20:4 Now Abimelech had not gone near her. He said, “Lord, 2 would you really slaughter an innocent nation? 3 20:5 Did Abraham 4 not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, 5 ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this with a clear conscience 6 and with innocent hands!”
18:21 For I have obeyed the Lord’s commands; 7
I have not rebelled against my God. 8
18:22 For I am aware of all his regulations, 9
and I do not reject his rules. 10
18:23 I was innocent before him,
and kept myself from sinning. 11
18:24 The Lord rewarded me for my godly deeds; 12
he took notice of my blameless behavior. 13
20:1 After the disturbance had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging 15 them and saying farewell, 16 he left to go to Macedonia. 17
1 tn Heb “cutting off.”
2 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
3 tn Apparently Abimelech assumes that God’s judgment will fall on his entire nation. Some, finding the reference to a nation problematic, prefer to emend the text and read, “Would you really kill someone who is innocent?” See E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB), 149.
4 tn Heb “he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “and she, even she.”
6 tn Heb “with the integrity of my heart.”
7 tn Heb “for I have kept the ways of the
8 tn Heb “I have not acted wickedly from my God.” The statement is elliptical; the idea is, “I have not acted wickedly and, in so doing, departed from my God.”
9 tn Heb “for all his regulations [are] before me.” The Hebrew term מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim, “regulations”) refers to God’s covenantal requirements, especially those which the king is responsible to follow (cf. Deut 17:18-20). See also Pss 19:9 (cf. vv. 7-8); 89:30; 147:20 (cf. v. 19), as well as the numerous uses of the term in Ps 119.
10 tn Heb “and his rules I do not turn aside from me.” 2 Sam 22:23 reads, “and his rules, I do not turn aside from it.” The prefixed verbal form is probably an imperfect; the psalmist here generalizes about his loyalty to God’s commands. The Lord’s “rules” are the stipulations of the covenant which the king was responsible to obey (see Ps 89:31; cf. v. 30 and Deut 17:18-20).
11 tn Heb “from my sin,” that is, from making it my own in any way.
12 tn Heb “according to my righteousness.”
13 tn Heb “according to the purity of my hands before his eyes.” 2 Sam 22:25 reads “according to my purity before his eyes.” The verbal repetition (compare vv. 20 and 24) sets off vv. 20-24 as a distinct sub-unit within the psalm.
14 tn The words “of mine” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to clarify whose hands Paul is referring to.
15 tn Or “exhorting.”
16 tn Or “and taking leave of them.”
17 sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.
18 tn Grk “Asia”; in the NT this always refers to the Roman province of Asia, made up of about one-third of the west and southwest end of modern Asia Minor. Asia lay to the west of the region of Phrygia and Galatia. The words “the province of” are supplied to indicate to the modern reader that this does not refer to the continent of Asia.
19 tn According to BDAG 595 s.v. Λιβύη, the western part of Libya, Libya Cyrenaica, is referred to here (see also Josephus, Ant. 16.6.1 [16.160] for a similar phrase).
20 map For location see JP4-A1.