37:32 Evil men set an ambush for the godly
and try to kill them. 1
37:33 But the Lord does not surrender the godly,
or allow them to be condemned in a court of law. 2
56:5 All day long they cause me trouble; 3
they make a habit of plotting my demise. 4
56:6 They stalk 5 and lurk; 6
they watch my every step, 7
as 8 they prepare to take my life. 9
22:15 Then the Pharisees 10 went out and planned together to entrap him with his own words. 11
22:18 But Jesus realized their evil intentions and said, “Hypocrites! Why are you testing me?
12:13 Then 14 they sent some of the Pharisees 15 and Herodians 16 to trap him with his own words. 17
1 tn Heb “an evil [one] watches the godly [one] and seeks to kill him.” The singular forms are used in a representative sense; the typical evildoer and godly individual are in view. The active participles describe characteristic behavior.
2 tn Heb “the
3 tn Heb “my affairs they disturb.” For other instances of דָּבָר (davar) meaning “affairs, business,” see BDB 183 s.v.. The Piel of עָצַב (’atsav, “to hurt”) occurs only here and in Isa 63:10, where it is used of “grieving” (or “offending”) the Lord’s holy Spirit. Here in Ps 56:5, the verb seems to carry the nuance “disturb, upset,” in the sense of “cause trouble.”
4 tn Heb “against me [are] all their thoughts for harm.”
5 tn The verb is from the root גּוּר (gur), which means “to challenge, attack” in Isa 54:15 and “to stalk” (with hostile intent) in Ps 59:3.
6 tn Or “hide.”
7 tn Heb “my heels.”
8 tn Heb “according to,” in the sense of “inasmuch as; since,” or “when; while.”
9 tn Heb “they wait [for] my life.”
10 sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.
11 tn Grk “trap him in word.”
12 tn Traditionally, “a lawyer.” This was an expert in the interpretation of the Mosaic law.
13 tn Grk “testing.” The participle, however, is telic in force.
14 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
15 sn See the note on Pharisees in 2:16.
16 sn Pharisees and Herodians made a very interesting alliance. W. W. Wessel (“Mark,” EBC 8:733) comments: “The Herodians were as obnoxious to the Pharisees on political grounds as the Sadducees were on theological grounds. Yet the two groups united in their opposition to Jesus. Collaboration in wickedness, as well as goodness, has great power. Their purpose was to trip Jesus up in his words so that he would lose the support of the people, leaving the way open for them to destroy him.” See also the note on “Herodians” in Mark 3:6.
17 tn Grk “trap him in word.”