Deuteronomy 14:29

14:29 Then the Levites (because they have no allotment or inheritance with you), the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows of your villages may come and eat their fill so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work you do.

Deuteronomy 28:1-8

The Covenant Blessings

28:1 “If you indeed ¹  obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving ²  you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth. 28:2 All these blessings will come to you in abundance ³  if you obey the Lord your God: 28:3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field. ⁴  28:4 Your children ⁵  will be blessed, as well as the produce of your soil, the offspring of your livestock, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. 28:5 Your basket and your mixing bowl will be blessed. 28:6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. ⁶  28:7 The Lord will cause your enemies who attack ⁷  you to be struck down before you; they will attack you from one direction ⁸  but flee from you in seven different directions. 28:8 The Lord will decree blessing for you with respect to your barns and in everything you do – yes, he will bless you in the land he ⁹  is giving you.

Deuteronomy 28:11

28:11 The Lord will greatly multiply your children, ¹⁰  the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil in the land which he ¹¹  promised your ancestors ¹²  he would give you.

Proverbs 11:24-25

11:24 One person is generous ¹³  and yet grows more wealthy, ¹⁴ 

but another withholds more than he should ¹⁵  and comes to poverty. ¹⁶ 

11:25 A generous person ¹⁷  will be enriched, ¹⁸ 

and the one who provides water ¹⁹  for others ²⁰  will himself be satisfied. ²¹ 

Proverbs 14:21

14:21 The one who despises his neighbor sins,

but whoever is kind to the needy is blessed.

Proverbs 28:27

28:27 The one who gives to the poor will not lack, ²² 

but whoever shuts his eyes to them ²³  will receive ²⁴  many curses. ²⁵ 

Isaiah 58:10-11

58:10 You must ²⁶  actively help the hungry

and feed the oppressed. ²⁷ 

Then your light will dispel the darkness, ²⁸ 

and your darkness will be transformed into noonday. ²⁹ 

58:11 The Lord will continually lead you;

he will feed you even in parched regions. ³⁰ 

He will give you renewed strength, ³¹ 

and you will be like a well-watered garden,

like a spring that continually produces water.

[28:1]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “indeed.”

[28:1]  ² tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 15).

[28:2]  ³ tn Heb “come upon you and overtake you” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “come upon you and accompany you.”

[28:3]  ⁴ tn Or “in the country” (so NAB, NIV, NLT). This expression also occurs in v. 15.

[28:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[28:6]  ⁶ sn Come in…go out. To “come in” and “go out” is a figure of speech (merism) indicating all of life and its activities.

[28:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “who rise up against” (so NIV).

[28:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “way” (also later in this verse and in v. 25).

[28:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” Because English would not typically reintroduce the proper name following a relative pronoun (“he will bless…the Lord your God is giving”), the pronoun (“he”) has been employed here in the translation.

[28:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “will give you a lot of children.”

[28:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 28:8.

[28:11]  ¹² tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 36, 64).

[11:24]  ¹³ tn Heb “There is one who scatters.” The participle מְפַזֵּר (mÿfazzer, “one who scatters”) refers to charity rather than farming or investments (and is thus a hypocatastasis). Cf. CEV “become rich by being generous”).

[11:24]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “increases.” The verb means that he grows even more wealthy. This is a paradox: Generosity determines prosperity in God’s economy.

[11:24]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “more than what is right.” This one is not giving enough, but saving for himself.

[11:24]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “comes to lack.” The person who withholds will come to the diminishing of his wealth. The verse uses hyperbole to teach that giving to charity does not make anyone poor, and neither does refusal to give ensure prosperity.

[11:25]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the soul of blessing.” The genitive functions attributively. “Blessing” refers to a gift (Gen 33:11) or a special favor (Josh 15:19). The term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul”) functions as a synecdoche of part (= soul) for the whole (= person); see BDB 660 s.v. 4.

[11:25]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “will grow fat.” Drawing on the standard comparison of fatness and abundance (Deut 32:15), the term means “become rich, prosperous.”

[11:25]  ¹⁹ tn The verb מַרְוֶה (marveh, “to be saturated; to drink one’s fill”) draws a comparison between providing water for others with providing for those in need (e.g., Jer 31:25; Lam 3:15). The kind act will be reciprocated.

[11:25]  ²⁰ tn The phrase “for others” does not appear in the Hebrew but is implied by the causative Hiphil verb which normally takes a direct object; it is elided in the Hebrew for the sake of emphasis. It is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.

[11:25]  ²¹ tn This verb also means “to pour water,” and so continues the theme of the preceding participle: The one who gives refreshment to others will be refreshed. BDB 924 s.v. רָוָה lists the form יוֹרֶא (yore’) as a Hophal imperfect of רָוָה (ravah, the only occurrence) and translates it “will himself also be watered” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB). But the verb looks very much like a Hiphil of the root יָרָא (yara’, “to shoot; to pour”). So the editors of BHS suggest יוּאָר (yu’ar).

[28:27]  ²² sn The generous individual will be rewarded. He will not lack nor miss what he has given away to the poor.

[28:27]  ²³ tn Heb “hides his eyes”; “to them” is supplied in the translation to indicate the link with the poor in the preceding line. Hiding or closing the eyes is a metonymy of cause or of adjunct, indicating a decision not to look on and thereby help the poor. It could also be taken as an implied comparison, i.e., not helping the poor is like closing the eyes to them.

[28:27]  ²⁴ tn The term “receives” is not in the Hebrew text but is implied, and is supplied in the translation.

[28:27]  ²⁵ sn The text does not specify the nature or the source of the curses. It is natural to think that they would be given by the poor who are being mistreated and ignored. Far from being praised for their contributions to society, selfish, stingy people will be reviled for their heartless indifference.

[58:10]  ²⁶ tn Heb “if you.” See the note on “you must” in v. 9b.

[58:10]  ²⁷ tn Heb “If you furnish for the hungry [with] your being, and the appetite of the oppressed you satisfy.”

[58:10]  ²⁸ tn Heb “will rise in the darkness.”

[58:10]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and your darkness [will be] like noonday.”

[58:11]  ³⁰ tn Heb “he will satisfy in parched regions your appetite.”

[58:11]  ³¹ tn Heb “and your bones he will strengthen.”