25:10 The Lord always proves faithful and reliable 1
to those who follow the demands of his covenant. 2
37:4 Then you will take delight in the Lord, 3
and he will answer your prayers. 4
112:1 Praise the Lord!
How blessed is the one 6 who obeys 7 the Lord,
who takes great delight in keeping his commands. 8
1 tn Heb “all the paths of the
2 tn Heb “to the ones who keep his covenant and his testimonies.”
3 tn Following the imperatives of v. 3 the prefixed verbal forms with vav (ו) in v. 4 indicate result. Faith and obedience (v. 3) will bring divine blessing (v. 4).
4 tn Or “and he will give you what you desire most.” Heb “and he will grant to you the requests of your heart.”
5 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.
6 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.
7 tn Heb “fears.”
8 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.
9 tn In the Greek text this represents a continuation of the previous sentence. Because of the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences, a new sentence was begun here in the translation.
10 sn The description of Cornelius as a devout, God-fearing man probably means that he belonged to the category called “God-fearers,” Gentiles who worshiped the God of Israel and in many cases kept the Mosaic law, but did not take the final step of circumcision necessary to become a proselyte to Judaism. See further K. G. Kuhn, TDNT 6:732-34, 43-44, and Sir 11:17; 27:11; 39:27.
11 tn Or “gave many gifts to the poor.” This was known as “giving alms,” or acts of mercy (Sir 7:10; BDAG 315-16 s.v. ἐλεημοσύνη).
12 tn Grk “at about the ninth hour of the day.” This would be the time for afternoon prayer.
13 tn Or “the angel of God.” Linguistically, “angel of God” is the same in both testaments (and thus, he is either “an angel of God” or “the angel of God” in both testaments). For arguments and implications, see ExSyn 252; M. J. Davidson, “Angels,” DJG, 9; W. G. MacDonald argues for “an angel” in both testaments: “Christology and ‘The Angel of the Lord’,” Current Issues in Biblical and Patristic Interpretation, 324-35.
14 tn The participles εἰσελθόντα (eiselqonta) and εἰπόντα (eiponta) are accusative, and thus best taken as adjectival participles modifying ἄγγελον (angelon): “an angel who came in and said.”
15 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Cornelius) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
16 tn Grk “said,” but in response to the angel’s address, “replied” is better English style.
17 tn Grk “he”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
18 tn Or “your gifts to the needy.”
19 sn The language used in the expression gone up as a memorial before God parallels what one would say of acceptable sacrifices (Ps 141:2; Sir 35:6; 50:16).
20 sn See Luke 24:47.
21 tn Or “shows reverence for him.”
22 tn Grk “works righteousness”; the translation “does what is right” for this phrase in this verse is given by L&N 25.85.
23 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:12.
24 tn Grk “But this one thing (I do).”
25 tn Grk “according to the goal.”
26 tn Grk “prize, namely, the heavenly calling of God.”
27 tn Grk “those of us who are ‘perfect’ should think this,” or possibly “those of us who are mature should think this.”
28 tn Grk “reveal this to you.” The referent of the pronoun “this” is the fact that the person is thinking differently than Paul does. This has been specified in the translation with the phrase “the error of your ways”; Paul is stating that God will make it known to these believers when they are not in agreement with Paul.