Joshua 24:23

24:23 Joshua said, ¹  “Now put aside the foreign gods that are among you and submit to ²  the Lord God of Israel.”

Genesis 17:1

The Sign of the Covenant

17:1 When Abram was 99 years old, ³  the Lord appeared to him and said, ⁴  “I am the sovereign God. ⁵  Walk ⁶  before me ⁷  and be blameless. ⁸ 

Genesis 20:5-6

20:5 Did Abraham ⁹  not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ¹⁰  ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this with a clear conscience ¹¹  and with innocent hands!”

20:6 Then in the dream God replied to him, “Yes, I know that you have done this with a clear conscience. ¹²  That is why I have kept you ¹³  from sinning against me and why ¹⁴  I did not allow you to touch her.

Deuteronomy 18:13

18:13 You must be blameless before the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 18:2

18:2 They ¹⁵  will have no inheritance in the midst of their fellow Israelites; ¹⁶  the Lord alone is their inheritance, just as he had told them.

Deuteronomy 20:3

20:3 “Listen, Israel! Today you are moving forward to do battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted. Do not fear and tremble or be terrified because of them,

Psalms 119:1

Psalm 119 ¹⁷ 

א (Alef)

119:1 How blessed are those whose actions are blameless, ¹⁸ 

who obey ¹⁹  the law of the Lord.

Psalms 119:80

119:80 May I be fully committed to your statutes, ²⁰ 

so that I might not be ashamed.

Luke 8:15

8:15 But as for the seed that landed on good soil, these are the ones who, after hearing ²¹  the word, cling to it ²²  with an honest and good ²³  heart, and bear fruit with steadfast endurance. ²⁴ 

John 4:23-24

4:23 But a time ²⁵  is coming – and now is here ²⁶  – when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks ²⁷  such people to be ²⁸  his worshipers. ²⁹  4:24 God is spirit, ³⁰  and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 4:2

4:2 (although Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were), ³¹ 

Colossians 1:12

1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share ³²  in the saints’ ³³  inheritance in the light.

Ephesians 6:24

6:24 Grace be ³⁴  with all of those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. ³⁵ 

Philippians 1:10

1:10 so that you can decide what is best, and thus be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ,

[24:23]  ¹ tn The words “Joshua said” are supplied for clarification.

[24:23]  ² tn Heb “bend your heart toward.” The term לֵבָב (levav, “heart”) probably here refers to the people’s volition or will.

[17:1]  ³ tn Heb “the son of ninety-nine years.”

[17:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “appeared to Abram and said to him.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) and the final phrase “to him” has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.

[17:1]  ⁵ tn The name אֵל שַׁדַּי (’el shadday, “El Shaddai”) has often been translated “God Almighty,” primarily because Jerome translated it omnipotens (“all powerful”) in the Latin Vulgate. There has been much debate over the meaning of the name. For discussion see W. F. Albright, “The Names Shaddai and Abram,” JBL 54 (1935): 173-210; R. Gordis, “The Biblical Root sdy-sd,” JTS 41 (1940): 34-43; and especially T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 69-72. Shaddai/El Shaddai is the sovereign king of the world who grants, blesses, and judges. In the Book of Genesis he blesses the patriarchs with fertility and promises numerous descendants. Outside Genesis he both blesses/protects and takes away life/happiness. The patriarchs knew God primarily as El Shaddai (Exod 6:3). While the origin and meaning of this name are uncertain (see discussion below) its significance is clear. The name is used in contexts where God appears as the source of fertility and life. In Gen 17:1-8 he appeared to Abram, introduced himself as El Shaddai, and announced his intention to make the patriarch fruitful. In the role of El Shaddai God repeated these words (now elevated to the status of a decree) to Jacob (35:11). Earlier Isaac had pronounced a blessing on Jacob in which he asked El Shaddai to make Jacob fruitful (28:3). Jacob later prayed that his sons would be treated with mercy when they returned to Egypt with Benjamin (43:14). The fertility theme is not as apparent here, though one must remember that Jacob viewed Benjamin as the sole remaining son of the favored and once-barren Rachel (see 29:31; 30:22-24; 35:16-18). It is quite natural that he would appeal to El Shaddai to preserve Benjamin’s life, for it was El Shaddai’s miraculous power which made it possible for Rachel to give him sons in the first place. In 48:3 Jacob, prior to blessing Joseph’s sons, told him how El Shaddai appeared to him at Bethel (see Gen 28) and promised to make him fruitful. When blessing Joseph on his deathbed Jacob referred to Shaddai (we should probably read “El Shaddai,” along with a few Hebrew mss, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the LXX, and Syriac) as the one who provides abundant blessings, including “blessings of the breast and womb” (49:25). (The direct association of the name with “breasts” suggests the name might mean “the one of the breast” [i.e., the one who gives fertility], but the juxtaposition is probably better explained as wordplay. Note the wordplay involving the name and the root שָׁדַד, shadad, “destroy”] in Isa 13:6 and in Joel 1:15.) Outside Genesis the name Shaddai (minus the element “El” [“God”]) is normally used when God is viewed as the sovereign king who blesses/protects or curses/brings judgment. The name appears in the introduction to two of Balaam’s oracles (Num 24:4, 16) of blessing upon Israel. Naomi employs the name when accusing the Lord of treating her bitterly by taking the lives of her husband and sons (Ruth 1:20-21). In Ps 68:14; Isa 13:6; and Joel 1:15 Shaddai judges his enemies through warfare, while Ps 91:1 depicts him as the protector of his people. (In Ezek 1:24 and 10:5 the sound of the cherubs’ wings is compared to Shaddai’s powerful voice. The reference may be to the mighty divine warrior’s battle cry which accompanies his angry judgment.) Finally, the name occurs 31 times in the Book of Job. Job and his “friends” assume that Shaddai is the sovereign king of the world (11:7; 37:23a) who is the source of life (33:4b) and is responsible for maintaining justice (8:3; 34:10-12; 37:23b). He provides abundant blessings, including children (22:17-18; 29:4-6), but he can also discipline, punish, and destroy (5:17; 6:4; 21:20; 23:16). It is not surprising to see the name so often in this book, where the theme of God’s justice is primary and even called into question (24:1; 27:2). The most likely proposal is that the name means “God, the one of the mountain” (an Akkadian cognate means “mountain,” to which the Hebrew שַׁד, shad, “breast”] is probably related). For a discussion of proposed derivations see T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 70-71. The name may originally have depicted God as the sovereign judge who, in Canaanite style, ruled from a sacred mountain. Isa 14:13 and Ezek 28:14, 16 associate such a mountain with God, while Ps 48:2 refers to Zion as “Zaphon,” the Canaanite Olympus from which the high god El ruled. (In Isa 14 the Canaanite god El may be in view. Note that Isaiah pictures pagan kings as taunting the king of Babylon, suggesting that pagan mythology may provide the background for the language and imagery.)

[17:1]  ⁶ tn Or “Live out your life.” The Hebrew verb translated “walk” is the Hitpael; it means “to walk back and forth; to walk about; to live out one’s life.”

[17:1]  ⁷ tn Or “in my presence.”

[17:1]  ⁸ tn There are two imperatives here: “walk…and be blameless [or “perfect”].” The second imperative may be purely sequential (see the translation) or consequential: “walk before me and then you will be blameless.” How one interprets the sequence depends on the meaning of “walk before”: (1) If it simply refers in a neutral way to serving the Lord, then the second imperative is likely sequential. (2) But if it has a positive moral connotation (“serve me faithfully”), then the second imperative probably indicates purpose (or result). For other uses of the idiom see 1 Sam 2:30, 35 and 12:2 (where it occurs twice).

[20:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and she, even she.”

[20:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “with the integrity of my heart.”

[20:6]  ¹² tn Heb “with the integrity of your heart.”

[20:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “and I, even I, kept you.”

[20:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “therefore.”

[18:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he” (and throughout the verse).

[18:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “brothers,” but not referring to actual siblings. Cf. NASB “their countrymen”; NRSV “the other members of the community.”

[119:1]  ¹⁷ sn Psalm 119. The psalmist celebrates God’s law and the guidance it provides his people. He expresses his desire to know God’s law thoroughly so that he might experience the blessings that come to those who obey it. This lengthy psalm exhibits an elaborate acrostic pattern. The psalm is divided into twenty-two sections (corresponding to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet), each of which is comprised of eight verses. Each of the verses in the first section (vv. 1-8) begins with the letter alef (א), the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This pattern continues throughout the psalm as each new section highlights a successive letter of the alphabet. Each verse in section two (vv. 9-16) begins with the second letter of the alphabet, each verse in section three (vv. 17-24) with the third letter, etc. This rigid pattern creates a sense of order and completeness and may have facilitated memorization.

[119:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness of those who are blameless of way.”

[119:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “walk in.”

[119:80]  ²⁰ tn Heb “may my heart be complete in your statutes.”

[8:15]  ²¹ tn The aorist participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") has been taken temporally, reflecting action antecedent (prior to) that of the main verb.

[8:15]  ²² sn There is a tenacity that is a part of spiritual fruitfulness.

[8:15]  ²³ sn In an ancient context, the qualifier good described the ethical person who possessed integrity. Here it is integrity concerning God’s revelation through Jesus.

[8:15]  ²⁴ sn Given the pressures noted in the previous soils, bearing fruit takes time (steadfast endurance), just as it does for the farmer. See Jas 1:2-4.

[4:23]  ²⁵ tn Grk “an hour.”

[4:23]  ²⁶ tn “Here” is not in the Greek text but is supplied to conform to contemporary English idiom.

[4:23]  ²⁷ sn See also John 4:27.

[4:23]  ²⁸ tn Or “as.” The object-complement construction implies either “as” or “to be.”

[4:23]  ²⁹ tn This is a double accusative construction of object and complement with τοιούτους (toioutous) as the object and the participle προσκυνοῦντας (proskunounta") as the complement.

[4:24]  ³⁰ tn Here πνεῦμα (pneuma) is understood as a qualitative predicate nominative while the articular θεός (qeos) is the subject.

[4:2]  ³¹ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[1:12]  ³² tn BDAG 473 s.v. ἱκανόω states, “τινὰ εἴς τι someone for someth. Col 1:12.” The point of the text is that God has qualified the saints for a “share” or “portion” in the inheritance of the saints.

[1:12]  ³³ tn Grk “the inheritance of the saints.” The genitive noun τῶν ἁγίων (twn Jagiwn) is a possessive genitive: “the saints’ inheritance.”

[6:24]  ³⁴ tn Or “is.”

[6:24]  ³⁵ tc Most witnesses (א² D Ψ Ï it sy) have ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”) at the end of the letter. Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. The earliest and best witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א* A B F G 0278 6 33 81 1175 1241 1739* 1881 sa) lack the particle, giving firm evidence that Ephesians did not originally conclude with ἀμήν.