Mazmur 71:21

71:21 Raise me to a position of great honor! ¹ 

Turn and comfort me! ² 

Yesaya 40:1-2

The Lord Returns to Jerusalem

40:1 “Comfort, comfort my people,”

says your ³  God.

40:2 “Speak kindly to ⁴  Jerusalem, ⁵  and tell her

that her time of warfare is over, ⁶ 

that her punishment is completed. ⁷ 

For the Lord has made her pay double ⁸  for all her sins.”

1 Korintus 1:4

Thanksgiving

1:4 I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God that was given to you in Christ Jesus.

[71:21]  ¹ tn Heb “increase my greatness.” The prefixed verbal form is distinctly jussive, indicating this is a prayer or wish. The psalmist’s request for “greatness” (or “honor”) is not a boastful, self-serving prayer for prominence, but, rather, a request that God would vindicate by elevating him over those who are trying to humiliate him.

[71:21]  ² tn The imperfects are understood here as expressing the psalmist’s prayer or wish. (Note the use of a distinctly jussive form at the beginning of v. 21.)

[40:1]  ³ tn The pronominal suffix is second masculine plural. The identity of the addressee is uncertain: (1) God’s people may be addressed, or (2) the unidentified heralds commanded to comfort Jerusalem.

[40:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “speak to the heart of Jerusalem.” Jerusalem is personified as a woman.

[40:2]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[40:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “that she is filled [with] her warfare.” Some understand צָבָא (tsavah, “warfare”) as meaning “hard service” or “compulsory labor” in this context.

[40:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “that her punishment is accepted [as satisfactory].”

[40:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “for she has received from the hand of the Lord double.” The principle of the double portion in punishment is also seen in Jer 16:18; 17:18 and Rev 18:6. For examples of the double portion in Israelite law, see Exod 22:4, 7, 9 (double restitution by a thief) and Deut 21:17 (double inheritance portion for the firstborn).