Mazmur 31:23

31:23 Love the Lord, all you faithful followers ¹  of his!

The Lord protects those who have integrity,

but he pays back in full the one who acts arrogantly. ² 

Mazmur 37:28

37:28 For the Lord promotes ³  justice,

and never abandons ⁴  his faithful followers.

They are permanently secure, ⁵ 

but the children ⁶  of evil men are wiped out. ⁷ 

Mazmur 97:10

97:10 You who love the Lord, hate evil!

He protects ⁸  the lives of his faithful followers;

he delivers them from the power ⁹  of the wicked.

Keluaran 20:6

20:6 and showing covenant faithfulness ¹⁰  to a thousand generations ¹¹  of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Yohanes 10:27-29

10:27 My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 10:28 I give ¹²  them eternal life, and they will never perish; ¹³  no one will snatch ¹⁴  them from my hand. 10:29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, ¹⁵  and no one can snatch ¹⁶  them from my Father’s hand.

Roma 8:28-30

8:28 And we know that all things work together ¹⁷  for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, 8:29 because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son ¹⁸  would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ¹⁹  8:30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

Yakobus 2:5

2:5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! ²⁰  Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?

Yakobus 2:1

Prejudice and the Law of Love

2:1 My brothers and sisters, ²¹  do not show prejudice ²²  if you possess faith ²³  in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ 

Pengkhotbah 1:5-8

1:5 The sun rises ²⁵  and the sun sets; ²⁶ 

it hurries away ²⁷  to a place from which it rises ²⁸  again. ²⁹ 

1:6 The wind goes to the south and circles around to the north;

round and round ³⁰  the wind goes and on its rounds it returns. ³¹ 

1:7 All the streams flow ³²  into the sea, but the sea is not full,

and to the place where the streams flow, there they will flow again. ³³ 

1:8 All this ³⁴  monotony ³⁵  is tiresome; no one can bear ³⁶  to describe it: ³⁷ 

The eye is never satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear ever content ³⁸  with hearing.

[31:23]  ¹ tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 16:10; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).

[31:23]  ² tn The participial forms in the second and third lines characterize the Lord as one who typically protects the faithful and judges the proud.

[37:28]  ³ tn Heb “loves.” The verb “loves” is here metonymic; the Lord’s commitment to principles of justice causes him to actively promote these principles as he governs the world. The active participle describes characteristic behavior.

[37:28]  ⁴ tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to this generalizing statement.

[37:28]  ⁵ tn Or “protected forever.”

[37:28]  ⁶ tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[37:28]  ⁷ tn Or “cut off”; or “removed.” The perfect verbal forms in v. 28b state general truths.

[97:10]  ⁸ tn The participle may be verbal, though it might also be understood as substantival and appositional to “the Lord.” In this case one could translate, “Hate evil, you who love the Lord, the one who protects the lives…and delivers them.”

[97:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “hand.”

[20:6]  ¹⁰ tn Literally “doing loyal love” (עֹשֶׂה חֶסֶד, ’oseh khesed). The noun refers to God’s covenant loyalty, his faithful love to those who belong to him. These are members of the covenant, recipients of grace, the people of God, whom God will preserve and protect from evil and its effects.

[20:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to thousands” or “to thousandth.” After “tenth,” Hebrew uses cardinal numbers for ordinals also. This statement is the antithesis of the preceding line. The “thousands” or “thousandth [generation]” are those who love Yahweh and keep his commands. These are descendants from the righteous, and even associates with them, who benefit from the mercy that God extends to his people. S. R. Driver (Exodus, 195) says that this passage teaches that God’s mercy transcends his wrath; in his providence the beneficial consequences of a life of goodness extend indefinitely further than the retribution that is the penalty for persisting in sin. To say that God’s loyal love extends to thousands of generations or the thousandth generation is parallel to saying that it endures forever (Ps. 118). See also Exod 34:7; Deut 5:10; 7:9; Ps 18:51; Jer 32:18.

[10:28]  ¹² tn Grk “And I give.”

[10:28]  ¹³ tn Or “will never die” or “will never be lost.”

[10:28]  ¹⁴ tn Or “no one will seize.”

[10:29]  ¹⁵ tn Or “is superior to all.”

[10:29]  ¹⁶ tn Or “no one can seize.”

[8:28]  ¹⁷ tc ὁ θεός (Jo qeos, “God”) is found after the verb συνεργεῖ (sunergei, “work”) in v. 28 by Ì⁴⁶ A B 81 sa; the shorter reading is found in א C D F G Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï latt sy bo. Although the inclusion is supported by a significant early papyrus, the alliance of significant Alexandrian and Western witnesses favors the shorter reading. As well, the longer reading is evidently motivated by a need for clarification. Since ὁ θεός is textually suspect, it is better to read the text without it. This leaves two good translational options: either “he works all things together for good” or “all things work together for good.” In the first instance the subject is embedded in the verb and “God” is clearly implied (as in v. 29). In the second instance, πάντα (panta) becomes the subject of an intransitive verb. In either case, “What is expressed is a truly biblical confidence in the sovereignty of God” (C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans [ICC], 1:427).

[8:29]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God’s Son) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:29]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[2:5]  ²⁰ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[2:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[2:1]  ²² tn Or “partiality.”

[2:1]  ²³ tn Grk “do not have faith with personal prejudice,” with emphasis on the last phrase.

[2:1]  ²⁴ tn Grk “our Lord Jesus Christ of glory.” Here δόξης (doxhs) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

[1:5]  ²⁵ tn The Hebrew text has a perfect verbal form, but it should probably be emended to the participial form, which occurs in the last line of the verse. Note as well the use of participles in vv. 4-7 to describe what typically takes place in the natural world. The participle זוֹרֵחַ (zoreakh, “to rise”) emphasizes continual, durative, uninterrupted action (present universal use of participle): the sun is continually rising (and continually setting) day after day.

[1:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the sun goes.” The participle בָּא (ba’, “to go”) emphasizes continual, durative, uninterrupted action (present universal use of participle): the sun is continually rising and continually setting day after day. The repetition of בָּא in 1:4-5 creates a comparison between the relative futility of all human endeavor (“a generation comes and a generation goes [בָּא]”) with the relative futility of the action of the sun (“the sun rises and the sun goes” [i.e., “sets,” בָּא]).

[1:5]  ²⁷ tn Heb “hastens” or “pants.” The verb שָׁאַף (sha’af) has a three-fold range of meanings: (1) “to gasp; to pant,” (2) “to pant after; to long for,” and (3) “to hasten; to hurry” (HALOT 1375 s.v. שׁאף; BDB 983 s.v. I שָׁאַף). The related Aramaic root שׁוף means “to be thirsty; to be parched.” The Hebrew verb is used of “gasping” for breath, like a woman in the travail of childbirth (Isa 42:14); “panting” with eagerness or desire (Job 5:5; 7:2; 36:20; Ps 119:131; Jer 2:24) or “panting” with fatigue (Jer 14:6; Eccl 1:5). Here שָׁאַף personifies the sun, panting with fatigue, as it hastens to its destination (BDB 983 s.v. I שָׁאַף 1). The participle form depicts continual, uninterrupted, durative action (present universal use). Like the sun, man – for all his efforts – never really changes anything; all he accomplishes in his toil is to wear himself out.

[1:5]  ²⁸ tn The verb זוֹרֵחַ (zoreakh, “to rise”) is repeated in this verse to emphasize that the sun is locked into a never changing, ever repeating monotonous cycle: rising, setting, rising, setting.

[1:5]  ²⁹ tn The word “again” does not appear in Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.

[1:6]  ³⁰ tn The Hebrew root סָבַב (savav, “to circle around”) is repeated four times in this verse to depict the wind’s continual motion: “The wind circles around (סוֹבֵב, sovev)…round and round (סוֹבֵב סֹבֵב)…its circuits (סְבִיבֹתָיו, sÿvivotayv).” This repetition is designed for a rhetorical purpose – to emphasize that the wind is locked into a never ending cycle. This vicious circle of monotonous action does not change anything. The participle form is used three times to emphasize continual, uninterrupted action (present universal use of participle). Despite the fact that the wind is always changing direction, nothing really new ever happens. The constant shifting of the wind cannot hide the fact that this is nothing but a repeated cycle; nothing new happens here (e.g., 1:9-10).

[1:6]  ³¹ tn The use of שָׁב (shav, Qal active participle masculine singular from שׁוּב, shuv, “to return”) creates a wordplay (paronomasia) with the repetition of סָבַב (savav, “to circle around”). The participle emphasizes continual, durative, uninterrupted action (present universal use).

[1:7]  ³² tn Heb “are going” or “are walking.” The term הֹלְכִים (holÿkhim, Qal active participle masculine plural from הָלַךְ, halakh,“to walk”) emphasizes continual, durative, uninterrupted action (present universal use of participle). This may be an example of personification; this verb is normally used in reference to the human activity of walking. Qoheleth compares the flowing of river waters to the action of walking to draw out the comparison between the actions of man (1:4) and the actions of nature (1:5-11).

[1:7]  ³³ tn Heb “there they are returning to go.” The term שָׁבִים (shavim, Qal active participle masculine plural from שׁוּב, shuv, “to return”) emphasizes the continual, durative action of the waters. The root שׁוּב is repeated in 1:6-7 to emphasize that everything in nature (e.g., wind and water) continually repeats its actions. For all of the repetition of the cycles of nature, nothing changes; all the constant motion produces nothing new.

[1:7]  sn This verse does not refer to the cycle of evaporation or the return of water by underground streams, as sometimes suggested. Rather, it describes the constant flow of river waters to the sea. For all the action of the water – endless repetition and water constantly in motion – there is nothing new accomplished.

[1:8]  ³⁴ tn The word “this” is not in Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:8]  ³⁵ tn Heb “the things.” The Hebrew term דְּבָרִים (dÿvarim, masculine plural noun from דָּבָר, davar) is often used to denote “words,” but it can also refer to actions and events (HALOT 211 s.v. דָּבָר 3.a; BDB 183 s.v. דָּבָר IV.4). Here, it means “things,” as is clear from the context: “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done” (1:9). Here דְּבָרִים can be nuanced “occurrences” or even “[natural] phenomena.”

[1:8]  ³⁶ tn Heb “is able.”

[1:8]  ³⁷ tn The Hebrew text has no stated object. The translation supplies “it” for stylistic reasons and clarification.

[1:8]  sn The statement no one can bear to describe it probably means that Qoheleth could have multiplied examples (beyond the sun, the wind, and the streams) of the endless cycle of futile events in nature. However, no tongue could ever tell, no eye could ever see, no ear could ever hear all the examples of this continual and futile activity.

[1:8]  ³⁸ tn The term מָלֵא (male’, “to be filled, to be satisfied”) is repeated in 1:7-8 to draw a comparison between the futility in the cycle of nature and human secular accomplishments: lots of action, but no lasting effects. In 1:7 אֵינֶנּוּ מָלֵא (’enennu male’, “it is never filled”) describes the futility of the water cycle: “All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is never filled.” In 1:8 וְלֹא־תִמָּלֵא (vÿlo-timmale’, “it is never satisfied”) describes the futility of human labor: “the ear is never satisfied with hearing.”