Psalms 5:1-2

Psalm 5 ¹ 

For the music director, to be accompanied by wind instruments; ²  a psalm of David.

5:1 Listen to what I say, ³  Lord!

Carefully consider my complaint! ⁴ 

5:2 Pay attention to my cry for help,

my king and my God,

for I am praying to you!

Psalms 51:15

51:15 O Lord, give me the words! ⁵ 

Then my mouth will praise you. ⁶ 

Psalms 66:18-20

66:18 If I had harbored sin in my heart, ⁷ 

the Lord would not have listened.

66:19 However, God heard;

he listened to my prayer.

66:20 God deserves praise, ⁸ 

for ⁹  he did not reject my prayer

or abandon his love for me! ¹⁰ 

Psalms 119:108

119:108 O Lord, please accept the freewill offerings of my praise! ¹¹ 

Teach me your regulations!

Genesis 4:4-5

4:4 But Abel brought ¹²  some of the firstborn of his flock – even the fattest ¹³  of them. And the Lord was pleased with ¹⁴  Abel and his offering, 4:5 but with Cain and his offering he was not pleased. ¹⁵  So Cain became very angry, ¹⁶  and his expression was downcast. ¹⁷ 

Proverbs 15:8

15:8 The Lord abhors ¹⁸  the sacrifices ¹⁹  of the wicked, ²⁰ 

but the prayer ²¹  of the upright pleases him. ²² 

Romans 15:16

15:16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. I serve ²³  the gospel of God ²⁴  like a priest, so that the Gentiles may become an acceptable offering, ²⁵  sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 11:4

11:4 By faith Abel offered God a greater sacrifice than Cain, and through his faith ²⁶  he was commended as righteous, because God commended him for his offerings. And through his faith ²⁷  he still speaks, though he is dead.

Hebrews 13:15

13:15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, acknowledging his name.

Hebrews 13:1

Final Exhortations

13:1 Brotherly love must continue.

Hebrews 2:5

Exposition of Psalm 8: Jesus and the Destiny of Humanity

2:5 For he did not put the world to come, ²⁸  about which we are speaking, ²⁹  under the control of angels.

[5:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 5. Appealing to God’s justice and commitment to the godly, the psalmist asks the Lord to intervene and deliver him from evildoers.

[5:1]  ² tn The meaning of the Hebrew word נְחִילוֹת (nÿkhilot), which occurs only here, is uncertain. Many relate the form to חָלִיל (khalil, “flute”).

[5:1]  ³ tn Heb “my words.”

[5:1]  ⁴ tn Or “sighing.” The word occurs only here and in Ps 39:3.

[51:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “open my lips.” The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[51:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “and my mouth will declare your praise.”

[66:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “sin if I had seen in my heart.”

[66:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “blessed [be] God.”

[66:20]  ⁹ tn Or “who.” In a blessing formula after בָּרוּךְ (barukh, “blessed be”) the form אֲשֶׁר (’asher), whether taken as a relative pronoun or causal particle, introduces the basis for the blessing/praise.

[66:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “did not turn aside my prayer and his loyal love with me.”

[119:108]  ¹¹ tn Heb “of my mouth.”

[4:4]  ¹² tn Heb “But Abel brought, also he….” The disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) stresses the contrast between Cain’s offering and Abel’s.

[4:4]  ¹³ tn Two prepositional phrases are used to qualify the kind of sacrifice that Abel brought: “from the firstborn” and “from the fattest of them.” These also could be interpreted as a hendiadys: “from the fattest of the firstborn of the flock.” Another option is to understand the second prepositional phrase as referring to the fat portions of the sacrificial sheep. In this case one may translate, “some of the firstborn of his flock, even some of their fat portions” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).

[4:4]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew verb שָׁעָה (sha’ah) simply means “to gaze at, to have regard for, to look on with favor [or “with devotion”].” The text does not indicate how this was communicated, but it indicates that Cain and Abel knew immediately. Either there was some manifestation of divine pleasure given to Abel and withheld from Cain (fire consuming the sacrifice?), or there was an inner awareness of divine response.

[4:5]  ¹⁵ sn The Letter to the Hebrews explains the difference between the brothers as one of faith – Abel by faith offered a better sacrifice. Cain’s offering as well as his reaction to God’s displeasure did not reflect faith. See further B. K. Waltke, “Cain and His Offering,” WTJ 48 (1986): 363-72.

[4:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and it was hot to Cain.” This Hebrew idiom means that Cain “burned” with anger.

[4:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “And his face fell.” The idiom means that the inner anger is reflected in Cain’s facial expression. The fallen or downcast face expresses anger, dejection, or depression. Conversely, in Num 6 the high priestly blessing speaks of the Lord lifting up his face and giving peace.

[15:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “an abomination of the Lord.” The term יְהוָה (yÿhvah, “the Lord”) functions as a subjective genitive: “the Lord abhors.” Cf. NIV “the Lord detests”; NCV, NLT “the Lord hates”; CEV “the Lord is disgusted.”

[15:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “sacrifice” (so many English versions).

[15:8]  ²⁰ sn The sacrifices of the wicked are hated by the Lord because the worshipers are insincere and blasphemous (e.g., Prov 15:29; 21:3; 28:9; Ps 40:6-8; Isa 1:10-17). In other words, the spiritual condition of the worshiper determines whether or not the worship is acceptable to God.

[15:8]  ²¹ sn J. H. Greenstone notes that if God will accept the prayers of the upright, he will accept their sacrifices; for sacrifice is an outer ritual and easily performed even by the wicked, but prayer is a private and inward act and not usually fabricated by unbelievers (Proverbs, 162).

[15:8]  ²² tn Heb “[is] his pleasure.” The 3rd person masculine singular suffix functions as a subjective genitive: “he is pleased.” God is pleased with the prayers of the upright.

[15:16]  ²³ tn Grk “serving.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in the Greek text, but in keeping with contemporary English style, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[15:16]  ²⁴ tn The genitive in the phrase τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ θεοῦ (to euangelion tou qeou, “the gospel of God”) could be translated as either a subjective genitive (“the gospel which God brings”) or an objective genitive (“the gospel about God”). Either is grammatically possible. This is possibly an instance of a plenary genitive (see ExSyn 119-21; M. Zerwick, Biblical Greek, §§36-39). If so, an interplay between the two concepts is intended: The gospel which God brings is in fact the gospel about himself.

[15:16]  ²⁵ tn Grk “so that the offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable.” This could be understood to refer to an offering belonging to the Gentiles (a possessive genitive) or made by the Gentiles (subjective genitive), but more likely the phrase should be understood as an appositive genitive, with the Gentiles themselves consisting of the offering (so J. D. G. Dunn, Romans [WBC 38], 2:860). The latter view is reflected in the translation “so that the Gentiles may become an acceptable offering.”

[11:4]  ²⁶ tn Or “through his sacrifice”; Grk “through which.”

[11:4]  ²⁷ tn Or “through his sacrifice”; Grk “through it.”

[2:5]  ²⁸ sn The phrase the world to come means “the coming inhabited earth,” using the Greek term which describes the world of people and their civilizations.

[2:5]  ²⁹ sn See the previous reference to the world in Heb 1:6.