Psalms 44:22

44:22 Yet because of you ¹  we are killed all day long;

we are treated like ²  sheep at the slaughtering block. ³ 

Psalms 44:1

Psalm 44 ⁴ 

For the music director; by the Korahites, a well-written song. ⁵ 

44:1 O God, we have clearly heard; ⁶ 

our ancestors ⁷  have told us

what you did ⁸  in their days,

in ancient times. ⁹ 

Psalms 22:18-19

22:18 They are dividing up my clothes among themselves;

they are rolling dice ¹⁰  for my garments.

22:19 But you, O Lord, do not remain far away!

You are my source of strength! ¹¹  Hurry and help me! ¹² 

Romans 8:36

8:36 As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” ¹³ 

Romans 8:2

8:2 For the law of the life-giving Spirit ¹⁴  in Christ Jesus has set you ¹⁵  free from the law of sin and death.

Colossians 1:9

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ¹⁶  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ¹⁷  to fill ¹⁸  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

Hebrews 11:37

11:37 They were stoned, sawed apart, ¹⁹  murdered with the sword; they went about in sheepskins and goatskins; they were destitute, afflicted, ill-treated

Revelation 11:8-9

11:8 Their ²⁰  corpses will lie in the street ²¹  of the great city that is symbolically ²²  called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was also crucified. 11:9 For three and a half days those from every ²³  people, tribe, ²⁴  nation, and language will look at their corpses, because they will not permit them to be placed in a tomb. ²⁵ 

¹ tn The statement “because of you” (1) may simply indicate that God is the cause of the Israelites’ defeat (see vv. 9-14, where the nation’s situation is attributed directly to God’s activity, and cf. NEB, NRSV), or (2) it may suggest they suffer because of their allegiance to God (see Ps 69:7 and Jer 15:15). In this case one should translate, “for your sake” (cf. NASB, NIV). The citation of this verse in Rom 8:36 follows the LXX (Ps 43:23 LXX), where the Greek term ἕνεκεν (Jeneken; LXX ἕνεκα) may likewise mean “because of” or “for the sake of” (BDAG 334 s.v. ἕνεκα 1).

² tn Or “regarded as.”

³ tn Heb “like sheep of slaughtering,” that is, sheep destined for slaughter.

⁴ sn Psalm 44. The speakers in this psalm (the worshiping community within the nation Israel) were disappointed with God. The psalm begins on a positive note, praising God for leading Israel to past military victories. Verses 1-8 appear to be a song of confidence and petition which the people recited prior to battle. But suddenly the mood changes as the nation laments a recent defeat. The stark contrast between the present and the past only heightens the nation’s confusion. Israel trusted in God for victory, but the Lord rejected them and allowed them to be humiliated in battle. If Israel had been unfaithful to God, their defeat would make sense, but the nation was loyal to the Lord. Comparing the Lord to a careless shepherd, the nation urges God to wake up and to extend his compassion to his suffering people.

⁵ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 42.

⁶ tn Heb “with our ears we have heard.”

⁷ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 2; the same Hebrew word may be translated either “fathers” or “ancestors” depending on the context.

⁸ tn Heb “the work you worked.”

⁹ tn Heb “in the days of old.” This refers specifically to the days of Joshua, during Israel’s conquest of the land, as vv. 2-3 indicate.

¹⁰ tn Heb “casting lots.” The precise way in which this would have been done is not certain.

¹¹ tn Heb “O my strength.”

¹² tn Heb “hurry to my help.”

¹³ sn A quotation from Ps 44:22.

¹⁴ tn Grk “for the law of the Spirit of life.”

¹⁵ tc Most mss read the first person singular pronoun με (me) here (A D 1739^c 1881 Ï lat sa). The second person singular pronoun σε (se) is superior because of external support (א B {F which reads σαι} G 1506* 1739*) and internal support (it is the harder reading since ch. 7 was narrated in the first person). At the same time, it could have arisen via dittography from the final syllable of the verb preceding it (ἠλευθέρωσεν, hleuqerwsen; “has set free”). But for this to happen in such early and diverse witnesses is unlikely, especially as it depends on various scribes repeatedly overlooking either the nu or the nu-bar at the end of the verb.

¹⁶ tn Or “heard about it”; Grk “heard.” There is no direct object stated in the Greek (direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context). A direct object is expected by an English reader, however, so most translations supply one. Here, however, it is not entirely clear what the author “heard”: a number of translations supply “it” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV; NAB “this”), but this could refer back either to (1) “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8, or (2) “your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints” (v. 4). In light of this uncertainty, other translations supply “about you” (TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). This is preferred by the present translation since, while it does not resolve the ambiguity entirely, it does make it less easy for the English reader to limit the reference only to “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8.

¹⁷ tn The term “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but the following reference to “the knowledge of his will” makes it clear that “God” is in view as the object of the “praying and asking,” and should therefore be included in the English translation for clarity.

¹⁸ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as substantival, indicating the content of the prayer and asking. The idea of purpose may also be present in this clause.

¹⁹ tc The reading ἐπρίσθησαν (ejprisqhsan, “they were sawed apart”) is found in some important witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ [D* twice reads ἐπίρσθησαν, “they were burned”?] pc sy^p sa Or^pt Eus). Other mss have ἐπειράσθησαν (ejpeirasqhsan, “they were tempted”), either before “sawed apart” ([א] L P [048] 33 81 326 1505 pc sy^h), after “sawed apart” (Ì^13vid A D¹ Ψ 1739 1881 Ï lat bo Or^pt), or altogether in place of “sawed apart” (0150 vg^mss Cl). Since the two words ἐπρίσθησαν and ἐπειράσθησαν are so much alike in sight and sound, and since the position of “they were tempted” varies in the mss, it seems best to say that ἐπειράσθησαν is an accidental corruption of ἐπρίσθησαν or an intentional change to a more common word (the root of ἐπρίσθησαν [πρίζω, prizw] occurs only here in the NT, while the root of ἐπειράσθησαν [πειράζω, peirazw] occurs 38 times). The best reading here seems to be “sawed apart” without any addition before or after. (See TCGNT 603-4, for a discussion of emendations that scholars have proposed for this difficult problem.)

²⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

²¹ tn The Greek word πλατεῖα (plateia) refers to a major (broad) street (L&N 1.103).

²² tn Grk “spiritually.”

²³ tn The word “every” is not in the Greek text, but is implied by the following list.

²⁴ tn The Greek term καί (kai) has not been translated before this and the following items in the list, since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

²⁵ tn Or “to be buried.”