1 Tawarikh 29:15

29:15 For we are resident foreigners and nomads in your presence, like all our ancestors; ¹  our days are like a shadow on the earth, without security. ² 

Mazmur 39:12

39:12 Hear my prayer, O Lord!

Listen to my cry for help!

Do not ignore my sobbing! ³ 

For I am dependent on you, like one residing outside his native land;

I am at your mercy, just as all my ancestors were. ⁴ 

Mazmur 119:19

119:19 I am like a foreigner in this land. ⁵ 

Do not hide your commands from me!

Mazmur 119:54

119:54 Your statutes have been my songs ⁶ 

in the house where I live. ⁷ 

Mazmur 119:2

119:2 How blessed are those who observe his rules,

and seek him with all their heart,

Kolose 1:6

1:6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel ⁸  is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing ⁹  among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.

Ibrani 11:9-16

11:9 By faith he lived as a foreigner ¹⁰  in the promised land as though it were a foreign country, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were fellow heirs ¹¹  of the same promise. 11:10 For he was looking forward to the city with firm foundations, ¹²  whose architect and builder is God. 11:11 By faith, even though Sarah herself was barren and he was too old, ¹³  he received the ability to procreate, ¹⁴  because he regarded the one who had given the promise to be trustworthy. 11:12 So in fact children ¹⁵  were fathered by one man – and this one as good as dead – like the number of stars in the sky and like the innumerable grains of sand ¹⁶  on the seashore. ¹⁷  11:13 These all died in faith without receiving the things promised, ¹⁸  but they saw them in the distance and welcomed them and acknowledged that they were strangers and foreigners ¹⁹  on the earth. 11:14 For those who speak in such a way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 11:15 In fact, if they had been thinking of the land that they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 11:16 But as it is, ²⁰  they aspire to a better land, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Ibrani 13:14

13:14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

Ibrani 13:1

Final Exhortations

13:1 Brotherly love must continue.

Pengkhotbah 2:11

2:11 Yet when I reflected on everything I had accomplished ²¹ 

and on all the effort that I had expended to accomplish it, ²² 

I concluded: ²³  “All these ²⁴  achievements and possessions ²⁵  are ultimately ²⁶  profitless ²⁷  –

like chasing the wind!

There is nothing gained ²⁸  from them ²⁹  on earth.” ³⁰ 

[29:15]  ¹ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 18, 20).

[29:15]  ² tn Or perhaps “hope.”

[39:12]  ³ tn Heb “do not be deaf to my tears.”

[39:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “For a resident alien [am] I with you, a sojourner like all my fathers.”

[39:12]  sn Resident aliens were dependent on the mercy and goodwill of others. The Lord was concerned that resident aliens be treated properly. See Deut 24:17-22, Ps 146:9.

[119:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “I am a resident alien in the land.” Resident aliens were especially vulnerable and in need of help. They needed to know the social and legal customs of the land to avoid getting into trouble. The translation (note the addition of “like”) assumes the psalmist is speaking metaphorically, not literally.

[119:54]  ⁶ tn Heb “songs were your statutes to me.”

[119:54]  ⁷ tn Heb “in the house of my dwelling place.” Some take the Hebrew noun מָגוֹר (magor) in the sense of “temporary abode,” and see this as a reference to the psalmist’s status as a resident alien (see v. 19). But the noun can refer to a dwelling place in general (see Ps 55:15).

[1:6]  ⁸ tn Grk “just as in the entire world it is bearing fruit.” The antecedent (“the gospel”) of the implied subject (“it”) of ἐστιν (estin) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:6]  ⁹ tn Though the participles are periphrastic with the present tense verb ἐστίν (estin), the presence of the temporal indicator “from the day” in the next clause indicates that this is a present tense that reaches into the past and should be translated as “has been bearing fruit and growing.” For a discussion of this use of the present tense, see ExSyn 519-20.

[11:9]  ¹⁰ tn Or “settled as a resident alien.”

[11:9]  ¹¹ tn Or “heirs with him.”

[11:10]  ¹² tn Grk “that has foundations.”

[11:11]  ¹³ tn Grk “past the time of maturity.”

[11:11]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “power to deposit seed.” Though it is not as likely, some construe this phrase to mean “power to conceive seed,” making the whole verse about Sarah: “by faith, even though Sarah herself was barren and too old, she received ability to conceive, because she regarded the one who had given the promise to be trustworthy.”

[11:12]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “these”; in the translation the referent (children) has been specified for clarity.

[11:12]  ¹⁶ tn Grk a collective “the sand.”

[11:12]  ¹⁷ sn An allusion to Gen 22:17 (which itself goes back to Gen 15:5).

[11:13]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “the promises,” referring to the things God promised, not to the pledges themselves.

[11:13]  ¹⁹ tn Or “sojourners.”

[11:16]  ²⁰ tn Grk “now.”

[2:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “all my works that my hands had done.”

[2:11]  ²² 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]  ²³ tn Heb “Behold!”

[2:11]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ tn The phrase “achievements and possessions” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in translation for clarity.

[2:11]  ²⁶ tn The term “ultimately” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[2:11]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ tn The phrase “from them” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[2:11]  ³⁰ tn Heb “under the sun.”