Psalms 36:5

36:5 O Lord, your loyal love reaches to the sky; ¹ 

your faithfulness to the clouds. ² 

Psalms 77:19

77:19 You walked through the sea; ³ 

you passed through the surging waters, ⁴ 

but left no footprints. ⁵ 

Psalms 89:2

89:2 For I say, “Loyal love is permanently established; ⁶ 

in the skies you set up your faithfulness.” ⁷ 

Psalms 103:11

103:11 For as the skies are high above the earth,

so his loyal love towers ⁸  over his faithful followers. ⁹ 

Matthew 11:25

Jesus’ Invitation

11:25 At that time Jesus said, ¹⁰  “I praise ¹¹  you, Father, Lord ¹²  of heaven and earth, because ¹³  you have hidden these things from the wise ¹⁴  and intelligent, and revealed them to little children.

Romans 11:31-36

11:31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now ¹⁵  receive mercy. 11:32 For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all. ¹⁶ 

11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how fathomless his ways!

11:34 For who has known the mind of the Lord,

or who has been his counselor? ¹⁷ 

11:35 Or who has first given to God, ¹⁸ 

that God ¹⁹  needs to repay him? ²⁰ 

11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen.

¹ tn Heb “[is] in the heavens.”

² sn The Lord’s loyal love/faithfulness is almost limitless. He is loyal and faithful to his creation and blesses mankind and the animal kingdom with physical life and sustenance (vv. 6-9).

³ tn Heb “in the sea [was] your way.”

⁴ tn Heb “and your paths [were] in the mighty waters.”

⁵ tn Heb “and your footprints were not known.”

⁶ tn Heb “built.”

⁷ sn You set up your faithfulness. This may allude to the Lord’s heavenly throne, which symbolizes his just rule and from which the Lord decrees his unconditional promises (see vv. 8, 14).

⁸ tn For this sense of the verb גָבַר (gavar), see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 17, 19.

⁹ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “At that time, answering, Jesus said.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.

¹¹ tn Or “thank.”

¹² sn The title Lord is an important name for God, showing his sovereignty, but it is interesting that it comes next to a reference to the Father, a term indicative of God’s care. The two concepts are often related in the NT; see Eph 1:3-6.

¹³ tn Or “that.”

¹⁴ sn See 1 Cor 1:26-31.

¹⁵ tc Some important Alexandrian and Western mss (א B D*^,c 1506 pc bo) read νῦν (nun, “now”) here. A few other mss (33 365 pc sa) have ὕστερον (Justeron, “finally”). mss that lack the word are Ì⁴⁶ A D² F G Ψ 1739 1881 Ï latt. External evidence slightly favors omission with good representatives from the major texttypes, and because of the alliance of Alexandrian and Byzantine mss (with the Byzantine going against its normal tendency to embrace the longer reading). Internally, scribes could have added νῦν here to give balance to the preceding clause (οὗτοι νῦν ἠπείθησαν…αὐτοὶ νῦν ἐλεηθῶσιν [|outoi nun hpeiqhsan…autoi nun elehqwsin; “they have now been disobedient…they may now receive mercy”]). However, it seems much more likely that they would have deleted it because of its seeming inappropriateness in this context. That some witnesses have ὕστερον presupposes the presence of νῦν in their ancestors. A decision is difficult, but νῦν is slightly preferred, since it is the more difficult reading and is adequately represented in the mss.

¹⁶ tn Grk “to all”; “them” has been supplied for stylistic reasons.

¹⁷ sn A quotation from Isa 40:13.

¹⁸ tn Grk “him”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁰ sn A quotation from Job 41:11.