Psalms 105:14-15

105:14 He let no one oppress them;

he disciplined kings for their sake,

105:15 saying, ¹  “Don’t touch my chosen ²  ones!

Don’t harm my prophets!”

Proverbs 16:7

16:7 When a person’s ³  ways are pleasing to the Lord, ⁴ 

he ⁵  even reconciles his enemies to himself. ⁶ 

Proverbs 21:1

21:1 The king’s heart ⁷  is in the hand ⁸  of the Lord like channels of water; ⁹ 

he turns it wherever he wants.

Acts 7:10

7:10 and rescued him from all his troubles, and granted him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made ¹⁰  him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.

Acts 7:1

Stephen’s Defense Before the Council

7:1 Then the high priest said, “Are these things true?” ¹¹ 

Acts 3:13

3:13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ¹²  the God of our forefathers, ¹³  has glorified ¹⁴  his servant ¹⁵  Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected ¹⁶  in the presence of Pilate after he had decided ¹⁷  to release him.

¹ tn The word “saying” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

² tn Heb “anointed.”

³ tn Heb “ways of a man.”

⁴ tn The first line uses an infinitive in a temporal clause, followed by its subject in the genitive case: “in the taking pleasure of the Lord” = “when the Lord is pleased with.” So the condition set down for the second colon is a lifestyle that is pleasing to God.

⁵ tn The referent of the verb in the second colon is unclear. The straightforward answer is that it refers to the person whose ways please the Lord – it is his lifestyle that disarms his enemies. W. McKane comments that the righteous have the power to mend relationships (Proverbs [OTL], 491); see, e.g., 10:13; 14:9; 15:1; 25:21-22). The life that is pleasing to God will be above reproach and find favor with others. Some would interpret this to mean that God makes his enemies to be at peace with him (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NLT). This is workable, but in this passage it would seem God would do this through the pleasing life of the believer (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV).

⁶ tn Heb “even his enemies he makes to be at peace with him.”

⁷ sn “Heart” is a metonymy of subject; it signifies the ability to make decisions, if not the decisions themselves.

⁸ sn “Hand” in this passage is a personification; the word is frequently used idiomatically for “power,” and that is the sense intended here.

⁹ tn “Channels of water” (פַּלְגֵי, palge) is an adverbial accusative, functioning as a figure of comparison – “like channels of water.” Cf. NAB “Like a stream”; NIV “watercourse”; NRSV, NLT “a stream of water.”

¹⁰ tn Or “appointed.” See Gen 41:41-43.

¹¹ tn Grk “If it is so concerning these things” (see BDAG 422 s.v. ἔχω 10.a for this use).

¹² tc ‡ The repetition of ὁ θεός (Jo qeos, “God”) before the names of Isaac and Jacob is found in Ì⁷⁴ א C (A D without article) 36 104 1175 pc lat. The omission of the second and third ὁ θεός is supported by B E Ψ 33 1739 Ï pc. The other time that Exod 3:6 is quoted in Acts (7:32) the best witnesses also lack the repeated ὁ θεός, but the three other times this OT passage is quoted in the NT the full form, with the thrice-mentioned θεός, is used (Matt 22:32; Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37). Scribes would be prone to conform the wording here to the LXX; the longer reading is thus most likely not authentic. NA²⁷ has the words in brackets, indicating doubts as to their authenticity.

¹³ tn Or “ancestors”; Grk “fathers.”

¹⁴ sn Has glorified. Jesus is alive, raised and active, as the healing illustrates so dramatically how God honors him.

¹⁵ sn His servant. The term servant has messianic connotations given the context of the promise, the note of suffering, and the titles and functions noted in vv. 14-15.

¹⁶ tn Or “denied,” “disowned.”

¹⁷ tn This genitive absolute construction could be understood as temporal (“when he had decided”) or concessive (“although he had decided”).