1 Samuel 24:5-6

24:5 Afterward David’s conscience bothered him ¹  because he had cut off an edge of Saul’s robe. 24:6 He said to his men, “May the Lord keep me far away from doing such a thing to my lord, who is the Lord’s chosen one, ²  by extending my hand against him. After all, ³  he is the Lord’s chosen one.” ⁴ 

Ecclesiastes 8:2

8:2 Obey the king’s command, ⁵ 

because you took ⁶  an oath before God ⁷  to be loyal to him. ⁸ 

Titus 3:1-2

Conduct Toward Those Outside the Church

3:1 Remind them to be subject to rulers and ⁹  authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work. 3:2 They must not slander ¹⁰  anyone, but be peaceable, gentle, showing complete courtesy to all people.

Titus 3:1

Conduct Toward Those Outside the Church

3:1 Remind them to be subject to rulers and ¹¹  authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work.

Titus 2:13-15

2:13 as we wait for the happy fulfillment of our hope in the glorious appearing ¹²  of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. ¹³  2:14 He ¹⁴  gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, ¹⁵  who are eager to do good. ¹⁶  2:15 So communicate these things with the sort of exhortation or rebuke ¹⁷  that carries full authority. ¹⁸  Don’t let anyone look down ¹⁹  on you.

[24:5]  ¹ tn Heb “the heart of David struck him.”

[24:6]  ² tn Heb “anointed.”

[24:6]  ³ tn Or “for.”

[24:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “anointed.”

[8:2]  ⁵ tc The Leningrad Codex (the basis of BHS) reads אֲנִי (’ani, 1st person common singular independent personal pronoun): “I obey the king’s command.” Other medieval Hebrew mss and all the versions (LXX, Vulgate, Targum, Syriac Peshitta) preserve an alternate textual tradition of the definite accusative marker אֶת־ (’et) introducing the direct object: אֶת־פִּי־מֶלֶךְ שְׁמוֹר (’et-pi-melekh shÿmor, “Obey the command of the king”). External evidence supports the alternate textual tradition. The MT is guilty of simple orthographic confusion between similar looking letters. The BHS editors and the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project adopt אֶת־ as the original reading. See D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 3:582–83.

[8:2]  ⁶ tn The phrase “you took” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

[8:2]  ⁷ tn The genitive-construct שְׁבוּעַת אֱלֹהִים (shÿvu’at ’elohim, “an oath of God”) functions as a genitive of location (“an oath before God”) or an adjectival genitive of attribute (“a supreme oath”).

[8:2]  ⁸ tn The words “to be loyal to him” do not appear in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[3:1]  ⁹ tc Most later witnesses (D² 0278 Ï lat sy) have καί (kai, “and”) after ἀρχαῖς (arcai", “rulers”), though the earliest and best witnesses (א A C D* F G Ψ 33 104 1739 1881) lack the conjunction. Although the καί is most likely not authentic, it has been added in translation due to the requirements of English style. For more discussion, see TCGNT 586.

[3:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “discredit,” “damage the reputation of.”

[3:1]  ¹¹ tc Most later witnesses (D² 0278 Ï lat sy) have καί (kai, “and”) after ἀρχαῖς (arcai", “rulers”), though the earliest and best witnesses (א A C D* F G Ψ 33 104 1739 1881) lack the conjunction. Although the καί is most likely not authentic, it has been added in translation due to the requirements of English style. For more discussion, see TCGNT 586.

[2:13]  ¹² tn Grk “the blessed hope and glorious appearing.”

[2:13]  ¹³ tn The terms “God and Savior” both refer to the same person, Jesus Christ. This is one of the clearest statements in the NT concerning the deity of Christ. The construction in Greek is known as the Granville Sharp rule, named after the English philanthropist-linguist who first clearly articulated the rule in 1798. Sharp pointed out that in the construction article-noun-καί-noun (where καί [kai] = “and”), when two nouns are singular, personal, and common (i.e., not proper names), they always had the same referent. Illustrations such as “the friend and brother,” “the God and Father,” etc. abound in the NT to prove Sharp’s point. The only issue is whether terms such as “God” and “Savior” could be considered common nouns as opposed to proper names. Sharp and others who followed (such as T. F. Middleton in his masterful The Doctrine of the Greek Article) demonstrated that a proper name in Greek was one that could not be pluralized. Since both “God” (θεός, qeos) and “savior” (σωτήρ, swthr) were occasionally found in the plural, they did not constitute proper names, and hence, do fit Sharp’s rule. Although there have been 200 years of attempts to dislodge Sharp’s rule, all attempts have been futile. Sharp’s rule stands vindicated after all the dust has settled. For more information on Sharp’s rule see ExSyn 270-78, esp. 276. See also 2 Pet 1:1 and Jude 4.

[2:14]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “who” (as a continuation of the previous clause).

[2:14]  ¹⁵ tn Or “a people who are his very own.”

[2:14]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “for good works.”

[2:15]  ¹⁷ tn Or “reproof,” “censure.” The Greek word ἐλέγχω (elencw) implies exposing someone’s sin in order to bring correction.

[2:15]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “speak these things and exhort and rebuke with all authority.”

[2:15]  ¹⁹ tn Or “let anyone despise you”; or “let anyone disregard you.”