Deuteronomy 5:26

5:26 Who is there from the entire human race ¹  who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the middle of the fire as we have, and has lived?

Psalms 46:1

Psalm 46 ² 

For the music director; by the Korahites; according to the alamoth style; ³  a song.

46:1 God is our strong refuge; ⁴ 

he is truly our helper in times of trouble. ⁵ 

Psalms 73:28

73:28 But as for me, God’s presence is all I need. ⁶ 

I have made the sovereign Lord my shelter,

as ⁷  I declare all the things you have done.

Psalms 145:18

145:18 The Lord is near all who cry out to him,

all who cry out to him sincerely. ⁸ 

Psalms 148:14

148:14 He has made his people victorious, ⁹ 

and given all his loyal followers reason to praise –

the Israelites, the people who are close to him. ¹⁰ 

Praise the Lord!

Isaiah 55:6

55:6 Seek the Lord while he makes himself available; ¹¹ 

call to him while he is nearby!

Ephesians 2:12-22

2:12 that you were at that time without the Messiah, ¹²  alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, ¹³  having no hope and without God in the world. 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴  2:14 For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one ¹⁵  and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, 2:15 when he nullified ¹⁶  in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man ¹⁷  out of two, ¹⁸  thus making peace, 2:16 and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed. ¹⁹  2:17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, 2:18 so that ²⁰  through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 2:19 So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, 2:20 because you have been built ²¹  on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, ²²  with Christ Jesus himself as ²³  the cornerstone. ²⁴  2:21 In him ²⁵  the whole building, ²⁶  being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 2:22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

James 4:8

4:8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded. ²⁷ 

[5:26]  ¹ tn Heb “who is there of all flesh.”

[46:1]  ² sn Psalm 46. In this so-called “Song Of Zion” God’s people confidently affirm that they are secure because the great warrior-king dwells within Jerusalem and protects it from the nations that cause such chaos in the earth. A refrain (vv. 7, 11) concludes the song’s two major sections.

[46:1]  ³ sn The meaning of the Hebrew term עֲלָמוֹת (alamoth, which means “young women”) is uncertain; perhaps it refers to a particular style of music. Cf. 1 Chr 15:20.

[46:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “our refuge and strength,” which is probably a hendiadys meaning “our strong refuge” (see Ps 71:7). Another option is to translate, “our refuge and source of strength.”

[46:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “a helper in times of trouble he is found [to be] greatly.” The perfect verbal form has a generalizing function here. The adverb מְאֹד (mÿ’od, “greatly”) has an emphasizing function.

[73:28]  ⁶ tn Heb “but as for me, the nearness of God for me [is] good.”

[73:28]  ⁷ tn The infinitive construct with -לְ (lÿ) is understood here as indicating an attendant circumstance. Another option is to take it as indicating purpose (“so that I might declare”) or result (“with the result that I declare”).

[145:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “in truth.”

[148:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he lifted up a horn for his people.” The horn of an ox underlies the metaphor (see Deut 33:17; 1 Kgs 22:11; Ps 92:10). The horn of the wild ox is frequently a metaphor for military strength; the idiom “exalt/lift up the horn” signifies military victory (see 1 Sam 2:10; Pss 75:10; 89:17, 24; 92:10; Lam 2:17). Another option is to take the “horn” as a symbol for the Davidic king, through whom the Lord gives his people military victory.

[148:14]  ¹⁰ tn “[there is] praise for all his loyal followers, to the sons of Israel, the people near him.” Here “praise” stands by metonymy for the victory that prompts it.

[55:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “while he allows himself to be found.” The Niphal form has a tolerative force here.

[2:12]  ¹² tn Or “without Christ.” Both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.” Because the context refers to ancient Israel’s messianic expectation, “Messiah” was employed in the translation at this point rather than “Christ.”

[2:12]  ¹³ tn Or “covenants of the promise.”

[2:13]  ¹⁴ tn Or “have come near in the blood of Christ.”

[2:14]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “who made the both one.”

[2:15]  ¹⁶ tn Or “rendered inoperative.” This is a difficult text to translate because it is not easy to find an English term which communicates well the essence of the author’s meaning, especially since legal terminology is involved. Many other translations use the term “abolish” (so NRSV, NASB, NIV), but this term implies complete destruction which is not the author’s meaning here. The verb καταργέω (katargew) can readily have the meaning “to cause someth. to lose its power or effectiveness” (BDAG 525 s.v. 2, where this passage is listed), and this meaning fits quite naturally here within the author’s legal mindset. A proper English term which communicates this well is “nullify” since this word carries the denotation of “making something legally null and void.” This is not, however, a common English word. An alternate term like “rendered inoperative [or ineffective]” is also accurate but fairly inelegant. For this reason, the translation retains the term “nullify”; it is the best choice of the available options, despite its problems.

[2:15]  ¹⁷ tn In this context the author is not referring to a new individual, but instead to a new corporate entity united in Christ (cf. BDAG 497 s.v. καινός 3.b: “All the Christians together appear as κ. ἄνθρωπος Eph 2:15”). This is clear from the comparison made between the Gentiles and Israel in the immediately preceding verses and the assertion in v. 14 that Christ “made both groups into one.” This is a different metaphor than the “new man” of Eph 4:24; in that passage the “new man” refers to the new life a believer has through a relationship to Christ.

[2:15]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “in order to create the two into one new man.” Eph 2:14-16 is one sentence in Greek. A new sentence was started here in the translation for clarity since contemporary English is less tolerant of extended sentences.

[2:16]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “by killing the hostility in himself.”

[2:18]  ²⁰ tn Or “for.” BDAG gives the consecutive ὅτι (Joti) as a possible category of NT usage (BDAG 732 s.v. 5.c).

[2:20]  ²¹ tn Grk “having been built.”

[2:20]  ²² sn Apostles and prophets. Because the prophets appear after the mention of the apostles and because they are linked together in 3:5 as recipients of revelation about the church, they are to be regarded not as Old Testament prophets, but as New Testament prophets.

[2:20]  ²³ tn Grk “while Christ Jesus himself is” or “Christ Jesus himself being.”

[2:20]  ²⁴ tn Or perhaps “capstone” (NAB). The meaning of ἀκρογωνιαῖος (akrogwniaio") is greatly debated. The meaning “capstone” is proposed by J. Jeremias (TDNT 1:792), but the most important text for this meaning (T. Sol. 22:7-23:4) is late and possibly not even an appropriate parallel. The only place ἀκρογωνιαῖος is used in the LXX is Isa 28:16, and there it clearly refers to a cornerstone that is part of a foundation. Furthermore, the imagery in this context has the building growing off the cornerstone upward, whereas if Christ were the capstone, he would not assume his position until the building was finished, which vv. 21-22 argue against.

[2:21]  ²⁵ tn Grk “in whom” (v. 21 is a relative clause, subordinate to v. 20).

[2:21]  ²⁶ tc Although several important witnesses (א¹ A C P 6 81 326 1739^c 1881) have πᾶσα ἡ οἰκοδομή (pasa Jh oikodomh), instead of πᾶσα οἰκοδομή (the reading of א* B D F G Ψ 33 1739* Ï), the article is almost surely a scribal addition intended to clarify the meaning of the text, for with the article the meaning is unambiguously “the whole building.”

[4:8]  ²⁷ tn Or “two-minded” (the same description used in 1:8).