1 Tawarikh 29:20

29:20 David told the entire assembly: “Praise the Lord your God!” So the entire assembly praised the Lord God of their ancestors; they bowed down and stretched out flat on the ground before the Lord and the king.

Ezra 3:11

3:11 With antiphonal response they sang, ¹  praising and glorifying the Lord:

“For he is good;

his loyal love toward Israel is forever.”

All the people gave a loud ²  shout as they praised the Lord when the temple of the Lord was established.

Mazmur 103:1-2

Psalm 103 ³ 

By David.

103:1 Praise the Lord, O my soul!

With all that is within me, praise ⁴  his holy name!

103:2 Praise the Lord, O my soul!

Do not forget all his kind deeds! ⁵ 

Mazmur 117:1-2

Psalm 117 ⁶ 

117:1 Praise the Lord, all you nations!

Applaud him, all you foreigners! ⁷ 

117:2 For his loyal love towers ⁸  over us,

and the Lord’s faithfulness endures.

Praise the Lord!

Mazmur 145:2

145:2 Every day I will praise you!

I will praise your name continually! ⁹ 

Mazmur 146:2

146:2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live!

I will sing praises to my God as long as I exist!

Yeremia 33:10-11

33:10 “I, the Lord, say: ¹⁰  ‘You and your people are saying ¹¹  about this place, “It lies in ruins. There are no people or animals in it.” That is true. The towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem ¹²  will soon be desolate, uninhabited either by people or by animals. But happy sounds will again be heard in these places. 33:11 Once again there will be sounds ¹³  of joy and gladness and the glad celebrations of brides and grooms. ¹⁴  Once again people will bring their thank offerings to the temple of the Lord and will say, “Give thanks to the Lord who rules over all. For the Lord is good and his unfailing love lasts forever.” ¹⁵  For I, the Lord, affirm ¹⁶  that I will restore the land to what it was ¹⁷  in days of old.’ ¹⁸ 

Matius 11:25

Jesus’ Invitation

11:25 At that time Jesus said, ¹⁹  “I praise ²⁰  you, Father, Lord ²¹  of heaven and earth, because ²²  you have hidden these things from the wise ²³  and intelligent, and revealed them to little children.

Efesus 3:20-21

3:20 Now to him who by the power that is working within us ²⁴  is able to do far beyond ²⁵  all that we ask or think, 3:21 to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Efesus 3:1

Paul's Relationship to the Divine Mystery

3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus ²⁶  for the sake of you Gentiles –

Pengkhotbah 1:3

Futility Illustrated from Nature

1:3 What benefit ²⁷  do people ²⁸  get from all the effort

which ²⁹  they expend ³⁰  on earth? ³¹ 

[3:11]  ¹ tn Heb “they answered.”

[3:11]  ² tn Heb “great.”

[103:1]  ³ sn Psalm 103. The psalmist praises God for his mercy and willingness to forgive his people.

[103:1]  ⁴ tn The verb “praise” is understood by ellipsis in the second line (see the preceding line).

[103:2]  ⁵ tn Or “his benefits” (see 2 Chr 32:25, where the noun is also used of kind deeds performed by the Lord).

[117:1]  ⁶ sn Psalm 117. The psalmist tells the nations to praise the Lord for his loyal love and faithfulness.

[117:1]  ⁷ tn Or “peoples” (see Ps 108:3).

[117:2]  ⁸ tn For this sense of the Hebrew verb גָּבַר (gavar), see Ps 103:11 and L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 17, 19.

[145:2]  ⁹ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”

[33:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Thus says the Lord.” For the first person rendering see the translator’s note at the end of v. 2.

[33:10]  sn The phrase here is parallel to that in v. 4 and introduces a further amplification of the “great and mysterious things” of v. 3.

[33:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “You.” However, the pronoun is plural as in 32:36, 43. See the translator’s note on 32:36.

[33:10]  ¹² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[33:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “33:10 Thus says the Lord, ‘There will again be heard in this place of which you are saying [masc. pl.], “It is a ruin without people and without animals,” [that is] in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem which are desolate without people and without inhabitants and without animals 33:11 the sound of….” The long run-on sentence in Hebrew has been broken down to better conform with contemporary English style.

[33:11]  ¹⁴ sn What is predicted here is a reversal of the decimation caused by the Babylonian conquest that had been threatened in 7:34; 16:9; 25:10.

[33:11]  ¹⁵ sn This is a common hymnic introduction to both individual songs of thanksgiving (e.g., Ps 118:1) and communal songs of thanksgiving (e.g., Ps 136 where it is a liturgical refrain accompanying a recital of Israel’s early history and of the Lord’s continuing providence).

[33:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[33:11]  ¹⁷ tn Or “I will restore the fortunes of the land.”

[33:11]  sn See the study note on Jer 29:18 and compare 29:14; 30:3, 18; 31:23; 32:44; 33:7 for the meaning and usage of this idiom. The promise here repeats that in 33:7.

[33:11]  ¹⁸ tn This phrase simply means “as formerly” (BDB 911 s.v. רִאשׁוֹן 3.a). The reference to the “as formerly” must be established from the context. See the usage in Judg 20:32; 1 Kgs 13:6; Isa 1:26.

[33:11]  sn This refers to the reunification of Israel and Judah to the state that they were before the division after Solomon. Compare Jer 3:18; 30:3; 31:27 and see the study note on 30:3.

[11:25]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “At that time, answering, Jesus said.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.

[11:25]  ²⁰ tn Or “thank.”

[11:25]  ²¹ sn The title Lord is an important name for God, showing his sovereignty, but it is interesting that it comes next to a reference to the Father, a term indicative of God’s care. The two concepts are often related in the NT; see Eph 1:3-6.

[11:25]  ²² tn Or “that.”

[11:25]  ²³ sn See 1 Cor 1:26-31.

[3:20]  ²⁴ sn On the power that is working within us see 1:19-20.

[3:20]  ²⁵ tn Or “infinitely beyond,” “far more abundantly than.”

[3:1]  ²⁶ tc Several early and important witnesses, chiefly of the Western text (א* D* F G [365]), lack ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou, “Jesus”) here, while most Alexandrian and Byzantine mss (Ì⁴⁶ א¹ A B [C] D¹ Ψ 33 1739 [1881] Ï lat sy bo) have the word. However, because of the Western text’s proclivities to add or delete to the text, seemingly at whim, serious doubts should be attached to the shorter reading. It is strengthened, however, by א’s support. Nevertheless, since both א and D were corrected with the addition of ᾿Ιησοῦ, their testimony might be questioned. Further, in uncial script the nomina sacra here could have led to missing a word by way of homoioteleuton (cMuiMu). At the same time, in light of the rarity of scribal omission of nomina sacra (see TCGNT 582, n. 1), a decision for inclusion of the word here must be tentative. NA²⁷ rightly places ᾿Ιησοῦ in brackets.

[1:3]  ²⁷ tn The term “profit” (יֹתְרוֹן, yotÿron) is used in Ecclesiastes to evaluate the ultimate benefit/effects of human activities, as is טוֹב (tov, “good, worthwhile”) as well (e.g., 2:1, 3). While some relative advantage/profit is recognized (e.g., light over darkness, and wisdom over folly), Qoheleth denies the ultimate advantage of all human endeavors (e.g., 2:11, 15).

[1:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the man.” The Hebrew term could be used here in a generic sense, referring to the typical man (hence, “a man”). However, it is more likely that the form is collective and that humankind in general is in view (note NIV “man”). Note the reference to “a generation” coming and going in the next verse, as well as v. 13, where the phrase “the sons of man” (= humankind) appears. In this case the singular pronominal suffix and singular verb later in v. 3 reflect grammatical agreement, not individuality.

[1:3]  ²⁹ tn The use of the relative pronoun שֶׁ (she, “which”) – rather than the more common אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) – is a linguistic feature that is often used to try to date the Book of Ecclesiastes. Noting that שֶׁ is the dominant relative pronoun in Mishnaic Hebrew and that אֲשֶׁר does not appear as frequently (Jastrow 130 s.v. אֲשֶׁר), many scholars conclude that אֲשֶׁר is early and שֶׁ is late. They conclude that the use of שֶׁ in Ecclesiastes points to a late date for the book. However, as Samuel-Kings suggest, the שֶׁ versus אֲשֶׁר phenomena may simply be a dialectical issue: אֲשֶׁר is commonly used in the south, and שֶׁ in the north. The use of שֶׁ in Ecclesiastes may indicate that the book was written in a northern rather than a southern province, not that it is a late book. This is supported from related Akkadian terms which occur in texts from the same periods: אֲשֶׁר is related to asru (“place”) and שֶׁ is related to sa (“what”).

[1:3]  ³⁰ sn The Hebrew root עָמָל, (’amal, “toil”) is repeated here for emphasis: “What gain does anyone have in his toil with which he toils.” For all his efforts, man’s endeavors and secular achievements will not produce anything of ultimate value that will radically revolutionize anything in the world. The term “toil” is used in a pejorative sense to emphasize that the only thing that man obtains ultimately from all his efforts is weariness and exhaustion. Due to sin, mankind has been cursed with the futility of his labor that renders work a “toilsome” task (Gen 3:17-19). Although it was not yet revealed to Qoheleth, God will one day deliver the redeemed from this plight in the future kingdom when man’s labor will no longer be toilsome, but profitable, fulfilling, and enjoyable (Isa 65:17-23).

[1:3]  ³¹ tn Heb “under the sun.”

[1:3]  sn This rhetorical question expects a negative answer: “Man has no gain in all his toil.” Ecclesiastes often uses rhetorical questions in this manner (e.g., 2:2; 3:9; 6:8, 11, 12; see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 949).