Mazmur 22:30

22:30 A whole generation ¹  will serve him;

they will tell the next generation about the sovereign Lord. ² 

Mazmur 24:6

24:6 Such purity characterizes the people who seek his favor,

Jacob’s descendants, who pray to him. ³  (Selah)

Mazmur 73:15

73:15 If I had publicized these thoughts, ⁴ 

I would have betrayed your loyal followers. ⁵ 

Mazmur 112:2

112:2 His descendants ⁶  will be powerful on the earth;

the godly ⁷  will be blessed.

Mazmur 112:1

Psalm 112 ⁸ 

112:1 Praise the Lord!

How blessed is the one ⁹  who obeys ¹⁰  the Lord,

who takes great delight in keeping his commands. ¹¹ 

Pengkhotbah 2:9

2:9 So ¹²  I was far wealthier ¹³  than all my predecessors in Jerusalem,

yet I maintained my objectivity: ¹⁴ 

[22:30]  ¹ tn Heb “offspring.”

[22:30]  ² tn Heb “it will be told concerning the Lord to the generation.” The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[24:6]  ³ tn Heb “this [is the] generation of the ones seeking him, the ones seeking your face, Jacob.” To “seek the Lord’s face” means to seek his favor through prayer (see 2 Sam 21:1; Pss 27:8; 105:4).

[24:6]  sn This verse presents a somewhat idealized view of Jacob’s descendants as devoted worshipers of the Lord.

[73:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “If I had said, ‘I will speak out like this.’”

[73:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “look, the generation of your sons I would have betrayed.” The phrase “generation of your [i.e., God’s] sons” occurs only here in the OT. Some equate the phrase with “generation of the godly” (Ps 14:5), “generation of the ones seeking him” (Ps 24:6), and “generation of the upright” (Ps 112:2). In Deut 14:1 the Israelites are referred to as God’s “sons.” Perhaps the psalmist refers here to those who are “Israelites” in the true sense because of their loyalty to God (note the juxtaposition of “Israel” with “the pure in heart” in v. 1).

[112:2]  ⁶ tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[112:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “His seed will be mighty on the earth, the generation of the godly.” The Hebrew term דוֹר (dor, “generation”) could be taken as parallel to “offspring” and translated “posterity,” but the singular more likely refers to the godly as a class. See BDB 189-90 s.v. for other examples where “generation” refers to a class of people.

[112:1]  ⁸ sn Psalm 112. This wisdom psalm lists some of the benefits of living a godly life. The psalm is an acrostic. After the introductory call to praise, every poetic line (twenty-two in all) begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[112:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man.” Hebrew wisdom literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The individual is representative of a larger group, called the “godly” in vv. 3-4. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender specific “man” with the more neutral “one.” The generic masculine pronoun is used in the following verses.

[112:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “fears.”

[112:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in his commands he delights very much.” The words “in keeping” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Taking delight in the law is metonymic here for obeying God’s moral will. See Ps 1:2.

[2:9]  ¹² tn The vav prefixed to וְגָדַלְתִּי (vÿgadalti, vav + Qal perfect first common singular from גָּדַל, gadal, “to be great; to increase”) functions in a final summarizing sense, that is, it introduces the concluding summary of 2:4-9.

[2:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “I became great and I surpassed” (וְהוֹסַפְתִּי וְגָדַלְתִּי, vÿgadalti vÿhosafti). This is a verbal hendiadys in which the second verb functions adverbially, modifying the first: “I became far greater.” Most translations miss the hendiadys and render the line in a woodenly literal sense (KJV, ASV, RSV, NEB, NRSV, NAB, NASB, MLB, Moffatt), while only a few recognize the presence of hendiadys here: “I became greater by far” (NIV) and “I gained more” (NJPS).

[2:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “yet my wisdom stood for me,” meaning he retained his wise perspective despite his great wealth.