Discovery BoxProverbs 5:21
Context5:21 For the ways of a person 1 are in front of the Lord’s eyes,
and the Lord 2 weighs 3 all that person’s 4 paths.
Proverbs 21:2
Context21:2 All of a person’s ways seem right in his own opinion, 5
but the Lord evaluates 6 the motives. 7
Proverbs 21:1
Context21:1 The king’s heart 8 is in the hand 9 of the Lord like channels of water; 10
he turns it wherever he wants.
Proverbs 16:7
Context16:7 When a person’s 11 ways are pleasing to the Lord, 12
he 13 even reconciles his enemies to himself. 14
Psalms 7:9
Context7:9 May the evil deeds of the wicked 15 come to an end! 16
But make the innocent 17 secure, 18
O righteous God,
you who examine 19 inner thoughts and motives! 20
Psalms 17:3
Context17:3 You have scrutinized my inner motives; 21
you have examined me during the night. 22
You have carefully evaluated me, but you find no sin.
I am determined I will say nothing sinful. 23
Psalms 44:21
Context44:21 would not God discover it,
for he knows 24 one’s thoughts? 25
Ecclesiastes 5:8
Context5:8 If you see the extortion 26 of the poor,
or the perversion 27 of justice and fairness in the government, 28
do not be astonished by the matter.
For the high official is watched by a higher official, 29
and there are higher ones over them! 30
Jeremiah 17:10
Context17:10 I, the Lord, probe into people’s minds.
I examine people’s hearts. 31
I deal with each person according to how he has behaved.
I give them what they deserve based on what they have done.
Romans 2:16
Context2:16 on the day when God will judge 32 the secrets of human hearts, 33 according to my gospel 34 through Christ Jesus.
Romans 2:1
Context2:1 35 Therefore 36 you are without excuse, 37 whoever you are, 38 when you judge someone else. 39 For on whatever grounds 40 you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.
Colossians 4:5
Context4:5 Conduct yourselves 41 with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunities.
Hebrews 4:12-13
Context4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart. 4:13 And no creature is hidden from God, 42 but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.
Revelation 2:18
Context2:18 “To 43 the angel of the church in Thyatira write the following: 44
“This is the solemn pronouncement of 45 the Son of God, the one who has eyes like a fiery flame 46 and whose feet are like polished bronze: 47
Revelation 2:23
Context2:23 Furthermore, I will strike her followers 48 with a deadly disease, 49 and then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts. I will repay 50 each one of you 51 what your deeds deserve. 52
[5:21] 2 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the
[5:21] 3 tn BDB 814 s.v. פָּלַס 2 suggests that the participle מְפַּלֵּס (mÿpalles) means “to make level [or, straight].” As one’s ways are in front of the eyes of the
[5:21] 4 tn Heb “all his”; the referent (the person mentioned in the first half of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[21:2] 5 tn Heb “in his own eyes.” The term “eyes” is a metonymy for estimation, opinion, evaluation.
[21:2] 6 tn Heb “weighs” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “examines”; NCV, TEV “judges.”
[21:2] 7 tn Heb “the hearts.” The term לֵב (lev, “heart”) is used as a metonymy of association for thoughts and motives (BDB 660-61 s.v. 6-7). Even though people think they know themselves, the
[21:1] 8 sn “Heart” is a metonymy of subject; it signifies the ability to make decisions, if not the decisions themselves.
[21:1] 9 sn “Hand” in this passage is a personification; the word is frequently used idiomatically for “power,” and that is the sense intended here.
[21:1] 10 tn “Channels of water” (פַּלְגֵי, palge) is an adverbial accusative, functioning as a figure of comparison – “like channels of water.” Cf. NAB “Like a stream”; NIV “watercourse”; NRSV, NLT “a stream of water.”
[16:7] 11 tn Heb “ways of a man.”
[16:7] 12 tn The first line uses an infinitive in a temporal clause, followed by its subject in the genitive case: “in the taking pleasure of the
[16:7] 13 tn The referent of the verb in the second colon is unclear. The straightforward answer is that it refers to the person whose ways please the
[16:7] 14 tn Heb “even his enemies he makes to be at peace with him.”
[7:9] 15 tn In the psalms the Hebrew term רְשָׁעִים (rÿsha’im, “wicked”) describes people who are proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander (Ps 50:16-20), and cheat others (Ps 37:21). They oppose God and his people.
[7:9] 16 tn The prefixed verbal form is a jussive, expressing an imprecation here.
[7:9] 17 tn Or “the godly” (see Ps 5:12). The singular form is collective (see the plural “upright in heart” in v. 10), though it may reflect the personal focus of the psalmist in this context.
[7:9] 18 tn The prefixed verbal form expresses the psalmist’s prayer or wish.
[7:9] 19 tn For other uses of the verb in this sense, see Job 7:18; Pss 11:4; 26:2; 139:23.
[7:9] 20 tn Heb “and [the one who] tests hearts and kidneys, just God.” The translation inverts the word order to improve the English style. The heart and kidneys were viewed as the seat of one’s volition, conscience, and moral character.
[17:3] 21 tn Heb “you tested my heart.”
[17:3] 22 tn Heb “you visited [at] night.”
[17:3] 23 tc Heb “you tested me, you do not find, I plan, my mouth will not cross over.” The Hebrew verbal form זַמֹּתִי (zammotiy) is a Qal perfect, first person singular from the root זָמַם (zamam, “plan, plan evil”). Some emend the form to a suffixed form of the noun, זִמָּתִי (zimmatiy, “my plan/evil plan”), and take it as the object of the preceding verb “find.” However, the suffix seems odd, since the psalmist is denying that he has any wrong thoughts. If one takes the form with what precedes, it might make better sense to read זִמּוֹת (zimmot, “evil plans”). However, this emendation leaves an unclear connection with the next line. The present translation maintains the verbal form found in the MT and understands it in a neutral sense, “I have decided” (see Jer 4:28). The words “my mouth will not cross over” (i.e., “transgress, sin”) can then be taken as a noun clause functioning as the object of the verb.
[44:21] 24 tn The active participle describes what is characteristically true.
[44:21] 25 tn Heb “would not God search out this, for he knows the hidden things of [the] heart?” The expression “search out” is used metonymically here, referring to discovery, the intended effect of a search. The “heart” (i.e., mind) is here viewed as the seat of one’s thoughts. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he would!” The point seems to be this: There is no way the Israelites who are the speakers in the psalm would reject God and turn to another god, for the omniscient God would easily discover such a sin.
[5:8] 26 tn Alternately, “oppression.” The term עֹשֶׁק (’osheq) has a basic two-fold range of meaning: (1) “oppression; brutality” (e.g., Isa 54:14); and (2) “extortion” (e.g., Ps 62:11); see HALOT 897 s.v. עֹשֶׁק; BDB 799 s.v. עֹשֶׁק. The LXX understands the term as “oppression,” as the translation συκοφαντίαν (sukofantian, “oppression”) indicates. Likewise, HALOT 897 s.v. עֹשֶׁק 1 classifies this usage as “oppression” against the poor. However, the context of 5:8-9 [7-8 HT] focuses on corrupt government officials robbing people of the fruit of their labor through extortion and the perversion of justice.
[5:8] 27 tn Heb “robbery.” The noun גֵזֶל (gezel, “robbery”) refers to the wrestling away of righteousness or the perversion of justice (HALOT 186 s.v. גֵּזֶל). The related forms of the root גזל mean “to rob; to loot” (HALOT 186 s.v. גֵּזֶל). The term “robbery” is used as a figure for the perversion of justice (hypocatastasis): just as a thief robs his victims through physical violence, so corrupt government officials “rob” the poor through the perversion of justice.
[5:8] 28 tn Heb “in the province.”
[5:8] 29 tn The word “official” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
[5:8] 30 sn And there are higher ones over them! This may describe a corrupt system of government in which each level of hierarchy exploits its subordinates, all the way down to the peasants: “Set in authority over the people is an official who enriches himself at their expense; he is watched by a more authoritative governor who also has his share of the spoils; and above them are other officers of the State who likewise have to be satisfied”; see A. Cohen, The Five Megilloth (SoBB), 141.
[17:10] 31 tn The term rendered “mind” here and in the previous verse is actually the Hebrew word for “heart.” However, in combination with the word rendered “heart” in the next line, which is the Hebrew for “kidneys,” it is best rendered “mind” because the “heart” was considered the center of intellect, conscience, and will and the “kidneys” the center of emotions.
[2:16] 32 tn The form of the Greek word is either present or future, but it is best to translate in future because of the context of future judgment.
[2:16] 34 sn On my gospel cf. Rom 16:25; 2 Tim 2:8.
[2:1] 35 sn Rom 2:1-29 presents unusual difficulties for the interpreter. There have been several major approaches to the chapter and the group(s) it refers to: (1) Rom 2:14 refers to Gentile Christians, not Gentiles who obey the Jewish law. (2) Paul in Rom 2 is presenting a hypothetical viewpoint: If anyone could obey the law, that person would be justified, but no one can. (3) The reference to “the ones who do the law” in 2:13 are those who “do” the law in the right way, on the basis of faith, not according to Jewish legalism. (4) Rom 2:13 only speaks about Christians being judged in the future, along with such texts as Rom 14:10 and 2 Cor 5:10. (5) Paul’s material in Rom 2 is drawn heavily from Diaspora Judaism, so that the treatment of the law presented here cannot be harmonized with other things Paul says about the law elsewhere (E. P. Sanders, Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People, 123); another who sees Rom 2 as an example of Paul’s inconsistency in his treatment of the law is H. Räisänen, Paul and the Law [WUNT], 101-9. (6) The list of blessings and curses in Deut 27–30 provide the background for Rom 2; the Gentiles of 2:14 are Gentile Christians, but the condemnation of Jews in 2:17-24 addresses the failure of Jews as a nation to keep the law as a whole (A. Ito, “Romans 2: A Deuteronomistic Reading,” JSNT 59 [1995]: 21-37).
[2:1] 36 tn Some interpreters (e.g., C. K. Barrett, Romans [HNTC], 43) connect the inferential Διό (dio, “therefore”) with 1:32a, treating 1:32b as a parenthetical comment by Paul.
[2:1] 37 tn That is, “you have nothing to say in your own defense” (so translated by TCNT).
[2:1] 39 tn Grk “Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone [of you] who judges.”
[2:1] 40 tn Grk “in/by (that) which.”
[4:5] 41 tn Grk “walk.” The verb περιπατέω (peripatew) is a common NT idiom for one’s lifestyle, behavior, or manner of conduct (L&N 41.11).
[4:13] 42 tn Grk “him”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[2:18] 43 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated due to differences between Greek and English style.
[2:18] 44 tn The phrase “the following” after “write” is supplied to clarify that what follows is the content of what is to be written.
[2:18] 45 tn Grk “These things says [the One]…” See the note on the phrase “this is the solemn pronouncement of” in 2:1.
[2:18] 46 tn Grk “a flame of fire.” The Greek term πυρός (puros) has been translated as an attributive genitive.
[2:18] 47 tn The precise meaning of the term translated “polished bronze” (χαλκολιβάνῳ, calkolibanw), which appears no where else in Greek literature outside of the book of Revelation (see 1:15), is uncertain. Without question it is some sort of metal. BDAG 1076 s.v. χαλκολίβανον suggests “fine brass/bronze.” L&N 2.57 takes the word to refer to particularly valuable or fine bronze, but notes that the emphasis here and in Rev 1:15 is more on the lustrous quality of the metal.
[2:23] 48 tn Grk “her children,” but in this context a reference to this woman’s followers or disciples is more likely meant.
[2:23] 49 tn Grk “I will kill with death.” θάνατος (qanatos) can in particular contexts refer to a manner of death, specifically a contagious disease (see BDAG 443 s.v. 3; L&N 23.158).
[2:23] 50 tn Grk “I will give.” The sense of δίδωμι (didwmi) in this context is more “repay” than “give.”
[2:23] 51 sn This pronoun and the following one are plural in the Greek text.
