such a political unit – ‘city official’” (see also BDAG 845 s.v.).

[17:6]  ¹¹ tn Or “rebellion.” BDAG 72 s.v. ἀναστατόω has “disturb, trouble, upset,” but in light of the references in the following verse to political insurrection, “stirred up rebellion” would also be appropriate.

[17:6]  ¹² tn Or “the empire.” This was a way of referring to the Roman empire (BDAG 699 s.v. οἰκουμένη 2.b).

[17:6]  sn Throughout the world. Note how some of those present had knowledge of what had happened elsewhere. Word about Paul and his companions and their message was spreading.

[18:13]  ¹³ tn Or “inciting.”

[18:13]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “worship God contrary to.” BDAG 758 s.v. παρά C.6 has “against, contrary to” for Acts 18:13. The words “in a way” are not in the Greek text, but are a necessary clarification to prevent the misunderstanding in the English translation that worshiping God was in itself contrary to the law. What is under dispute is the manner in which God was being worshiped, that is, whether Gentiles were being required to follow all aspects of the Mosaic law, including male circumcision. There is a hint of creating public chaos or disturbing Jewish custom here since Jews were the ones making the complaint. Luke often portrays the dispute between Christians and Jews as within Judaism.

[21:20]  ¹⁵ tc The MT reads “Judah in fortified Jerusalem,” a geographic impossibility. The translation follows the LXX, which assumes בְּתוֹכָהּ (bÿtokhah, “in it”) for בְּצוּרָה (bÿtsurah, “fortified”).

[21:20]  sn As the Babylonians approached from the north, one road would branch off to the left and lead down the east side of the Jordan River to Ammon. The other road would veer to the right and lead down west of the Jordan to Jerusalem.

[21:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “mother.”

[21:21]  ¹⁷ sn Mesopotamian kings believed that the gods revealed the future through omens. They employed various divination techniques, some of which are included in the list that follows. A particularly popular technique was the examination and interpretation of the livers of animals. See R. R. Wilson, Prophecy and Society in Ancient Israel, 90-110.

[21:21]  ¹⁸ tn This word refers to personal idols that were apparently used for divination purposes (Gen 31:19; 1 Sam 19:13, 16).

[21:21]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “sees.”

[21:21]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the liver.”

[21:22]  ²¹ tn Or “on the right side,” i.e., the omen mark on the right side of the liver.

[21:22]  ²² tn Heb “to open the mouth” for slaughter.

[21:22]  ²³ tn Heb “to raise up a voice in a battle cry.”

[21:23]  ²⁴ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people in Jerusalem) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:23]  ²⁵ sn When the people of Judah realized the Babylonians’ intentions, they would object on grounds that they had made a treaty with the Babylonian king (see 17:13).

[21:23]  ²⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king of Babylon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:23]  ²⁷ tn Or “iniquity.”

[21:23]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and he will remind of guilt for the purpose of being captured.” The king would counter their objections by pointing out that they had violated their treaty with him (see 17:18).