Psalms 17:5

17:5 I carefully obey your commands;

I do not deviate from them.

Psalms 19:13

19:13 Moreover, keep me from committing flagrant sins;

do not allow such sins to control me.

Then I will be blameless,

and innocent of blatant rebellion.

Psalms 119:116-117

119:116 Sustain me as you promised, so that I will live.

Do not disappoint me!

119:117 Support me, so that I will be delivered.

Then I will focus on your statutes continually.

Psalms 119:133

119:133 Direct my steps by your word! 10 

Do not let any sin dominate me!

Isaiah 41:10

41:10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you!

Don’t be frightened, for I am your God! 11 

I strengthen you –

yes, I help you –

yes, I uphold you with my saving right hand! 12 

Jeremiah 10:23

10:23 Lord, we know that people do not control their own destiny. 13 

It is not in their power to determine what will happen to them. 14 

Romans 14:4

14:4 Who are you to pass judgment on another’s servant? Before his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord 15  is able to make him stand.

Romans 14:1

Exhortation to Mutual Forbearance

14:1 Now receive the one who is weak in the faith, and do not have disputes over differing opinions. 16 

Romans 1:5

1:5 Through him 17  we have received grace and our apostleship 18  to bring about the obedience 19  of faith 20  among all the Gentiles on behalf of his name.

Jude 1:24

Final Blessing

1:24 Now to the one who is able to keep you from falling, 21  and to cause you to stand, rejoicing, 22  without blemish 23  before his glorious presence, 24 


tn Heb “my steps stay firm in your tracks.” The infinitive absolute functions here as a finite verb (see GKC 347 §113.gg). God’s “tracks” are his commands, i.e., the moral pathways he has prescribed for the psalmist.

tn Heb “my footsteps do not stagger.”

tn Or “presumptuous.”

tn Heb “let them not rule over me.”

tn Heb “great.”

tn Heb “according to your word.”

tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

tn Heb “do not make me ashamed of my hope.” After the Hebrew verb בּוֹשׁ (bosh, “to be ashamed”) the preposition מִן (min, “from”) often introduces the reason for shame.

tn Or “and that I might focus.” The two cohortatives with vav (ו) conjunctive indicate purpose/result after the imperative at the beginning of the verse.

10 tn God’s “word” refers here to his law (see v. 11).

11 tn According to BDB (1043 s.v. שָׁעָה), the verb תִּשְׁתָּע (tishta’) in the second line of the poetic couplet is a Hitpael form from the root שָׁעָה (shaah, “gaze,” with metathesis of the stem prefix and the first root letter). Taking the Hitpael as iterative, one may then translate “do not anxiously look about.” However, the alleged Hitpael form of שָׁעָה (shaah) only occurs here and in verse 23. HALOT 1671 s.v. שׁתע proposes that the verb is instead a Qal form from the root שׁתע (“fear”) which is attested in cognate Semitic languages, including Ugaritic (discovered after the publishing of BDB), suggests the existence of this root. The poetic structure of v. 10 also supports the proposal, for the form in question is in synonymous parallelism to יָרֵא (yare’, “fear”).

12 tn The “right hand” is a symbol of the Lord’s power to deliver (Exod 15:6, 12) and protect (Ps 63:9 HT [63:8 ET]). Here צֶדֶק (tsedeq) has its well-attested nuance of “vindicated righteousness,” i.e., “victory, deliverance” (see 45:8; 51:5, and BDB 841-42 s.v.).

13 tn Heb “Not to the man his way.” For the nuance of “fate, destiny, or the way things turn out” for the Hebrew word “way” see Hag 1:5, Isa 40:27 and probably Ps 49:13 (cf. KBL 218 s.v. דֶּרֶךְ 5). For the idea of “control” or “hold in one’s power” for the preposition “to” see Ps 3:8 (cf. BDB 513 s.v. לְ 5.b[a]).

14 tn Heb “Not to a man the walking and the establishing his step.”

15 tc Most mss, especially Western and Byzantine (D F G 048 33 1739 1881 Ï latt), read θεός (qeos, “God”) in place of κύριος (kurios, “Lord”) here. However, κύριος is found in many of the most important mss (Ì46 א A B C P Ψ pc co), and θεός looks to be an assimilation to θεός in v. 3.

16 tn Grk “over opinions.” The qualifier “differing” has been supplied to clarify the meaning.

17 tn Grk “through whom.”

18 tn Some interpreters understand the phrase “grace and apostleship” as a hendiadys, translating “grace [i.e., gift] of apostleship.” The pronoun “our” is supplied in the translation to clarify the sense of the statement.

19 tn Grk “and apostleship for obedience.”

20 tn The phrase ὑπακοὴν πίστεως has been variously understood as (1) an objective genitive (a reference to the Christian faith, “obedience to [the] faith”); (2) a subjective genitive (“the obedience faith produces [or requires]”); (3) an attributive genitive (“believing obedience”); or (4) as a genitive of apposition (“obedience, [namely] faith”) in which “faith” further defines “obedience.” These options are discussed by C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans (ICC), 1:66. Others take the phrase as deliberately ambiguous; see D. B. Garlington, “The Obedience of Faith in the Letter to the Romans: Part I: The Meaning of ὑπακοὴ πίστεως (Rom 1:5; 16:26),” WTJ 52 (1990): 201-24.

21 tn The construction in Greek is a double accusative object-complement. “You” is the object and “free from falling” is the adjectival complement.

22 tn Grk “with rejoicing.” The prepositional clause is placed after “his glorious presence” in Greek, but most likely goes with “cause you to stand.”

23 tn The construction in Greek is a double accusative object-complement. “You” is the object and “without blemish” is the adjectival complement.

24 tn Or “in the presence of his glory,” “before his glory.”