Mazmur 55:16

55:16 As for me, I will call out to God,

and the Lord will deliver me.

Mazmur 73:19

73:19 How desolate they become in a mere moment!

Terrifying judgments make their demise complete! ¹ 

Mazmur 73:1

Book 3
(Psalms 73-89)

Psalm 73 ² 

A psalm by Asaph.

73:1 Certainly God is good to Israel, ³ 

and to those whose motives are pure! ⁴ 

1 Tesalonika 5:3

5:3 Now when ⁵  they are saying, “There is peace and security,” ⁶  then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains ⁷  on a pregnant woman, and they will surely not escape.

1 Tesalonika 1:8-10

1:8 For from you the message of the Lord ⁸  has echoed forth not just in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place reports of your faith in God have spread, ⁹  so that we do not need to say anything. 1:9 For people everywhere ¹⁰  report how you welcomed us ¹¹  and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God 1:10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath. ¹² 

[73:19]  ¹ tn Heb “they come to an end, they are finished, from terrors.”

[73:1]  ² sn Psalm 73. In this wisdom psalm the psalmist offers a personal testimony of his struggle with the age-old problem of the prosperity of the wicked. As he observed evil men prosper, he wondered if a godly lifestyle really pays off. In the midst of his discouragement, he reflected upon spiritual truths and realities. He was reminded that the prosperity of the wicked is only temporary. God will eventually vindicate his people.

[73:1]  ³ tn Since the psalm appears to focus on an individual’s concerns, not the situation of Israel, this introduction may be a later addition designed to apply the psalm’s message to the entire community. To provide a better parallel with the next line, some emend the Hebrew phrase לְיִשְׂרָאֵל אֱלֹהִים (lÿyisra’el ’elohim, “to Israel, God”) to אֱלֹהִים [or אֵל] לָיָּשָׁר (’elohim [or ’el] lÿyyashar, “God [is good] to the upright one”).

[73:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “to the pure of heart.”

[5:3]  ⁵ tc ‡ δέ (de, “now”) is found in א² B D 0226 6 1505 1739 1881 al, but lacking in א* A F G 33 it. γάρ (gar, “for”) is the reading of the Byzantine text and a few other witnesses (Ψ 0278 Ï). Although normally the shorter reading is to be preferred, the external evidence is superior for δέ (being found in the somewhat better Alexandrian and Western witnesses). What, then, is to explain the γάρ? Scribes were prone to replace δέ with γάρ, especially in sentences suggesting a causal or explanatory idea, thus making the point more explicit. Internally, the omission of δέ looks unintentional, a case of homoioarcton (otandelegwsin). Although a decision is difficult, in this instance δέ has the best credentials for authenticity.

[5:3]  ⁶ tn Grk “peace and security,” with “there is” understood in the Greek construction.

[5:3]  ⁷ tn Grk a singular “birth pain.”

[1:8]  ⁸ tn Or “the word of the Lord.”

[1:8]  sn “The word of the Lord” is a technical expression in OT literature, often referring to a divine prophetic utterance (e.g., Gen 15:1, Isa 1:10, Jonah 1:1). In the NT it occurs 15 times: 3 times as ῥῆμα τοῦ κυρίου (rJhma tou kuriou; Luke 22:61, Acts 11:16, 1 Pet 1:25) and 12 times as λόγος τοῦ κυρίου (logo" tou kuriou; here and in Acts 8:25; 13:44, 48, 49; 15:35, 36; 16:32; 19:10, 20; 1 Thess 4:15; 2 Thess 3:1). As in the OT, this phrase focuses on the prophetic nature and divine origin of what has been said. Here the phrase has been translated “the message of the Lord” because of the focus upon the spread of the gospel evident in the passage.

[1:8]  ⁹ tn Grk “your faith in God has gone out.”

[1:9]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “they themselves,” referring to people in the places just mentioned.

[1:9]  ¹¹ tn Grk “what sort of entrance we had to you” (an idiom for how someone is received).

[1:10]  ¹² sn The coming wrath. This wrath is an important theme in 1 Thess 5.