2 Kings 19:10

19:10 “Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over ¹  to the king of Assyria.”

2 Kings 19:2

19:2 He sent Eliakim the palace supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, ²  clothed in sackcloth, with this message to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz:

2 Kings 1:7-8

1:7 The king ³  asked them, “Describe the appearance ⁴  of this man who came up to meet you and told you these things.” 1:8 They replied, ⁵  “He was a hairy man ⁶  and had a leather belt ⁷  tied around his waist.” The king ⁸  said, “He is Elijah the Tishbite.”

Job 13:15

13:15 Even if he slays me, I will hope in him; ⁹ 

I will surely ¹⁰  defend ¹¹  my ways to his face!

Psalms 13:5

13:5 But I ¹²  trust in your faithfulness.

May I rejoice because of your deliverance! ¹³ 

Psalms 27:1-2

Psalm 27 ¹⁴ 

By David.

27:1 The Lord delivers and vindicates me! ¹⁵ 

I fear no one! ¹⁶ 

The Lord protects my life!

I am afraid of no one! ¹⁷ 

27:2 When evil men attack me ¹⁸ 

to devour my flesh, ¹⁹ 

when my adversaries and enemies attack me, ²⁰ 

they stumble and fall. ²¹ 

Psalms 46:1-2

Psalm 46 ²² 

For the music director; by the Korahites; according to the alamoth style; ²³  a song.

46:1 God is our strong refuge; ²⁴ 

he is truly our helper in times of trouble. ²⁵ 

46:2 For this reason we do not fear ²⁶  when the earth shakes, ²⁷ 

and the mountains tumble into the depths of the sea, ²⁸ 

Psalms 84:12

84:12 O Lord who rules over all, ²⁹ 

how blessed are those who trust in you! ³⁰ 

Psalms 146:5-6

146:5 How blessed is the one whose helper is the God of Jacob,

whose hope is in the Lord his God,

146:6 the one who made heaven and earth,

the sea, and all that is in them,

who remains forever faithful, ³¹ 

Jeremiah 17:7-8

17:7 My blessing is on those people who trust in me,

who put their confidence in me. ³² 

17:8 They will be like a tree planted near a stream

whose roots spread out toward the water.

It has nothing to fear when the heat comes.

Its leaves are always green.

It has no need to be concerned in a year of drought.

It does not stop bearing fruit.

Matthew 27:43

27:43 He trusts in God – let God, if he wants to, deliver him now ³³  because he said, ‘I am God’s Son’!”

Ephesians 1:12

1:12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope ³⁴  on Christ, ³⁵  would be to the praise of his glory.

[19:10]  ¹ tn Heb “will not be given.”

[19:2]  ² tn Heb “elders of the priests.”

[1:7]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “What was the manner…?”

[1:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “said to him.”

[1:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “an owner of hair.” This idiomatic expression indicates that Elijah was very hairy. For other examples where the idiom “owner of” is used to describe a characteristic of someone, see HALOT 143 s.v. בַּעַל. For example, an “owner of dreams” is one who frequently has dreams (Gen 37:19) and an “owner of anger” is a hot-tempered individual (Prov 22:24).

[1:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “belt of skin” (i.e., one made from animal hide).

[1:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:15]  ⁹ tn There is a textual difficulty here that factors into the interpretation of the verse. The Kethib is לֹא (lo’, “not”), but the Qere is לוֹ (lo, “to him”). The RSV takes the former: “Behold, he will slay me, I have no hope.” The NIV takes it as “though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.” Job is looking ahead to death, which is not an evil thing to him. The point of the verse is that he is willing to challenge God at the risk of his life; and if God slays him, he is still confident that he will be vindicated – as he says later in this chapter. Other suggestions are not compelling. E. Dhorme (Job, 187) makes a slight change of אֲיַחֵל (’ayakhel, “I will hope”) to אַחִיל (’akhil, “I will [not] tremble”). A. B. Davidson (Job, 98) retains the MT, but interprets the verb more in line with its use in the book: “I will not wait” (cf. NLT).

[13:15]  ¹⁰ tn On אַךְ (’akh, “surely”) see GKC 483 §153 on intensive clauses.

[13:15]  ¹¹ tn The verb once again is יָכָה (yakhah, in the Hiphil, “argue a case, plead, defend, contest”). But because the word usually means “accuse” rather than “defend,” I. L. Seeligmann proposed changing “my ways” to “his ways” (“Zur Terminologie für das Gerichtsverfahren im Wortschatz des biblischen Hebräisch,” VTSup 16 [1967]: 251-78). But the word can be interpreted appropriately in the context without emendation.

[13:5]  ¹² tn The grammatical construction used here (conjunction with independent pronoun) highlights the contrast between the psalmist’s defeated condition envisioned in v. 4 and confident attitude he displays in v. 5.

[13:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “may my heart rejoice in your deliverance.” The verb form is jussive. Having expressed his trust in God’s faithful character and promises, the psalmist prays that his confidence will prove to be well-placed. “Heart” is used here of the seat of the emotions.

[27:1]  ¹⁴ sn Psalm 27. The author is confident of the Lord’s protection and asks the Lord to vindicate him.

[27:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the Lord [is] my light and my deliverance.” “Light” is often used as a metaphor for deliverance and the life/blessings it brings. See Pss 37:6; 97:11; 112:4; Isa 49:6; 51:4; Mic 7:8. Another option is that “light” refers here to divine guidance (see Ps 43:3).

[27:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Whom shall I fear?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

[27:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Of whom shall I be afraid?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

[27:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “draw near to me.”

[27:2]  ¹⁹ sn To devour my flesh. The psalmist compares his enemies to dangerous, hungry predators (see 2 Kgs 9:36; Ezek 39:17).

[27:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “my adversaries and my enemies against me.” The verb “draw near” (that is, “attack”) is understood by ellipsis; see the previous line.

[27:2]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew verbal forms are perfects. The translation assumes the psalmist is generalizing here, but another option is to take this as a report of past experience, “when evil men attacked me…they stumbled and fell.”

[46:1]  ²² sn Psalm 46. In this so-called “Song Of Zion” God’s people confidently affirm that they are secure because the great warrior-king dwells within Jerusalem and protects it from the nations that cause such chaos in the earth. A refrain (vv. 7, 11) concludes the song’s two major sections.

[46:1]  ²³ sn The meaning of the Hebrew term עֲלָמוֹת (alamoth, which means “young women”) is uncertain; perhaps it refers to a particular style of music. Cf. 1 Chr 15:20.

[46:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “our refuge and strength,” which is probably a hendiadys meaning “our strong refuge” (see Ps 71:7). Another option is to translate, “our refuge and source of strength.”

[46:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “a helper in times of trouble he is found [to be] greatly.” The perfect verbal form has a generalizing function here. The adverb מְאֹד (mÿ’od, “greatly”) has an emphasizing function.

[46:2]  ²⁶ tn The imperfect is taken in a generalizing sense (cf. NEB) because the situation described in vv. 2-3 is understood as symbolizing typical world conditions. In this case the imperfect draws attention to the typical nature of the response. The covenant community characteristically responds with confidence, not fear. Another option is to take the situation described as purely hypothetical. In this case one might translate, “We will not fear, even though the earth should shake” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[46:2]  ²⁷ tn The Hiphil infinitival form is normally taken to mean “when [the earth] is altered,” being derived from מוּר (mur, “to change”). In this case the Hiphil would be intransitive, as in Ps 15:4. HALOT 560 s.v. II מור emends the form to a Niphal and derives it from a homonymic root מוּר attested in Arabic with the meaning “shake.”

[46:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “heart of the seas.” The plural may be used for emphasis, pointing to the deepest sea. Note that the next verse uses a singular pronoun (“its waters,” “its swelling”) in referring back to the plural noun.

[84:12]  ²⁹ tn Traditionally “Lord of hosts.”

[84:12]  ³⁰ tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man [who] trusts in you.” Hebrew literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle stated here is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender and age specific “man” with the plural “those.” The individual referred to here is representative of all followers of God, as the use of the plural form in v. 12b indicates.

[146:6]  ³¹ tn Heb “the one who guards faithfulness forever.”

[17:7]  ³² tn Heb “Blessed is the person who trusts in the Lord, and whose confidence is in the Lord.” However, because this is a statement of the Lord and the translation chooses to show that the blessing comes from him, the first person is substituted for the divine name.

[27:43]  ³³ sn An allusion to Ps 22:8.

[1:12]  ³⁴ tn Or “who had already hoped.”

[1:12]  ³⁵ tn Or “the Messiah.”