1 Samuel 2:9

2:9 He watches over ¹  his holy ones, ² 

but the wicked are made speechless in the darkness,

for it is not by one’s own strength that one prevails.

Ayub 22:29

22:29 When people are brought low ³  and you say

‘Lift them up!’ ⁴ 

then he will save the downcast; ⁵ 

Mazmur 27:6

27:6 Now I will triumph

over my enemies who surround me! ⁶ 

I will offer sacrifices in his dwelling place and shout for joy! ⁷ 

I will sing praises to the Lord!

Mazmur 28:9

28:9 Deliver your people!

Empower ⁸  the nation that belongs to you! ⁹ 

Care for them like a shepherd and carry them in your arms ¹⁰  at all times! ¹¹ 

Mazmur 30:1

Psalm 30 ¹² 

A psalm – a song used at the dedication of the temple; ¹³  by David.

30:1 I will praise you, O Lord, for you lifted me up, ¹⁴ 

and did not allow my enemies to gloat ¹⁵  over me.

Mazmur 113:7

113:7 He raises the poor from the dirt,

and lifts up the needy from the garbage pile, ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 147:6

147:6 The Lord lifts up the oppressed,

but knocks ¹⁷  the wicked to the ground.

Matius 23:12

23:12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Lukas 14:11

14:11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but ¹⁸  the one who humbles ¹⁹  himself will be exalted.”

Lukas 18:14

18:14 I tell you that this man went down to his home justified ²⁰  rather than the Pharisee. ²¹  For everyone who exalts ²²  himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Lukas 18:1

Prayer and the Parable of the Persistent Widow

18:1 Then ²³  Jesus ²⁴  told them a parable to show them they should always ²⁵  pray and not lose heart. ²⁶ 

Pengkhotbah 5:6

5:6 Do not let your mouth cause you ²⁷  to sin,

and do not tell the priest, ²⁸  “It was a mistake!” ²⁹ 

Why make God angry at you ³⁰ 

so that he would destroy the work of your hands?”

[2:9]  ¹ tn Heb “guards the feet of.” The expression means that God watches over and protects the godly in all of their activities and movements. The imperfect verbal forms in v. 9 are understood as indicating what is typically true. Another option is to translate them with the future tense. See v. 10b.

[2:9]  ² tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading the plural (“his holy ones”) rather than the singular (“his holy one”) of the Kethib.

[22:29]  ³ tn There is no expressed subject here, and so the verb is taken as a passive voice again.

[22:29]  ⁴ tn The word גֵּוָה (gevah) means “loftiness; pride.” Here it simply says “up,” or “pride.” The rest is paraphrased. Of the many suggestions, the following provide a sampling: “It is because of pride” (ESV), “he abases pride” (H. H. Rowley); “[he abases] the lofty and the proud” (Beer); “[he abases] the word of pride” [Duhm]; “[he abases] the haughtiness of pride” [Fohrer and others]; “[he abases] the one who speaks proudly” [Weiser]; “[he abases] the one who boasts in pride” [Kissane]; and “God [abases] pride” [Budde, Gray].

[22:29]  ⁵ tn Or “humble”; Heb “the lowly of eyes.”

[27:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “and now my head will be lifted up over my enemies all around me.”

[27:6]  sn In vv. 1-3 the psalmist generalizes, but here we discover that he is facing a crisis and is under attack from enemies (see vv. 11-12).

[27:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “I will sacrifice in his tent sacrifices of a shout for joy” (that is, “sacrifices accompanied by a joyful shout”).

[28:9]  ⁸ tn Or “bless.”

[28:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “your inheritance.” The parallelism (note “your people”) indicates that Israel is in view.

[28:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “shepherd them and lift them up.”

[28:9]  sn The shepherd metaphor is sometimes associated with royal responsibility. See 2 Sam 5:2; 7:7; Mic 5:2-4).

[28:9]  ¹¹ tn Or “forever.”

[30:1]  ¹² sn Psalm 30. The author thanks the Lord for delivering him from death and urges others to join him in praise. The psalmist experienced divine discipline for a brief time, but when he cried out for help the Lord intervened and restored his favor.

[30:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “a song of the dedication of the house.” The referent of “house” is unclear. It is possible that David wrote this psalm for the dedication ceremony of Solomon’s temple. Another possibility is that the psalm was used on the occasion of the dedication of the second temple following the return from exile, or on the occasion of the rededication of the temple in Maccabean times.

[30:1]  ¹⁴ tn Elsewhere the verb דָּלָה (dalah) is used of drawing water from a well (Exod 2:16, 19; Prov 20:5). The psalmist was trapped in the pit leading to Sheol (see v. 3), but the Lord hoisted him up. The Piel stem is used here, perhaps suggesting special exertion on the Lord’s part.

[30:1]  ¹⁵ tn Or “rejoice.”

[113:7]  ¹⁶ sn The language of v. 7 is almost identical to that of 1 Sam 2:8.

[147:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “brings down.”

[14:11]  ¹⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context, which involves the reversal of expected roles.

[14:11]  ¹⁹ sn The point of the statement the one who humbles himself will be exalted is humility and the reversal imagery used to underline it is common: Luke 1:52-53; 6:21; 10:15; 18:14.

[18:14]  ²⁰ sn The prayer that was heard and honored was the one given with humility; in a surprising reversal it was the tax collector who went down to his home justified.

[18:14]  ²¹ tn Grk “the other”; the referent (the Pharisee, v. 10) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:14]  ²² sn Everyone who exalts himself. See Luke 14:11. Jesus often called for humility and condemned those who sought honor.

[18:1]  ²³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[18:1]  ²⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:1]  ²⁵ tn Or “should pray at all times” (L&N 67.88).

[18:1]  ²⁶ sn This is one of the few parables that comes with an explanation at the start: …they should always pray and not lose heart. It is part of Luke’s goal in encouraging Theophilus (1:4).

[5:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “your flesh.” The term בָּשָׂר (basar, “flesh”) is a synecdoche of part (i.e., flesh) for the whole (i.e., whole person), e.g., Gen 2:21; 6:12; Ps 56:4[5]; 65:2[3]; 145:21; Isa 40:5, 6; see HALOT 164 s.v. בָּשָׂר; E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 642.

[5:6]  ²⁸ tc The MT reads הַמַּלְאָךְ (hammal’akh, “messenger”), while the LXX reads τοῦ θεοῦ (tou qeou, “God”) which reflects an alternate textual tradition of הָאֱלֹהִים (ha’elohim, “God”). The textual problem was caused by orthographic confusion between similarly spelled words. The LXX might have been trying to make sense of a difficult expression. The MT is preferred as the original. All the major translations follow the MT except for Moffatt (“God”).

[5:6]  tn Heb “the messenger.” The term מַלְאָךְ (mal’akh, “messenger”) refers to a temple priest (e.g., Mal 2:7; cf. HALOT 585 s.v. מַלְאָךְ 2.b; BDB 521 s.v. מַלְאָךְ 1.c). The priests recorded what Israelite worshipers vowed (Lev 27:14-15). When an Israelite delayed in fulfilling a vow, a priest would remind him to pay what he had vowed. Although the traditional rabbinic view is that Qoheleth refers to an angelic superintendent over the temple, Rashi suggested that it is a temple-official. Translations reflect both views: “his representative” (NAB), “the temple messenger” (NIV), “the messenger” (RSV, NRSV, NASB, MLB, NJPS), “the angel” (KJV, ASV, Douay) and “the angel of God” (NEB).

[5:6]  ²⁹ tn The Hebrew noun שְׁגָגָה (shÿgagah) denotes “error; mistake” and refers to a sin of inadvertence or unintentional sin (e.g., Lev 4:2, 22, 27; 5:18; 22:14; Num 15:24-29; 35:11, 15; Josh 20:3, 9; Eccl 5:5; 10:5); see HALOT 1412 s.v. שְׁגָגָה; BDB 993 s.v. שְׁגָגָה. In this case, it refers to a rash vow thoughtlessly made, which the foolish worshiper claims was a mistake (e.g., Prov 20:25).

[5:6]  ³⁰ tn Heb “at your voice.” This is an example of metonymy (i.e., your voice) of association (i.e., you).