1 Samuel 18:15

18:15 When Saul saw how very successful he was, he was afraid of him.

1 Samuel 18:20

18:20 Now Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David. When they told Saul about this, it ¹  pleased him.

1 Samuel 18:29

18:29 Saul became even more afraid of him. ²  Saul continued to be at odds with David from then on. ³ 

1 Samuel 16:4

16:4 Samuel did what the Lord told him. ⁴  When he arrived in Bethlehem, ⁵  the elders of the city were afraid to meet him. They ⁶  said, “Do you come in peace?”

Psalms 48:3-6

48:3 God is in its fortresses;

he reveals himself as its defender. ⁷ 

48:4 For ⁸  look, the kings assemble; ⁹ 

they advance together.

48:5 As soon as they see, ¹⁰  they are shocked; ¹¹ 

they are terrified, they quickly retreat. ¹² 

48:6 Look at them shake uncontrollably, ¹³ 

like a woman writhing in childbirth. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 53:5

53:5 They are absolutely terrified, ¹⁵ 

even by things that do not normally cause fear. ¹⁶ 

For God annihilates ¹⁷  those who attack you. ¹⁸ 

You are able to humiliate them because God has rejected them. ¹⁹ 

Mark 6:20

6:20 because Herod stood in awe of ²⁰  John and protected him, since he knew that John ²¹  was a righteous and holy man. When Herod ²²  heard him, he was thoroughly baffled, ²³  and yet ²⁴  he liked to listen to John. ²⁵ 

Luke 8:37

8:37 Then ²⁶  all the people of the Gerasenes ²⁷  and the surrounding region ²⁸  asked Jesus ²⁹  to leave them alone, ³⁰  for they were seized with great fear. ³¹  So ³²  he got into the boat and left. ³³ 

Acts 24:25

24:25 While Paul ³⁴  was discussing ³⁵  righteousness, self-control, ³⁶  and the coming judgment, Felix ³⁷  became ³⁸  frightened and said, “Go away for now, and when I have an opportunity, ³⁹  I will send for you.”

[18:20]  ¹ tn Heb “the matter.”

[18:29]  ² tn Heb “of David.” In the translation the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun for stylistic reasons.

[18:29]  ³ tc The final sentence of v. 29 is absent in most LXX mss.

[16:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “said.”

[16:4]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[16:4]  ⁶ tc In the MT the verb is singular (“he said”), but the translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss and ancient versions in reading the plural (“they said”).

[48:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “he is known for an elevated place.”

[48:4]  ⁸ tn The logical connection between vv. 3-4 seems to be this: God is the protector of Zion and reveals himself as the city’s defender – this is necessary because hostile armies threaten the city.

[48:4]  ⁹ tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 4-6 are understood as descriptive. In dramatic style (note הִנֵּה, hinneh, “look”) the psalm describes an enemy attack against the city as if it were occurring at this very moment. Another option is to take the perfects as narrational (“the kings assembled, they advanced”), referring to a particular historical event, such as Sennacherib’s siege of the city in 701 b.c. (cf. NIV, NRSV). Even if one translates the verses in a dramatic-descriptive manner (as the present translation does), the Lord’s victory over the Assyrians was probably what served as the inspiration of the description (see v. 8).

[48:5]  ¹⁰ tn The object of “see” is omitted, but v. 3b suggests that the Lord’s self-revelation as the city’s defender is what they see.

[48:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they look, so they are shocked.” Here כֵּן (ken, “so”) has the force of “in the same measure.”

[48:5]  ¹² tn The translation attempts to reflect the staccato style of the Hebrew text, where the main clauses of vv. 4-6 are simply juxtaposed without connectives.

[48:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “trembling seizes them there.” The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is used here, as often in poetic texts, to point “to a spot in which a scene is localized vividly in the imagination” (BDB 1027 s.v.).

[48:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “[with] writhing like one giving birth.”

[53:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “there they are afraid [with] fear.” The perfect verbal form is probably used in a rhetorical manner; the psalmist describes the future demise of the oppressors as if it were already occurring. The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is also used here for dramatic effect, as the psalmist envisions the wicked standing in fear at a spot that is this vivid in his imagination (BDB 1027 s.v.). The cognate accusative following the verb emphasizes the degree of their terror (“absolutely”).

[53:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “there is no fear.” Apparently this means the evildoers are so traumatized with panic (see v. 5b) that they now jump with fear at everything, even those things that would not normally cause fear. Ps 14:5 omits this line.

[53:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “scatters the bones.” The perfect is used in a rhetorical manner, describing this future judgment as if it were already accomplished. Scattering the bones alludes to the aftermath of a battle. God annihilates his enemies, leaving their carcasses spread all over the battlefield. As the bodies are devoured by wild animals and decay, the bones of God’s dead enemies are exposed. See Ps 141:7.

[53:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “[those who] encamp [against] you.” The second person masculine singular pronominal suffix probably refers to God’s people viewed as a collective whole. Instead of “for God scatters the bones of those who encamp against you,” Ps 14:5 reads, “for God is with a godly generation.”

[53:5]  ¹⁹ tn Once again the perfect is used in a rhetorical manner, describing this future judgment as if it were already accomplished. As in the previous line, God’s people are probably addressed. The second person singular verb form is apparently collective, suggesting that the people are viewed here as a unified whole. Ps 14:6 reads here “the counsel of the oppressed you put to shame, even though God is his shelter,” the words being addressed to the wicked.

[6:20]  ²⁰ tn Grk “was fearing,” “was respecting”; the imperfect tense connotes an ongoing fear or respect for John.

[6:20]  ²¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:20]  ²² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:20]  ²³ tc In place of ἠπόρει (hporei, “he was baffled”) the majority of mss (A C D ˹ 33 Ï lat sy) have ἐποίει (epoiei, “he did”; cf. KJV’s “he did many things.”) The best mss (א B L [W] Θ 2427 co) support the reading followed in the translation. The variation may be no more than a simple case of confusion of letters, since the two readings look very much alike. The verb ποιέω (poiew, “I do”) certainly occurs more frequently than ἀπορέω (aporew, “I am at a loss”), so a scribe would be more likely to write a more familiar word. Further, even though the reading ἐποίει is the harder reading in terms of the sense, it is virtually nonsensical here, rendering it most likely an unintentional corruption.

[6:20]  ²⁴ tn Grk “and.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “and yet” to indicate the concessive nature of the final clause.

[6:20]  ²⁵ tn Grk “him”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:37]  ²⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[8:37]  ²⁷ tc See the tc note on “Gerasenes” in v. 26 for the same geographical options for the textual variants.

[8:37]  ²⁸ tn Grk “all the people of the surrounding region of the Gerasenes,” but according to L&N 1.80, “περίχωρος may include not only the surrounding region but also the point of reference, for example…‘the Gerasenes and the people living around them’ Lk 8:37.”

[8:37]  ²⁹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:37]  ³⁰ tn Or “to depart from them.”

[8:37]  ³¹ sn Again there is great fear at God’s activity, but there is a different reaction. Some people want nothing to do with God’s presence. Mark 5:16 hints that economic reasons motivated their request.

[8:37]  ³² tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate that Jesus’ departure was the result of the Gerasenes’ response. A new sentence was started in the translation at this point for stylistic reasons.

[8:37]  ³³ tn Grk “returned,” but the effect is that he departed from the Gerasene region.

[24:25]  ³⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:25]  ³⁵ tn Or “speaking about.”

[24:25]  ³⁶ tn Grk “and self-control.” This καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[24:25]  ³⁷ sn See the note on Felix in 23:26.

[24:25]  ³⁸ tn Grk “becoming.” The participle γενόμενος (genomenos) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[24:25]  ³⁹ tn Or “when I find time.” BDAG 639 s.v. μεταλαμβάνω 2 has “καιρὸν μ. have an opportunity = find time…Ac 24:25.”