Zechariah 10:6

10:6 “I (says the Lord) will strengthen the kingdom ¹  of Judah and deliver the people of Joseph ²  and will bring them back ³  because of my compassion for them. They will be as though I had never rejected them, for I am the Lord their God and therefore I will hear them.

Zechariah 12:10

12:10 “I will pour out on the kingship ⁴  of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, ⁵  the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn. ⁶ 

Psalms 34:15-19

34:15 The Lord pays attention to the godly

and hears their cry for help. ⁷ 

34:16 But the Lord opposes evildoers

and wipes out all memory of them from the earth. ⁸ 

34:17 The godly ⁹  cry out and the Lord hears;

he saves them from all their troubles. ¹⁰ 

34:18 The Lord is near the brokenhearted;

he delivers ¹¹  those who are discouraged. ¹² 

34:19 The godly ¹³  face many dangers, ¹⁴ 

but the Lord saves ¹⁵  them ¹⁶  from each one of them.

Psalms 50:15

50:15 Pray to me when you are in trouble! ¹⁷ 

I will deliver you, and you will honor me!” ¹⁸ 

Psalms 91:15

91:15 When he calls out to me, I will answer him.

I will be with him when he is in trouble;

I will rescue him and bring him honor.

Isaiah 58:9

58:9 Then you will call out, and the Lord will respond;

you will cry out, and he will reply, ‘Here I am.’

You must ¹⁹  remove the burdensome yoke from among you

and stop pointing fingers and speaking sinfully.

Isaiah 65:23-24

65:23 They will not work in vain,

or give birth to children that will experience disaster. ²⁰ 

For the Lord will bless their children

and their descendants. ²¹ 

65:24 Before they even call out, ²²  I will respond;

while they are still speaking, I will hear.

Jeremiah 29:11-12

29:11 For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ²³  ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you ²⁴  a future filled with hope. ²⁵  29:12 When you call out to me and come to me in prayer, ²⁶  I will hear your prayers. ²⁷ 

Hosea 2:21-23

Agricultural Fertility Restored to the Repentant Nation

2:21 “At that time, ²⁸  I will willingly respond,” ²⁹  declares the Lord.

“I will respond to the sky,

and the sky ³⁰  will respond to the ground;

2:22 then the ground will respond to the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil;

and they will respond to ‘God Plants’ (Jezreel)! ³¹ 

2:23 Then I will plant her as my own ³²  in the land.

I will have pity on ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah).

I will say to ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), ‘You are my people!’

And he ³³  will say, ‘You are ³⁴  my God!’”

Joel 2:32

2:32 It will so happen that

everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered. ³⁵ 

For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem ³⁶  there will be those who survive, ³⁷ 

just as the Lord has promised;

the remnant ³⁸  will be those whom the Lord will call. ³⁹ 

Acts 2:21

2:21 And then ⁴⁰  everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ ⁴¹ 

Romans 10:12-14

10:12 For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him. 10:13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. ⁴² 

10:14 How are they to call on one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them ⁴³ ?

[10:6]  ¹ tn Heb “the house.”

[10:6]  ² tn Or “the kingdom of Israel”; Heb “the house of Joseph.”

[10:6]  ³ tc The anomalous MT reading וְחוֹשְׁבוֹתִים (vÿkhoshÿvotim) should probably be וַהֲשִׁי בוֹתִם (vahashi votim), the Hiphil perfect consecutive of שׁוּב (shuv), “return” (cf. Jer 12:15).

[12:10]  ⁴ tn Or “dynasty”; Heb “house.”

[12:10]  ⁵ tc Because of the difficulty of the concept of the mortal piercing of God, the subject of this clause, and the shift of pronoun from “me” to “him” in the next, many mss read אַלֵי אֵת אֲשֶׁר (’ale ’et ’asher, “to the one whom,” a reading followed by NAB, NRSV) rather than the MT’s אֵלַי אֵת אֲשֶׁר (’ela ’et ’asher, “to me whom”). The reasons for such alternatives, however, are clear – they are motivated by scribes who found such statements theologically objectionable – and they should be rejected in favor of the more difficult reading (lectio difficilior) of the MT.

[12:10]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term בְּכוֹר (bÿkhor, “firstborn”), translated usually in the LXX by πρωτότοκος (prwtotokos), has unmistakable messianic overtones as the use of the Greek term in the NT to describe Jesus makes clear (cf. Col 1:15, 18). Thus, the idea of God being pierced sets the stage for the fatal wounding of Jesus, the Messiah and the Son of God (cf. John 19:37; Rev 1:7). Note that some English translations supply “son” from the context (e.g., NIV, TEV, NLT).

[34:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “the eyes of the Lord [are] toward the godly, and his ears [are] toward their cry for help.”

[34:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “the face of the Lord [is] against the doers of evil to cut off from the earth memory of them.”

[34:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “they” (i.e., the godly mentioned in v. 15).

[34:17]  ¹⁰ tn The three perfect verbal forms are taken in a generalizing sense in v. 17 and translated with the present tense (note the generalizing mood of vv. 18-22).

[34:18]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form highlights the generalizing statement and draws attention to the fact that the Lord typically delivers the oppressed and needy.

[34:18]  ¹² tn Heb “the crushed in spirit.”

[34:19]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew text uses the singular form; the representative or typical godly person is envisioned.

[34:19]  ¹⁴ tn Or “trials.”

[34:19]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form highlights the generalizing statement and draws attention to the fact that the Lord typically delivers the godly.

[34:19]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “him,” agreeing with the singular form in the preceding line.

[50:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “call [to] me in a day of trouble.”

[50:15]  ¹⁸ sn In vv. 7-15 the Lord makes it clear that he was not rebuking Israel because they had failed to offer sacrifices (v. 8a). On the contrary, they had been faithful in doing so (v. 8b). However, their understanding of the essence of their relationship with God was confused. Apparently they believed that he needed/desired such sacrifices and that offering them would ensure their prosperity. But the Lord owns all the animals of the world and did not need Israel’s meager sacrifices (vv. 9-13). Other aspects of the relationship were more important to the Lord. He desired Israel to be thankful for his blessings (v. 14a), to demonstrate gratitude for his intervention by repaying the vows they made to him (v. 14b), and to acknowledge their absolute dependence on him (v. 15a). Rather than viewing their sacrifices as somehow essential to God’s well-being, they needed to understand their dependence on him.

[58:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “if you.” In the Hebrew text vv. 9b-10 are one long conditional sentence. The protasis (“if” clauses appear in vv. 9b-10a), with the apodosis (“then” clause) appearing in v. 10b.

[65:23]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and they will not give birth to horror.”

[65:23]  ²¹ tn Heb “for offspring blessed by the Lord they [will be], and their descendants along with them.”

[65:24]  ²² tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[29:11]  ²³ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[29:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “I know the plans that I am planning for you, oracle of the Lord, plans of well-being and not for harm to give to you….”

[29:11]  ²⁵ tn Or “the future you hope for”; Heb “a future and a hope.” This is a good example of hendiadys where two formally coordinated nouns (adjectives, verbs) convey a single idea where one of the terms functions as a qualifier of the other. For this figure see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 658-72. This example is discussed on p. 661.

[29:12]  ²⁶ tn Heb “come and pray to me.” This is an example of verbal hendiadys where two verb formally joined by “and” convey a main concept with the second verb functioning as an adverbial qualifier.

[29:12]  ²⁷ tn Or “You will call out to me and come to me in prayer and I will hear your prayers.” The verbs are vav consecutive perfects and can be taken either as unconditional futures or as contingent futures. See GKC 337 §112.kk and 494 §159.g and compare the usage in Gen 44:22 for the use of the vav consecutive perfects in contingent futures. The conditional clause in the middle of 29:13 and the deuteronomic theology reflected in both Deut 30:1-5 and 1 Kgs 8:46-48 suggest that the verbs are continent futures here. For the same demand for wholehearted seeking in these contexts which presuppose exile see especially Deut 30:2, 1 Kgs 8:48.

[2:21]  ²⁸ tn Heb “And in that day”; NAB, NRSV “On that day.”

[2:21]  ²⁹ tn The verb עָנָה, (’anah) which is used throughout 2:23-24, is related to the root I עָנָה (’anah), “to answer, listen attentively, react willingly” (BDB 772 s.v. 1.b; HALOT 852 s.v. ענה 3.b).

[2:21]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and they.” In the Hebrew text the plural pronoun is used because it refers back to the term translated “sky,” which is a dual form in Hebrew. Many English versions (e.g., NAB, NASB, NRSV) use the plural term “heavens” here, which agrees with a plural pronoun (cf. also NIV, NCV “skies”).

[2:22]  ³¹ tn Heb “Jezreel.” The use of the name יִזְרְעֶאל (yizré’e’l, “Jezreel”) creates a powerful three-fold wordplay: (1) The proper name יִזְרְעֶאל (“Jezreel”) is a phonetic wordplay on the similar sounding name יִשְׂרָאֵל (yisra’el, “Israel”): God will answer Israel, that is, Jezreel. (2) The name יִזְרְעֶאל (“Jezreel”) plays on the verb זָרַע (zara’, “to sow, plant”), the immediately following word: וּזְרַעְתִּיהָ (uzéra’tiha, vav + Qal perfect 1st person common singular + 3rd person feminine singular suffix: “I will sow/plant her”). This wordplay creates a popular etymology for יִזְרְעֶאל meaning, “God sows/plants,” which fits well into the agricultural fertility imagery in 2:21-23 [2:23-25]. (3) This positive connotation of יִזְרְעֶאל (“Jezreel”) in 2:21-23[23-25] reverses the negative connotation of יִזְרְעֶאל (“Jezreel”) in 1:4-5 (bloodshed of Jehu in the Jezreel Valley).

[2:23]  ³² tn Heb “for myself.”

[2:23]  ³³ tn The Hebrew text, carrying out the reference to the son born in 1:8-9, uses the third person masculine singular pronoun here; some English translations use third person plural (“they,” so KJV, NASB, NIV, CEV) in keeping with the immediate context, which refers to reestablished Israel.

[2:23]  ³⁴ tn The words “You are” do not appear in the Hebrew text, but are implied. It is necessary to supply the phrase in the translation to prevent the reader from understanding the predicate “my God” as an exclamation (cf. NAB).

[2:32]  ³⁵ tn While a number of English versions render this as “saved” (e.g., NIV, NRSV, NLT), this can suggest a “spiritual” or “theological” salvation rather than the physical deliverance from the cataclysmic events of the day of the Lord described in the context.

[2:32]  ³⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:32]  ³⁷ tn Heb “deliverance”; or “escape.” The abstract noun “deliverance” or “escape” probably functions here as an example of antimeria, referring to those who experience deliverance or escape with their lives: “escaped remnant” or “surviving remnant” (Gen 32:8; 45:7; Judg 21:17; 2 Kgs 19:30, 31; Isa 4:2; 10:20; 15:9; 37:31, 32; Ezek 14:22; Obad 1:17; Ezra 9:8, 13-15; Neh 1:2; 1 Chr 4:43; 2 Chr 30:6).

[2:32]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and among the remnant.”

[2:32]  ³⁹ tn The participle used in the Hebrew text seems to indicate action in the imminent future.

[2:21]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “And it will be that.”

[2:21]  ⁴¹ sn A quotation from Joel 2:28-32.

[10:13]  ⁴² sn A quotation from Joel 2:32.

[10:14]  ⁴³ tn Grk “preaching”; the words “to them” are supplied for clarification.