Ecclesiastes 2:10

2:10 I did not restrain myself from getting whatever I wanted; ¹ 

I did not deny myself anything that would bring me pleasure. ² 

So all my accomplishments gave me joy; ³ 

this was my reward for all my effort. ⁴ 

Genesis 3:6

3:6 When ⁵  the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, ⁶  was attractive ⁷  to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, ⁸  she took some of its fruit and ate it. ⁹  She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. ¹⁰ 

Genesis 6:2

6:2 the sons of God ¹¹  saw that the daughters of humankind were beautiful. Thus they took wives for themselves from any they chose.

Joshua 7:21

7:21 I saw among the goods we seized a nice robe from Babylon, ¹²  two hundred silver pieces, ¹³  and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels. I wanted them, so I took them. They are hidden in the ground right in the middle of my tent with the silver underneath.”

Joshua 7:2

7:2 Joshua sent men from Jericho ¹⁴  to Ai (which is located near Beth Aven, east of Bethel ¹⁵ ) and instructed them, “Go up and spy on the land.” So the men went up and spied on Ai.

Joshua 11:2-4

11:2 and the northern kings who ruled in ¹⁶  the hill country, the Arabah south of Kinnereth, ¹⁷  the lowlands, and the heights of Dor to the west. 11:3 Canaanites came ¹⁸  from the east and west; Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, and Jebusites from the hill country; and Hivites from below Hermon in the area ¹⁹  of Mizpah. 11:4 These kings came out with their armies; they were as numerous as the sand on the seashore and had a large number of horses and chariots. ²⁰ 

Matthew 5:28

5:28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Matthew 5:1

The Beatitudes

5:1 When ²¹  he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain. ²²  After he sat down his disciples came to him.

Matthew 2:15-16

2:15 He stayed there until Herod ²³  died. In this way what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet was fulfilled: “I called my Son out of Egypt.” ²⁴ 

2:16 When Herod ²⁵  saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged. He sent men ²⁶  to kill all the children in Bethlehem ²⁷  and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men.

[2:10]  ¹ tn Heb “all which my eyes asked for, I did not withhold from them.”

[2:10]  ² tn Heb “I did not refuse my heart any pleasure.” The term לִבִּי (libbi, “my heart”) is a synecdoche of part (i.e., heart) for the whole (i.e., whole person); see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 648. The term is repeated twice in 2:10 for emphasis.

[2:10]  ³ tn Heb “So my heart was joyful from all my toil.”

[2:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “and this was my portion from all my toil.”

[3:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “And the woman saw.” The clause can be rendered as a temporal clause subordinate to the following verb in the sequence.

[3:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “that the tree was good for food.” The words “produced fruit that was” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

[3:6]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew word תַּאֲוָה (ta’avah, translated “attractive” here) actually means “desirable.” This term and the later term נֶחְמָד (nekhmad, “desirable”) are synonyms.

[3:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “that good was the tree for food, and that desirable it was to the eyes, and desirable was the tree to make one wise.” On the connection between moral wisdom and the “knowledge of good and evil,” see the note on the word “evil” in 2:9.

[3:6]  ⁹ tn The pronoun “it” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied (here and also after “ate” at the end of this verse) for stylistic reasons.

[3:6]  ¹⁰ sn This pericope (3:1-7) is a fine example of Hebrew narrative structure. After an introductory disjunctive clause that introduces a new character and sets the stage (3:1), the narrative tension develops through dialogue, culminating in the action of the story. Once the dialogue is over, the action is told in a rapid sequence of verbs – she took, she ate, she gave, and he ate.

[6:2]  ¹¹ sn The Hebrew phrase translated “sons of God” (בְנֵי־הָאֱלֹהִים, bÿne-ha’elohim) occurs only here (Gen 6:2, 4) and in Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7. There are three major interpretations of the phrase here. (1) In the Book of Job the phrase clearly refers to angelic beings. In Gen 6 the “sons of God” are distinct from “humankind,” suggesting they were not human. This is consistent with the use of the phrase in Job. Since the passage speaks of these beings cohabiting with women, they must have taken physical form or possessed the bodies of men. An early Jewish tradition preserved in 1 En. 6-7 elaborates on this angelic revolt and even names the ringleaders. (2) Not all scholars accept the angelic interpretation of the “sons of God,” however. Some argue that the “sons of God” were members of Seth’s line, traced back to God through Adam in Gen 5, while the “daughters of humankind” were descendants of Cain. But, as noted above, the text distinguishes the “sons of God” from humankind (which would include the Sethites as well as the Cainites) and suggests that the “daughters of humankind” are human women in general, not just Cainites. (3) Others identify the “sons of God” as powerful tyrants, perhaps demon-possessed, who viewed themselves as divine and, following the example of Lamech (see Gen 4:19), practiced polygamy. But usage of the phrase “sons of God” in Job militates against this view. For literature on the subject see G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:135.

[7:21]  ¹² tn Heb “Shinar,” a reference to Babylon (cf. Gen 10:10; 11:2; 14:1). Many modern translations retain the Hebrew name “Shinar” (cf. NEB, NRSV) but some use the more familiar “Babylon” (cf. NIV, NLT).

[7:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “shekels.”

[7:2]  ¹⁴ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[7:2]  ¹⁵ map For the location of Bethel see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[11:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and to the kings who [are] from the north in.”

[11:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Chinneroth,” a city and plain located in the territory of Naphtali in Galilee (BDB 490 s.v. כִּנֶּרֶת, כִּנֲרוֹת).

[11:3]  ¹⁸ tn The verb “came” is supplied in the translation (see v. 4).

[11:3]  ¹⁹ tn Or “land.”

[11:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “They and all their camps with them came out, a people as numerous as the sand which is on the edge of the sea in multitude, and [with] horses and chariots very numerous.”

[5:1]  ²¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[5:1]  ²² tn Or “up a mountain” (εἰς τὸ ὄρος, eis to oro").

[2:15]  ²³ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.

[2:15]  ²⁴ sn A quotation from Hos 11:1.

[2:16]  ²⁵ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1. Note the fulfillment of the prophecy given by the angel in 2:13.

[2:16]  ²⁶ tn Or “soldiers.”

[2:16]  ²⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.