Who Will See “The Kingdom of God Coming with Power” 33 “power” (usually in the LXX as duvnami", dunasteiva" or ijscuv") are often found in contexts of war or destruction. And in most cases, those who are condemned to witness the devastation (i.e. the power of God’s strength), be it in terms of “seeing” or “knowing”, are the enemies of Yahweh. For example, in LXX Jer 16,21, the duvnami" of God refers to the judgment which Judah is about to experience because she has periodically sought the help of Egypt, instead of Yahweh, against the force of Babylon. The duvnami" of Yahweh is depicted as “fiery anger”, and manifested in Judah’s loss of her inheritance, her land and her sovereignty. She has, in a sense, become the antagonist. Once Jerusalem is destroyed, the prophet claims that Judah will be condemned not only to serve her enemies, but also her enemies’ gods (cf. Jer 16,9-10; 17,3-4; 18,11). The display of divine power coheres more immediately to judgment than it does to blessing. The precedent can be extended to other writings in early Judaism where terms like “glory’ and “power” are likewise used of divine acts of judgment (38). One of the writings which contains a concentration of references to the manifestation of God’s “power” (hrwbg) is 1QM (39). God’s hrwbg, however, is not displayed to the “sons of light” who are confident of his might, but to the opponents of God (“sons of darkness”) who wage war against the faithful ones. In these texts (e.g. 3,8; 4,12; 6,6), the hrwbg of God is clearly manifested in the destruction of all (including entire nations) who oppose the faithful (i.e. in this case the “sons of light”) (40). There are also a few references in the Scrolls to God’s jwk which can also be translated as “might” or “power” (1QM 4,12; 13,13; 4Q418 f126ii:9), though this term is usually rendered as ijscuv" in the LXX. Like the function of hrwbg, jwk is used to refer to the display of divine judgment against the enemies of the faithful. Similar to Mark, these texts primarily envision an apocalyptic scenario which describes God’s “power” as an event that is to be witnessed by the antagonists. (38) E.g., in Sir 36,1-6 one finds “might” (dunasteiva) and “to glorify” (doxavzw) as manifestations of God which are to be seen by the unrighteous enemies of Israel. (39) hrwbg is commonly translated in the LXX as duvnami". E.g. Judg 8,21; 1 Kgs 22,45; Jer 16,21; Ps 20,14; Job 12,13; 2 Chr 20,6. (40) See also 1QM 1,11.14; 3,5; 4,4; 6,2; 10,5; 14,6; 4Q181 f1,2; and possibly 4Q185 f1 2i,14; 4Q403 f1,21; 4Q404 f2,2; 4Q405 f13,5; 4Q491 f8 10,4; 4Q510 f1,2.