Psalms 73:23

73:23 But I am continually with you;

you hold my right hand.

Psalms 109:31

109:31 because he stands at the right hand of the needy,

to deliver him from those who threaten ¹  his life.

Psalms 110:5

110:5 O sovereign Lord, ²  at your right hand

he strikes down ³  kings in the day he unleashes his anger. ⁴ 

Isaiah 41:13

41:13 For I am the Lord your God,

the one who takes hold of your right hand,

who says to you, ‘Don’t be afraid, I am helping you.’

Isaiah 50:7-9

50:7 But the sovereign Lord helps me,

so I am not humiliated.

For that reason I am steadfastly resolved; ⁵ 

I know I will not be put to shame.

50:8 The one who vindicates me is close by.

Who dares to argue with me? Let us confront each other! ⁶ 

Who is my accuser? ⁷  Let him challenge me! ⁸ 

50:9 Look, the sovereign Lord helps me.

Who dares to condemn me?

Look, all of them will wear out like clothes;

a moth will eat away at them.

John 16:32

16:32 Look, a time ⁹  is coming – and has come – when you will be scattered, each one to his own home, ¹⁰  and I will be left alone. ¹¹  Yet ¹²  I am not alone, because my Father ¹³  is with me.

¹ tn Heb “judge.”

² tn As pointed in the Hebrew text, this title refers to God (many medieval Hebrew mss read יְהוָה, yehveh, “Lord” here). The present translation assumes that the psalmist here addresses the Lord as he celebrates what the king is able to accomplish while positioned at God’s “right hand.” According to this view the king is the subject of the third person verb forms in vv. 5b-7. (2) Another option is to understand the king as the addressee (as in vv. 2-3). In this case “the Lord” is the subject of the third person verbs throughout vv. 5-7 and is depicted as a warrior in a very anthropomorphic manner. In this case the Lord is pictured as being at the psalmist’s right hand (just the opposite of v. 1). See Pss 16:8; 121:5. (3) A third option is to revocalize אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “Lord”) as אֲדֹנִי (’adoniy, “my lord”; see v. 1). In this case one may translate, “My lord, at his [God’s] right hand, strikes down.” In this case the king is the subject of the third person verbs in vv. 5b-7.

³ tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 5-6 are understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing. Another option is to take them as rhetorical. In this case the psalmist describes anticipated events as if they had already taken place.

⁴ tn Heb “in the day of his anger.”

⁵ tn Heb “Therefore I set my face like flint.”

⁶ tn Heb “Let us stand together!”

⁷ tn Heb “Who is the master of my judgment?”

⁸ tn Heb “let him approach me”; NAB, NIV “Let him confront me.”

⁹ tn Grk “an hour.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “each one to his own”; the word “home” is not in the Greek text but is implied. The phrase “each one to his own” may be completed in a number of different ways: “each one to his own property”; “each one to his own family”; or “each one to his own home.” The last option seems to fit most easily into the context and so is used in the translation.

¹¹ sn The proof of Jesus’ negative evaluation of the disciples’ faith is now given: Jesus foretells their abandonment of him at his arrest, trials, and crucifixion (I will be left alone). This parallels the synoptic accounts in Matt 26:31 and Mark 14:27 when Jesus, after the last supper and on the way to Gethsemane, foretold the desertion of the disciples as a fulfillment of Zech 13:7: “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” Yet although the disciples would abandon Jesus, he reaffirmed that he was not alone, because the Father was still with him.

¹² tn Grk “And” (but with some contrastive force).

¹³ tn Grk “the Father.”