12:11 But 1 they overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony,
and they did not love their lives 2 so much that they were afraid to die.
13:4 Then 3 my enemy will say, “I have defeated him!”
Then 4 my foes will rejoice because I am upended.
118:10 All the nations surrounded me. 5
Indeed, in the name of the Lord 6 I pushed them away. 7
118:11 They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me.
Indeed, in the name of the Lord I pushed them away.
118:12 They surrounded me like bees.
But they disappeared as quickly 8 as a fire among thorns. 9
Indeed, in the name of the Lord I pushed them away.
118:13 “You aggressively attacked me 10 and tried to knock me down, 11
but the Lord helped me.
129:2 “Since my youth they have often attacked me,
but they have not defeated me.
5:22 “You should fear me!” says the Lord.
“You should tremble in awe before me! 12
I made the sand to be a boundary for the sea,
a permanent barrier that it can never cross.
Its waves may roll, but they can never prevail.
They may roar, but they can never cross beyond that boundary.” 13
8:31 What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 8:32 Indeed, he who 15 did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things? 8:33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? 16 It is God who justifies. 8:34 Who is the one who will condemn? Christ 17 is the one who died (and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding for us. 8:35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 18 8:36 As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 19 8:37 No, in all these things we have complete victory 20 through him 21 who loved us! 8:38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, 22 nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast.
2 sn They did not love their lives. See Matt 16:25; Luke 17:33; John 12:25.
3 tn Heb “or else.”
4 tn Heb “or else.”
5 sn The reference to an attack by the nations suggests the psalmist may have been a military leader.
6 tn In this context the phrase “in the name of the
7 tn Traditionally the verb has been derived from מוּל (mul, “to circumcise”) and translated “[I] cut [them] off” (see BDB 557-58 s.v. II מוּל). However, it is likely that this is a homonym meaning “to fend off” (see HALOT 556 s.v. II מול) or “to push away.” In this context, where the psalmist is reporting his past experience, the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite. The phrase also occurs in vv. 11, 12.
8 tn Heb “were extinguished.”
9 tn The point seems to be that the hostility of the nations (v. 10) is short-lived, like a fire that quickly devours thorns and then burns out. Some, attempting to create a better parallel with the preceding line, emend דֹּעֲכוּ (do’akhu, “they were extinguished”) to בָּעֲרוּ (ba’aru, “they burned”). In this case the statement emphasizes their hostility.
10 tn Heb “pushing, you pushed me.” The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following verbal idea. The psalmist appears to address the nations as if they were an individual enemy. Some find this problematic and emend the verb form (which is a Qal perfect second masculine singular with a first person singular suffix) to נִדְחֵיתִי (nidkheti), a Niphal perfect first common singular, “I was pushed.”
11 tn Heb “to fall,” i.e., “that [I] might fall.”
12 tn Heb “Should you not fear me? Should you not tremble in awe before me?” The rhetorical questions expect the answer explicit in the translation.
13 tn Heb “it.” The referent is made explicit to avoid any possible confusion.
14 tn Or “and the power of death” (taking the reference to the gates of Hades as a metonymy).
15 tn Grk “[he] who.” The relative clause continues the question of v. 31 in a way that is awkward in English. The force of v. 32 is thus: “who indeed did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – How will he not also with him give us all things?”
16 sn An allusion to Isa 50:8 where the reference is singular; Paul applies this to all believers (“God’s elect” is plural here).
17 tc ‡ A number of significant and early witnesses, along with several others (Ì46vid א A C F G L Ψ 6 33 81 104 365 1505 al lat bo), read ᾿Ιησοῦς (Ihsous, “Jesus”) after Χριστός (Cristos, “Christ”) in v. 34. But the shorter reading is not unrepresented (B D 0289 1739 1881 Ï sa). Once ᾿Ιησοῦς got into the text, what scribe would omit it? Although the external evidence is on the side of the longer reading, internally such an expansion seems suspect. The shorter reading is thus preferred. NA27 has the word in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.
18 tn Here “sword” is a metonymy that includes both threats of violence and acts of violence, even including death (although death is not necessarily the only thing in view here).
19 sn A quotation from Ps 44:22.
20 tn BDAG 1034 s.v. ὑπερνικάω states, “as a heightened form of νικᾶν prevail completely ὑπερνικῶμεν we are winning a most glorious victory Ro 8:37.”
21 tn Here the referent could be either God or Christ, but in v. 39 it is God’s love that is mentioned.
22 tn BDAG 138 s.v. ἀρχή 6 takes this term as a reference to angelic or transcendent powers (as opposed to merely human rulers). To clarify this, the adjective “heavenly” has been supplied in the translation. Some interpreters see this as a reference to fallen angels or demonic powers, and this view is reflected in some recent translations (NIV, NLT).