Mazmur 85:10

85:10 Loyal love and faithfulness meet; ¹ 

deliverance and peace greet each other with a kiss. ² 

Mazmur 89:14

89:14 Equity and justice are the foundation of your throne. ³ 

Loyal love and faithfulness characterize your rule. ⁴ 

Mazmur 98:3

98:3 He remains loyal and faithful to the family of Israel. ⁵ 

All the ends of the earth see our God deliver us. ⁶ 

Ulangan 32:4

32:4 As for the Rock, ⁷  his work is perfect,

for all his ways are just.

He is a reliable God who is never unjust,

he is fair ⁸  and upright.

Ulangan 32:2

32:2 My teaching will drop like the rain,

my sayings will drip like the dew, ⁹ 

as rain drops upon the grass,

and showers upon new growth.

Titus 2:13

2:13 as we wait for the happy fulfillment of our hope in the glorious appearing ¹⁰  of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. ¹¹ 

Wahyu 15:3-4

15:3 They ¹²  sang the song of Moses the servant ¹³  of God and the song of the Lamb: ¹⁴ 

“Great and astounding are your deeds,

Lord God, the All-Powerful! ¹⁵ 

Just ¹⁶  and true are your ways,

King over the nations! ¹⁷ 

15:4 Who will not fear you, O Lord,

and glorify ¹⁸  your name, because you alone are holy? ¹⁹ 

All nations ²⁰  will come and worship before you

for your righteous acts ²¹  have been revealed.”

[85:10]  ¹ tn The psalmist probably uses the perfect verbal forms in v. 10 in a dramatic or rhetorical manner, describing what he anticipates as if it were already occurring or had already occurred.

[85:10]  ² sn Deliverance and peace greet each other with a kiss. The psalmist personifies these abstract qualities to emphasize that God’s loyal love and faithfulness will yield deliverance and peace for his people.

[89:14]  ³ sn The Lord’s throne symbolizes his kingship.

[89:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “are in front of your face.” The idiom can mean “confront” (Ps 17:13) or “meet, enter the presence of” (Ps 95:2).

[98:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “he remembers his loyal love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel.”

[98:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “the deliverance of our God,” with “God” being a subjective genitive (= God delivers).

[32:4]  ⁷ tc The LXX reads Θεός (qeos, “God”) for the MT’s “Rock.”

[32:4]  sn The Hebrew term depicts God as a rocky summit where one may find safety and protection. Within a covenantal context it serves as a reminder to the people that their God has committed himself to their protection in return for their allegiance.

[32:4]  ⁸ tn Or “just” (KJV, NAB, NRSV, NLT) or “righteous” (NASB).

[32:2]  ⁹ tn Or “mist,” “light drizzle.” In some contexts the term appears to refer to light rain, rather than dew.

[2:13]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the blessed hope and glorious appearing.”

[2:13]  ¹¹ tn The terms “God and Savior” both refer to the same person, Jesus Christ. This is one of the clearest statements in the NT concerning the deity of Christ. The construction in Greek is known as the Granville Sharp rule, named after the English philanthropist-linguist who first clearly articulated the rule in 1798. Sharp pointed out that in the construction article-noun-καί-noun (where καί [kai] = “and”), when two nouns are singular, personal, and common (i.e., not proper names), they always had the same referent. Illustrations such as “the friend and brother,” “the God and Father,” etc. abound in the NT to prove Sharp’s point. The only issue is whether terms such as “God” and “Savior” could be considered common nouns as opposed to proper names. Sharp and others who followed (such as T. F. Middleton in his masterful The Doctrine of the Greek Article) demonstrated that a proper name in Greek was one that could not be pluralized. Since both “God” (θεός, qeos) and “savior” (σωτήρ, swthr) were occasionally found in the plural, they did not constitute proper names, and hence, do fit Sharp’s rule. Although there have been 200 years of attempts to dislodge Sharp’s rule, all attempts have been futile. Sharp’s rule stands vindicated after all the dust has settled. For more information on Sharp’s rule see ExSyn 270-78, esp. 276. See also 2 Pet 1:1 and Jude 4.

[15:3]  ¹² tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[15:3]  ¹³ tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

[15:3]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[15:3]  ¹⁵ tn On this word BDAG 755 s.v. παντοκράτωρ states, “the Almighty, All-Powerful, Omnipotent (One) only of God…(ὁ) κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ π. …Rv 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 21:22.”

[15:3]  ¹⁶ tn Or “righteous,” although the context favors justice as the theme.

[15:3]  ¹⁷ tc Certain mss (Ì⁴⁷ א*^,2 C 1006 1611 1841 pc) read “ages” (αἰώνων, aiwnwn) instead of “nations” (ἐθνῶν, eqnwn), which itself is supported by several mss (א¹ A 051 Ï). The ms evidence seems to be fairly balanced, though αἰώνων has somewhat better support. The replacement of “ages” with “nations” is possibly a scribal attempt to harmonize this verse with the use of “nations” in the following verse. On the other hand, the idea of “nations” fits well with v. 4 and it may be that “ages” is a scribal attempt to assimilate this text to 1 Tim 1:17: “the king of the ages” (βασιλεὺς τῶν αἰώνων, basileu" twn aiwnwn). The decision is a difficult one since both scenarios deal well with the evidence, though the verbal parallel with 1 Tim 1:17 is exact while the parallel with v. 4 is not. The term “king” occurs 17 other times (most occurrences refer to earthly kings) in Revelation and it is not used with either “ages” or “nations” apart from this verse. Probably the reading “nations” should be considered original due to the influence of 1 Tim 1:17.

[15:4]  ¹⁸ tn Or “and praise.”

[15:4]  sn Jeremiah 10:7 probably stands behind the idea of fearing God, and Psalm 86:9-10 stands behind the ideas of glorifying God, his uniqueness, and the nations coming to worship him. Many other OT passages also speak about the nations “coming to his temple” to worship (Isa 2:2-3, 49:22-23, 66:23-24; Micah 4:2; Zech 8:20-22). See G. K. Beale, Revelation [NIGTC], 796-97.

[15:4]  ¹⁹ sn Because you alone are holy. In the Greek text the sentence literally reads “because alone holy.” Three points can be made in connection with John’s language here: (1) Omitting the second person, singular verb “you are” lays stress on the attribute of God’s holiness. (2) The juxtaposition of alone with holy stresses the unique nature of God’s holiness and complete “otherness” in relationship to his creation. It is not just moral purity which is involved in the use of the term holy, though it certainly includes that. It is also the pervasive OT idea that although God is deeply involved in the governing of his creation, he is to be regarded as separate and distinct from it. (3) John’s use of the term holy is also intriguing since it is the term ὅσιος (Josios) and not the more common NT term ἅγιος (Jagios). The former term evokes images of Christ’s messianic status in early Christian preaching. Both Peter in Acts 2:27 and Paul in Acts 13:35 apply Psalm 16:10 (LXX) to Jesus, referring to him as the “holy one” (ὅσιος). It is also the key term in Acts 13:34 (Isa 55:3 [LXX]) where it refers to the “holy blessings” (i.e., forgiveness and justification) brought about through Jesus in fulfillment of Davidic promise. Thus, in Rev 15:3-4, when John refers to God as “holy,” using the term ὅσιος in a context where the emphasis is on both God and Christ, there might be an implicit connection between divinity and the Messiah. This is bolstered by the fact that the Lamb is referred to in other contexts as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (cf. 1:5; 17:14; 19:16 and perhaps 11:15; G. K. Beale, Revelation [NIGTC], 796-97).

[15:4]  ²⁰ tn Or “all the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[15:4]  ²¹ tn Or perhaps, “your sentences of condemnation.” On δικαίωμα (dikaiwma) in this context BDAG 249 s.v. 2. states, “righteous deed…δι᾿ ἑνὸς δικαιώματος (opp. παράπτωμα) Ro 5:18. – B 1:2 (cp. Wengst, Barnabas-brief 196, n.4); Rv 15:4 (here perh.= ‘sentence of condemnation’ [cp. Pla., Leg. 9, 864e; ins fr. Asia Minor: LBW 41, 2 [κατὰ] τὸ δι[καί]ωμα τὸ κυρω[θέν]= ‘acc. to the sentence which has become valid’]; difft. Wengst, s. above); 19:8.”