The Song of Songs 5:14

5:14 His arms are like rods of gold set with chrysolite.

His abdomen ¹  is like polished ivory inlaid with sapphires.

Psalms 45:16

45:16 Your ²  sons will carry ³  on the dynasty of your ancestors; ⁴ 

you will make them princes throughout the land.

Isaiah 46:3

46:3 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob, ⁵ 

all you who are left from the family of Israel, ⁶ 

you who have been carried from birth, ⁷ 

you who have been supported from the time you left the womb. ⁸ 

Jeremiah 1:5

1:5 “Before I formed you in your mother’s womb ⁹  I chose you. ¹⁰ 

Before you were born I set you apart.

I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.”

Romans 7:4

7:4 So, my brothers and sisters, ¹¹  you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God. ¹² 

¹ tn The term מֵעֶה (me’eh) is used in reference to several things in the Old Testament: (1) the womb of a woman (Gen 25:23; Isa 49:1; Ps 71:6; Ruth 1:11), (2) a man’s loins (Gen 15:4; 2 Sam 7:12; Isa 48:19; 2 Chr 32:21), (3) the “inward parts” of a person, such as the stomach or intestines which are used to digest food (Num 5:22; Job 20:14; Ezek 3:3; Jonah 2:1-2), and (4) the external stomach or abdominal muscles: “abdomen” (Song 5:14).

² tn The pronoun is second masculine singular, indicating the king is being addressed from this point to the end of the psalm.

³ tn The prefixed verbal form could be taken as jussive and the statement interpreted as a prayer, “May your sons carry on the dynasty of your ancestors!” The next line could then be taken as a relative clause, “[your sons] whom you will make princes throughout the land.”

⁴ tn Heb “in place of your fathers will be your sons.”

⁵ tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV “descendants of Jacob.”

⁶ tn Heb “and all the remnant of the house of Israel.”

⁷ tn Heb “from the womb” (so NRSV); KJV “from the belly”; NAB “from your infancy.”

⁸ tn Heb “who have been lifted up from the womb.”

⁹ tn Heb “the womb.” The words “your mother’s” are implicit and are supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn Heb “I knew you.” The parallelism here with “set you apart” and “appointed you” make clear that Jeremiah is speaking of his foreordination to be a prophet. For this same nuance of the Hebrew verb see Gen 18:19; Amos 3:2.

¹¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

¹² tn Grk “that we might bear fruit to God.”