Psalms 138:8

138:8 The Lord avenges me. ¹ 

O Lord, your loyal love endures.

Do not abandon those whom you have made! ² 

Isaiah 26:12

26:12 O Lord, you make us secure, ³ 

for even all we have accomplished, you have done for us. ⁴ 

Philippians 1:6

1:6 For I am sure of this very thing, ⁵  that the one ⁶  who began a good work in ⁷  you will perfect it ⁸  until the day of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 2:12

Lights in the World

2:12 So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence, ⁹ 

Hebrews 13:21

13:21 equip you with every good thing to do his will, working in us ¹⁰  what is pleasing before him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. ¹¹  Amen.

¹ tn Heb “avenges on my behalf.” For the meaning “to avenge” for the verb גָּמַר (gamar), see HALOT 197-98 s.v. גמר.

² tn Heb “the works of your hands.” Many medieval Hebrew mss read the singular, “work of your hands.”

³ tn Heb “O Lord, you establish peace for us.”

⁴ tc Some suggest emending גַּם כָּל (gam kol, “even all”) to כִּגְמֻל (kigmul, “according to the deed[s] of”) One might then translate “for according to what our deeds deserve, you have acted on our behalf.” Nevertheless, accepting the MT as it stands, the prophet affirms that Yahweh deserved all the credit for anything Israel had accomplished.

⁵ tn Grk “since I am sure of this very thing.” The verse begins with an adverbial participle that is dependent on the main verb in v. 3 (“I thank”). Paul here gives one reason for his thankfulness.

⁶ tn The referent is clearly God from the overall context of the paragraph and the mention of “the day of Christ Jesus” at the end, which would be redundant if Christ were referred to here.

⁷ tn Or “among.”

⁸ tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text but has been supplied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

⁹ tn Grk “with fear and trembling.” The Greek words φόβος and τρόμος both imply fear in a negative sense (L&N 25.251 and 16.6 respectively) while the former can also refer to respect and awe for deity (L&N 53.59). Paul’s use of the terms in other contexts refers to “awe and reverence in the presence of God” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 284; see discussion on 282-84). The translation “awe and reverence” was chosen to portray the attitude the believer should have toward God as they consider their behavior in light of God working through Jesus Christ (2:6-11) and in the believer’s life (2:13) to accomplish their salvation.

¹⁰ tc Some mss (C P Ψ 6 629* 630 1505 pm latt sy^h) read ὑμῖν (Jumin, “in you”) here, but ἡμῖν (Jhmin) has stronger external support (Ì⁴⁶ א A D^vid K 0243 0285 33 81 104 326 365 629^c 1175 1739 1881 pm sy^p 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.

¹¹ 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.