Psalms 32:6

32:6 For this reason every one of your faithful followers ¹  should pray to you

while there is a window of opportunity. ² 

Certainly ³  when the surging water ⁴  rises,

it will not reach them. ⁵ 

Isaiah 55:6

55:6 Seek the Lord while he makes himself available; ⁶ 

call to him while he is nearby!

Isaiah 55:2

55:2 Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? ⁷ 

Why spend ⁸  your hard-earned money ⁹  on something that will not satisfy?

Listen carefully ¹⁰  to me and eat what is nourishing! ¹¹ 

Enjoy fine food! ¹² 

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ¹³  brothers and sisters ¹⁴  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ¹⁵  from God our Father! ¹⁶ 

Hebrews 3:7-8

Exposition of Psalm 95: Hearing God’s Word in Faith

3:7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, ¹⁷ 

“Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks! ¹⁸ 

3:8 “Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness.

Hebrews 12:17

12:17 For you know that ¹⁹  later when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no opportunity for repentance, although he sought the blessing ²⁰  with tears.

¹ tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 18:25; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).

² tn Heb “at a time of finding.” This may mean, “while there is time to ‘find’ [the Lord]” and seek his forgiveness (cf. NIV). Some emend the text by combining מְצֹא (mÿtso’, “finding”) with the following term רַק (raq, “only, surely”) and read either ר[וֹ]מָצ (matsor, “distress”; see Ps 31:22) or ק[וֹ]מָצ (matsoq, “hardship”; see Ps 119:143). In this case, one may translate “in a time of distress/hardship” (cf. NEB, NRSV).

³ tn The Hebrew term רַק (raq) occasionally has an asseverative force.

⁴ sn The surging water is here a metaphor for trouble that endangers one’s life.

⁵ tn Heb “him.” The translation uses the plural “them” to agree with the plural “every one of your faithful followers” in the first line of v. 6.

⁶ tn Heb “while he allows himself to be found.” The Niphal form has a tolerative force here.

⁷ tn Heb “for what is not food.”

⁸ tn The interrogative particle and the verb “spend” are understood here by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

⁹ tn Heb “your labor,” which stands by metonymy for that which one earns.

¹⁰ tn The infinitive absolute follows the imperative and lends emphasis to the exhortation.

¹¹ tn Heb “good” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

¹² tn Heb “Let your appetite delight in fine food.”

¹³ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

¹⁴ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

¹⁵ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

¹⁶ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

¹⁷ sn The following quotation is from Ps 95:7b-11.

¹⁸ tn Grk “today if you hear his voice.”

¹⁹ tn Or a command: “for understand that.”

²⁰ tn Grk “it,” referring either to the repentance or the blessing. But the account in Gen 27:34-41 (which the author appeals to here) makes it clear that the blessing is what Esau sought. Thus in the translation the referent (the blessing) is specified for clarity.