22:29 When people are brought low 11 and you say
‘Lift them up!’ 12
then he will save the downcast; 13
9:12 For the one who takes revenge against murderers took notice of the oppressed; 14
he did not overlook 15 their cry for help 16
15:33 The fear of the Lord provides wise instruction, 17
and before honor comes humility. 18
18:12 Before destruction the heart 19 of a person is proud,
but humility comes 20 before honor. 21
22:4 The reward 22 for humility 23 and fearing the Lord 24
is riches and honor and life.
57:15 For this is what the high and exalted one says,
the one who rules 25 forever, whose name is holy:
“I dwell in an exalted and holy place,
but also with the discouraged and humiliated, 26
in order to cheer up the humiliated
and to encourage the discouraged. 27
1 tn Heb “and Hezekiah humbled himself in the height of his heart, he and the residents of Jerusalem, and the anger of the
2 tn Or “distress.”
3 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Manasseh) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “appeased the face of the
5 tn Or “greatly.”
6 tn Heb “fathers.”
7 tn Heb “and his prayer and being entreated by him, and all his sin and his unfaithfulness and the places where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself – behold, they are written on the words of his seers.”
8 tn Heb “as Manasseh his father had humbled himself.”
9 tn Heb “for he, Amon, multiplied guilt.”
10 tn Heb “Because your heart was tender.”
11 tn There is no expressed subject here, and so the verb is taken as a passive voice again.
12 tn The word גֵּוָה (gevah) means “loftiness; pride.” Here it simply says “up,” or “pride.” The rest is paraphrased. Of the many suggestions, the following provide a sampling: “It is because of pride” (ESV), “he abases pride” (H. H. Rowley); “[he abases] the lofty and the proud” (Beer); “[he abases] the word of pride” [Duhm]; “[he abases] the haughtiness of pride” [Fohrer and others]; “[he abases] the one who speaks proudly” [Weiser]; “[he abases] the one who boasts in pride” [Kissane]; and “God [abases] pride” [Budde, Gray].
13 tn Or “humble”; Heb “the lowly of eyes.”
14 tn Heb “for the one who seeks shed blood remembered them.” The idiomatic expression “to seek shed blood” seems to carry the idea “to seek payment/restitution for one’s shed blood.” The plural form דָּמִים (damim, “shed blood”) occurs only here as the object of דָּרַשׁ (darash); the singular form דָּם (dam, “blood”) appears with the verb in Gen 9:5; 42:22; Ezek 33:6. “Them,” the pronominal object of the verb “remembered,” refers to the oppressed, mentioned specifically in the next line, so the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15 tn Heb “did not forget.”
16 tn Heb “the cry for help of the oppressed.” In this context the “oppressed” are the psalmist and those he represents, whom the hostile nations have threatened.
17 tn Heb “[is] instruction of wisdom” (KJV and NASB similar). The noun translated “wisdom” is an attributive genitive: “wise instruction.”
18 tn Heb “[is] humility” (so KJV). The second clause is a parallel idea in that it stresses how one thing leads to another – humility to honor. Humble submission in faith to the
19 sn The term “heart” is a metonymy of subject, referring to the seat of the spiritual and intellectual capacities – the mind, the will, the motivations and intentions. Proud ambitions and intentions will lead to a fall.
20 tn Heb “[is] before honor”; cf. CEV “humility leads to honor.”
21 sn The way to honor is through humility (e.g., Prov 11:2; 15:33; 16:18). The humility and exaltation of Jesus provides the classic example (Phil 2:1-10).
22 tn The Hebrew term עֵקֶב (’eqev, “reward”) is related to the term meaning “heel”; it refers to the consequences or the reward that follows (akin to the English expression “on the heels of”).
23 tn “Humility” is used here in the religious sense of “piety”; it is appropriately joined with “the fear of the
24 tn Heb “the fear of the
25 tn Heb “the one who dwells forever.” שֹׁכֵן עַד (shokhen ’ad) is sometimes translated “the one who lives forever,” and understood as a reference to God’s eternal existence. However, the immediately preceding and following descriptions (“high and exalted” and “holy”) emphasize his sovereign rule. In the next line, he declares, “I dwell in an exalted and holy [place],” which refers to the place from which he rules. Therefore it is more likely that שֹׁכֵן עַד (shokhen ’ad) means “I dwell [in my lofty palace] forever” and refers to God’s eternal kingship.
26 tn Heb “and also with the crushed and lowly of spirit.” This may refer to the repentant who have humbled themselves (see 66:2) or more generally to the exiles who have experienced discouragement and humiliation.
27 tn Heb “to restore the lowly of spirit and to restore the heart of the crushed.”