Yesaya 31:8

31:8 Assyria will fall by a sword, but not one human-made; ¹ 

a sword not made by humankind will destroy them. ² 

They will run away from this sword ³ 

and their young men will be forced to do hard labor.

Yesaya 37:36

37:36 The Lord’s messenger ⁴  went out and killed 185,000 troops ⁵  in the Assyrian camp. When they ⁶  got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses! ⁷ 

Mazmur 103:20

103:20 Praise the Lord, you angels of his,

you powerful warriors who carry out his decrees

and obey his orders! ⁸ 

Daniel 4:13-14

4:13 While I was watching in my mind’s visions ⁹  on my bed,

a holy sentinel ¹⁰  came down from heaven.

4:14 He called out loudly ¹¹  as follows: ¹² 

‘Chop down the tree and lop off its branches!

Strip off its foliage

and scatter its fruit!

Let the animals flee from under it

and the birds from its branches!

Daniel 4:23

4:23 As for the king seeing a holy sentinel coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave its taproot in the ground, with a band of iron and bronze around it, surrounded by the grass of the field. Let it become damp with the dew of the sky, and let it live with the wild animals, until seven periods of time go by for him’ –

Daniel 4:2

4:2 I am delighted to tell you about the signs and wonders that the most high God has done for me.

Daniel 1:7

1:7 But the overseer of the court officials renamed them. He gave ¹³  Daniel the name Belteshazzar, Hananiah he named Shadrach, Mishael he named Meshach, and Azariah he named Abednego. ¹⁴ 

Daniel 1:2

1:2 Now the Lord ¹⁵  delivered ¹⁶  King Jehoiakim of Judah into his power, ¹⁷  along with some of the vessels ¹⁸  of the temple of God. ¹⁹  He brought them to the land of Babylonia ²⁰  to the temple of his god ²¹  and put ²²  the vessels in the treasury of his god.

Pengkhotbah 2:11

2:11 Yet when I reflected on everything I had accomplished ²³ 

and on all the effort that I had expended to accomplish it, ²⁴ 

I concluded: ²⁵  “All these ²⁶  achievements and possessions ²⁷  are ultimately ²⁸  profitless ²⁹  –

like chasing the wind!

There is nothing gained ³⁰  from them ³¹  on earth.” ³² 

Wahyu 10:1

The Angel with the Little Scroll

10:1 Then ³³  I saw another powerful angel descending from heaven, wrapped ³⁴  in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun and his legs were like pillars of fire. ³⁵ 

Wahyu 18:21

18:21 Then ³⁶  one powerful angel picked up a stone like a huge millstone, threw it into the sea, and said,

“With this kind of sudden violent force ³⁷ 

Babylon the great city will be thrown down ³⁸ 

and it will never be found again!

[31:8]  ¹ tn Heb “Assyria will fall by a sword, not of a man.”

[31:8]  ² tn Heb “and a sword not of humankind will devour him.”

[31:8]  ³ tn Heb “he will flee for himself from before a sword.”

[37:36]  ⁴ tn Traditionally, “the angel of the Lord” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[37:36]  ⁵ tn The word “troops” is supplied in the translation for smoothness and clarity.

[37:36]  ⁶ tn This refers to the Israelites and/or the rest of the Assyrian army.

[37:36]  ⁷ tn Heb “look, all of them were dead bodies”; NLT “they found corpses everywhere.”

[103:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “[you] mighty ones of strength, doers of his word, by listening to the voice of his word.”

[4:13]  ⁹ tn Aram “the visions of my head.”

[4:13]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “a watcher and a holy one.” The expression is a hendiadys; so also in v. 23. This “watcher” is apparently an angel. The Greek OT (LXX) in fact has ἄγγελος (angelo", “angel”) here. Theodotion simply transliterates the Aramaic word (’ir). The term is sometimes rendered “sentinel” (NAB) or “messenger” (NIV, NLT).

[4:14]  ¹¹ tn Aram “in strength.”

[4:14]  ¹² tn Aram “and thus he was saying.”

[1:7]  ¹³ tc The LXX and Vulgate lack the verb here.

[1:7]  ¹⁴ sn The meanings of the Babylonian names are more conjectural than is the case with the Hebrew names. The probable etymologies are as follows: Belteshazzar means “protect his life,” although the MT vocalization may suggest “Belti, protect the king” (cf. Dan 4:8); Shadrach perhaps means “command of Aku”; Meshach is of uncertain meaning; Abednego means “servant of Nego.” Assigning Babylonian names to the Hebrew youths may have been an attempt to erase from their memory their Israelite heritage.

[1:2]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[1:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “gave.”

[1:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “hand,” which is often used idiomatically for one’s power and authority. See BDB 390 s.v. יָד 2.

[1:2]  ¹⁸ tn Or “utensils”; or “articles.”

[1:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “house of God.”

[1:2]  ²⁰ sn The land of Babylonia (Heb “the land of Shinar”) is another name for Sumer and Akkad, where Babylon was located (cf. Gen 10:10; 11:2; 14:1, 9; Josh 7:21; Isa 11:11; Zech 5:11).

[1:2]  ²¹ tn Or “gods” (NCV, NRSV, TEV; also later in this verse). The Hebrew term can be used as a numerical plural for many gods or as a plural of majesty for one particular god. Since Nebuchadnezzar was a polytheist, it is not clear if the reference here is to many gods or one particular deity. The plural of majesty, while normally used for Israel’s God, is occasionally used of foreign gods (cf. BDB 43 s.v. אֱלֹהִים 1, 2). See Judg 11:24 (of the Moabite god Chemosh); 1 Sam 5:7 (of the Philistine god Dagon); 1 Kgs 11:33 (of the Canaanite goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom); 2 Kgs 19:37 (of the Assyrian god Nisroch). Since gods normally had their own individual temples, Dan 1:2 probably refers to a particular deity, perhaps Marduk, the supreme god of Babylon, or Marduk’s son Nabu, after whom Nebuchadnezzar was named. The name Nebuchadnezzar means “Nabu has protected the son who will inherit” (HALOT 660 s.v. נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּר). For a discussion of how temples functioned in Babylonian religion see H. Ringgren, Religions of the Ancient Near East, 77-81.

[1:2]  ²² tn Heb “brought.” Though the Hebrew verb “brought” is repeated in this verse, the translation uses “brought…put” for stylistic variation.

[2:11]  ²³ tn Heb “all my works that my hands had done.”

[2:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and all the toil with which I had toiled in doing it.” The term עָמַל (’amal, “toil”) is repeated to emphasize the burden and weariness of the labor which Qoheleth exerted in his accomplishments.

[2:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Behold!”

[2:11]  ²⁶ tn The term הַכֹּל (hakkol, “everything” or “all”) must be qualified and limited in reference to the topic that is dealt with in 2:4-11. This is an example of synecdoche of general for the specific; the general term “all” is used only in reference to the topic at hand. This is clear from the repetition of כֹּל (kol, “everything”) and (“all these things”) in 2:11.

[2:11]  ²⁷ tn The phrase “achievements and possessions” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in translation for clarity.

[2:11]  ²⁸ tn The term “ultimately” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[2:11]  ²⁹ tn The parallelism with יִתְרוֹן (yitron), “profit; advantage; gain”) indicates that הֶבֶל (hevel) should be nuanced as “profitless, fruitless, futile” in this context. While labor offers some relative and temporal benefits, such as material acquisitions and the enjoyment of the work of one’s hands, there is no ultimate benefit to be gained from secular human achievement.

[2:11]  ³⁰ tn The noun יִתְרוֹן (yitron, “profit”) has a two-fold range of meanings: (1) “what comes of [something]; result” (Eccl 1:3; 2:11; 3:9; 5:8, 15; 7:12; 10:10) and (2) “profit; advantage” (Eccl 2:13; 10:11); see HALOT 452–53 s.v. יִתְרוֹי. It is derived from the noun יֶתֶר (yeter, “what is left behind; remainder”; HALOT 452 s.v. I יֶתֶר). The related verb יָתַר (yatar) denotes “to be left over; to survive” (Niphal) and “to have left over” (Hiphil); see HALOT 451–52 s.v. יתר. When used literally, יִתְרוֹן refers to what is left over after expenses (gain or profit); when used figuratively, it refers to what is advantageous or of benefit. Though some things have relative advantage over others (e.g., light over darkness, and wisdom over folly in 2:13), there is no ultimate profit in man’s labor due to death.

[2:11]  ³¹ tn The phrase “from them” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[2:11]  ³² tn Heb “under the sun.”

[10:1]  ³³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[10:1]  ³⁴ tn Or “clothed.”

[10:1]  ³⁵ tn Or “like fiery pillars,” translating πυρός (puros) as an attributive genitive.

[18:21]  ³⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[18:21]  ³⁷ tn On ὅρμημα ({ormhma) BDAG 724 s.v. states, “violent rush, onset ὁρμήματι βληθήσεται Βαβυλών Babylon will be thrown down with violence Rv 18:21.” L&N 68.82 refers to the suddenness of the force or violence.

[18:21]  ³⁸ sn Thrown down is a play on both the words and the action. The angel’s action with the stone illustrates the kind of sudden violent force with which the city will be overthrown.