Discovery BoxActs 14:17
Context14:17 yet he did not leave himself without a witness by doing good, 1 by giving you rain from heaven 2 and fruitful seasons, satisfying you 3 with food and your hearts with joy.” 4
Acts 14:1
Context14:1 The same thing happened in Iconium 5 when Paul and Barnabas 6 went into the Jewish synagogue 7 and spoke in such a way that a large group 8 of both Jews and Greeks believed.
Acts 8:27
Context8:27 So 9 he got up 10 and went. There 11 he met 12 an Ethiopian eunuch, 13 a court official of Candace, 14 queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasury. He 15 had come to Jerusalem to worship, 16
Psalms 139:1-13
ContextFor the music director, a psalm of David.
139:1 O Lord, you examine me 18 and know.
139:2 You know when I sit down and when I get up;
even from far away you understand my motives.
139:3 You carefully observe me when I travel or when I lie down to rest; 19
you are aware of everything I do. 20
139:4 Certainly 21 my tongue does not frame a word
without you, O Lord, being thoroughly aware of it. 22
139:5 You squeeze me in from behind and in front;
you place your hand on me.
139:6 Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension;
it is so far beyond me, I am unable to fathom it. 23
139:7 Where can I go to escape your spirit?
Where can I flee to escape your presence? 24
139:8 If I were to ascend 25 to heaven, you would be there.
If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be. 26
139:9 If I were to fly away 27 on the wings of the dawn, 28
and settle down on the other side 29 of the sea,
139:10 even there your hand would guide me,
your right hand would grab hold of me.
139:11 If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me, 30
and the light will turn to night all around me,” 31
139:12 even the darkness is not too dark for you to see, 32
and the night is as bright as 33 day;
darkness and light are the same to you. 34
139:13 Certainly 35 you made my mind and heart; 36
you wove me together 37 in my mother’s womb.
Jeremiah 23:23-24
Context23:23 Do you people think 38 that I am some local deity
and not the transcendent God?” 39 the Lord asks. 40
23:24 “Do you really think anyone can hide himself
where I cannot see him?” the Lord asks. 41
“Do you not know that I am everywhere?” 42
the Lord asks. 43
[14:17] 1 tn The participle ἀγαθουργῶν (agaqourgwn) is regarded as indicating means here, parallel to the following participles διδούς (didou") and ἐμπιπλῶν (empiplwn). This is the easiest way to understand the Greek structure. Semantically, the first participle is a general statement, followed by two participles giving specific examples of doing good.
[14:17] 2 tn Or “from the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).
[14:17] 3 tn Grk “satisfying [filling] your hearts with food and joy.” This is an idiomatic expression; it strikes the English reader as strange to speak of “filling one’s heart with food.” Thus the additional direct object “you” has been supplied, separating the two expressions somewhat: “satisfying you with food and your hearts with joy.”
[14:17] 4 sn God’s general sovereignty and gracious care in the creation are the way Paul introduces the theme of the goodness of God. He was trying to establish monotheism here. It is an OT theme (Gen 8:22; Ps 4:7; 145:15-16; 147:8-9; Isa 25:6; Jer 5:24) which also appears in the NT (Luke 12:22-34).
[14:1] 5 sn Iconium. See the note in 13:51.
[14:1] 6 tn Grk “they”; the referents (Paul and Barnabas) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
[14:1] 7 sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.
[14:1] 8 tn Or “that a large crowd.”
[8:27] 9 tn Grk “And,” but καί (kai) carries something of a resultative force in this context because what follows describes Philip’s response to the angel’s command.
[8:27] 10 tn Grk “So getting up he went.” The aorist participle ἀναστάς (anastas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
[8:27] 11 tn Grk “And there.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
[8:27] 12 tn Grk “and behold.” This expression is used to portray Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian in a vivid way. In the English translation this vividness is difficult to convey; it is necessary to supply the words “he met.”
[8:27] 13 sn The term eunuch normally referred to a man who had been castrated, but this was not always the case (see Gen 39:1 LXX, where Potiphar is called a eunuch). Such castrated individuals were preferred as court officials in the East, although Judaism opposed the practice. The Mosaic law excluded eunuchs from Israel (Deut 23:1), although God certainly accepted them (Isa 56:3-5; Wis 3:14). This individual was a high official, since he was said to be in charge of all her treasury. He may or may not have been a eunuch physically. He appears to be the first fully Gentile convert to Christianity, since the Samaritans mentioned previously (Acts 8:4-25) were regarded as half-breeds.
[8:27] 14 tn Or “the Candace” (the title of the queen of the Ethiopians). The term Κανδάκης (Kandakh") is much more likely a title rather than a proper name (like Pharaoh, which is a title); see L&N 37.77. A few, however, still take the word to be the name of the queen (L&N 93.209). BDAG 507 s.v. Κανδάκη, treats the term as a title and lists classical usage by Strabo (Geography 17.1.54) and others.
[8:27] 15 tn Grk “who was over all her treasury, who.” The two consecutive relative clauses make for awkward English style, so the second was begun as a new sentence with the pronoun “he” supplied in place of the Greek relative pronoun to make a complete sentence in English.
[8:27] 16 sn Since this man had come to Jerusalem to worship, he may have been a proselyte to Judaism. This event is a precursor to Acts 10.
[139:1] 17 sn Psalm 139. The psalmist acknowledges that God, who created him, is aware of his every action and thought. He invites God to examine his motives, for he is confident they are pure.
[139:1] 18 tn The statement is understood as generalizing – the psalmist describes what God typically does.
[139:3] 19 tn Heb “my traveling and my lying down you measure.” The verb זָרָה (zarah, “to measure”) is probably here a denominative from זָרָת (zarat, “a span; a measure”), though some derive it from זָרָה (zarat, “to winnow; to sift”; see BDB 279-80 s.v. זָרָה).
[139:3] 20 tn Heb “all my ways.”
[139:4] 22 tn Heb “look, O
[139:6] 23 tn Heb “too amazing [is this] knowledge for me, it is elevated, I cannot attain to it.”
[139:7] 24 tn Heb “Where can I go from your spirit, and where from your face can I flee?” God’s “spirit” may refer here (1) to his presence (note the parallel term, “your face,” and see Ps 104:29-30, where God’s “face” is his presence and his “spirit” is the life-giving breath he imparts) or (2) to his personal Spirit (see Ps 51:10).
[139:8] 25 tn The Hebrew verb סָלַק (salaq, “to ascend”) occurs only here in the OT, but the word is well-attested in Aramaic literature from different time periods and displays a wide semantic range (see DNWSI 2:788-90).
[139:8] 26 tn Heb “look, you.”
[139:9] 28 sn On the wings of the dawn. This personification of the “dawn” may find its roots in mythological traditions about the god Shachar, whose birth is described in an Ugaritic myth (see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 126) and who is mentioned in Isa 14:12 as the father of Helel.
[139:9] 29 tn Heb “at the end.”
[139:11] 30 tn The Hebrew verb שׁוּף (shuf), which means “to crush; to wound,” in Gen 3:15 and Job 9:17, is problematic here. For a discussion of attempts to relate the verb to Arabic roots, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 251. Many emend the form to יְשׂוּכֵּנִי (yesukkeniy), from the root שׂכך (“to cover,” an alternate form of סכך), a reading assumed in the present translation.
[139:11] 31 tn Heb “and night, light, around me.”
[139:12] 32 tn The words “to see” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
[139:12] 33 tn Heb “shines like.”
[139:12] 34 tn Heb “like darkness, like light.”
[139:13] 36 tn Heb “my kidneys.” The kidneys were sometimes viewed as the seat of one’s emotions and moral character (cf. Pss 7:9; 26:2). A number of translations, recognizing that “kidneys” does not communicate this idea to the modern reader, have generalized the concept: “inmost being” (NAB, NIV); “inward parts” (NASB, NRSV); “the delicate, inner parts of my body” (NLT). In the last instance, the focus is almost entirely on the physical body rather than the emotions or moral character. The present translation, by using a hendiadys (one concept expressed through two terms), links the concepts of emotion (heart) and moral character (mind).
[139:13] 37 tn The Hebrew verb סָכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave together”) is an alternate form of שָׂכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave”) used in Job 10:11.
[23:23] 38 tn The words “Do you people think” at the beginning of this verse and “Do you really think” at the beginning of the next verse are not in the text but are a way of trying to convey the nature of the rhetorical questions which expect a negative answer. They are also a way of trying to show that the verses are still connected with the preceding discussion addressed to the people (cf. 23:16, 20).
[23:23] 39 tn Heb “Am I a god nearby and not a god far off?” The question is sometimes translated as though there is an alternative being given in v. 23, one that covers both the ideas of immanence and transcendence (i.e., “Am I only a god nearby and not also a god far off?”). However, the hey interrogative (הַ) at the beginning of this verse and the particle (אִם, ’im) at the beginning of the next show that the linkage is between the question in v. 23 and that in v. 24a. According to BDB 210 s.v. הֲ 1.d both questions in this case expect a negative answer.
[23:23] 40 tn Heb “Oracle of the
[23:24] 41 tn Heb “Oracle of the
[23:24] 42 tn The words “Don’t you know” are not in the text. They are a way of conveying the idea that the question which reads literally “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” expects a positive answer. They follow the pattern used at the beginning of the previous two questions and continue that thought. The words are supplied in the translation for clarity.
