2 Chronicles 16:9

16:9 Certainly ¹  the Lord watches the whole earth carefully ²  and is ready to strengthen those who are devoted to him. ³  You have acted foolishly in this matter; from now on you will have war.

Exodus 34:24

34:24 For I will drive out ⁴  the nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one will covet ⁵  your land when you go up ⁶  to appear before the Lord your God three times ⁷  in the year.

Proverbs 16:7

16:7 When a person’s ⁸  ways are pleasing to the Lord, ⁹ 

he ¹⁰  even reconciles his enemies to himself. ¹¹ 

¹ tn Or “for.”

² tn Heb “the eyes of the Lord move quickly through all the earth.”

³ tn Heb “to strengthen himself with their heart, [the one] complete toward him.”

⁴ tn The verb is a Hiphil imperfect of יָרַשׁ (yarash), which means “to possess.” In the causative stem it can mean “dispossess” or “drive out.”

⁵ sn The verb “covet” means more than desire; it means that some action will be taken to try to acquire the land that is being coveted. It is one thing to envy someone for their land; it is another to be consumed by the desire that stops at nothing to get it (it, not something like it).

⁶ tn The construction uses the infinitive construct with a preposition and a suffixed subject to form the temporal clause.

⁷ tn The expression “three times” is an adverbial accusative of time.

⁸ tn Heb “ways of a man.”

⁹ 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 Lord” = “when the Lord is pleased with.” So the condition set down for the second colon is a lifestyle that is pleasing to God.

¹⁰ 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 Lord – it is his lifestyle that disarms his enemies. W. McKane comments that the righteous have the power to mend relationships (Proverbs [OTL], 491); see, e.g., 10:13; 14:9; 15:1; 25:21-22). The life that is pleasing to God will be above reproach and find favor with others. Some would interpret this to mean that God makes his enemies to be at peace with him (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NLT). This is workable, but in this passage it would seem God would do this through the pleasing life of the believer (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV).

¹¹ tn Heb “even his enemies he makes to be at peace with him.”