2 Chronicles 16:9

16:9 Certainly ¹  the Lord watches the whole earth carefully ²  and is ready to strengthen those who are devoted to him. ³  You have acted foolishly in this matter; from now on you will have war.

Psalms 18:31-32

18:31 Indeed, ⁴  who is God besides the Lord?

Who is a protector ⁵  besides our God? ⁶ 

18:32 The one true God ⁷  gives ⁸  me strength; ⁹ 

he removes ¹⁰  the obstacles in my way. ¹¹ 

Psalms 28:8

28:8 The Lord strengthens his people; ¹² 

he protects and delivers his chosen king. ¹³ 

Psalms 29:1

Psalm 29 ¹⁴ 

A psalm of David.

29:1 Acknowledge the Lord, you heavenly beings, ¹⁵ 

acknowledge the Lord’s majesty and power! ¹⁶ 

Psalms 29:11

29:11 The Lord gives ¹⁷  his people strength; ¹⁸ 

the Lord grants his people security. ¹⁹ 

Psalms 68:34-35

68:34 Acknowledge God’s power, ²⁰ 

his sovereignty over Israel,

and the power he reveals in the skies! ²¹ 

68:35 You are awe-inspiring, O God, as you emerge from your holy temple! ²² 

It is the God of Israel ²³  who gives the people power and strength.

God deserves praise! ²⁴ 

Psalms 144:1-2

Psalm 144 ²⁵ 

By David.

144:1 The Lord, my protector, ²⁶  deserves praise ²⁷  –

the one who trains my hands for battle, ²⁸ 

and my fingers for war,

144:2 who loves me ²⁹  and is my stronghold,

my refuge ³⁰  and my deliverer,

my shield and the one in whom I take shelter,

who makes nations submit to me. ³¹ 

Isaiah 40:29

40:29 He gives strength to those who are tired;

to the ones who lack power, he gives renewed energy.

Isaiah 45:24

45:24 they will say about me,

“Yes, the Lord is a powerful deliverer.”’” ³² 

All who are angry at him will cower before him. ³³ 

Ephesians 3:16

3:16 I pray that ³⁴  according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person,

Philippians 4:13

4:13 I am able to do all things ³⁵  through the one ³⁶  who strengthens me.

Colossians 1:11

1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of ³⁷  all patience and steadfastness, joyfully

[16:9]  ¹ tn Or “for.”

[16:9]  ² tn Heb “the eyes of the Lord move quickly through all the earth.”

[16:9]  ³ tn Heb “to strengthen himself with their heart, [the one] complete toward him.”

[18:31]  ⁴ tn Or “for.”

[18:31]  ⁵ tn Heb “rocky cliff,” which is a metaphor of divine protection. See v. 2, where the Hebrew term צוּר (tsur) is translated “rocky summit.”

[18:31]  ⁶ tn The rhetorical questions anticipate the answer, “No one.” In this way the psalmist indicates that the Lord is the only true God and reliable source of protection. See also Deut 32:39, where the Lord affirms that he is the only true God. Note as well the emphasis on his role as protector (Heb “rocky cliff,” צוּר, tsur) in Deut 32:4, 15, 17-18, 30.

[18:32]  ⁷ tn Heb “the God.” The prefixed article emphasizes the Lord’s distinctiveness as the one true God (cf. Deut 33:26). See v. 30.

[18:32]  ⁸ tn Heb “is the one who clothes.” For similar language see 1 Sam 2:4; Pss 65:6; 93:1. The psalmist employs a generalizing hymnic style in vv. 32-34; he uses participles in vv. 32a, 33a, and 34a to describe what God characteristically does on his behalf.

[18:32]  ⁹ tn 2 Sam 22:33 reads, “the God is my strong refuge.”

[18:32]  ¹⁰ tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries along the generalizing force of the preceding participle.

[18:32]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he made my path smooth.” The Hebrew term תָּמִים (tamim, “smooth”) usually carries a moral or ethical connotation, “blameless, innocent.” However, in Ps 18:33 it refers to a pathway free of obstacles. The reality underlying the metaphor is the psalmist’s ability to charge into battle without tripping (see vv. 33, 36).

[28:8]  ¹² tn Heb “the Lord [is] strength to them” (or perhaps, “to him”). The form לָמוֹ (lamo, “to them/him”) is probably a corruption of an original לְעַמוֹ (lÿ’amo, “to his people”; see P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 236), perhaps due to quiescence of the letter ayin (ע; see P. McCarter, Textual Criticism [GBS], 55). Note the reference to the Lord’s “people” in the next verse.

[28:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “he [is] a refuge of help for his anointed one.” The noun מָשִׁיחַ (mashiakh, “anointed one”) refers to the Davidic king, who perhaps speaks as representative of the nation in this psalm. See Pss 2:2; 18:50; 20:6; 84:9; 89:38, 51; 132:10, 17.

[29:1]  ¹⁴ sn Psalm 29. In this hymn of praise the psalmist calls upon the heavenly assembly to acknowledge the royal splendor of the Lord. He describes the Lord’s devastating power as revealed in the thunderstorm and affirms that the Lord exerts this awesome might on behalf of his people. In its original context the psalm was a bold polemic against the Canaanite storm god Baal, for it affirms that the Lord is the real king who controls the elements of the storm, contrary to pagan belief. See R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “The Polemic against Baalism in Israel’s Early History and Literature,” BSac 150 (1994): 280-82.

[29:1]  ¹⁵ tc Heb “sons of gods,” or “sons of God.” Though אֵלִים (’elim) is vocalized as a plural form (“gods”) in the MT, it is likely that the final mem is actually enclitic, rather than a plural marker. In this case one may read “God.” Some, following a Qumran text and the LXX, also propose the phrase occurred in the original text of Deut 32:8.

[29:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.”

[29:11]  ¹⁷ tn The imperfect verbal forms in v. 11 are either descriptive or generalizing.

[29:11]  ¹⁸ sn Strength. This probably refers to military power; see the use of the noun in 1 Sam 2:10 and Ps 86:16.

[29:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “blesses his people with peace.” The Hebrew term שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “peace”) probably refers here to the protection and prosperity experienced by God’s people after the Lord intervenes in battle on their behalf.

[68:34]  ²⁰ tn Heb “give strength to God.”

[68:34]  ²¹ sn The language of v. 34 echoes that of Deut 33:26.

[68:35]  ²² tn Heb “awesome [is] God from his holy places.” The plural of מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdash, “holy places”) perhaps refers to the temple precincts (see Ps 73:17; Jer 51:51).

[68:35]  ²³ tn Heb “the God of Israel, he.”

[68:35]  ²⁴ tn Heb “blessed [be] God.”

[144:1]  ²⁵ sn Psalm 144. The psalmist expresses his confidence in God, asks for a mighty display of divine intervention in an upcoming battle, and anticipates God’s rich blessings on the nation in the aftermath of military victory.

[144:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “my rocky summit.” The Lord is compared to a rocky summit where one can find protection from enemies. See Ps 18:2.

[144:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “blessed [be] the Lord, my rocky summit.”

[144:1]  ²⁸ sn The one who trains my hands for battle. The psalmist attributes his skill with weapons to divine enablement (see Ps 18:34). Egyptian reliefs picture gods teaching the king how to shoot a bow. See O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 265.

[144:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “my loyal love,” which is probably an abbreviated form of “the God of my loyal love” (see Ps 59:10, 17).

[144:2]  ³⁰ tn Or “my elevated place.”

[144:2]  ³¹ tn Heb “the one who subdues nations beneath me.”

[45:24]  ³² tn Heb “‘Yes, in the Lord,’ one says about me, ‘is deliverance and strength.’”

[45:24]  ³³ tn Heb “will come to him and be ashamed.”

[3:16]  ³⁴ tn Grk “that.” In Greek v. 16 is a subordinate clause to vv. 14-15.

[4:13]  ³⁵ tn The Greek word translated “all things” is in emphatic position at the beginning of the Greek sentence.

[4:13]  ³⁶ tc Although some excellent witnesses lack explicit reference to the one strengthening Paul (so א* A B D* I 33 1739 lat co Cl), the majority of witnesses (א² D² [F G] Ψ 075 1881 Ï sy) add Χριστῷ (Cristw) here (thus, “through Christ who strengthens me”). But this kind of reading is patently secondary, and is a predictable variant. Further, the shorter reading is much harder, for it leaves the agent unspecified.

[1:11]  ³⁷ tn The expression “for the display of” is an attempt to convey in English the force of the Greek preposition εἰς (eis) in this context.