Ayub 13:15

13:15 Even if he slays me, I will hope in him; ¹ 

I will surely ²  defend ³  my ways to his face!

Mazmur 18:6

18:6 In my distress I called to the Lord;

I cried out to my God. ⁴ 

From his heavenly temple ⁵  he heard my voice;

he listened to my cry for help. ⁶ 

Mazmur 26:1-2

Psalm 26 ⁷ 

By David.

26:1 Vindicate me, O Lord,

for I have integrity, ⁸ 

and I trust in the Lord without wavering.

26:2 Examine me, O Lord, and test me!

Evaluate my inner thoughts and motives! ⁹ 

Mazmur 27:1-3

Psalm 27 ¹⁰ 

By David.

27:1 The Lord delivers and vindicates me! ¹¹ 

I fear no one! ¹² 

The Lord protects my life!

I am afraid of no one! ¹³ 

27:2 When evil men attack me ¹⁴ 

to devour my flesh, ¹⁵ 

when my adversaries and enemies attack me, ¹⁶ 

they stumble and fall. ¹⁷ 

27:3 Even when an army is deployed against me,

I do not fear. ¹⁸ 

Even when war is imminent, ¹⁹ 

I remain confident. ²⁰ 

Mazmur 34:1-8

Psalm 34 ²¹ 

Written by David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, causing the king to send him away. ²² 

34:1 I will praise ²³  the Lord at all times;

my mouth will continually praise him. ²⁴ 

34:2 I will boast ²⁵  in the Lord;

let the oppressed hear and rejoice! ²⁶ 

34:3 Magnify the Lord with me!

Let’s praise ²⁷  his name together!

34:4 I sought the Lord’s help ²⁸  and he answered me;

he delivered me from all my fears.

34:5 Those who look to him for help are happy;

their faces are not ashamed. ²⁹ 

34:6 This oppressed man cried out and the Lord heard;

he saved him ³⁰  from all his troubles.

34:7 The Lord’s angel camps around

the Lord’s ³¹  loyal followers ³²  and delivers them. ³³ 

34:8 Taste ³⁴  and see that the Lord is good!

How blessed ³⁵  is the one ³⁶  who takes shelter in him! ³⁷ 

Mazmur 40:1-2

Psalm 40 ³⁸ 

For the music director; By David, a psalm.

40:1 I relied completely ³⁹  on the Lord,

and he turned toward me

and heard my cry for help.

40:2 He lifted me out of the watery pit, ⁴⁰ 

out of the slimy mud. ⁴¹ 

He placed my feet on a rock

and gave me secure footing. ⁴² 

Mazmur 42:5

42:5 Why are you depressed, ⁴³  O my soul? ⁴⁴ 

Why are you upset? ⁴⁵ 

Wait for God!

For I will again give thanks

to my God for his saving intervention. ⁴⁶ 

Mazmur 42:11

42:11 Why are you depressed, ⁴⁷  O my soul? ⁴⁸ 

Why are you upset? ⁴⁹ 

Wait for God!

For I will again give thanks

to my God for his saving intervention. ⁵⁰ 

Mazmur 56:3-4

56:3 When ⁵¹  I am afraid,

I trust in you.

56:4 In God – I boast in his promise ⁵²  –

in God I trust, I am not afraid.

What can mere men ⁵³  do to me? ⁵⁴ 

Mazmur 56:11

56:11 in God I trust, I am not afraid.

What can mere men ⁵⁵  do to me? ⁵⁶ 

Mazmur 62:1

Psalm 62 ⁵⁷ 

For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of David.

62:1 For God alone I patiently wait; ⁵⁸ 

he is the one who delivers me. ⁵⁹ 

Mazmur 62:5

62:5 Patiently wait for God alone, my soul! ⁶⁰ 

For he is the one who gives me confidence. ⁶¹ 

Mazmur 62:8

62:8 Trust in him at all times, you people!

Pour out your hearts before him! ⁶² 

God is our shelter! (Selah)

Mazmur 118:8-13

118:8 It is better to take shelter ⁶³  in the Lord

than to trust in people.

118:9 It is better to take shelter in the Lord

than to trust in princes.

118:10 All the nations surrounded me. ⁶⁴ 

Indeed, in the name of the Lord ⁶⁵  I pushed them away. ⁶⁶ 

118:11 They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me.

Indeed, in the name of the Lord I pushed them away.

118:12 They surrounded me like bees.

But they disappeared as quickly ⁶⁷  as a fire among thorns. ⁶⁸ 

Indeed, in the name of the Lord I pushed them away.

118:13 “You aggressively attacked me ⁶⁹  and tried to knock me down, ⁷⁰ 

but the Lord helped me.

Amsal 18:10

18:10 The name of the Lord ⁷¹  is like ⁷²  a strong tower; ⁷³ 

the righteous person runs ⁷⁴  to it and is set safely on high. ⁷⁵ 

Yesaya 25:4

25:4 For you are a protector for the poor,

a protector for the needy in their distress,

a shelter from the rainstorm,

a shade from the heat.

Though the breath of tyrants ⁷⁶  is like a winter rainstorm, ⁷⁷ 

Yesaya 37:14-20

37:14 Hezekiah took the letter ⁷⁸  from the messengers and read it. ⁷⁹  Then Hezekiah went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord. 37:15 Hezekiah prayed before the Lord: 37:16 “O Lord who commands armies, O God of Israel, who is enthroned on the cherubim! ⁸⁰  You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky ⁸¹  and the earth. 37:17 Pay attention, Lord, and hear! Open your eyes, Lord, and observe! Listen to this entire message Sennacherib sent and how he taunts the living God! ⁸²  37:18 It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the nations ⁸³  and their lands. 37:19 They have burned the gods of the nations, ⁸⁴  for they are not really gods, but only the product of human hands manufactured from wood and stone. That is why the Assyrians could destroy them. ⁸⁵  37:20 Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power, so all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.” ⁸⁶ 

Yeremia 16:19

16:19 Then I said, ⁸⁷ 

“Lord, you give me strength and protect me.

You are the one I can run to for safety when I am in trouble. ⁸⁸ 

Nations from all over the earth

will come to you and say,

‘Our ancestors had nothing but false gods –

worthless idols that could not help them at all. ⁸⁹ 

Habakuk 3:17-18

3:17 When ⁹⁰  the fig tree does not bud,

and there are no grapes on the vines;

when the olive trees do not produce, ⁹¹ 

and the fields yield no crops; ⁹² 

when the sheep disappear ⁹³  from the pen,

and there are no cattle in the stalls,

3:18 I will rejoice because of ⁹⁴  the Lord;

I will be happy because of the God who delivers me!

Roma 4:18

4:18 Against hope Abraham ⁹⁵  believed ⁹⁶  in hope with the result that he became the father of many nations ⁹⁷  according to the pronouncement, ⁹⁸  “so will your descendants be.” ⁹⁹ 

Roma 8:31

8:31 What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Roma 8:2

8:2 For the law of the life-giving Spirit ¹⁰⁰  in Christ Jesus has set you ¹⁰¹  free from the law of sin and death.

Kolose 1:6

1:6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel ¹⁰²  is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing ¹⁰³  among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.

Kolose 1:9-10

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ¹⁰⁴  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ¹⁰⁵  to fill ¹⁰⁶  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 1:10 so that you may live ¹⁰⁷  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ¹⁰⁸  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

Ibrani 13:6

13:6 So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, and ¹⁰⁹  I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” ¹¹⁰ 

[13:15]  ¹ tn There is a textual difficulty here that factors into the interpretation of the verse. The Kethib is לֹא (lo’, “not”), but the Qere is לוֹ (lo, “to him”). The RSV takes the former: “Behold, he will slay me, I have no hope.” The NIV takes it as “though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.” Job is looking ahead to death, which is not an evil thing to him. The point of the verse is that he is willing to challenge God at the risk of his life; and if God slays him, he is still confident that he will be vindicated – as he says later in this chapter. Other suggestions are not compelling. E. Dhorme (Job, 187) makes a slight change of אֲיַחֵל (’ayakhel, “I will hope”) to אַחִיל (’akhil, “I will [not] tremble”). A. B. Davidson (Job, 98) retains the MT, but interprets the verb more in line with its use in the book: “I will not wait” (cf. NLT).

[13:15]  ² tn On אַךְ (’akh, “surely”) see GKC 483 §153 on intensive clauses.

[13:15]  ³ tn The verb once again is יָכָה (yakhah, in the Hiphil, “argue a case, plead, defend, contest”). But because the word usually means “accuse” rather than “defend,” I. L. Seeligmann proposed changing “my ways” to “his ways” (“Zur Terminologie für das Gerichtsverfahren im Wortschatz des biblischen Hebräisch,” VTSup 16 [1967]: 251-78). But the word can be interpreted appropriately in the context without emendation.

[18:6]  ⁴ tn In this poetic narrative context the four prefixed verbal forms in v. 6 are best understood as preterites indicating past tense, not imperfects.

[18:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “from his temple.” Verse 10, which pictures God descending from the sky, indicates that the heavenly temple is in view, not the earthly one.

[18:6]  ⁶ tc Heb “and my cry for help before him came into his ears.” 2 Sam 22:7 has a shorter reading, “my cry for help, in his ears.” It is likely that Ps 18:6 MT as it now stands represents a conflation of two readings: (1) “my cry for help came before him,” (2) “my cry for help came into his ears.” See F. M. Cross and D. N. Freedman, Studies in Ancient Yahwistic Poetry (SBLDS), 144, n. 13.

[26:1]  ⁷ sn Psalm 26. The author invites the Lord to test his integrity, asserts his innocence and declares his loyalty to God.

[26:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “for I in my integrity walk.”

[26:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “evaluate my kidneys and my heart.” The kidneys and heart were viewed as the seat of one’s volition, conscience, and moral character.

[27:1]  ¹⁰ sn Psalm 27. The author is confident of the Lord’s protection and asks the Lord to vindicate him.

[27:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the Lord [is] my light and my deliverance.” “Light” is often used as a metaphor for deliverance and the life/blessings it brings. See Pss 37:6; 97:11; 112:4; Isa 49:6; 51:4; Mic 7:8. Another option is that “light” refers here to divine guidance (see Ps 43:3).

[27:1]  ¹² tn Heb “Whom shall I fear?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

[27:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “Of whom shall I be afraid?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

[27:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “draw near to me.”

[27:2]  ¹⁵ sn To devour my flesh. The psalmist compares his enemies to dangerous, hungry predators (see 2 Kgs 9:36; Ezek 39:17).

[27:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “my adversaries and my enemies against me.” The verb “draw near” (that is, “attack”) is understood by ellipsis; see the previous line.

[27:2]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew verbal forms are perfects. The translation assumes the psalmist is generalizing here, but another option is to take this as a report of past experience, “when evil men attacked me…they stumbled and fell.”

[27:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “my heart does not fear.”

[27:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “if war rises up against me.”

[27:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “in this [i.e., “during this situation”] I am trusting.”

[34:1]  ²¹ sn Psalm 34. In this song of thanksgiving the psalmist praises God for delivering him from distress. He encourages others to be loyal to the Lord, tells them how to please God, and assures them that the Lord protects his servants. The psalm is an acrostic; vv. 1-21 begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. (Verse 6 begins with the letter he (ה) and v. 7 with the letter zayin (ז). The letter vav (ו), which comes between ה and ז, seems to be omitted, although it does appear at the beginning of v. 6b. The final verse of the psalm, which begins with the letter pe (פ), is outside the acrostic scheme.

[34:1]  ²² tn Heb “By David, when he changed his sense before Abimelech and he drove him away and he went.”

[34:1]  sn Pretended to be insane. The psalm heading appears to refer to the account in 1 Sam 21:10-15 which tells how David, fearful that King Achish of Gath might kill him, pretended to be insane in hopes that the king would simply send him away. The psalm heading names the king Abimelech, not Achish, suggesting that the tradition is confused on this point. However, perhaps “Abimelech” was a royal title, rather than a proper name. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 278.

[34:1]  ²³ tn Heb “bless.”

[34:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “continually [will] his praise [be] in my mouth.”

[34:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “my soul will boast”; or better, “let my soul boast.” Following the cohortative form in v. 1, it is likely that the prefixed verbal form here is jussive.

[34:2]  ²⁶ tn The two prefixed verbal forms in this verse are best taken as jussives, for the psalmist is calling his audience to worship (see v. 3).

[34:3]  ²⁷ tn Or “exalt.”

[34:4]  ²⁸ tn Heb “I sought the Lord.”

[34:5]  ²⁹ tc Heb “they look to him and are radiant and their faces are not ashamed.” The third person plural subject (“they”) is unidentified; there is no antecedent in the Hebrew text. For this reason some prefer to take the perfect verbal forms in the first line as imperatives, “look to him and be radiant” (cf. NEB, NRSV). Some medieval Hebrew mss and other ancient witnesses (Aquila, the Syriac, and Jerome) support an imperatival reading for the first verb. In the second line some (with support from the LXX and Syriac) change “their faces” to “your faces,” which allows one to retain more easily the jussive force of the verb (suggested by the preceding אַל [’al]): “do not let your faces be ashamed.” It is probable that the verbal construction in the second line is rhetorical, expressing the conviction that the action in view cannot or should not happen. See GKC 322 §109.e.

[34:6]  ³⁰ tn The pronoun refers back to “this oppressed man,” namely, the psalmist.

[34:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:7]  ³² tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[34:7]  ³³ tn The prefixed verb with vav (ו) consecutive here carries the same generalizing force as the active participle in the first line. See GKC 329 §111.u.

[34:8]  ³⁴ tn This verb is normally used of tasting or savoring food. The metaphor here appears to compare the Lord to a tasty meal.

[34:8]  ³⁵ tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1, 3; 2:12; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).

[34:8]  ³⁶ tn Heb “man.” The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender and age specific “man” with the more neutral “one.”

[34:8]  ³⁷ tn “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear, and serve the Lord (Pss 2:12; 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).

[40:1]  ³⁸ sn Psalm 40. The psalmist combines a song of thanksgiving for a recent act of divine deliverance (vv. 1-11) with a confident petition for renewed divine intervention (vv. 12-17).

[40:1]  ³⁹ tn Heb “relying, I relied.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verbal form to emphasize the verbal idea. The emphasis is reflected in the translation through the adverb “completely.” Another option is to translate, “I waited patiently” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[40:2]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “cistern of roaring.” The Hebrew noun בּוֹר (bor, “cistern, pit”) is used metaphorically here of Sheol, the place of death, which is sometimes depicted as a raging sea (see Ps 18:4, 15-16). The noun שָׁאוֹן (sha’on, “roaring”) refers elsewhere to the crashing sound of the sea’s waves (see Ps 65:7).

[40:2]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “from the mud of mud.” The Hebrew phrase translated “slimy mud” employs an appositional genitive. Two synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the single idea. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.

[40:2]  ⁴² tn Heb “he established my footsteps.”

[42:5]  ⁴³ tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”

[42:5]  ⁴⁴ sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.

[42:5]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “and [why] are you in turmoil upon me?” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries on the descriptive present nuance of the preceding imperfect. See GKC 329 §111.t.

[42:5]  ⁴⁶ tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of his face.” The verse division in the Hebrew text is incorrect. אֱלֹהַי (’elohay, “my God”) at the beginning of v. 7 belongs with the end of v. 6 (see the corresponding refrains in 42:11 and 43:5, both of which end with “my God” after “saving acts of my face”). The Hebrew term פָּנָיו (panayv, “his face”) should be emended to פְּנֵי (pÿney, “face of”). The emended text reads, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God,” that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention.

[42:11]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”

[42:11]  ⁴⁸ sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.

[42:11]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “and why are you in turmoil upon me?”

[42:11]  ⁵⁰ tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of my face and my God.” The last line should be emended to read יְשׁוּעֹת פְנֵי אֱלֹהָי (yÿshu’ot fÿney ’elohay, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God”), that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention. This refrain is almost identical to the one in v. 5. See also Ps 43:5.

[56:3]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “[in] a day.”

[56:4]  ⁵² tn Heb “in God I boast, his word.” The syntax in the Hebrew text is difficult. (1) The line could be translated, “in God I boast, [in] his word.” Such a translation assumes that the prepositional phrase “in God” goes with the following verb “I boast” (see Ps 44:8) and that “his word” is appositional to “in God” and more specifically identifies the basis for the psalmist’s confidence. God’s “word” is here understood as an assuring promise of protection. Another option (2) is to translate, “in God I will boast [with] a word.” In this case, the “word” is a song of praise. (In this view the pronominal suffix “his” must be omitted as in v. 10.) The present translation reflects yet another option (3): In this case “I praise his word” is a parenthetical statement, with “his word” being the object of the verb. The sentence begun with the prepositional phrase “in God” is then completed in the next line, with the prepositional phrase being repeated after the parenthesis.

[56:4]  ⁵³ tn Heb “flesh,” which refers by metonymy to human beings (see v. 11, where “man” is used in this same question), envisioned here as mortal and powerless before God.

[56:4]  ⁵⁴ tn The rhetorical question assumes the answer, “Nothing!” The imperfect is used in a modal sense here, indicating capability or potential.

[56:11]  ⁵⁵ tn The statement is similar to that of v. 4, except “flesh” is used there instead of “man.”

[56:11]  ⁵⁶ tn The rhetorical question assumes the answer, “Nothing!” The imperfect is used in a modal sense here, indicating capability or potential.

[62:1]  ⁵⁷ sn Psalm 62. The psalmist expresses his unwavering confidence in God’s justice and in his ability to protect his people.

[62:1]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “only for God [is] there silence [to] my soul.”

[62:1]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “from him [is] my deliverance.”

[62:5]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “only for God be silent, my soul.” The wording is similar to that of v. 1a. Here an imperatival form, דּוֹמִּי (dommiy, “be silent”), appears instead of the noun דּוּמִיָּה (dumiyyah, “silence”). The psalmist is encouraging himself to maintain his trust in God.

[62:5]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “for from him [is] my hope.”

[62:8]  ⁶² tn To “pour out one’s heart” means to offer up to God intense, emotional lamentation and petitionary prayers (see Lam 2:19).

[118:8]  ⁶³ tn “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear, and serve the Lord (Pss 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).

[118:10]  ⁶⁴ sn The reference to an attack by the nations suggests the psalmist may have been a military leader.

[118:10]  ⁶⁵ tn In this context the phrase “in the name of the Lord” means “by the Lord’s power.”

[118:10]  ⁶⁶ tn Traditionally the verb has been derived from מוּל (mul, “to circumcise”) and translated “[I] cut [them] off” (see BDB 557-58 s.v. II מוּל). However, it is likely that this is a homonym meaning “to fend off” (see HALOT 556 s.v. II מול) or “to push away.” In this context, where the psalmist is reporting his past experience, the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite. The phrase also occurs in vv. 11, 12.

[118:12]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “were extinguished.”

[118:12]  ⁶⁸ tn The point seems to be that the hostility of the nations (v. 10) is short-lived, like a fire that quickly devours thorns and then burns out. Some, attempting to create a better parallel with the preceding line, emend דֹּעֲכוּ (do’akhu, “they were extinguished”) to בָּעֲרוּ (ba’aru, “they burned”). In this case the statement emphasizes their hostility.

[118:13]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “pushing, you pushed me.” The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following verbal idea. The psalmist appears to address the nations as if they were an individual enemy. Some find this problematic and emend the verb form (which is a Qal perfect second masculine singular with a first person singular suffix) to נִדְחֵיתִי (nidkheti), a Niphal perfect first common singular, “I was pushed.”

[118:13]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “to fall,” i.e., “that [I] might fall.”

[18:10]  ⁷¹ sn The “name of the Lord” is a metonymy of subject. The “name” here signifies not the personal name “Yahweh,” for that would be redundant in the expression “the name of Yahweh,” but the attributes of the Lord (cf. Exod 34:5-7) – here his power to protect.

[18:10]  ⁷² tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.

[18:10]  ⁷³ tn Heb “a tower of strength,” with “strength” regarded as attributive by most English versions. The metaphor “strong tower” indicates that God is a secure refuge. The figure is qualified in the second colon.

[18:10]  ⁷⁴ sn The metaphor of “running” to the Lord refers to a whole-hearted and unwavering trust in God’s protection (e.g., Isa 40:31).

[18:10]  ⁷⁵ tn Heb “is high” or “is inaccessible.” This military-type expression stresses the effect of the trust – security, being out of danger (see HALOT 1305 s.v. שׂגב). Other scriptures will supply the ways that God actually protects people who trust him.

[25:4]  ⁷⁶ tn Or perhaps, “the violent”; NIV, NRSV “the ruthless.”

[25:4]  ⁷⁷ tc The Hebrew text has, “like a rainstorm of a wall,” which might be interpreted to mean, “like a rainstorm battering against a wall.” The translation assumes an emendation of קִיר (qir, “wall”) to קֹר (qor, “cold, winter”; cf. Gen 8:22). See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:457, n. 6, for discussion.

[37:14]  ⁷⁸ tc The Hebrew text has the plural, “letters.” The final mem (ם) may be dittographic (note the initial mem on the form that immediately follows). Some Greek and Aramaic witnesses have the singular. If so, one still has to deal with the yod that is part of the plural ending. J. N. Oswalt refers to various commentators who have suggested ways to understand the plural form (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:652).

[37:14]  ⁷⁹ tn In the parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:14 the verb has the plural suffix, “them,” but this probably reflects a later harmonization to the preceding textual corruption (of “letter” to “letters”).

[37:16]  ⁸⁰ sn Cherubim (singular “cherub”) refers to the images of winged angelic creatures that were above the ark of the covenant.

[37:16]  ⁸¹ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[37:17]  ⁸² tn Heb “Hear all the words of Sennacherib which he sent to taunt the living God.”

[37:18]  ⁸³ tn The Hebrew text here has “all the lands,” but the parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:17 has “the nations.”

[37:19]  ⁸⁴ tn Heb “and they put their gods in the fire.”

[37:19]  ⁸⁵ tn Heb “so they destroyed them” (NASB similar).

[37:20]  ⁸⁶ tn The parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:19 reads, “that you, Lord, are the only God.”

[16:19]  ⁸⁷ tn The words “Then I said” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation to show the shift from God, who has been speaking to Jeremiah, to Jeremiah, who here addresses God.

[16:19]  sn The shift here is consistent with the interruptions that have taken place in chapters 14 and 15 and in Jeremiah’s response to God’s condemnation of the people of Judah’s idolatry in chapter 10 (note especially vv. 6-16).

[16:19]  ⁸⁸ tn Heb “O Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of trouble. The literal which piles up attributes is of course more forceful than the predications. However, piling up poetic metaphors like this adds to the length of the English sentence and risks lack of understanding on the part of some readers. Some rhetorical force has been sacrificed for the sake of clarity.

[16:19]  ⁸⁹ tn Once again the translation has sacrificed some of the rhetorical force for the sake of clarity and English style: Heb “Only falsehood did our ancestors possess, vanity and [things in which?] there was no one profiting in them.”

[16:19]  sn This passage offers some rather forceful contrasts. The Lord is Jeremiah’s source of strength, security, and protection. The idols are false gods, worthless idols, that can offer no help at all.

[3:17]  ⁹⁰ tn Or “though.”

[3:17]  ⁹¹ tn Heb “the produce of the olive disappoints.”

[3:17]  ⁹² tn Heb “food.”

[3:17]  ⁹³ tn Or “are cut off.”

[3:18]  ⁹⁴ tn Or “in.”

[4:18]  ⁹⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:18]  ⁹⁶ tn Grk “who against hope believed,” referring to Abraham. The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:18]  ⁹⁷ sn A quotation from Gen 17:5.

[4:18]  ⁹⁸ tn Grk “according to that which had been spoken.”

[4:18]  ⁹⁹ sn A quotation from Gen 15:5.

[8:2]  ¹⁰⁰ tn Grk “for the law of the Spirit of life.”

[8:2]  ¹⁰¹ tc Most mss read the first person singular pronoun με (me) here (A D 1739^c 1881 Ï lat sa). The second person singular pronoun σε (se) is superior because of external support (א B {F which reads σαι} G 1506* 1739*) and internal support (it is the harder reading since ch. 7 was narrated in the first person). At the same time, it could have arisen via dittography from the final syllable of the verb preceding it (ἠλευθέρωσεν, hleuqerwsen; “has set free”). But for this to happen in such early and diverse witnesses is unlikely, especially as it depends on various scribes repeatedly overlooking either the nu or the nu-bar at the end of the verb.

[1:6]  ¹⁰² 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]  ¹⁰³ 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.

[1:9]  ¹⁰⁴ tn Or “heard about it”; Grk “heard.” There is no direct object stated in the Greek (direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context). A direct object is expected by an English reader, however, so most translations supply one. Here, however, it is not entirely clear what the author “heard”: a number of translations supply “it” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV; NAB “this”), but this could refer back either to (1) “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8, or (2) “your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints” (v. 4). In light of this uncertainty, other translations supply “about you” (TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). This is preferred by the present translation since, while it does not resolve the ambiguity entirely, it does make it less easy for the English reader to limit the reference only to “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8.

[1:9]  ¹⁰⁵ tn The term “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but the following reference to “the knowledge of his will” makes it clear that “God” is in view as the object of the “praying and asking,” and should therefore be included in the English translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ¹⁰⁶ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as substantival, indicating the content of the prayer and asking. The idea of purpose may also be present in this clause.

[1:10]  ¹⁰⁷ tn The infinitive περιπατῆσαι (peripathsai, “to walk, to live, to live one’s life”) is best taken as an infinitive of purpose related to “praying” (προσευχόμενοι, proseucomenoi) and “asking” (αἰτούμενοι, aitoumenoi) in v. 9 and is thus translated as “that you may live.”

[1:10]  ¹⁰⁸ tn BDAG 129 s.v. ἀρεσκεία states that ἀρεσκείαν (areskeian) refers to a “desire to please εἰς πᾶσαν ἀ. to please (the Lord) in all respects Col 1:10.”

[13:6]  ¹⁰⁹ tc Some important mss (א* C* P 0285^vid 33 1175 1739 pc lat) lack καί (kai), but because the omission conforms to the wording of Ps 118:6 (117:6 LXX), it is suspect.

[13:6]  ¹¹⁰ sn A quotation from Ps 118:6.