Ezra 7:9

7:9 On the first day of the first month he had determined to make ¹  the ascent from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he arrived at Jerusalem, ²  for the good hand of his God was on him.

Ezra 7:28

7:28 He has also conferred his favor on me before the king, his advisers, and all the influential leaders of the king. I gained strength as the hand of the Lord my God was on me, and I gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me.

Ezra 6:22

6:22 They observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, for the Lord had given them joy and had changed the opinion ³  of the king of Assyria ⁴  toward them, so that he assisted ⁵  them in the work on the temple of God, the God of Israel.

Ezra 8:18

8:18 Due to the fact that the good hand of our God was on us, they brought us a skilled man, from the descendants of Mahli the son of Levi son of Israel. This man was Sherebiah, ⁶  who was accompanied by his sons and brothers, ⁷  18 men,

Ezra 8:22

8:22 I was embarrassed to request soldiers and horsemen from the king to protect us from the enemy ⁸  along the way, because we had said to the king, “The good hand of our God is on everyone who is seeking him, but his great anger ⁹  is against everyone who forsakes him.”

Ezra 8:31

8:31 On the twelfth day of the first month we began traveling from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from our enemy and from bandits ¹⁰  along the way.

Genesis 32:28

32:28 “No longer will your name be Jacob,” the man told him, ¹¹  “but Israel, ¹²  because you have fought ¹³  with God and with men and have prevailed.”

Nehemiah 1:10-11

1:10 They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your mighty strength and by your powerful hand. 1:11 Please, ¹⁴  O Lord, listen attentively ¹⁵  to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who take pleasure in showing respect ¹⁶  to your name. Grant your servant success today and show compassion to me ¹⁷  in the presence of this man.”

Now ¹⁸  I was cupbearer for the king.

Nehemiah 2:8

2:8 and a letter for Asaph the keeper of the king’s nature preserve, ¹⁹  so that he will give me timber for beams for the gates of the fortress adjacent to the temple and for the city wall ²⁰  and for the house to which I go.” So the king granted me these requests, ²¹  for the good hand of my God was on me.

Nehemiah 2:12

2:12 I got up during the night, along with a few men who were with me. But I did not tell anyone what my God was putting on my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no animals with me, except for the one ²²  I was riding.

Nehemiah 2:18

2:18 Then I related to them how the good hand of my God was on me and what ²³  the king had said to me. Then they replied, “Let’s begin rebuilding right away!” ²⁴  So they readied themselves ²⁵  for this good project.

Nehemiah 4:15

4:15 It so happened that when our adversaries heard that we were aware of these matters, ²⁶  God frustrated their intentions. Then all of us returned to the wall, each to his own work.

Proverbs 3:6

3:6 Acknowledge ²⁷  him in all your ways, ²⁸ 

and he will make your paths straight. ²⁹ 

Isaiah 50:2

50:2 Why does no one challenge me when I come?

Why does no one respond when I call? ³⁰ 

Is my hand too weak ³¹  to deliver ³²  you?

Do I lack the power to rescue you?

Look, with a mere shout ³³  I can dry up the sea;

I can turn streams into a desert,

so the fish rot away and die

from lack of water. ³⁴ 

Isaiah 59:1

Injustice Brings Alienation from God

59:1 Look, the Lord’s hand is not too weak ³⁵  to deliver you;

his ear is not too deaf to hear you. ³⁶ 

[7:9]  ¹ tc The translation reads יִסַּד (yissad, “he appointed” [= determined]) rather than the reading יְסֻד (yÿsud, “foundation”) of the MT. (The words “to make” are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.)

[7:9]  ² sn Apparently it took the caravan almost four months to make the five hundred mile journey.

[6:22]  ³ tn Heb “heart.”

[6:22]  ⁴ sn The expression “king of Assyria” is anachronistic, since Assyria fell in 612 b.c., long before the events of this chapter. Perhaps the expression is intended subtly to contrast earlier kings of Assyria who were hostile toward Israel with this Persian king who showed them favor.

[6:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “to strengthen their hands.”

[8:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “and Sherebiah.” The words “this man was” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[8:18]  ⁷ tn Or “relatives” (so CEV; NRSV “kin”); also in v. 19.

[8:22]  ⁸ tn A number of modern translations regard this as a collective singular and translate “from enemies” (also in v. 31).

[8:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “his strength and his anger.” The expression is a hendiadys (one concept expressed through two terms).

[8:31]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from the hand of the enemy and the one who lies in wait.” Some modern English versions render the latter phrase as “ambushes” (cf. NASB, NRSV).

[32:28]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he said.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (the man who wrestled with Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:28]  ¹² sn The name Israel is a common construction, using a verb with a theophoric element (אֵל, ’el) that usually indicates the subject of the verb. Here it means “God fights.” This name will replace the name Jacob; it will be both a promise and a call for faith. In essence, the Lord was saying that Jacob would have victory and receive the promises because God would fight for him.

[32:28]  ¹³ sn You have fought. The explanation of the name Israel includes a sound play. In Hebrew the verb translated “you have fought” (שָׂרִיתָ, sarita) sounds like the name “Israel” (יִשְׂרָאֵל, yisra’el ), meaning “God fights” (although some interpret the meaning as “he fights [with] God”). The name would evoke the memory of the fight and what it meant. A. Dillmann says that ever after this the name would tell the Israelites that, when Jacob contended successfully with God, he won the battle with man (Genesis, 2:279). To be successful with God meant that he had to be crippled in his own self-sufficiency (A. P. Ross, “Jacob at the Jabboq, Israel at Peniel,” BSac 142 [1985]: 51-62).

[1:11]  ¹⁴ tn The interjection אָנָּא (’anna’) is an emphatic term of entreaty: “please!” (BDB 58 s.v.; HALOT 69-70 s.v.). This term is normally reserved for pleas for mercy from God in life-and-death situations (2 Kgs 20:3 = Isa 38:3; Pss 116:4; 118:25; Jonah 1:14; 4:2) and for forgiveness of heinous sins that would result or have resulted in severe judgment from God (Exod 32:31; Dan 9:4; Neh 1:5, 11).

[1:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “let your ear be attentive.”

[1:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “fear.”

[1:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “grant compassion.” The words “to me” are supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness and style in English.

[1:11]  ¹⁸ tn The vav (ו) on וַאֲנִי (va’ani, “Now, I”) introduces a disjunctive parenthetical clause that provides background information to the reader.

[2:8]  ¹⁹ tn Or “forest.” So HALOT 963 s.v. פַּרְדֵּס 2.

[2:8]  ²⁰ tc One medieval Hebrew MS, the Syriac Peshitta, Vulgate, and the Arabic read here the plural וּלְחוֹמוֹת (ulÿkhomot, “walls”) against the singular וּלְחוֹמַת (ulÿkhomat) in the MT. The plural holem vav (וֹ) might have dropped out due to dittography or the plural form might have been written defectively.

[2:8]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew text does not include the expression “these requests,” but it is implied.

[2:12]  ²² tn Heb “the animal.”

[2:18]  ²³ tn Heb “the words of the king which he had spoken to me.”

[2:18]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Arise! Let us rebuild!”

[2:18]  ²⁵ tn Heb “strengthened their hands.”

[4:15]  ²⁶ tn Heb “it was known to us.”

[3:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “know him.” The verb יָדַע (yadah, “to know”) includes mental awareness of who God is and the consequential submission to his lordship. To know him is to obey him. The sage is calling for a life of trust and obedience in which the disciple sees the Lord in every event and relies on him. To acknowledge the Lord in every event means trusting and obeying him for guidance in right conduct.

[3:6]  ²⁸ tn The term דֶרֶךְ (derekh, “way”) is figurative (hypocatastasis: implied comparison) referring to a person’s course of life, actions and undertakings (Prov 2:8; 3:6, 23; 11:5; 20:24; 29:27; 31:3; BDB 203 s.v. 5; cf. TEV “in everything you do”; NCV, NLT “in all you do”). This is a call for total commitment in trust for obedience in all things.

[3:6]  ²⁹ tn The verb יָשָׁר (yashar) means “to make smooth; to make straight” (BDB 444 s.v.). This phrase means “to make the way free from obstacles,” that is, to make it successful (e.g., Isa 40:3). The straight, even road is the right road; God will make the way smooth for the believer.

[50:2]  ³⁰ sn The present tense translation of the verbs assumes that the Lord is questioning why Israel does not attempt to counter his arguments. Another possibility is to take the verbs as referring to past events: “Why did no one meet me when I came? Why did no one answer when I called?” In this case the Lord might be asking why Israel rejected his calls to repent and his offer to deliver them.

[50:2]  ³¹ tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV).

[50:2]  ³² tn Or “ransom” (NAB, NASB, NIV).

[50:2]  ³³ tn Heb “with my rebuke.”

[50:2]  ³⁴ tn Heb “the fish stink from lack of water and die from thirst.”

[59:1]  ³⁵ tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[59:1]  ³⁶ tn Heb “or his ear too heavy [i.e., “dull”] to hear.”