6:3 So let us acknowledge him! 1
Let us seek 2 to acknowledge 3 the Lord!
He will come to our rescue as certainly as the appearance of the dawn,
as certainly as the winter rain comes,
as certainly as the spring rain that waters the land.”
72:6 He 4 will descend like rain on the mown grass, 5
like showers that drench 6 the earth. 7
5:6 I will make it a wasteland;
no one will prune its vines or hoe its ground, 8
and thorns and briers will grow there.
I will order the clouds
not to drop any rain on it.
30:23 He will water the seed you plant in the ground,
and the ground will produce crops in abundance. 9
At that time 10 your cattle will graze in wide pastures.
44:3 For I will pour water on the parched ground 11
and cause streams to flow 12 on the dry land.
I will pour my spirit on your offspring
and my blessing on your children.
45:8 O sky, rain down from above!
Let the clouds send down showers 13 of deliverance!
Let the earth absorb it 14 so salvation may grow, 15
and deliverance may sprout up 16 along with it.
I, the Lord, create it. 17
2:18 Even on my servants, 19 both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 20
2:1 Now 21 when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
1 tn The object (“him”) is omitted in the Hebrew text, but supplied in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “let us pursue in order to know.” The Hebrew term רָדַף (radaf, “to pursue”) is used figuratively: “to aim to secure” (BDB 923 s.v. רָדַף 2). It describes the pursuit of a moral goal: “Do not pervert justice…nor accept a bribe…pursue [רָדַף] justice” (Deut 16:20); “those who pursue [רָדַף] righteousness and who seek [בָּקַשׁ, baqash] the
3 tn The Hebrew infinitive construct with לְ (lamed) denotes purpose: “to know” (לָדַעַת, lada’at).
4 tn That is, the king (see vv. 2, 4).
5 tn The rare term zg refers to a sheep’s fleece in Deut 18:4 and Job 31:20, but to “mown” grass or crops here and in Amos 7:1.
6 tc The form in the Hebrew text appears to be an otherwise unattested noun. Many prefer to emend the form to a verb from the root זָרַף (zaraf). BHS in textual note b on this verse suggests a Hiphil imperfect, third masculine plural יַזְרִיפוּ (yazrifu), while HALOT 283 s.v. *זרף prefers a Pilpel perfect, third masculine plural זִרְזְפוּ (zirzÿfu). The translation assumes the latter.
7 sn The imagery of this verse compares the blessings produced by the king’s reign to fructifying rains that cause the crops to grow.
8 tn Heb “it will not be pruned or hoed” (so NASB); ASV and NRSV both similar.
9 tn Heb “and he will give rain for your seed which you plant in the ground, and food [will be] the produce of the ground, and it will be rich and abundant.”
10 tn Or “in that day” (KJV).
11 tn Heb “the thirsty.” Parallelism suggests that dry ground is in view (see “dry land” in the next line.)
12 tn Heb “and streams”; KJV “floods.” The verb “cause…to flow” is supplied in the second line for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
13 tn Heb “let the clouds drip with”; KJV “let the skies pour down.”
14 tn Heb “open up” (so NASB); NIV, NLT “open wide.”
15 tc The plural verb should be emended to a singular form. The vav (ו) ending is probably virtually dittographic (note the yod at the beginning of the following word).
16 tc The Hiphil verb form (תַצְמִיחַ, tatsmiakh) should probably be emended to a Qal (תִצְמַח, titsmakh). The יח sequence at the end of the form is probably due to dittography (note the following יַחַד, yakhad).
17 tn The masculine singular pronominal suffix probably refers back to יָשַׁע (yasha’, “salvation”).
18 tn Heb “showers of blessing.” Abundant rain, which in turn produces fruit and crops (v. 27), is a covenantal blessing for obedience (Lev 26:4).
19 tn Grk “slaves.” Although this translation frequently renders δοῦλος (doulos) as “slave,” the connotation is often of one who has sold himself into slavery; in a spiritual sense, the idea is that of becoming a slave of God or of Jesus Christ voluntarily. The voluntary notion is not conspicuous here; hence, the translation “servants.” In any case, the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.
20 sn The words and they will prophesy in Acts 2:18 are not quoted from Joel 2:29 at this point but are repeated from earlier in the quotation (Acts 2:17) for emphasis. Tongues speaking is described as prophecy, just like intelligible tongues are described in 1 Cor 14:26-33.
21 tn Grk “And” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style does not.
22 tc The words ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῆς ἀπειθείας (epi tou" Juiou" th" apeiqeia", “on the sons of disobedience”) are lacking in Ì46 B b sa, but are found in א A C D F G H I Ψ 075 0278 33 1739 1881 Ï lat sy bo. The words are omitted by several English translations (NASB, NIV, ESV, TNIV). This textual problem is quite difficult to resolve. On the one hand, the parallel account in Eph 5:6 has these words, thus providing scribes a motive for adding them here. On the other hand, the reading without the words may be too hard: The ἐν οἷς (en |oi") of v. 7 seems to have no antecedent without υἱούς already in the text, although it could possibly be construed as neuter referring to the vice list in v. 5. Further, although the witness of B is especially important, there are other places in which B and Ì46 share errant readings of omission. Nevertheless, the strength of the internal evidence against the longer reading is at least sufficient to cause doubt here. The decision to retain the words in the text is less than certain.
23 tn Grk “you also walked.” The verb περιπατέω (peripatew) is commonly used in the NT to refer to behavior or conduct of one’s life (L&N 41.11).