1 Samuel 16:7

16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t be impressed by ¹  his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. God does not view things the way men do. ²  People look on the outward appearance, ³  but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Psalms 50:13-15

50:13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls?

Do I drink the blood of goats? ⁴ 

50:14 Present to God a thank-offering!

Repay your vows to the sovereign One! ⁵ 

50:15 Pray to me when you are in trouble! ⁶ 

I will deliver you, and you will honor me!” ⁷ 

Psalms 50:23

50:23 Whoever presents a thank-offering honors me. ⁸ 

To whoever obeys my commands, I will reveal my power to deliver.” ⁹ 

Psalms 51:17

51:17 The sacrifices God desires are a humble spirit ¹⁰  –

O God, a humble and repentant heart ¹¹  you will not reject. ¹² 

Psalms 66:18

66:18 If I had harbored sin in my heart, ¹³ 

the Lord would not have listened.

Isaiah 57:15

57:15 For this is what the high and exalted one says,

the one who rules ¹⁴  forever, whose name is holy:

“I dwell in an exalted and holy place,

but also with the discouraged and humiliated, ¹⁵ 

in order to cheer up the humiliated

and to encourage the discouraged. ¹⁶ 

Matthew 15:8-9

15:8 ‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart ¹⁷  is far from me,

15:9 and they worship me in vain,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” ¹⁸ 

Matthew 15:2

15:2 “Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their ¹⁹  hands when they eat.” ²⁰ 

Colossians 1:12

1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share ²¹  in the saints’ ²²  inheritance in the light.

[16:7]  ¹ tn Heb “don’t look toward.”

[16:7]  ² tn Heb “for not that which the man sees.” The translation follows the LXX, which reads, “for not as man sees does God see.” The MT has suffered from homoioteleuton or homoioarcton. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 274.

[16:7]  ³ tn Heb “to the eyes.”

[50:13]  ⁴ tn The rhetorical questions assume an emphatic negative response, “Of course not!”

[50:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “Most High.” This divine title (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Pss 7:17; 9:2; 18:13; 21:7; 47:2.

[50:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “call [to] me in a day of trouble.”

[50:15]  ⁷ sn In vv. 7-15 the Lord makes it clear that he was not rebuking Israel because they had failed to offer sacrifices (v. 8a). On the contrary, they had been faithful in doing so (v. 8b). However, their understanding of the essence of their relationship with God was confused. Apparently they believed that he needed/desired such sacrifices and that offering them would ensure their prosperity. But the Lord owns all the animals of the world and did not need Israel’s meager sacrifices (vv. 9-13). Other aspects of the relationship were more important to the Lord. He desired Israel to be thankful for his blessings (v. 14a), to demonstrate gratitude for his intervention by repaying the vows they made to him (v. 14b), and to acknowledge their absolute dependence on him (v. 15a). Rather than viewing their sacrifices as somehow essential to God’s well-being, they needed to understand their dependence on him.

[50:23]  ⁸ sn The reference to a thank-offering recalls the earlier statement made in v. 14. Gratitude characterizes genuine worship.

[50:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “and [to one who] sets a way I will show the deliverance of God.” Elsewhere the phrase “set a way” simply means “to travel” (see Gen 30:36; cf. NRSV). The present translation assumes an emendation of וְשָׂם דֶּרֶךְ (vÿsam derekh) to וְשֹׁמֵר דְּרָכַּי (vÿshomer dÿrakhay, “and [the one who] keeps my ways” [i.e., commands, see Pss 18:21; 37:34). Another option is to read וְשֹׁמֵר דַּרְכּוֹ (vÿshomer darko, “and [the one who] guards his way,” i.e., “the one who is careful to follow a godly lifestyle”; see Ps 39:1).

[51:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a broken spirit.”

[51:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a broken and crushed heart.”

[51:17]  ¹² tn Or “despise.”

[66:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “sin if I had seen in my heart.”

[57:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the one who dwells forever.” שֹׁכֵן עַד (shokhen ’ad) is sometimes translated “the one who lives forever,” and understood as a reference to God’s eternal existence. However, the immediately preceding and following descriptions (“high and exalted” and “holy”) emphasize his sovereign rule. In the next line, he declares, “I dwell in an exalted and holy [place],” which refers to the place from which he rules. Therefore it is more likely that שֹׁכֵן עַד (shokhen ’ad) means “I dwell [in my lofty palace] forever” and refers to God’s eternal kingship.

[57:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and also with the crushed and lowly of spirit.” This may refer to the repentant who have humbled themselves (see 66:2) or more generally to the exiles who have experienced discouragement and humiliation.

[57:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to restore the lowly of spirit and to restore the heart of the crushed.”

[15:8]  ¹⁷ tn The term “heart” is a collective singular in the Greek text.

[15:9]  ¹⁸ sn A quotation from Isa 29:13.

[15:2]  ¹⁹ tc ‡ Although most witnesses read the genitive plural pronoun αὐτῶν (autwn, “their”), it may have been motivated by clarification (as it is in the translation above). Several other authorities do not have the pronoun, however (א B Δ 073 ˹ 579 700 892 1424 pc f g¹); the lack of an unintentional oversight as the reason for omission strengthens their combined testimony in this shorter reading. NA²⁷ has the pronoun in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[15:2]  ²⁰ tn Grk “when they eat bread.”

[1:12]  ²¹ tn BDAG 473 s.v. ἱκανόω states, “τινὰ εἴς τι someone for someth. Col 1:12.” The point of the text is that God has qualified the saints for a “share” or “portion” in the inheritance of the saints.

[1:12]  ²² tn Grk “the inheritance of the saints.” The genitive noun τῶν ἁγίων (twn Jagiwn) is a possessive genitive: “the saints’ inheritance.”