Deuteronomy 4:8

4:8 And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just ¹  as this whole law ²  that I am about to share with ³  you today?

Deuteronomy 10:12-13

An Exhortation to Love Both God and People

10:12 Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you except to revere him, ⁴  to obey all his commandments, ⁵  to love him, to serve him ⁶  with all your mind and being, ⁷  10:13 and to keep the Lord’s commandments and statutes that I am giving ⁸  you today for your own good?

Psalms 19:7-11

19:7 The law of the Lord is perfect

and preserves one’s life. ⁹ 

The rules set down by the Lord ¹⁰  are reliable ¹¹ 

and impart wisdom to the inexperienced. ¹² 

19:8 The Lord’s precepts are fair ¹³ 

and make one joyful. ¹⁴ 

The Lord’s commands ¹⁵  are pure ¹⁶ 

and give insight for life. ¹⁷ 

19:9 The commands to fear the Lord are right ¹⁸ 

and endure forever. ¹⁹ 

The judgments given by the Lord are trustworthy

and absolutely just. ²⁰ 

19:10 They are of greater value ²¹  than gold,

than even a great amount of pure gold;

they bring greater delight ²²  than honey,

than even the sweetest honey from a honeycomb.

19:11 Yes, your servant finds moral guidance there; ²³ 

those who obey them receive a rich reward. ²⁴ 

Psalms 119:127-128

119:127 For this reason ²⁵  I love your commands

more than gold, even purest gold.

119:128 For this reason I carefully follow all your precepts. ²⁶ 

I hate all deceitful actions. ²⁷ 

Ezekiel 20:11-13

20:11 I gave them my statutes ²⁸  and revealed my regulations to them. The one ²⁹  who carries ³⁰  them out will live by them! ³¹  20:12 I also gave them my Sabbaths ³²  as a reminder of our relationship, ³³  so that they would know that I, the Lord, sanctify them. ³⁴  20:13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness; they did not follow my statutes and they rejected my regulations (the one who obeys them will live by them), and they utterly desecrated my Sabbaths. So I decided to pour out ³⁵  my rage on them in the wilderness and destroy them. ³⁶ 

Romans 7:12-14

7:12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

7:13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual – but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin. ³⁷ 

Romans 7:16

7:16 But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good. ³⁸ 

[4:8]  ¹ tn Or “pure”; or “fair”; Heb “righteous.”

[4:8]  ² tn The Hebrew phrase הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת (hattorah hazzo’t), in this context, refers specifically to the Book of Deuteronomy. That is, it is the collection of all the חֻקִּים (khuqqim, “statutes,” 4:1) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim, “ordinances,” 4:1) to be included in the covenant text. In a full canonical sense, of course, it pertains to the entire Pentateuch or Torah.

[4:8]  ³ tn Heb “place before.”

[10:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 10:4.

[10:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “to walk in all his ways” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “follow his ways exactly”; NLT “to live according to his will.”

[10:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 10:4.

[10:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “heart and soul” or “heart and being”; NCV “with your whole being.” See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.

[10:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation.

[19:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “[it] restores life.” Elsewhere the Hiphil of שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) when used with נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “life”) as object, means to “rescue or preserve one’s life” (Job 33:30; Ps 35:17) or to “revive one’s strength” (emotionally or physically; cf. Ruth 4:15; Lam 1:11, 16, 19). Here the point seems to be that the law preserves the life of the one who studies it by making known God’s will. Those who know God’s will know how to please him and can avoid offending him. See v. 11a.

[19:7]  ¹⁰ tn Traditionally, “the testimony of the Lord.” The noun עֵדוּת (’edut) refers here to the demands of God’s covenant law.

[19:7]  ¹¹ tn God’s covenant contains a clear, reliable witness to his moral character and demands.

[19:7]  ¹² tn Or “the [morally] naive,” that is, the one who is young and still in the process of learning right from wrong and distinguishing wisdom from folly.

[19:8]  ¹³ tn Or “just.” Perhaps the idea is that they impart a knowledge of what is just and right.

[19:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “[they] make happy [the] heart.” Perhaps the point is that they bring a sense of joyful satisfaction to the one who knows and keeps them, for those who obey God’s law are richly rewarded. See v. 11b.

[19:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “command.” The singular here refers to the law as a whole.

[19:8]  ¹⁶ tn Because they reflect God’s character, his commands provide a code of moral and ethical purity.

[19:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb [they] enlighten [the] eyes.

[19:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the fear of the Lord is clean.” The phrase “fear of the Lord” probably refers here to the law, which teaches one how to demonstrate proper reverence for the Lord. See Ps 111:10 for another possible use of the phrase in this sense.

[19:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “[it] stands permanently.”

[19:9]  ²⁰ sn Trustworthy and absolutely just. The Lord’s commands accurately reflect God’s moral will for his people and are an expression of his just character.

[19:10]  ²¹ tn Heb “more desirable.”

[19:10]  ²² tn Heb “are sweeter.” God’s law is “sweet’ in the sense that, when obeyed, it brings a great reward (see v. 11b).

[19:11]  ²³ tn Heb “moreover your servant is warned by them.”

[19:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “in the keeping of them [there is] a great reward.”

[119:127]  ²⁵ tn “For this reason” connects logically with the statement made in v. 126. Because the judgment the psalmist fears (see vv. 119-120) is imminent, he remains loyal to God’s law.

[119:128]  ²⁶ tn Heb “for this reason all the precepts of everything I regard as right.” The phrase “precepts of everything” is odd. It is preferable to take the kaf (כ) on כֹּל (kol, “everything) with the preceding form as a pronominal suffix, “your precepts,” and the lamed (ל) with the following verb as an emphatic particle. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 138.

[119:128]  ²⁷ tn Heb “every false path.”

[20:11]  ²⁸ sn The laws were given at Mount Sinai.

[20:11]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the man.”

[20:11]  ³⁰ tn Heb “does.”

[20:11]  ³¹ tn The wording and the concept is contained in Lev 18:5 and Deut 30:15-19.

[20:12]  ³² sn Ezekiel’s contemporary, Jeremiah, also stressed the importance of obedience to the Sabbath law (Jer 17).

[20:12]  ³³ tn Heb “to become a sign between me and them.”

[20:12]  ³⁴ tn Or “set them apart.” The last phrase of verse 12 appears to be a citation of Exod 31:13.

[20:13]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and I said/thought to pour out.”

[20:13]  ³⁶ tn Heb “to bring them to an end.”

[7:14]  ³⁷ tn Grk “under sin.”

[7:16]  ³⁸ tn Grk “I agree with the law that it is good.”