4:14 “Oh people of Jerusalem, purify your hearts from evil 1
so that you may yet be delivered.
How long will you continue to harbor up
wicked schemes within you?
94:4 They spew out threats 2 and speak defiantly;
all the evildoers boast. 3
94:8 Take notice of this, 4 you ignorant people! 5
You fools, when will you ever understand?
24:13 You mix uncleanness with obscene conduct. 6
I tried to cleanse you, 7 but you are not clean.
You will not be cleansed from your uncleanness 8
until I have exhausted my anger on you.
36:37 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: I will allow the house of Israel to ask me to do this for them: 10 I will multiply their people like sheep. 11
11:9 “So 12 I tell you: Ask, 13 and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door 14 will be opened for you. 11:10 For everyone who asks 15 receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door 16 will be opened. 11:11 What father among you, if your 17 son asks for 18 a fish, will give him a snake 19 instead of a fish? 11:12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 20 11:13 If you then, although you are 21 evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit 22 to those who ask him!”
Father, 24 may your name be honored; 25
may your kingdom come. 26
1:1 From Paul, 27 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
1 tn Heb “Oh, Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil.”
2 tn Heb “they gush forth [words].”
3 tn The Hitpael of אָמַר (’amar) occurs only here (and perhaps in Isa 61:6).
4 tn Heb “understand.” The verb used in v. 7 is repeated here for rhetorical effect. The people referred to here claim God is ignorant of their actions, but the psalmist corrects their faulty viewpoint.
5 tn Heb “[you] brutish among the people.”
6 tn Heb “in your uncleanness (is) obscene conduct.”
7 tn Heb “because I cleansed you.” In this context (see especially the very next statement), the statement must refer to divine intention and purpose. Despite God’s efforts to cleanse his people, they resisted him and remained morally impure.
8 tn The Hebrew text adds the word “again.”
9 sn The Lord here uses a metaphor from the realm of ritual purification. For the use of water in ritual cleansing, see Exod 30:19-20; Lev 14:51; Num 19:18; Heb 10:22.
10 tn The Niphal verb may have a tolerative function here, “Again (for) this I will allow myself to be sought by the house of Israel to act for them.” Or it may be reflexive: “I will reveal myself to the house of Israel by doing this also.”
11 sn Heb “I will multiply them like sheep, human(s).”
12 tn Here καί (kai, from καγώ [kagw]) has been translated as “so” to indicate the conclusion drawn from the preceding parable.
13 sn The three present imperatives in this verse (Ask…seek…knock) are probably intended to call for a repeated or continual approach before God.
14 tn Grk “it”; the referent (a door) is implied by the context and has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15 sn The actions of asking, seeking, and knocking are repeated here from v. 9 with the encouragement that God does respond.
16 tn Grk “it”; the referent (a door) is implied by the context and has been specified in the translation for clarity.
17 tn Grk “the”; in context the article is used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).
18 tc Most
19 sn The snake probably refers to a water snake.
20 sn The two questions of vv. 11-12 expect the answer, “No father would do this!”
21 tn The participle ὑπάρχοντες (Juparconte") has been translated as a concessive participle.
22 sn The provision of the Holy Spirit is probably a reference to the wisdom and guidance supplied in response to repeated requests. Some apply it to the general provision of the Spirit, but this would seem to look only at one request in a context that speaks of repeated asking. The teaching as a whole stresses not that God gives everything his children want, but that God gives the good that they need. The parallel account in Matthew (7:11) refers to good things where Luke mentions the Holy Spirit.
23 sn When you pray. What follows, although traditionally known as the Lord’s prayer, is really the disciples’ prayer. It represents how they are to approach God, by acknowledging his uniqueness and their need for his provision and protection.
24 tc Most
25 tn Grk “hallowed be your name.”
26 tc Most
27 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.