Amsal 8:6

8:6 Listen, for I will speak excellent things, ¹ 

and my lips will utter ²  what is right.

Yesaya 55:3

55:3 Pay attention and come to me!

Listen, so you can live! ³ 

Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to ⁴  you,

just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David. ⁵ 

Matius 3:2-3

3:2 “Repent, ⁶  for the kingdom of heaven is near.” 3:3 For he is the one about whom Isaiah the prophet had spoken: ⁷ 

“The voice ⁸  of one shouting in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make ⁹  his paths straight.’” ¹⁰ 

Matius 17:5

17:5 While he was still speaking, a ¹¹  bright cloud ¹²  overshadowed ¹³  them, and a voice from the cloud said, ¹⁴  “This is my one dear Son, ¹⁵  in whom I take great delight. Listen to him!” ¹⁶ 

Wahyu 3:20

3:20 Listen! ¹⁷  I am standing at the door and knocking! If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into his home ¹⁸  and share a meal with him, and he with me.

[8:6]  ¹ tn Heb “noble” or “princely.” Wisdom begins the first motivation by claiming to speak noble things, that is, excellent things.

[8:6]  ² tn Heb “opening of my lips” (so KJV, NASB). The noun “lips” is a metonymy of cause, with the organ of speech put for what is said.

[55:3]  ³ tn The jussive with vav (ו) conjunctive following the imperative indicates purpose/result.

[55:3]  sn To live here refers to covenantal blessing, primarily material prosperity and national security (see vv. 4-5, 13, and Deut 30:6, 15, 19-20).

[55:3]  ⁴ tn Or “an eternal covenant with.”

[55:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “the reliable expressions of loyalty of David.” The syntactical relationship of חַסְדֵי (khasde, “expressions of loyalty”) to the preceding line is unclear. If the term is appositional to בְּרִית (bÿrit, “covenant”), then the Lord here transfers the promises of the Davidic covenant to the entire nation. Another option is to take חַסְדֵי (khasde) as an adverbial accusative and to translate “according to the reliable covenantal promises.” In this case the new covenantal arrangement proposed here is viewed as an extension or perhaps fulfillment of the Davidic promises. A third option, the one reflected in the above translation, is to take the last line as comparative. In this case the new covenant being proposed is analogous to the Davidic covenant. Verses 4-5, which compare David’s international prominence to what Israel will experience, favors this view. In all three of these interpretations, “David” is an objective genitive; he is the recipient of covenantal promises. A fourth option would be to take David as a subjective genitive and understand the line as giving the basis for the preceding promise: “Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you, because of David’s faithful acts of covenantal loyalty.”

[3:2]  ⁶ tn Grk “and saying, ‘Repent.’” The participle λέγων (legwn) at the beginning of v. 2 is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[3:3]  ⁷ tn Grk “was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying.” The participle λέγοντος (legonto") is redundant and has not been translated. The passive construction has also been rendered as active in the translation for the sake of English style.

[3:3]  ⁸ tn Or “A voice.”

[3:3]  ⁹ sn This call to “make paths straight” in this context is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance.

[3:3]  ¹⁰ sn A quotation from Isa 40:3.

[17:5]  ¹¹ tn Grk “behold, a.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated here or in the following clause because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[17:5]  ¹² sn This cloud is the cloud of God’s presence and the voice is his as well.

[17:5]  ¹³ tn Or “surrounded.”

[17:5]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “behold, a voice from the cloud, saying.” This is an incomplete sentence in Greek which portrays intensity and emotion. The participle λέγουσα (legousa) was translated as a finite verb in keeping with English style.

[17:5]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “my beloved Son,” or “my Son, the beloved [one].” The force of ἀγαπητός (agaphtos) is often “pertaining to one who is the only one of his or her class, but at the same time is particularly loved and cherished” (L&N 58.53; cf. also BDAG 7 s.v. 1).

[17:5]  ¹⁶ sn The expression listen to him comes from Deut 18:15 and makes two points: 1) Jesus is a prophet like Moses, a leader-prophet, and 2) they have much yet to learn from him.

[3:20]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “Behold.”

[3:20]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “come in to him.”

[3:20]  sn The expression in Greek does not mean entrance into the person, as is popularly taken, but entrance into a room or building toward the person. See ExSyn 380-82. Some interpreters understand the door here to be the door to the Laodicean church, and thus a collective or corporate image rather than an individual one.