Genesis 18:23

18:23 Abraham approached and said, “Will you sweep away the godly along with the wicked?

Genesis 18:1

Three Special Visitors

18:1 The Lord appeared to Abraham ¹  by the oaks ²  of Mamre while ³  he was sitting at the entrance ⁴  to his tent during the hottest time of the day.

Genesis 28:9

28:9 So Esau went to Ishmael and married ⁵  Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael, along with the wives he already had.

Genesis 28:2

28:2 Leave immediately ⁶  for Paddan Aram! Go to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and find yourself a wife there, among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.

Genesis 15:2

15:2 But Abram said, “O sovereign Lord, ⁷  what will you give me since ⁸  I continue to be ⁹  childless, and my heir ¹⁰  is ¹¹  Eliezer of Damascus?” ¹² 

Psalms 73:28

73:28 But as for me, God’s presence is all I need. ¹³ 

I have made the sovereign Lord my shelter,

as ¹⁴  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. ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 29:13

29:13 The sovereign master ¹⁶  says,

“These people say they are loyal to me; ¹⁷ 

they say wonderful things about me, ¹⁸ 

but they are not really loyal to me. ¹⁹ 

Their worship consists of

nothing but man-made ritual. ²⁰ 

Isaiah 55:6-7

55:6 Seek the Lord while he makes himself available; ²¹ 

call to him while he is nearby!

55:7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle ²² 

and sinful people their plans. ²³ 

They should return ²⁴  to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, ²⁵ 

and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. ²⁶ 

Hosea 6:1-2

Superficial Repentance Breeds False Assurance of God’s Forgiveness

6:1 “Come on! Let’s return to the Lord!

He himself has torn us to pieces,

but he will heal us!

He has injured ²⁷  us,

but he will bandage our wounds!

6:2 He will restore ²⁸  us in a very short time; ²⁹ 

he will heal us in a little while, ³⁰ 

so that we may live in his presence.

Zechariah 1:3

1:3 Therefore say to the people: ³¹  The Lord who rules over all ³²  says, “Turn ³³  to me,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and I will turn to you,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Malachi 3:7

3:7 From the days of your ancestors you have ignored ³⁴  my commandments ³⁵  and have not kept them! Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord who rules over all. “But you say, ‘How should we return?’

Hebrews 7:19

7:19 for the law made nothing perfect. On the other hand a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

Hebrews 10:22

10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, ³⁶  because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience ³⁷  and our bodies washed in pure water.

[18:1]  ¹ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:1]  ² tn Or “terebinths.”

[18:1]  ³ tn The disjunctive clause here is circumstantial to the main clause.

[18:1]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew noun translated “entrance” is an adverbial accusative of place.

[28:9]  ¹ tn Heb “took for a wife.”

[28:2]  ¹ tn Heb “Arise! Go!” The first of the two imperatives is adverbial and stresses the immediacy of the departure.

[15:2]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text has אֲדֹנָי יֱהוִה (’adonay yehvih, “Master, Lord”). Since the tetragrammaton (YHWH) usually is pointed with the vowels for the Hebrew word אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “master”) to avoid pronouncing the divine name, that would lead in this place to a repetition of אֲדֹנָי. So the tetragrammaton is here pointed with the vowels for the word אֱלֹהִים (’elohim, “God”) instead. That would produce the reading of the Hebrew as “Master, God” in the Jewish textual tradition. But the presence of “Master” before the holy name is rather compelling evidence that the original would have been “Master, Lord,” which is rendered here “sovereign Lord.”

[15:2]  ² tn The vav (ו) disjunctive at the beginning of the clause is circumstantial, expressing the cause or reason.

[15:2]  ³ tn Heb “I am going.”

[15:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “the son of the acquisition of my house.”

[15:2]  ⁵ tn The pronoun is anaphoric here, equivalent to the verb “to be” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 23, §115).

[15:2]  ⁶ sn The sentence in the Hebrew text employs a very effective wordplay on the name Damascus: “The son of the acquisition (בֶּן־מֶשֶׁק, ben-mesheq) of my house is Eliezer of Damascus (דַּמֶּשֶׁק, dammesheq).” The words are not the same; they have different sibilants. But the sound play gives the impression that “in the nomen is the omen.” Eliezer the Damascene will be Abram’s heir if Abram dies childless because “Damascus” seems to mean that. See M. F. Unger, “Some Comments on the Text of Genesis 15:2-3,” JBL 72 (1953): 49-50; H. L. Ginsberg, “Abram’s ‘Damascene’ Steward,” BASOR 200 (1970): 31-32.

[73:28]  ¹ tn Heb “but as for me, the nearness of God for me [is] good.”

[73:28]  ² 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]  ¹ tn Heb “in truth.”

[29:13]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai).

[29:13]  ² tn Heb “Because these people draw near to me with their mouth.”

[29:13]  ³ tn Heb “and with their lips they honor me.”

[29:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “but their heart is far from me.” The heart is viewed here as the seat of the will, from which genuine loyalty derives.

[29:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “their fear of me is a commandment of men that has been taught.”

[55:6]  ¹ tn Heb “while he allows himself to be found.” The Niphal form has a tolerative force here.

[55:7]  ¹ tn Heb “Let the wicked one abandon his way.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ² tn Heb “and the man of evil his thoughts.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ³ tn Heb “let him return.” The singular is collective, meaning “let them.”

[55:7]  ⁴ tn The imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive after the jussive indicates purpose/result.

[55:7]  ⁵ sn The appeal and promise of vv. 6-7 echoes the language of Deut 4:25-31; 30:1-10; and 1 Kgs 8:46-53, all of which anticipate the exile and speak of the prerequisites for restoration.

[6:1]  ¹ tn “has struck”; NRSV “struck down.”

[6:2]  ¹ tn The Piel of חָיָה (khayah) may mean: (1) to keep/preserve persons alive from the threat of premature death (1 Kgs 20:31; Ezek 13:18; 18:27); (2) to restore the dead to physical life (Deut 32:39; 1 Sam 2:6; cf. NCV “will put new life in us”); or (3) to restore the dying back to life from the threat of death (Ps 71:20; BDB 311 s.v. חָיָה).

[6:2]  ² tn Heb “after two days” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV). The expression “after two days” is an idiom meaning “after a short time” (see, e.g., Judg 11:4; BDB 399 s.v. יוֹם 5.a).

[6:2]  ³ tn Heb “on the third day” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV), which parallels “after two days” and means “in a little while.” The “2-3” sequence is an example of graded numerical parallelism (Prov 30:15-16, 18-19, 21-23, 24-28, 29-31). This expresses the unrepentant overconfidence of Israel that the Lord’s discipline of Israel would be relatively short and that he would restore them quickly.

[1:3]  ¹ tn Heb “to them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:3]  ² sn The epithet Lord who rules over all occurs frequently as a divine title throughout Zechariah (53 times total). This name (יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת, yÿhvah tsÿva’ot), traditionally translated “Lord of hosts” (so KJV, NAB, NASB; cf. NIV, NLT “Lord Almighty”; NCV, CEV “Lord All-Powerful”), emphasizes the majestic sovereignty of the Lord, an especially important concept in the postexilic world of great human empires and rulers. For a thorough study of the divine title, see T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 123-57.

[1:3]  ³ tn The Hebrew verb שׁוּב (shuv) is common in covenant contexts. To turn from the Lord is to break the covenant and to turn to him (i.e., to repent) is to renew the covenant relationship (cf. 2 Kgs 17:13).

[3:7]  ¹ tn Heb “turned aside from.”

[3:7]  ² tn Or “statutes” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “decrees”; NLT “laws.”

[10:22]  ¹ tn Grk “in assurance of faith.”

[10:22]  ² sn The phrase our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience combines the OT imagery of the sprinkling with blood to give ritual purity with the emphasis on the interior cleansing provided by the new covenant: It is the heart that is cleansed and the conscience made perfect (cf. Heb 8:10; 9:9, 14; 10:2, 16).