52:9 In unison give a joyful shout,
O ruins of Jerusalem!
For the Lord consoles his people;
he protects 1 Jerusalem.
22:26 Let the oppressed eat and be filled! 2
Let those who seek his help praise the Lord!
May you 3 live forever!
25:9 May he show 4 the humble what is right! 5
May he teach 6 the humble his way!
69:32 The oppressed look on – let them rejoice!
You who seek God, 7 may you be encouraged! 8
149:4 For the Lord takes delight in his people;
he exalts the oppressed by delivering them. 9
5:3 “Blessed 10 are the poor in spirit, 11 for the kingdom of heaven belongs 12 to them.
5:4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 13
5:5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
1 tn Or “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.
2 sn Eat and be filled. In addition to praising the Lord, the psalmist also offers a thank offering to the Lord and invites others to share in a communal meal.
3 tn Heb “may your heart[s].”
4 tn The prefixed verbal form is jussive; the psalmist expresses his prayer.
5 tn Heb “may he guide the humble into justice.” The Hebrew term עֲנָוִים (’anavim, “humble”) usually refers to the oppressed, but in this context, where the psalmist confesses his sin and asks for moral guidance, it apparently refers to sinners who humble themselves before God and seek deliverance from their sinful condition.
6 tn The prefixed verbal form is interpreted as a jussive (it stands parallel to the jussive form, “may he guide”).
7 sn You who seek God refers to those who seek to have a relationship with God by obeying and worshiping him (see Ps 53:2).
8 tn Heb “may your heart[s] live.” See Ps 22:26.
9 tn Heb “he honors the oppressed [with] deliverance.”
10 sn The term Blessed introduces the first of several beatitudes promising blessing to those whom God cares for. They serve as an invitation to come into the grace God offers.
11 sn The poor in spirit is a reference to the “pious poor” for whom God especially cares. See Ps 14:6; 22:24; 25:16; 34:6; 40:17; 69:29.
12 sn The present tense (belongs) here is significant. Jesus makes the kingdom and its blessings currently available. This phrase is unlike the others in the list with the possessive pronoun being emphasized.
13 sn The promise they will be comforted is the first of several “reversals” noted in these promises. The beatitudes and the reversals that accompany them serve in the sermon as an invitation to enter into God’s care, because one can know God cares for those who turn to him.
14 tn Grk “and the,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more. Two other conjunctions are omitted in this series.
15 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the relationship to Jesus’ miraculous cures in the preceding sentence.
16 tn Grk “answering, he said to them.” This is redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation to “he answered them.”
17 sn The same verb has been translated “inform” in 7:18.
18 sn What you have seen and heard. The following activities all paraphrase various OT descriptions of the time of promised salvation: Isa 35:5-6; 26:19; 29:18-19; 61:1. Jesus is answering not by acknowledging a title, but by pointing to the nature of his works, thus indicating the nature of the time.
19 tn Grk “and the,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.