2 Samuel 14:17

14:17 So your servant said, ‘May the word of my lord the king be my security, for my lord the king is like the angel of God when it comes to deciding between right and wrong! May the Lord your God be with you!’”

2 Samuel 14:1

David Permits Absalom to Return to Jerusalem

14:1 Now Joab son of Zeruiah realized that the king longed to see ¹  Absalom.

2 Samuel 3:9-11

3:9 God will severely judge Abner ²  if I do not do for David exactly what the Lord has promised him, ³  3:10 namely, to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and to establish the throne of David over Israel and over Judah all the way from Dan to Beer Sheba!” 3:11 Ish-bosheth ⁴  was unable to answer Abner with even a single word because he was afraid of him.

Psalms 25:14

25:14 The Lord’s loyal followers receive his guidance, ⁵ 

and he reveals his covenantal demands to them. ⁶ 

Proverbs 28:5

28:5 Evil people ⁷  do not understand justice, ⁸ 

but those who seek the Lord ⁹  understand it all.

Ecclesiastes 8:5

8:5 Whoever obeys his ¹⁰  command will not experience harm,

and a wise person ¹¹  knows the proper time ¹²  and procedure.

John 7:17

7:17 If anyone wants to do God’s will, ¹³  he will know about my teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak from my own authority. ¹⁴ 

Ephesians 4:13-14

4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God – a mature person, attaining to ¹⁵  the measure of Christ’s full stature. ¹⁶  4:14 So ¹⁷  we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes. ¹⁸ 

Philippians 1:10

1:10 so that you can decide what is best, and thus be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ,

Philippians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul ¹⁹  and Timothy, slaves ²⁰  of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, ²¹  with the overseers ²²  and deacons.

Philippians 1:21

1:21 For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.

Hebrews 5:14

5:14 But solid food is for the mature, whose perceptions are trained by practice to discern both good and evil.

Hebrews 5:1

5:1 For every high priest is taken from among the people ²³  and appointed ²⁴  to represent them before God, ²⁵  to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.

Hebrews 4:1

God’s Promised Rest

4:1 Therefore we must be wary ²⁶  that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it.

[14:1]  ¹ tn Heb “the heart of the king was upon.” The Syriac Peshitta adds the verb ’ethre’i (“was reconciled”).

[3:9]  ² tn Heb “So will God do to Abner and so he will add to him.”

[3:9]  ³ tc Heb “has sworn to David.” The LXX, with the exception of the recension of Origen, adds “in this day.”

[3:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ish-bosheth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “the advice of the Lord belongs to those who fear him.”

[25:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “and his covenant, to make them know.”

[28:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “men of evil”; the context does not limit this to males only, however.

[28:5]  ⁸ tn The term translated “justice” is מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat); it refers to the legal rights of people, decisions that are equitable in the community. W. G. Plaut observes that there are always those who think that “justice” is that which benefits them, otherwise it is not justice (Proverbs, 282).

[28:5]  ⁹ sn The contrast (and the difference) is between the wicked and those who seek the Lord. Originally the idea of seeking the Lord meant to obtain an oracle (2 Sam 21:1), but then it came to mean devotion to God – seeking to learn and do his will. Only people who are interested in doing the Lord’s will can fully understand justice. Without that standard, legal activity can become self-serving.

[8:5]  ¹⁰ tn The word “his” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness and clarity.

[8:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the heart of a wise man.”

[8:5]  ¹² tn The term עֵת (’et, “time”) connotes “a proper, suitable time for an event; the right moment” (HALOT 900 s.v. עֵת 6; BDB 773 s.v. עֵת 2.b); e.g., “it was the time for rain” (Ezra 10:13); “a time of judgment for the nations” (Ezek 30:3); “there is an appropriate time for every occasion” (Eccl 3:1); “the time when mountain goats are born” (Job 39:1); “the rain in its season” (Deut 11:14; Jer 5:24); “the time for the harvest” (Hos 2:11; Ps 1:3); “food in its season” (Ps 104:27).

[7:17]  ¹³ tn Grk “his will.”

[7:17]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “or whether I speak from myself.”

[4:13]  ¹⁵ tn The words “attaining to” were supplied in the translation to pick up the καταντήσωμεν (katanthswmen) mentioned earlier in the sentence and the εἰς (eis) which heads up this clause.

[4:13]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” On this translation of ἡλικία (Jhlikia, “stature”) see BDAG 436 s.v. 3.

[4:14]  ¹⁷ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:14]  ¹⁸ tn While the sense of the passage is clear enough, translation in English is somewhat difficult. The Greek says: “by the trickery of men, by craftiness with the scheme of deceit.” The point is that the author is concerned about Christians growing into maturity. He is fearful that certain kinds of very cunning people, who are skilled at deceitful scheming, should come in and teach false doctrines which would in turn stunt the growth of the believers.

[1:1]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ²⁰ tn Traditionally, “servants” or “bondservants.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  ²¹ map For location see JP1 C1; JP2 C1; JP3 C1; JP4 C1.

[1:1]  ²² sn The overseers (or “church leaders,” L&N 53.71) is another term for the same official position of leadership as the “elder.” This is seen in the interchange of the two terms in Titus 1:6-7 and in Acts 20:17, 28, as well as in the parallels between Titus 1:6-7 and 1 Tim 3:1-7.

[5:1]  ²³ tn Grk “from among men,” but since the point in context is shared humanity (rather than shared maleness), the plural Greek term ἀνθρώπων (anqrwpwn) has been translated “people.”

[5:1]  ²⁴ tn Grk “who is taken from among people is appointed.”

[5:1]  ²⁵ tn Grk “appointed on behalf of people in reference to things relating to God.”

[4:1]  ²⁶ tn Grk “let us fear.”