Haggai 1:5

1:5 Here then is what the Lord who rules over all says: ‘Think carefully about what you are doing.

Psalms 119:59-60

119:59 I consider my actions

and follow your rules.

119:60 I keep your commands

eagerly and without delay.

Isaiah 28:10

28:10 Indeed, they will hear meaningless gibberish,

senseless babbling,

a syllable here, a syllable there.

Philippians 3:1

True and False Righteousness

3:1 Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! To write this again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.


tn Heb “Set your heart upon your ways” (see 2:15, 18); traditionally “Consider your ways” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB).

tn Heb “my ways.”

tn Heb “and I turn my feet toward.”

tn Heb “I hurry and I do not delay to keep your commands.”

tn The meaning of this verse has been debated. The text has literally “indeed [or “for”] a little there, a little there” ( כִּי צַו לָצָו צַו לָצָו קַו לָקָו קַו, ki tsav latsav, tsav latsav, qav laqav, qav laqav). The present translation assumes that the repetitive syllables are gibberish that resembles baby talk (cf v. 9b) and mimics what the people will hear when foreign invaders conquer the land (v. 11). In this case זְעֵיר (zÿer, “a little”) refers to the short syllabic structure of the babbling (cf. CEV). Some take צַו (tsav) as a derivative of צָוָה (tsavah, “command”) and translate the first part of the statement as “command after command, command after command.” Proponents of this position (followed by many English versions) also take קַו (qav) as a noun meaning “measuring line” (see v. 17), understood here in the abstract sense of “standard” or “rule.”

tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:12.