Psalms 119:13

119:13 With my lips I proclaim

all the regulations you have revealed. ¹ 

Psalms 119:46

119:46 I will speak ²  about your regulations before kings

and not be ashamed.

Psalms 37:30

37:30 The godly speak wise words

and promote justice. ³ 

Psalms 40:9-10

40:9 I have told the great assembly ⁴  about your justice. ⁵ 

Look! I spare no words! ⁶ 

O Lord, you know this is true.

40:10 I have not failed to tell about your justice; ⁷ 

I spoke about your reliability and deliverance;

I have not neglected to tell the great assembly about your loyal love and faithfulness. ⁸ 

Psalms 78:4

78:4 we will not hide from their ⁹  descendants.

We will tell the next generation

about the Lord’s praiseworthy acts, ¹⁰ 

about his strength and the amazing things he has done.

Deuteronomy 6:7

6:7 and you must teach ¹¹  them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, ¹²  as you lie down, and as you get up.

Matthew 12:34-35

12:34 Offspring of vipers! How are you able to say anything good, since you are evil? For the mouth speaks from what fills the heart. 12:35 The good person ¹³  brings good things out of his ¹⁴  good treasury, ¹⁵  and the evil person brings evil things out of his evil treasury.

Ephesians 4:29

4:29 You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, ¹⁶  that it may give grace to those who hear.

Colossians 4:6

4:6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer everyone.

¹ tn Heb “of your mouth.”

² tn The series of four cohortatives with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive in vv. 46-48 list further consequences of the anticipated positive divine response to the request made in v. 43.

³ tn Heb “The mouth of the godly [one] utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.” The singular form is used in a representative sense; the typical godly individual is in view. The imperfect verbal forms draw attention to the characteristic behavior of the godly.

⁴ sn The great assembly is also mentioned in Pss 22:25 and 35:18.

⁵ tn Heb “I proclaim justice in the great assembly.” Though “justice” appears without a pronoun here, the Lord’s just acts are in view (see v. 10). His “justice” (צֶדֶק, tsedeq) is here the deliverance that originates in his justice; he protects and vindicates the one whose cause is just.

⁶ tn Heb “Look! My lips I do not restrain.”

⁷ tn Heb “your justice I have not hidden in the midst of my heart.”

⁸ tn Heb “I have not hidden your loyal love and reliability.”

⁹ tn The pronominal suffix refers back to the “fathers” (“our ancestors,” v. 3).

¹⁰ tn Heb “to a following generation telling the praises of the Lord.” “Praises” stand by metonymy for the mighty acts that prompt worship. Cf. Ps 9:14.

¹¹ tn Heb “repeat” (so NLT). If from the root I שָׁנַן (shanan), the verb means essentially to “engrave,” that is, “to teach incisively” (Piel); note NAB “Drill them into your children.” Cf. BDB 1041-42 s.v.

¹² tn Or “as you are away on a journey” (cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT); NAB “at home and abroad.”

¹³ tn The Greek text reads here ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpos). The term is generic referring to any person.

¹⁴ tn Grk “the”; the Greek article has been translated here and in the following clause (“his evil treasury”) as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

¹⁵ sn The treasury here is a metaphorical reference to a person’s heart (cf. BDAG 456 s.v. θησαυρός 1.b and the parallel passage in Luke 6:45).

¹⁶ tn Grk “but if something good for the building up of the need.” The final genitive τῆς χρείας (th" creia") may refer to “the need of the moment” or it may refer to the need of a particular person or group of people as the next phrase “give grace to those who hear” indicates.