2 Korintus 3:5

3:5 Not that we are adequate ¹  in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy ²  is from God,

2 Korintus 4:7

An Eternal Weight of Glory

4:7 But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power ³  belongs to God and does not come from us.

2 Korintus 12:7-10

12:7 even because of the extraordinary character of the revelations. Therefore, ⁴  so that I would not become arrogant, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to trouble ⁵  me – so that I would not become arrogant. ⁶  12:8 I asked the Lord three times about this, that it would depart from me. 12:9 But ⁷  he said to me, “My grace is enough ⁸  for you, for my ⁹  power is made perfect ¹⁰  in weakness.” So then, I will boast most gladly ¹¹  about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may reside in ¹²  me. 12:10 Therefore I am content with ¹³  weaknesses, with insults, with troubles, with persecutions and difficulties ¹⁴  for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

Ayub 40:14

40:14 Then I myself will acknowledge ¹⁵  to you

that your own right hand can save you. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 22:29

22:29 All of the thriving people ¹⁷  of the earth will join the celebration and worship; ¹⁸ 

all those who are descending into the grave ¹⁹  will bow before him,

including those who cannot preserve their lives. ²⁰ 

Mazmur 44:5-7

44:5 By your power ²¹  we will drive back ²²  our enemies;

by your strength ²³  we will trample down ²⁴  our foes! ²⁵ 

44:6 For I do not trust in my bow,

and I do not prevail by my sword.

44:7 For you deliver ²⁶  us from our enemies;

you humiliate ²⁷  those who hate us.

Amsal 28:26

28:26 The one who trusts in his own heart ²⁸  is a fool,

but the one who walks in wisdom ²⁹  will escape. ³⁰ 

Yeremia 9:23-24

9:23 ³¹ The Lord says,

“Wise people should not boast that they are wise.

Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful. ³² 

Rich people should not boast that they are rich. ³³ 

9:24 If people want to boast, they should boast about this:

They should boast that they understand and know me.

They should boast that they know and understand

that I, the Lord, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth

and that I desire people to do these things,” ³⁴ 

says the Lord.

Yeremia 17:5-7

Individuals Are Challenged to Put Their Trust in the Lord ³⁵ 

17:5 The Lord says,

“I will put a curse on people

who trust in mere human beings,

who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength, ³⁶ 

and whose hearts ³⁷  have turned away from the Lord.

17:6 They will be like a shrub ³⁸  in the desert.

They will not experience good things even when they happen.

It will be as though they were growing in the desert,

in a salt land where no one can live.

17:7 My blessing is on those people who trust in me,

who put their confidence in me. ³⁹ 

Yehezkiel 33:13

33:13 Suppose I tell the righteous that he will certainly live, but he becomes confident in his righteousness and commits iniquity. None of his righteous deeds will be remembered; because of the iniquity he has committed he will die.

Lukas 18:9

The Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector

18:9 Jesus ⁴⁰  also told this parable to some who were confident that they were righteous and looked down ⁴¹  on everyone else.

[3:5]  ¹ tn Or “competent.”

[3:5]  ² tn Or “competence.”

[4:7]  ³ tn Grk “the surpassingness of the power”; δυνάμεως (dunamew") has been translated as an attributed genitive (“extraordinary power”).

[12:7]  ⁴ tc Most mss (Ì⁴⁶ D Ψ 1881 Ï) lack διό (dio, “Therefore”), but the widespread distribution and quality of mss which include it (א A B F G 0243 33 81 1175 1739 pc) argues for its authenticity. Internally, its case is equally strong in that its inclusion is grammatically rough (διό is hardly necessary to convey purpose, especially since Paul uses ἵνα [{ina, “so that”] next).

[12:7]  ⁵ tn Or “to harass.”

[12:7]  ⁶ tn The phrase “so that I might not become arrogant” is repeated here because it occurs in the Greek text two times in the verse. Although redundant, it is repeated because of the emphatic nature of its affirmation.

[12:9]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” because of the contrast implicit in the context.

[12:9]  ⁸ tn Or “is sufficient.”

[12:9]  ⁹ tc The majority of later mss (א² A^c D¹ Ψ 0243 0278 33 1739 1881 Ï) as well as some versional witnesses include the pronoun “my” here, but the omission of the pronoun has excellent external support (Ì^46vid א* A* B D* F G latt). Scribes probably added the pronoun for clarity, making the obvious referent explicit. This would also make “power” more parallel with “my grace.” Though the original text probably did not include “my,” scribes who added the word were following the sense of Paul’s statement.

[12:9]  tn The pronoun “my” was supplied in the translation to clarify the sense of Paul’s expression.

[12:9]  ¹⁰ tn Or “my power comes to full strength.”

[12:9]  ¹¹ tn “Most gladly,” a comparative form used with superlative meaning and translated as such.

[12:9]  ¹² tn Or “may rest on.”

[12:10]  ¹³ tn Or “I take delight in.”

[12:10]  ¹⁴ tn Or “calamities.”

[40:14]  ¹⁵ tn The verb is usually translated “praise,” but with the sense of a public declaration or acknowledgment. It is from יָדָה (yadah, in the Hiphil, as here, “give thanks, laud”).

[40:14]  ¹⁶ tn The imperfect verb has the nuance of potential imperfect: “can save; is able to save.”

[22:29]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “fat [ones].” This apparently refers to those who are healthy and robust, i.e., thriving. In light of the parallelism, some prefer to emend the form to יְשֵׁנֵי (yÿsheney, “those who sleep [in the earth]”; cf. NAB, NRSV), but דִּשְׁנֵי (dishney, “fat [ones]”) seems to form a merism with “all who descend into the grave” in the following line. The psalmist envisions all people, whether healthy or dying, joining in worship of the Lord.

[22:29]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “eat and worship.” The verb forms (a perfect followed by a prefixed form with vav [ו] consecutive) are normally used in narrative to relate completed actions. Here the psalmist uses the forms rhetorically as he envisions a time when the Lord will receive universal worship. The mood is one of wishful thinking and anticipation; this is not prophecy in the strict sense.

[22:29]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “all of the ones going down [into] the dust.” This group stands in contrast to those mentioned in the previous line. Together the two form a merism encompassing all human beings – the healthy, the dying, and everyone in between.

[22:29]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and his life he does not revive.”

[44:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “by you.”

[44:5]  ²² tn Heb “gore” (like an ox). If this portion of the psalm contains the song of confidence/petition the Israelites recited prior to battle, then the imperfects here and in the next line may express their expectation of victory. Another option is that the imperfects function in an emphatic generalizing manner. In this case one might translate, “you [always] drive back…you [always] trample down.”

[44:5]  sn The Hebrew verb translated “drive back” is literally “gore”; the imagery is that of a powerful wild ox that “gores” its enemies and tramples them underfoot.

[44:5]  ²³ tn Heb “in your name.” The Lord’s “name” refers here to his revealed character or personal presence. Specifically in this context his ability to deliver, protect, and energize for battle is in view (see Ps 54:1).

[44:5]  ²⁴ sn The image of the powerful wild ox continues; see the note on the phrase “drive back” in the preceding line.

[44:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “those who rise up [against] us.”

[44:7]  ²⁶ tn Or “have delivered,” if past successes are in view. Another option is to take the perfect as rhetorical, emphasizing that victory is certain (note the use of the imperfect in vv. 5-6).

[44:7]  ²⁷ tn Or “have humiliated,” if past successes are in view. Another option is to take the perfect as rhetorical, emphasizing that victory is certain (note the use of the imperfect in vv. 5-6).

[28:26]  ²⁸ sn The idea of “trusting in one’s own heart” is a way of describing one who is self-reliant. C. H. Toy says it means to follow the untrained suggestions of the mind or to rely on one’s own mental resources (Proverbs [ICC], 505). It is arrogant to take no counsel but to rely only on one’s own intelligence.

[28:26]  ²⁹ sn The idiom of “walking in wisdom” means to live life according to the acquired skill and knowledge passed on from the sages. It is the wisdom from above that the book of Proverbs presents, not the undisciplined and uninformed wit and wisdom from below.

[28:26]  ³⁰ tn The verb form יִמָּלֵט (yimmalet) is the Niphal imperfect; the form means “to escape.” In this context one would conclude that it means “to escape from trouble,” because the one who lives in this life by wisdom will escape trouble, and the one who trusts in himself will not.

[9:23]  ³¹ sn It is not always clear why verses were placed in their present position in the editorial process of collecting Jeremiah’s sermons and the words the Lord spoke to him (see Jer 36:4, 32 for reference to two of these collections). Here it is probable that vv. 23-26 were added as a further answer to the question raised in v. 12.

[9:23]  ³² tn Or “Strong people should not brag that they are strong.”

[9:23]  ³³ tn Heb “…in their wisdom…in their power…in their riches.”

[9:24]  ³⁴ tn Or “fairness and justice, because these things give me pleasure.” Verse 24 reads in Hebrew, “But let the one who brags brag in this: understanding and knowing me that I, the Lord, do faithfulness, justice, and righteousness in the earth for/that I delight in these.” It is uncertain whether the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) before the clause “I delight in these things” is parallel to the כִּי introducing the clause “that I, the Lord, act…” or causal giving the grounds for the Lord acting the way he does. In the light of the contrasts in the passage and the emphasis that Jeremiah has placed on obedience to the covenant and ethical conduct in conjunction with real allegiance to the Lord not mere lip service, it is probable that the clauses are parallel. For the use of כִּי to introduce clauses of further definition after a direct object as here see GKC 365 §117.h and see BDB 393 s.v. יָדַע Qal.1.a. For parallels to the idea of Yahweh requiring these characteristics in people see Hos 6:6, Mic 6:8.

[17:5]  ³⁵ sn Verses 5-11 are a collection of wisdom-like sayings (cf. Ps 1) which set forth the theme of the two ways and their consequences. It has as its background the blessings and the curses of Deut 28 and the challenge to faith in Deut 29-30 which climaxes in Deut 30:15-20. The nation is sinful and God is weary of showing them patience. However, there is hope for individuals within the nation if they will trust in him.

[17:5]  ³⁶ tn Heb “who make flesh their arm.” The “arm” is the symbol of strength and the flesh is the symbol of mortal man in relation to the omnipotent God. The translation “mere flesh and blood” reflects this.

[17:5]  ³⁷ sn In the psychology of ancient Hebrew thought the heart was the center not only of the emotions but of the thoughts and motivations. It was also the seat of moral conduct (cf. its placement in the middle of the discussion of moral conduct in Prov 4:20-27, i.e., in v. 23).

[17:6]  ³⁸ tn This word occurs only here and in Jer 48:6. It has been identified as a kind of juniper, which is a short shrub with minute leaves that look like scales. For a picture and more discussion see Fauna and Flora of the Bible, 131.

[17:7]  ³⁹ tn Heb “Blessed is the person who trusts in the Lord, and whose confidence is in the Lord.” However, because this is a statement of the Lord and the translation chooses to show that the blessing comes from him, the first person is substituted for the divine name.

[18:9]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “He”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:9]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “and despised.” This is a second parable with an explanatory introduction.