Daniel 6:23

6:23 Then the king was delighted and gave an order to haul Daniel up from the den. So Daniel was hauled up out of the den. He had no injury of any kind, because he had trusted in his God.

Psalms 18:19-24

18:19 He brought me out into a wide open place;

he delivered me because he was pleased with me. ¹ 

18:20 The Lord repaid ²  me for my godly deeds; ³ 

he rewarded ⁴  my blameless behavior. ⁵ 

18:21 For I have obeyed the Lord’s commands; ⁶ 

I have not rebelled against my God. ⁷ 

18:22 For I am aware of all his regulations, ⁸ 

and I do not reject his rules. ⁹ 

18:23 I was innocent before him,

and kept myself from sinning. ¹⁰ 

18:24 The Lord rewarded me for my godly deeds; ¹¹ 

he took notice of my blameless behavior. ¹² 

Psalms 26:6

26:6 I maintain a pure lifestyle, ¹³ 

so I can appear before your altar, ¹⁴  O Lord,

Psalms 84:11

84:11 For the Lord God is our sovereign protector. ¹⁵ 

The Lord bestows favor ¹⁶  and honor;

he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity. ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 3:10

3:10 Tell the innocent ¹⁸  it will go well with them, ¹⁹ 

for they will be rewarded for what they have done. ²⁰ 

Acts 24:16

24:16 This is the reason ²¹  I do my best to always ²²  have a clear ²³  conscience toward God and toward people. ²⁴ 

Acts 24:2

24:2 When Paul ²⁵  had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, ²⁶  saying, “We have experienced a lengthy time ²⁷  of peace through your rule, ²⁸  and reforms ²⁹  are being made in this nation ³⁰  through your foresight. ³¹ 

Colossians 1:12

1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share ³²  in the saints’ ³³  inheritance in the light.

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ³⁴  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 3:19-21

3:19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. 3:20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing in the Lord. 3:21 Fathers, ³⁵  do not provoke ³⁶  your children, so they will not become disheartened.

[18:19]  ¹ tn Or “delighted in me.”

[18:20]  ² tn In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not imperfect.

[18:20]  ³ tn Heb “according to my righteousness.” As vv. 22-24 make clear, the psalmist refers here to his unwavering obedience to God’s commands. In these verses the psalmist explains that the Lord was pleased with him and willing to deliver him because he had been loyal to God and obedient to his commandments. Ancient Near Eastern literature contains numerous parallels. A superior (a god or king) would typically reward a subject (a king or the servant of a king, respectively) for loyalty and obedience. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 211-13.

[18:20]  ⁴ tn The unreduced Hiphil prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, in which case the psalmist would be generalizing. However, both the preceding and following contexts (see especially v. 24) suggest he is narrating his experience. Despite its unreduced form, the verb is better taken as a preterite. For other examples of unreduced Hiphil preterites, see Pss 55:14a; 68:9a, 10b; 80:8a; 89:43a; 107:38b; 116:6b.

[18:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “according to the purity of my hands he repaid to me.” “Hands” suggest activity and behavior.

[18:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “for I have kept the ways of the Lord.” The phrase “ways of the Lord” refers here to the “conduct required” by the Lord. In Ps 25 the Lord’s “ways” are associated with his covenantal demands (see vv. 4, 9-10). See also Ps 119:3 (cf. vv. 1, 4), as well as Deut 8:6; 10:12; 11:22; 19:9; 26:17; 28:9; 30:16.

[18:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “I have not acted wickedly from my God.” The statement is elliptical; the idea is, “I have not acted wickedly and, in so doing, departed from my God.”

[18:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “for all his regulations [are] before me.” The Hebrew term מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim, “regulations”) refers to God’s covenantal requirements, especially those which the king is responsible to follow (cf. Deut 17:18-20). See also Pss 19:9 (cf. vv. 7-8); 89:30; 147:20 (cf. v. 19), as well as the numerous uses of the term in Ps 119.

[18:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “and his rules I do not turn aside from me.” 2 Sam 22:23 reads, “and his rules, I do not turn aside from it.” The prefixed verbal form is probably an imperfect; the psalmist here generalizes about his loyalty to God’s commands. The Lord’s “rules” are the stipulations of the covenant which the king was responsible to obey (see Ps 89:31; cf. v. 30 and Deut 17:18-20).

[18:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from my sin,” that is, from making it my own in any way.

[18:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “according to my righteousness.”

[18:24]  ¹² tn Heb “according to the purity of my hands before his eyes.” 2 Sam 22:25 reads “according to my purity before his eyes.” The verbal repetition (compare vv. 20 and 24) sets off vv. 20-24 as a distinct sub-unit within the psalm.

[26:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “I wash my hands in innocence.” The psalmist uses an image from cultic ritual to picture his moral lifestyle. The imperfect verbal emphasizes that this is his habit.

[26:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “so I can go around your altar” (probably in ritual procession). Following the imperfect of the preceding line, the cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose or result.

[84:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “[is] a sun and a shield.” The epithet “sun,” though rarely used of Israel’s God in the OT, was a well-attested royal title in the ancient Near East. For several examples from Ugaritic texts, the Amarna letters, and Assyrian royal inscriptions, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 131, n. 2.

[84:11]  ¹⁶ tn Or “grace.”

[84:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he does not withhold good to those walking in integrity.”

[3:10]  ¹⁸ tn Or “the righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, TEV); NLT “those who are godly.”

[3:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “that it is good.”

[3:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “for the fruit of their deeds they will eat.”

[24:16]  ²¹ tn BDAG 329 s.v. ἐν 9.a, “ἐν τούτῳ πιστεύομεν this is the reason why we believe Jn 16:30; cp. Ac 24:16.”

[24:16]  ²² tn BDAG 224 s.v. διά 2.a, “διὰ παντός…always, continually, constantly…Ac 2:25 (Ps 15:8); 10:2; 24:16.” However, the positioning of the adverb “always” in the English translation is difficult; the position used is one of the least awkward.

[24:16]  ²³ tn BDAG 125 s.v. ἀπρόσκοπος 1 has “ἀ. συνείδησις a clear conscience Ac 24:16.”

[24:16]  ²⁴ tn Grk “men,” but this is a generic use (Paul does not have only males in view).

[24:2]  ²⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[24:2]  ²⁶ tn Or “began to bring charges, saying.”

[24:2]  ²⁷ tn Grk “experienced much peace.”

[24:2]  ²⁸ tn Grk “through you” (“rule” is implied).

[24:2]  ²⁹ tn This term is used only once in the NT (a hapax legomenon). It refers to improvements in internal administration (BDAG 251 s.v. διόρθωμα).

[24:2]  ³⁰ tn Or “being made for this people.”

[24:2]  ³¹ sn References to peaceful rule, reforms, and the governor’s foresight in the opening address by Tertullus represent an attempt to praise the governor and thus make him favorable to the case. Actual descriptions of his rule portray him as inept (Tacitus, Annals 12.54; Josephus, J. W. 2.13.2-7 [2.253-270]).

[1:12]  ³² tn BDAG 473 s.v. ἱκανόω states, “τινὰ εἴς τι someone for someth. Col 1:12.” The point of the text is that God has qualified the saints for a “share” or “portion” in the inheritance of the saints.

[1:12]  ³³ tn Grk “the inheritance of the saints.” The genitive noun τῶν ἁγίων (twn Jagiwn) is a possessive genitive: “the saints’ inheritance.”

[1:1]  ³⁴ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[3:21]  ³⁵ tn Or perhaps “Parents.” The plural οἱ πατέρες (Joi patere", “fathers”) can be used to refer to both the male and female parent (BDAG 786 s.v. πατήρ 1.a).

[3:21]  ³⁶ tn Or “do not cause your children to become resentful” (L&N 88.168). BDAG 391 s.v. ἐρεθίζω states, “to cause someone to react in a way that suggests acceptance of a challenge, arouse, provoke mostly in bad sense irritate, embitter.”