Proverbs 3:16

3:16 Long life ¹  is in her right hand;

in her left hand are riches and honor.

Proverbs 21:21

21:21 The one who pursues righteousness and love ² 

finds life, bounty, ³  and honor.

Psalms 34:9-10

34:9 Remain loyal to ⁴  the Lord, you chosen people of his, ⁵ 

for his loyal followers ⁶  lack nothing!

34:10 Even young lions sometimes lack food and are hungry,

but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Psalms 112:1-3

Psalm 112 ⁷ 

112:1 Praise the Lord!

How blessed is the one ⁸  who obeys ⁹  the Lord,

who takes great delight in keeping his commands. ¹⁰ 

112:2 His descendants ¹¹  will be powerful on the earth;

the godly ¹²  will be blessed.

112:3 His house contains wealth and riches;

his integrity endures. ¹³ 

Isaiah 33:6

33:6 He is your constant source of stability; ¹⁴ 

he abundantly provides safety and great wisdom; ¹⁵ 

he gives all this to those who fear him. ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 57:15

57:15 For this is what the high and exalted one says,

the one who rules ¹⁷  forever, whose name is holy:

“I dwell in an exalted and holy place,

but also with the discouraged and humiliated, ¹⁸ 

in order to cheer up the humiliated

and to encourage the discouraged. ¹⁹ 

Matthew 6:33

6:33 But above all pursue his kingdom ²⁰  and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew 6:1

Pure-hearted Giving

6:1 “Be ²¹  careful not to display your righteousness merely to be seen by people. ²²  Otherwise you have no reward with your Father in heaven.

Matthew 4:8

4:8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their grandeur. ²³ 

James 4:6

4:6 But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.” ²⁴ 

James 4:10

4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.

¹ tn Heb “length of days” (so KJV, ASV).

² sn These two attributes, “righteousness” (צְדָקָה, tsÿdaqah) and “loyal love” (חֶסֶד, khesed) depict the life style of the covenant-believer who is pleasing to God and a blessing to others. The first term means that he will do what is right, and the second means that he will be faithful to the covenant community.

³ sn The Hebrew term translated “bounty” is צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah) again, so there is a wordplay on the term in the verse. The first use of the word had the basic meaning of “conduct that conforms to God’s standard”; this second use may be understood as a metonymy of cause, indicating the provision or reward (“bounty”) that comes from keeping righteousness (cf. NIV “prosperity”; NCV “success”). The proverb is similar to Matt 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.”

⁴ tn Heb “fear.”

⁵ tn Heb “O holy ones of his.”

⁶ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

⁷ sn Psalm 112. This wisdom psalm lists some of the benefits of living a godly life. The psalm is an acrostic. After the introductory call to praise, every poetic line (twenty-two in all) begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

⁸ tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man.” Hebrew wisdom literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The individual is representative of a larger group, called the “godly” in vv. 3-4. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender specific “man” with the more neutral “one.” The generic masculine pronoun is used in the following verses.

⁹ tn Heb “fears.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “in his commands he delights very much.” The words “in keeping” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Taking delight in the law is metonymic here for obeying God’s moral will. See Ps 1:2.

¹¹ tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

¹² tn Heb “His seed will be mighty on the earth, the generation of the godly.” The Hebrew term דוֹר (dor, “generation”) could be taken as parallel to “offspring” and translated “posterity,” but the singular more likely refers to the godly as a class. See BDB 189-90 s.v. for other examples where “generation” refers to a class of people.

¹³ tn Heb “stands forever.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “and he is the stability of your times.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “a rich store of deliverance, wisdom, and knowledge.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “the fear of the Lord, it is his treasure.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “the one who dwells forever.” שֹׁכֵן עַד (shokhen ’ad) is sometimes translated “the one who lives forever,” and understood as a reference to God’s eternal existence. However, the immediately preceding and following descriptions (“high and exalted” and “holy”) emphasize his sovereign rule. In the next line, he declares, “I dwell in an exalted and holy [place],” which refers to the place from which he rules. Therefore it is more likely that שֹׁכֵן עַד (shokhen ’ad) means “I dwell [in my lofty palace] forever” and refers to God’s eternal kingship.

¹⁸ tn Heb “and also with the crushed and lowly of spirit.” This may refer to the repentant who have humbled themselves (see 66:2) or more generally to the exiles who have experienced discouragement and humiliation.

¹⁹ tn Heb “to restore the lowly of spirit and to restore the heart of the crushed.”

²⁰ tc ‡ Most mss (L W Θ 0233 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat sy mae) read τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ (thn basileian tou qeou kai thn dikaiosunhn aujtou, “the kingdom of God and his righteousness”) here, but the words “of God” are lacking in א B pc sa bo Eus. On the one hand, there is the possibility of accidental omission on the part of these Alexandrian witnesses, but it seems unlikely that the scribe’s eye would skip over both words (especially since τοῦ θεοῦ is bracketed by first declension nouns). Intrinsically, the author generally has a genitive modifier with βασιλεία – especially θεοῦ or οὐρανῶν (ouranwn) – but this argument cuts both ways: Although he might be expected to use such an adjunct here, scribes might also be familiar with his practice and would thus naturally insert it if it were missing in their copy of Matthew. Although a decision is difficult, the omission of τοῦ θεοῦ is considered most likely to be original. NA²⁷ includes the words in brackets, indicating doubt as to their authenticity.

²¹ tc ‡ Several mss (א L Z Θ Ë¹ 33 892 1241 1424 al) have δέ (de, “but, now”) at the beginning of this verse; the reading without δέ is supported by B D W 0250 ˹³ Ï lat. A decision is difficult, but apparently the conjunction was added by later scribes to indicate a transition in the thought-flow of the Sermon on the Mount. NA²⁷ has δέ in brackets, indicating reservations about its authenticity.

²² tn Grk “before people in order to be seen by them.”

²³ tn Grk “glory.”

²⁴ sn A quotation from Prov 3:34.