Psalms 119:27

119:27 Help me to understand what your precepts mean! 1 

Then I can meditate 2  on your marvelous teachings. 3 

Psalms 119:36

119:36 Give me a desire for your rules, 4 

rather than for wealth gained unjustly. 5 

Psalms 119:173

119:173 May your hand help me,

for I choose to obey 6  your precepts.

Ezekiel 36:26-27

36:26 I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone 7  from your body and give you a heart of flesh. 8  36:27 I will put my Spirit within you; 9  I will take the initiative and you will obey my statutes 10  and carefully observe my regulations. 11 

Philippians 2:13

2:13 for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort – for the sake of his good pleasure – is God.

Hebrews 13:21

13:21 equip you with every good thing to do his will, working in us 12  what is pleasing before him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. 13  Amen.

1 tn Heb “the way of your precepts make me understand.”

2 tn The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

3 tn Heb “your amazing things,” which refers here to the teachings of the law (see v. 18).

4 tn Heb “turn my heart to your rules.”

5 tn Heb “and not unjust gain.”

6 tn The words “to obey” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarity.

7 sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is stubborn and unresponsive (see 1 Sam 25:37). In Rabbinic literature a “stone” was associated with an evil inclination (b. Sukkah 52a).

8 sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is responsive and obedient to God.

9 tn Or “in the midst of you.” The word “you” is plural.

10 tn Heb “and I will do that which in my statutes you will walk.” The awkward syntax (verb “to do, act” + accusative sign + relative clause + prepositional phrase + second person verb) is unique, though Eccl 3:14 contains a similar construction. In the last line of that verse we read that “God acts so that (relative pronoun) they fear before him.” However, unlike Ezek 36:27, the statement has no accusative sign before the relative pronoun.

11 tn Heb “and my laws you will guard and you will do them.” Jer 31:31-34 is parallel to this passage.

12 tc Some mss (C P Ψ 6 629* 630 1505 pm latt syh) read ὑμῖν (Jumin, “in you”) here, but ἡμῖν (Jhmin) has stronger external support (Ì46 א A Dvid K 0243 0285 33 81 104 326 365 629c 1175 1739 1881 pm syp co). It is also more likely that ἡμῖν would have been changed to ὑμῖν in light of the “you” which occurs at the beginning of the verse than vice versa.

13 tc ‡ Most mss (א A [C*] 0243 0285 33 1739 1881 Ï latt) include the words “and ever” here, but the shorter reading (supported by Ì46 C3 D Ψ 6 104 365 1505 al) is preferred on internal grounds. It seemed more likely that scribes would assimilate the wording to the common NT doxological expression “for ever and ever,” found especially in the Apocalypse (cf., e.g., 1 Tim 1:17; 2 Tim 4:18; Rev 4:9; 22:5) than to the “forever” of Heb 13:8. Nevertheless, a decision is difficult here. NA27 places the phrase in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.