Mazmur 119:74

119:74 Your loyal followers will be glad when they see me, ¹ 

for I find hope in your word.

Mazmur 119:92

119:92 If I had not found encouragement in your law, ² 

I would have died in my sorrow. ³ 

Mazmur 119:174

119:174 I long for your deliverance, O Lord;

I find delight in your law.

Mazmur 19:8

19:8 The Lord’s precepts are fair ⁴ 

and make one joyful. ⁵ 

The Lord’s commands ⁶  are pure ⁷ 

and give insight for life. ⁸ 

Yeremia 15:16

15:16 As your words came to me I drank them in, ⁹ 

and they filled my heart with joy and happiness

because I belong to you. ¹⁰ 

Yeremia 15:1

15:1 Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for ¹¹  these people, I would not feel pity for them! ¹²  Get them away from me! Tell them to go away! ¹³ 

Pengkhotbah 1:8

1:8 All this ¹⁴  monotony ¹⁵  is tiresome; no one can bear ¹⁶  to describe it: ¹⁷ 

The eye is never satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear ever content ¹⁸  with hearing.

[119:74]  ¹ tn Heb “those who fear you will see me and rejoice.”

[119:92]  ² tn Heb “if your law had not been my delight.”

[119:92]  ³ tn Or “my suffering.”

[19:8]  ⁴ tn Or “just.” Perhaps the idea is that they impart a knowledge of what is just and right.

[19:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “[they] make happy [the] heart.” Perhaps the point is that they bring a sense of joyful satisfaction to the one who knows and keeps them, for those who obey God’s law are richly rewarded. See v. 11b.

[19:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “command.” The singular here refers to the law as a whole.

[19:8]  ⁷ tn Because they reflect God’s character, his commands provide a code of moral and ethical purity.

[19:8]  ⁸ tn Heb [they] enlighten [the] eyes.

[15:16]  ⁹ sn Heb “Your words were found and I ate them.” This along with Ezek 2:8–3:3 is a poetic picture of inspiration. The prophet accepted them, assimilated them, and made them such a part of himself that he spoke with complete assurance what he knew were God’s words.

[15:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Your name is called upon me.”

[15:16]  sn See Jer 14:9 where this idiom is applied to Israel as a whole and Jer 7:10 where it is applied to the temple. For discussion cf. notes on 7:10.

[15:1]  ¹¹ tn The words “pleading for” have been supplied in the translation to explain the idiom (a metonymy). For parallel usage see BDB 763 s.v. עָמַד Qal.1.a and compare usage in Gen 19:27, Deut 4:10.

[15:1]  sn Moses and Samuel were well-known for their successful intercession on behalf of Israel. See Ps 99:6-8 and see, e.g., Exod 32:11-14, 30-34; 1 Sam 7:5-9. The Lord is here rejecting Jeremiah’s intercession on behalf of the people (14:19-22).

[15:1]  ¹² tn Heb “my soul would not be toward them.” For the usage of “soul” presupposed here see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 6 in the light of the complaints and petitions in Jeremiah’s prayer in 14:19, 21.

[15:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “Send them away from my presence and let them go away.”

[1:8]  ¹⁴ tn The word “this” is not in Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:8]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “is able.”

[1:8]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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.”