30:9 “What 1 profit is there in taking my life, 2
in my descending into the Pit? 3
Can the dust of the grave 4 praise you?
Can it declare your loyalty? 5
9:10 Whatever you find to do with your hands, 6
do it with all your might,
because there is neither work nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave, 7
the place where you will eventually go. 8
38:18 Indeed 9 Sheol does not give you thanks;
death does not 10 praise you.
Those who descend into the pit do not anticipate your faithfulness.
38:19 The living person, the living person, he gives you thanks,
as I do today.
A father tells his sons about your faithfulness.
57:1 The godly 11 perish,
but no one cares. 12
Honest people disappear, 13
when no one 14 minds 15
that the godly 16 disappear 17 because of 18 evil. 19
1 sn The following two verses (vv. 9-10) contain the prayer (or an excerpt of the prayer) that the psalmist offered to the Lord during his crisis.
2 tn Heb “What profit [is there] in my blood?” “Blood” here represents his life.
3 tn The Hebrew term שָׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 16:10; 49:9; 55:24; 103:4).
4 tn Heb “dust.” The words “of the grave” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
5 tn The rhetorical questions anticipate the answer, “Of course not!”
6 tn Heb “Whatever your hand finds to do.”
7 tn Heb “Sheol.”
8 tn Or “where you are about to go.”
9 tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
10 tn The negative particle is understood by ellipsis in this line. See GKC 483 §152.z.
11 tn Or “righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “the just man”; TEV “Good people.”
12 tn Or perhaps, “understands.” Heb “and there is no man who sets [it] upon [his] heart.”
13 tn Heb “Men of loyalty are taken away.” The Niphal of אָסַף (’asaf) here means “to die.”
14 tn The Hebrew term בְּאֵין (bÿ’en) often has the nuance “when there is no.” See Prov 8:24; 11;14; 14:4; 15:22; 26:20; 29:18.
15 tn Or “realizes”; Heb “understands” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).
16 tn Or “righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “the just man.”
17 tn Heb “are taken away.” The Niphal of אָסַף (’asaf) here means “to die.”
18 tn The term מִפְּנֵי (mippÿne, “from the face of”) often has a causal nuance. It also appears with the Niphal of אָסַף (’asaph, “gather”) in 2 Chr 12:5: אֲשֶׁר־נֶאֶסְפוּ אֶל־יְרוּשָׁלַם מִפְּנֵי שִׁישָׁק (’asher-ne’esphu ’el-yÿrushalam mippÿney shishaq, “who had gathered at Jerusalem because of [i.e., due to fear of] Shishak”).
19 tn The translation assumes that this verse, in proverbial fashion, laments society’s apathy over the persecution of the godly. The second half of the verse observes that such apathy results in more widespread oppression. Since the next verse pictures the godly being taken to a place of rest, some interpret the second half of v. 1 in a more positive vein. According to proponents of this view, God removes the godly so that they might be spared suffering and calamity, a fact which the general populace fails to realize.
20 tn Grk “be,” that is, “remain.” In this context that would involve accompanying Jesus as he went on his way.
21 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
22 tn Grk “your house.”
23 tn Or “describe.”
24 sn Jesus instructs the man to declare what God has done for him, in contrast to the usual instructions (e.g., 8:56; 9:21) to remain silent. Here in Gentile territory Jesus allowed more open discussion of his ministry. D. L. Bock (Luke [BECNT], 1:781) suggests that with few Jewish religious representatives present, there would be less danger of misunderstanding Jesus’ ministry as political.
25 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the man’s response to Jesus’ instructions.
26 tn Or “city.”
27 sn Note that the man could not separate what God had done from the one through whom God had done it (what Jesus had done for him). This man was called to witness to God’s goodness at home.
28 tn Grk “according to my eager expectation and hope.” The κατά (kata) phrase is taken as governing the following ὅτι (Joti) clause (“that I will not be ashamed…”); the idea could be expressed more verbally as “I confidently hope that I will not be ashamed…”
29 tn Or possibly, “be intimidated, be put to shame.”
30 tn Grk “whether by life or by death.”
31 tn Grk “flesh.”
32 tn Grk “fruit of work”; the genitive ἔργου (ergou) is taken as an attributed genitive in which the head noun, καρπός (karpos), functions attributively (cf. ExSyn 89-91).
33 tn Grk “what I shall prefer.” The Greek verb αἱρέω (Jairew) could also mean “choose,” but in this context such a translation is problematic for it suggests that Paul could perhaps choose suicide (cf. L&N 30.86).
34 tn Grk “I am hard-pressed between the two.” Cf. L&N 30.18.
35 tn Grk “But to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.”
36 tn Grk “the flesh.”
37 tn Grk “for your progress.”
38 sn Paul’s confidence in his release from prison (I know that I will remain and continue with all of you) implies that this Roman imprisonment did not end in his death. Hence, there is the likelihood that he experienced a second Roman imprisonment later on (since the belief of the early church was that Paul died under Nero in Rome). If so, then the pastoral letters (1-2 Tim, Titus) could well fit into a life of Paul that goes beyond any descriptions in the book of Acts (which ends with Paul’s first Roman imprisonment). Some have argued that the pastorals cannot be genuine because they cannot fit into the history of Acts. But this view presupposes that Paul’s first Roman imprisonment was also his last.
39 tn Grk “your boasting may overflow in Christ Jesus because of me,” or possibly, “your boasting in me may overflow in Christ Jesus.” BDAG 536 s.v. καύχημα 1 translates the phrase τὸ καύχημα ὑμῶν (to kauchma jJumwn) in Phil 1:26 as “what you can be proud of.”
40 tn Grk “through my coming again to you.”