Deuteronomy 7:9

7:9 So realize that the Lord your God is the true God, ¹  the faithful God who keeps covenant faithfully ²  with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,

Nehemiah 1:5

1:5 Then I said, “Please, O LORD God of heaven, great and awesome God, who keeps his loving covenant ³  with those who love him and obey ⁴  his commandments,

Psalms 89:28

89:28 I will always extend my loyal love to him,

and my covenant with him is secure. ⁵ 

Daniel 9:4

9:4 I prayed to the LORD my God, confessing in this way:

“O Lord, ⁶  great and awesome God who is faithful to his covenant ⁷  with those who love him and keep his commandments,

Micah 7:18-20

7:18 There is no other God like you! ⁸ 

You ⁹  forgive sin

and pardon ¹⁰  the rebellion

of those who remain among your people. ¹¹ 

You do not remain angry forever, ¹² 

but delight in showing loyal love.

7:19 You will once again ¹³  have mercy on us;

you will conquer ¹⁴  our evil deeds;

you will hurl our ¹⁵  sins into the depths of the sea. ¹⁶ 

7:20 You will be loyal to Jacob

and extend your loyal love to Abraham, ¹⁷ 

which you promised on oath to our ancestors ¹⁸ 

in ancient times. ¹⁹ 

Luke 1:72

1:72 He has done this ²⁰  to show mercy ²¹  to our ancestors, ²² 

and to remember his holy covenant ²³  –

[7:9]  ¹ tn Heb “the God.” The article here expresses uniqueness; cf. TEV “is the only God”; NLT “is indeed God.”

[7:9]  ² tn Heb “who keeps covenant and loyalty.” The syndetic construction of בְּרִית (bÿrit) and חֶסֶד (khesed) should be understood not as “covenant” plus “loyalty” but as an adverbial construction in which חֶסֶד (“loyalty”) modifies the verb שָׁמַר (shamar, “keeps”).

[1:5]  ³ tn Heb “the covenant and loyal love.” The phrase is a hendiadys: the first noun retains its full nominal sense, while the second noun functions adjectivally (“loyal love” = loving). Alternately, the first might function adjectivally and the second noun function as the noun: “covenant and loyal love” = covenant fidelity (see Neh 9:32).

[1:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “keep.” The Hebrew verb שָׁמַר (shamar, “to observe; to keep”) is often used as an idiom that means “to obey” the commandments of God (e.g., Exod 20:6; Deut 5:16; 23:24; 29:8; Judg 2:22; 1 Kgs 2:43; 11:11; Ps 119:8, 17, 34; Jer 35:18; Ezek 17:14; Amos 2:4). See BDB 1036 s.v. 3.c.

[89:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “forever I will keep for him my loyal love and will make my covenant secure for him.”

[9:4]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here and in vv. 7, 9, 15, 16, and 19 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[9:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “who keeps the covenant and the loyal love.” The expression is a hendiadys.

[7:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “Who is a God like you?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one!”

[7:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “one who.” The prayer moves from direct address (second person) in v. 18a to a descriptive (third person) style in vv. 18b-19a and then back to direct address (second person) in vv. 19b-20. Due to considerations of English style and the unfamiliarity of the modern reader with alternation of persons in Hebrew poetry, the entire section has been rendered as direct address (second person) in the translation.

[7:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “pass over.”

[7:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “of the remnant of his inheritance.”

[7:18]  ¹² tn Heb “he does not keep hold of his anger forever.”

[7:19]  ¹³ tn The verb יָשׁוּב (yashuv, “he will return”) is here used adverbially in relation to the following verb, indicating that the Lord will again show mercy.

[7:19]  ¹⁴ tn Some prefer to read יִכְבֹּס (yikhbos, “he will cleanse”; see HALOT 459 s.v. כבס pi). If the MT is taken as it stands, sin is personified as an enemy that the Lord subdues.

[7:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “their sins,” but the final mem (ם) may be enclitic rather than a pronominal suffix. In this case the suffix from the preceding line (“our”) may be understood as doing double duty.

[7:19]  ¹⁶ sn In this metaphor the Lord disposes of Israel’s sins by throwing them into the waters of the sea (here symbolic of chaos).

[7:20]  ¹⁷ tn More literally, “You will extend loyalty to Jacob, and loyal love to Abraham.

[7:20]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “our fathers.” The Hebrew term refers here to more distant ancestors, not immediate parents.

[7:20]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “which you swore [or, “pledged”] to our fathers from days of old.”

[1:72]  ²⁰ tn The words “He has done this” (referring to the raising up of the horn of salvation from David’s house) are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to allow a new sentence to be started in the translation. The Greek sentence is lengthy and complex at this point, while contemporary English uses much shorter sentences.

[1:72]  ²¹ sn Mercy refers to God’s loyal love (steadfast love) by which he completes his promises. See Luke 1:50.

[1:72]  ²² tn Or “our forefathers”; Grk “our fathers.” This begins with the promise to Abraham (vv. 55, 73), and thus refers to many generations of ancestors.

[1:72]  ²³ sn The promises of God can be summarized as being found in the one promise (the oath that he swore) to Abraham (Gen 12:1-3).