1 Chronicles 29:20

29:20 David told the entire assembly: “Praise the Lord your God!” So the entire assembly praised the Lord God of their ancestors; they bowed down and stretched out flat on the ground before the Lord and the king.

Ezra 3:11

3:11 With antiphonal response they sang, ¹  praising and glorifying the Lord:

“For he is good;

his loyal love toward Israel is forever.”

All the people gave a loud ²  shout as they praised the Lord when the temple of the Lord was established.

Psalms 103:1-2

Psalm 103 ³ 

By David.

103:1 Praise the Lord, O my soul!

With all that is within me, praise ⁴  his holy name!

103:2 Praise the Lord, O my soul!

Do not forget all his kind deeds! ⁵ 

Psalms 117:1-2

Psalm 117 ⁶ 

117:1 Praise the Lord, all you nations!

Applaud him, all you foreigners! ⁷ 

117:2 For his loyal love towers ⁸  over us,

and the Lord’s faithfulness endures.

Praise the Lord!

Psalms 145:2

145:2 Every day I will praise you!

I will praise your name continually! ⁹ 

Psalms 146:2

146:2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live!

I will sing praises to my God as long as I exist!

Jeremiah 33:10-11

33:10 “I, the Lord, say: ¹⁰  ‘You and your people are saying ¹¹  about this place, “It lies in ruins. There are no people or animals in it.” That is true. The towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem ¹²  will soon be desolate, uninhabited either by people or by animals. But happy sounds will again be heard in these places. 33:11 Once again there will be sounds ¹³  of joy and gladness and the glad celebrations of brides and grooms. ¹⁴  Once again people will bring their thank offerings to the temple of the Lord and will say, “Give thanks to the Lord who rules over all. For the Lord is good and his unfailing love lasts forever.” ¹⁵  For I, the Lord, affirm ¹⁶  that I will restore the land to what it was ¹⁷  in days of old.’ ¹⁸ 

Matthew 11:25

Jesus’ Invitation

11:25 At that time Jesus said, ¹⁹  “I praise ²⁰  you, Father, Lord ²¹  of heaven and earth, because ²²  you have hidden these things from the wise ²³  and intelligent, and revealed them to little children.

Ephesians 3:20-21

3:20 Now to him who by the power that is working within us ²⁴  is able to do far beyond ²⁵  all that we ask or think, 3:21 to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 3:1

Paul's Relationship to the Divine Mystery

3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus ²⁶  for the sake of you Gentiles –

Ephesians 1:3

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

1:3 Blessed ²⁷  is ²⁸  the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed ²⁹  us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ.

[3:11]  ¹ tn Heb “they answered.”

[3:11]  ² tn Heb “great.”

[103:1]  ³ sn Psalm 103. The psalmist praises God for his mercy and willingness to forgive his people.

[103:1]  ⁴ tn The verb “praise” is understood by ellipsis in the second line (see the preceding line).

[103:2]  ⁵ tn Or “his benefits” (see 2 Chr 32:25, where the noun is also used of kind deeds performed by the Lord).

[117:1]  ⁶ sn Psalm 117. The psalmist tells the nations to praise the Lord for his loyal love and faithfulness.

[117:1]  ⁷ tn Or “peoples” (see Ps 108:3).

[117:2]  ⁸ tn For this sense of the Hebrew verb גָּבַר (gavar), see Ps 103:11 and L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 17, 19.

[145:2]  ⁹ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”

[33:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Thus says the Lord.” For the first person rendering see the translator’s note at the end of v. 2.

[33:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “You.” However, the pronoun is plural as in 32:36, 43. See the translator’s note on 32:36.

[33:10]  ¹² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[33:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “33:10 Thus says the Lord, ‘There will again be heard in this place of which you are saying [masc. pl.], “It is a ruin without people and without animals,” [that is] in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem which are desolate without people and without inhabitants and without animals 33:11 the sound of….” The long run-on sentence in Hebrew has been broken down to better conform with contemporary English style.

[33:11]  ¹⁴ sn What is predicted here is a reversal of the decimation caused by the Babylonian conquest that had been threatened in 7:34; 16:9; 25:10.

[33:11]  ¹⁵ sn This is a common hymnic introduction to both individual songs of thanksgiving (e.g., Ps 118:1) and communal songs of thanksgiving (e.g., Ps 136 where it is a liturgical refrain accompanying a recital of Israel’s early history and of the Lord’s continuing providence).

[33:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[33:11]  ¹⁷ tn Or “I will restore the fortunes of the land.”

[33:11]  ¹⁸ tn This phrase simply means “as formerly” (BDB 911 s.v. רִאשׁוֹן 3.a). The reference to the “as formerly” must be established from the context. See the usage in Judg 20:32; 1 Kgs 13:6; Isa 1:26.

[11:25]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “At that time, answering, Jesus said.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.

[11:25]  ²⁰ tn Or “thank.”

[11:25]  ²¹ sn The title Lord is an important name for God, showing his sovereignty, but it is interesting that it comes next to a reference to the Father, a term indicative of God’s care. The two concepts are often related in the NT; see Eph 1:3-6.

[11:25]  ²² tn Or “that.”

[11:25]  ²³ sn See 1 Cor 1:26-31.

[3:20]  ²⁴ sn On the power that is working within us see 1:19-20.

[3:20]  ²⁵ tn Or “infinitely beyond,” “far more abundantly than.”

[3:1]  ²⁶ tc Several early and important witnesses, chiefly of the Western text (א* D* F G [365]), lack ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou, “Jesus”) here, while most Alexandrian and Byzantine mss (Ì⁴⁶ א¹ A B [C] D¹ Ψ 33 1739 [1881] Ï lat sy bo) have the word. However, because of the Western text’s proclivities to add or delete to the text, seemingly at whim, serious doubts should be attached to the shorter reading. It is strengthened, however, by א’s support. Nevertheless, since both א and D were corrected with the addition of ᾿Ιησοῦ, their testimony might be questioned. Further, in uncial script the nomina sacra here could have led to missing a word by way of homoioteleuton (cMuiMu). At the same time, in light of the rarity of scribal omission of nomina sacra (see TCGNT 582, n. 1), a decision for inclusion of the word here must be tentative. NA²⁷ rightly places ᾿Ιησοῦ in brackets.

[1:3]  ²⁷ sn Eph 1:3-14 comprises one long sentence in Greek, with three major sections. Each section ends with a note of praise for God (vv. 6, 12, 14), focusing on a different member of the Trinity. After an opening summary of all the saints’ spiritual blessings (v. 3), the first section (vv. 4-6) offers up praise that the Father has chosen us in eternity past; the second section (vv. 7-12) offers up praise that the Son has redeemed us in the historical past (i.e., at the cross); the third section (vv. 13-14) offers up praise that the Holy Spirit has sealed us in our personal past, at the point of conversion.

[1:3]  ²⁸ tn There is no verb in the Greek text; either the optative (“be”) or the indicative (“is”) can be supplied. The meaning of the term εὐλογητός (euloghtos), the author’s intention at this point in the epistle, and the literary genre of this material must all come into play to determine which is the preferred nuance. εὐλογητός as an adjective can mean either that one is praised or that one is blessed, that is, in a place of favor and benefit. The meaning “blessed” would be more naturally paired with an indicative verb here and would suggest that blessedness is an intrinsic part of God’s character. The meaning “praised” would be more naturally paired with an optative verb here and would suggest that God ought to be praised. Pauline style in the epistles generally moves from statements to obligations, expressing the reality first and then the believer’s necessary response, which would favor the indicative. However, many scholars regard Eph 1:3-14 as a berakah psalm (cf. A. T. Lincoln, Ephesians [WBC], 10-11). Rooted in the OT and Jewish worship, berakah psalms were songs of praise in which the worshiper gave praise to God; this would favor the optative (although not all scholars are agreed on this genre classification here; see H. W. Hoehner, Ephesians, 153-59, for discussion and an alternate conclusion). When considered as a whole, although a decision is difficult, the indicative seems to fit all the factors better. The author seems to be pointing to who God is and what he has done for believers in this section; the indicative more naturally fits that emphasis. Cf. also 2 Cor 1:3; 1 Pet 1:3.

[1:3]  ²⁹ tn Or “enriched,” “conferred blessing.”