27:5 So Moses brought their case before the Lord.
25:14 The Lord’s loyal followers receive his guidance, 1
and he reveals his covenantal demands to them. 2
85:8 I will listen to what God the Lord says. 3
For he will make 4 peace with his people, his faithful followers. 5
Yet they must not 6 return to their foolish ways.
3:5 Trust 7 in the Lord with all your heart, 8
and do not rely 9 on your own understanding. 10
3:6 Acknowledge 11 him in all your ways, 12
and he will make your paths straight. 13
20:1 After the disturbance had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging 25 them and saying farewell, 26 he left to go to Macedonia. 27
1 tn Heb “the advice of the
2 tn Heb “and his covenant, to make them know.”
3 sn I will listen. Having asked for the Lord’s favor, the psalmist (who here represents the nation) anticipates a divine word of assurance.
4 tn Heb “speak.” The idiom “speak peace” refers to establishing or maintaining peaceful relations with someone (see Gen 37:4; Zech 9:10; cf. Ps 122:8).
5 tn Heb “to his people and to his faithful followers.” The translation assumes that “his people” and “his faithful followers” are viewed as identical here.
6 tn Or “yet let them not.” After the negative particle אֵל (’el), the prefixed verbal form is jussive, indicating the speaker’s desire or wish.
7 sn The word בְּטַח (bÿtakh, “trust”) is used in the OT in (1) literal physical sense: to physically lean upon something for support and (2) figurative sense: to rely upon someone or something for help or protection (BDB 105 s.v. I בְּטַח; HALOT 120 s.v. I בטח). The verb is often used with false securities, people trusting in things that prove to be worthless. But here the object of the secure trust is the
8 sn The “heart” functions as a metonymy of subject encompassing mind, emotions and will (BDB 524 s.v. לֵב 2).
9 tn Heb “do not lean.” The verb שָׁעַן (sha’an, “to lean; to rely”) is used in (1) literal physical sense of leaning upon something for support and (2) figurative sense of relying upon someone or something for help or protection (BDB 1043 s.v.). Here it functions figuratively (hypocatastasis: implied comparison); relying on one’s own understanding is compared to leaning on something that is unreliable for support (e.g., Isa 10:20).
10 tn Heb “your understanding.” The term בִּינָה (binah, “understanding”) is used elsewhere in this book of insight given by God from the instructions in Proverbs (Prov 2:3; 7:4; 8:14; 9:6, 10; 23:23). Here it refers to inherent human understanding that functions in relative ignorance unless supplemented by divine wisdom (Job 28:12-28; 39:26). The reflexive pronoun “own” is supplied in the translation to clarify this point. It is dangerous for a person to rely upon mere human wisdom (Prov 14:12; 16:25).
11 tn Heb “know him.” The verb יָדַע (yadah, “to know”) includes mental awareness of who God is and the consequential submission to his lordship. To know him is to obey him. The sage is calling for a life of trust and obedience in which the disciple sees the
12 tn The term דֶרֶךְ (derekh, “way”) is figurative (hypocatastasis: implied comparison) referring to a person’s course of life, actions and undertakings (Prov 2:8; 3:6, 23; 11:5; 20:24; 29:27; 31:3; BDB 203 s.v. 5; cf. TEV “in everything you do”; NCV, NLT “in all you do”). This is a call for total commitment in trust for obedience in all things.
13 tn The verb יָשָׁר (yashar) means “to make smooth; to make straight” (BDB 444 s.v.). This phrase means “to make the way free from obstacles,” that is, to make it successful (e.g., Isa 40:3). The straight, even road is the right road; God will make the way smooth for the believer.
14 tn The literal role of a watchman is described in 2 Sam 18:24; 2 Kgs 9:17.
15 tn Grk “his will.”
16 tn Grk “or whether I speak from myself.”
17 tn Grk And they.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.
18 tn Or “received.”
19 tn The word “them” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
20 tn Or “truly.”
21 tn Or have come to know.”
22 tn Or “did not avoid.” BDAG 1041 s.v. ὑποστέλλω 2.b has “shrink from, avoid implying fear…οὐ γὰρ ὑπεστειλάμην τοῦ μὴ ἀναγγεῖλαι I did not shrink from proclaiming Ac 20:27”; L&N 13.160 has “to hold oneself back from doing something, with the implication of some fearful concern – ‘to hold back from, to shrink from, to avoid’…‘for I have not held back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God’ Ac 20:27.”
23 tn Or “proclaiming,” “declaring.”
24 tn Or “plan.”
25 tn Or “exhorting.”
26 tn Or “and taking leave of them.”
27 sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.
28 tn The phrase begins with the ἵνα (Jina) clause and is subordinate to the imperative προσκαρτερεῖτε (proskartereite) in v. 2. The reference to the idea that Paul must make it known indicates that this clause is probably best viewed as purpose and not content, like the ἵνα of v. 3. It is the second purpose stated in the context; the first is expressed through the infinitive λαλῆσαι (lalhsai) in v. 3. The term “pray” at the beginning of the sentence is intended to pick up the imperative of v. 3.
29 tn BDAG 276 s.v. ἑδραῖος suggests “firm, steadfast.”
30 tn BDAG 639 s.v. μετακινέω suggests “without shifting from the hope” here.
31 tn Grk “his”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.
32 sn A quotation from Num 12:7.
33 sn The Greek makes the contrast between v. 5 and v. 6a more emphatic and explicit than is easily done in English.
34 tn Grk “his”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.
35 tn Grk “whose house we are,” continuing the previous sentence.
36 tc The reading adopted by the translation is found in Ì13,46 B sa, while the vast majority of
37 tn Grk “the pride of our hope.”