Titus 3:4

3:4 ¹  But “when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared,

Mazmur 62:12

62:12 and you, O Lord, demonstrate loyal love. ² 

For you repay men for what they do. ³ 

Mazmur 86:5

86:5 Certainly ⁴  O Lord, you are kind ⁵  and forgiving,

and show great faithfulness to all who cry out to you.

Mazmur 86:15

86:15 But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and merciful God.

You are patient ⁶  and demonstrate great loyal love and faithfulness. ⁷ 

Mazmur 130:7

130:7 O Israel, hope in the Lord,

for the Lord exhibits loyal love, ⁸ 

and is more than willing to deliver. ⁹ 

Mikha 7:18

7:18 There is no other God like you! ¹⁰ 

You ¹¹  forgive sin

and pardon ¹²  the rebellion

of those who remain among your people. ¹³ 

You do not remain angry forever, ¹⁴ 

but delight in showing loyal love.

Lukas 1:50

1:50 from ¹⁵  generation to generation he is merciful ¹⁶  to those who fear ¹⁷  him.

Lukas 1:54

1:54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering ¹⁸  his mercy, ¹⁹ 

Lukas 1:72

1:72 He has done this ²⁰  to show mercy ²¹  to our ancestors, ²² 

and to remember his holy covenant ²³  –

Lukas 1:78

1:78 Because of ²⁴  our God’s tender mercy ²⁵ 

the dawn ²⁶  will break ²⁷  upon us from on high

Efesus 1:6-7

1:6 to the praise of the glory of his grace ²⁸  that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son. ²⁹  1:7 In him ³⁰  we have redemption through his blood, ³¹  the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace

Ibrani 4:16

4:16 Therefore let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace whenever we need help. ³² 

Ibrani 4:1

God’s Promised Rest

4:1 Therefore we must be wary ³³  that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it.

Pengkhotbah 1:3

Futility Illustrated from Nature

1:3 What benefit ³⁴  do people ³⁵  get from all the effort

which ³⁶  they expend ³⁷  on earth? ³⁸ 

Pengkhotbah 2:10

2:10 I did not restrain myself from getting whatever I wanted; ³⁹ 

I did not deny myself anything that would bring me pleasure. ⁴⁰ 

So all my accomplishments gave me joy; ⁴¹ 

this was my reward for all my effort. ⁴² 

[3:4]  ¹ tn Verses 4-7 are set as poetry in NA²⁶/NA²⁷. These verses probably constitute the referent of the expression “this saying” in v. 8.

[62:12]  ² tn Heb “and to you, O Master, [is] loyal love.”

[62:12]  ³ tn Heb “for you pay back to a man according to his deed.” Another option is to understand vv. 11b and 12a as the first principle and v. 12b as the second. In this case one might translate, “God has declared one principle, two principles I have heard, namely, that God is strong, and you, O Lord, demonstrate loyal love, and that you repay men for what they do.”

[62:12]  sn You repay men for what they do. The psalmist views God’s justice as a demonstration of both his power (see v. 11c) and his loyal love (see v. 12a). When God judges evildoers, he demonstrates loyal love to his people.

[86:5]  ⁴ tn Or “for.”

[86:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “good.”

[86:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “slow to anger.”

[86:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “and great of loyal love and faithfulness.”

[86:15]  sn The psalmist’s confession of faith in this verse echoes Exod 34:6.

[130:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “for with the Lord [is] loyal love.”

[130:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “and abundantly with him [is] redemption.”

[7:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Who is a God like you?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one!”

[7:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “one who.” The prayer moves from direct address (second person) in v. 18a to a descriptive (third person) style in vv. 18b-19a and then back to direct address (second person) in vv. 19b-20. Due to considerations of English style and the unfamiliarity of the modern reader with alternation of persons in Hebrew poetry, the entire section has been rendered as direct address (second person) in the translation.

[7:18]  ¹² tn Heb “pass over.”

[7:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “of the remnant of his inheritance.”

[7:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he does not keep hold of his anger forever.”

[1:50]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “and from.” Here καί (kai) has been translated by a semicolon to improve the English style.

[1:50]  ¹⁶ sn God’s mercy refers to his “loyal love” or “steadfast love,” expressed in faithful actions, as the rest of the psalm illustrates.

[1:50]  ¹⁷ tn That is, “who revere.” This refers to those who show God a reverential respect for his sovereignty.

[1:54]  ¹⁸ tn Or “because he remembered mercy,” understanding the infinitive as causal.

[1:54]  ¹⁹ tn Or “his [God’s] loyal love.”

[1:72]  ²⁰ tn The words “He has done this” (referring to the raising up of the horn of salvation from David’s house) are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to allow a new sentence to be started in the translation. The Greek sentence is lengthy and complex at this point, while contemporary English uses much shorter sentences.

[1:72]  ²¹ sn Mercy refers to God’s loyal love (steadfast love) by which he completes his promises. See Luke 1:50.

[1:72]  ²² tn Or “our forefathers”; Grk “our fathers.” This begins with the promise to Abraham (vv. 55, 73), and thus refers to many generations of ancestors.

[1:72]  ²³ sn The promises of God can be summarized as being found in the one promise (the oath that he swore) to Abraham (Gen 12:1-3).

[1:78]  ²⁴ tn For reasons of style, a new sentence has been started in the translation at this point. God’s mercy is ultimately seen in the deliverance John points to, so v. 78a is placed with the reference to Jesus as the light of dawning day.

[1:78]  ²⁵ sn God’s loyal love (steadfast love) is again the topic, reflected in the phrase tender mercy; see Luke 1:72.

[1:78]  ²⁶ sn The Greek term translated dawn (ἀνατολή, anatolh) can be a reference to the morning star or to the sun. The Messiah is pictured as a saving light that shows the way. The Greek term was also used to translate the Hebrew word for “branch” or “sprout,” so some see a double entendre here with messianic overtones (see Isa 11:1-10; Jer 23:5; 33:15; Zech 3:8; 6:12).

[1:78]  ²⁷ tn Grk “shall visit us.”

[1:6]  ²⁸ tn Or “to the praise of his glorious grace.” Many translations translate δόξης τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ (doxh" th" carito" autou, literally “of the glory of his grace”) with τῆς χάριτος as an attributed genitive (cf., e.g., NIV, NRSV, ESV). The translation above has retained a literal rendering in order to make clear the relationship of this phrase to the other two similar phrases in v. 12 and 14, which affect the way one divides the material in the passage.

[1:6]  ²⁹ tn Grk “the beloved.” The term ἠγαπημένῳ (hgaphmenw) means “beloved,” but often bears connotations of “only beloved” in an exclusive sense. “His dearly loved Son” picks up this connotation.

[1:6]  sn God’s grace can be poured out on believers only because of what Christ has done for them. Hence, he bestows his grace on us because we are in his dearly loved Son.

[1:7]  ³⁰ tn Grk “in whom” (the relative clause of v. 7 is subordinate to v. 6). The “him” refers to Christ.

[1:7]  ³¹ sn In this context his blood, the blood of Jesus Christ, refers to the price paid for believers’ redemption, which is the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross.

[4:16]  ³² tn Grk “for timely help.”

[4:1]  ³³ tn Grk “let us fear.”

[1:3]  ³⁴ tn The term “profit” (יֹתְרוֹן, yotÿron) is used in Ecclesiastes to evaluate the ultimate benefit/effects of human activities, as is טוֹב (tov, “good, worthwhile”) as well (e.g., 2:1, 3). While some relative advantage/profit is recognized (e.g., light over darkness, and wisdom over folly), Qoheleth denies the ultimate advantage of all human endeavors (e.g., 2:11, 15).

[1:3]  ³⁵ tn Heb “the man.” The Hebrew term could be used here in a generic sense, referring to the typical man (hence, “a man”). However, it is more likely that the form is collective and that humankind in general is in view (note NIV “man”). Note the reference to “a generation” coming and going in the next verse, as well as v. 13, where the phrase “the sons of man” (= humankind) appears. In this case the singular pronominal suffix and singular verb later in v. 3 reflect grammatical agreement, not individuality.

[1:3]  ³⁶ tn The use of the relative pronoun שֶׁ (she, “which”) – rather than the more common אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) – is a linguistic feature that is often used to try to date the Book of Ecclesiastes. Noting that שֶׁ is the dominant relative pronoun in Mishnaic Hebrew and that אֲשֶׁר does not appear as frequently (Jastrow 130 s.v. אֲשֶׁר), many scholars conclude that אֲשֶׁר is early and שֶׁ is late. They conclude that the use of שֶׁ in Ecclesiastes points to a late date for the book. However, as Samuel-Kings suggest, the שֶׁ versus אֲשֶׁר phenomena may simply be a dialectical issue: אֲשֶׁר is commonly used in the south, and שֶׁ in the north. The use of שֶׁ in Ecclesiastes may indicate that the book was written in a northern rather than a southern province, not that it is a late book. This is supported from related Akkadian terms which occur in texts from the same periods: אֲשֶׁר is related to asru (“place”) and שֶׁ is related to sa (“what”).

[1:3]  ³⁷ sn The Hebrew root עָמָל, (’amal, “toil”) is repeated here for emphasis: “What gain does anyone have in his toil with which he toils.” For all his efforts, man’s endeavors and secular achievements will not produce anything of ultimate value that will radically revolutionize anything in the world. The term “toil” is used in a pejorative sense to emphasize that the only thing that man obtains ultimately from all his efforts is weariness and exhaustion. Due to sin, mankind has been cursed with the futility of his labor that renders work a “toilsome” task (Gen 3:17-19). Although it was not yet revealed to Qoheleth, God will one day deliver the redeemed from this plight in the future kingdom when man’s labor will no longer be toilsome, but profitable, fulfilling, and enjoyable (Isa 65:17-23).

[1:3]  ³⁸ tn Heb “under the sun.”

[1:3]  sn This rhetorical question expects a negative answer: “Man has no gain in all his toil.” Ecclesiastes often uses rhetorical questions in this manner (e.g., 2:2; 3:9; 6:8, 11, 12; see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 949).

[2:10]  ³⁹ tn Heb “all which my eyes asked for, I did not withhold from them.”

[2:10]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “I did not refuse my heart any pleasure.” The term לִבִּי (libbi, “my heart”) is a synecdoche of part (i.e., heart) for the whole (i.e., whole person); see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 648. The term is repeated twice in 2:10 for emphasis.

[2:10]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “So my heart was joyful from all my toil.”

[2:10]  ⁴² tn Heb “and this was my portion from all my toil.”