50:14 Present to God a thank-offering!
Repay your vows to the sovereign One! 5
50:23 Whoever presents a thank-offering honors me. 6
To whoever obeys my commands, I will reveal my power to deliver.” 7
66:13 I will enter 8 your temple with burnt sacrifices;
I will fulfill the vows I made to you,
66:14 which my lips uttered
and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble.
66:15 I will offer up to you fattened animals as burnt sacrifices,
along with the smell of sacrificial rams.
I will offer cattle and goats. (Selah)
107:22 Let them present thank offerings,
and loudly proclaim what he has done! 9
116:17 I will present a thank offering to you,
and call on the name of the Lord.
116:18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
before all his people,
14:2 Return to the Lord and repent! 16
Say to him: “Completely 17 forgive our iniquity;
accept 18 our penitential prayer, 19
that we may offer the praise of our lips as sacrificial bulls. 20
12:1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, 21 by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God 22 – which is your reasonable service.
1 tn Heb “let us arise and let us go up.” The first cohortative gives the statement a sense of urgency.
2 tn The cohortative with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose or consequence.
3 tn Heb “day of distress.” See Ps 20:1 which utilizes similar language.
4 tn Heb “in the way in which I went.” Jacob alludes here to God’s promise to be with him (see Gen 28:20).
5 tn Heb “Most High.” This divine title (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Pss 7:17; 9:2; 18:13; 21:7; 47:2.
6 sn The reference to a thank-offering recalls the earlier statement made in v. 14. Gratitude characterizes genuine worship.
7 tn Heb “and [to one who] sets a way I will show the deliverance of God.” Elsewhere the phrase “set a way” simply means “to travel” (see Gen 30:36; cf. NRSV). The present translation assumes an emendation of וְשָׂם דֶּרֶךְ (vÿsam derekh) to וְשֹׁמֵר דְּרָכַּי (vÿshomer dÿrakhay, “and [the one who] keeps my ways” [i.e., commands, see Pss 18:21; 37:34). Another option is to read וְשֹׁמֵר דַּרְכּוֹ (vÿshomer darko, “and [the one who] guards his way,” i.e., “the one who is careful to follow a godly lifestyle”; see Ps 39:1).
8 sn Here the psalmist switches to the singular; he speaks as the representative of the nation.
9 tn Heb “and let them proclaim his works with a ringing cry.”
10 tn Heb “33:10 Thus says the
11 sn What is predicted here is a reversal of the decimation caused by the Babylonian conquest that had been threatened in 7:34; 16:9; 25:10.
12 sn This is a common hymnic introduction to both individual songs of thanksgiving (e.g., Ps 118:1) and communal songs of thanksgiving (e.g., Ps 136 where it is a liturgical refrain accompanying a recital of Israel’s early history and of the
13 tn Heb “Oracle of the
14 tn Or “I will restore the fortunes of the land.”
15 tn This phrase simply means “as formerly” (BDB 911 s.v. רִאשׁוֹן 3.a). The reference to the “as formerly” must be established from the context. See the usage in Judg 20:32; 1 Kgs 13:6; Isa 1:26.
16 tn Heb “Take words with you and return to the
17 tn The word order כָּל־תִּשָּׂא עָוֹן (kol-tisa’ ’avon) is syntactically awkward. The BHS editors suggest rearranging the word order: תִּשָּׂא כָּל־עוֹן (“Forgive all [our] iniquity!”). However, Gesenius suggests that כָּל (“all”) does not function as the construct in the genitive phrase כָּל־עוֹן (“all [our] iniquity”); it functions adverbially modifying the verb תִּשָּׂא (“Completely forgive!”; see GKC 415 §128.e).
18 sn The repetition of the root לָקַח (laqakh) creates a striking wordplay in 14:2. If Israel will bring (לָקַח) its confession to God, he will accept (לָקַח) repentant Israel and completely forgive its sin.
19 tn Heb “and accept [our] speech.” The word טוֹב (tov) is often confused with the common homonymic root I טוֹב (tov, “good”; BDB 373 s.v. I טוֹב). However, this is probably IV טוֹב (tov, “word, speech”; HALOT 372 s.v. IV טוֹב), a hapax legomenon that is related to the verb טבב (“to speak”; HALOT 367 s.v. טבב) and the noun טִבָּה (tibbah, “rumor”; HALOT 367 s.v. טִבָּה). The term טוֹב (“word; speech”) refers to the repentant prayer mentioned in 14:1-3. Most translations relate it to I טוֹב and treat it as (1) accusative direct object: “accept that which is good” (RSV, NJPS), “Accept our good sacrifices” (CEV), or (2) adverbial accusative of manner: “receive [us] graciously” (KJV, NASB, NIV). Note TEV, however, which follows the suggestion made here: “accept our prayer.”
20 tc The MT reads פָרִים (farim, “bulls”), but the LXX reflects פְּרִי (pÿri, “fruit”), a reading followed by NASB, NIV, NRSV: “that we may offer the fruit of [our] lips [as sacrifices to you].” Although the Greek expression in Heb 13:15 (καρπὸν χειλέων, karpon xeilewn, “the fruit of lips”) reflects this LXX phrase, the MT makes good sense as it stands; NT usage of the LXX should not be considered decisive in resolving OT textual problems. The noun פָרִים (parim, “bulls”) functions as an adverbial accusative of state.
21 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
22 tn The participle and two adjectives “alive, holy, and pleasing to God” are taken as predicates in relation to “sacrifice,” making the exhortation more emphatic. See ExSyn 618-19.