Genesis 44:18

44:18 Then Judah approached him and said, “My lord, please allow your servant to speak a word with you. ¹  Please do not get angry with your servant, ²  for you are just like Pharaoh. ³ 

Jude 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Jude, ⁴  a slave ⁵  of Jesus Christ and brother of James, ⁶  to those who are called, wrapped in the love of ⁷  God the Father and kept for ⁸  Jesus Christ.

Esther 4:11-16

4:11 “All the servants of the king and the people of the king’s provinces know that there is only one law applicable ⁹  to any man or woman who comes uninvited to the king in the inner court – that person will be put to death, unless the king extends to him the gold scepter, permitting him to be spared. ¹⁰  Now I have not been invited to come to the king for some thirty days!”

4:12 When Esther’s reply ¹¹  was conveyed to Mordecai, 4:13 he ¹²  said to take back this answer to Esther: 4:14 “Don’t imagine that because you are part of the king’s household you will be the one Jew ¹³  who will escape. If you keep quiet at this time, liberation and protection for the Jews will appear ¹⁴  from another source, ¹⁵  while you and your father’s household perish. It may very well be ¹⁶  that you have achieved royal status ¹⁷  for such a time as this!”

4:15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 4:16 “Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa and fast in my behalf. Don’t eat and don’t drink for three days, night or day. My female attendants and I ¹⁸  will also fast in the same way. Afterward I will go to the king, even though it violates the law. ¹⁹  If I perish, I perish!”

Job 40:4

40:4 “Indeed, I am completely unworthy ²⁰  – how could I reply to you?

I put ²¹  my hand over my mouth to silence myself. ²² 

Psalms 9:12

9:12 For the one who takes revenge against murderers took notice of the oppressed; ²³ 

he did not overlook ²⁴  their cry for help ²⁵ 

Psalms 10:17

10:17 Lord, you have heard ²⁶  the request ²⁷  of the oppressed;

you make them feel secure because you listen to their prayer. ²⁸ 

Psalms 89:7

89:7 a God who is honored ²⁹  in the great angelic assembly, ³⁰ 

and more awesome than ³¹  all who surround him?

Isaiah 6:5

6:5 I said, “Too bad for me! I am destroyed, ³²  for my lips are contaminated by sin, ³³  and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. ³⁴  My eyes have seen the king, the Lord who commands armies.” ³⁵ 

Isaiah 55:8-9

55:8 “Indeed, ³⁶  my plans ³⁷  are not like ³⁸  your plans,

and my deeds ³⁹  are not like ⁴⁰  your deeds,

55:9 for just as the sky ⁴¹  is higher than the earth,

so my deeds ⁴²  are superior to ⁴³  your deeds

and my plans ⁴⁴  superior to your plans.

Hebrews 12:28-29

12:28 So since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us give thanks, and through this let us offer worship pleasing to God in devotion and awe. 12:29 For our God is indeed a devouring fire. ⁴⁵ 

[44:18]  ¹ tn Heb “Please my lord, let your servant speak a word into the ears of my lord.”

[44:18]  ² tn Heb “and let not your anger burn against your servant.”

[44:18]  ³ sn You are just like Pharaoh. Judah’s speech begins with the fear and trembling of one who stands condemned. Joseph has as much power as Pharaoh, either to condemn or to pardon. Judah will make his appeal, wording his speech in such a way as to appeal to Joseph’s compassion for the father, whom he mentions no less than fourteen times in the speech.

[1:1]  ⁴ tn Grk “Judas,” traditionally “Jude” in English versions to distinguish him from the one who betrayed Jesus. The word “From” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ⁵ tn Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). At the same time, perhaps “servant” is apt in that the δοῦλος of Jesus Christ took on that role voluntarily, unlike a slave. The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  ⁶ sn Although Jude was half-brother of Jesus, he humbly associates himself with James, his full brother. By first calling himself a slave of Jesus Christ, it is evident that he wants no one to place stock in his physical connections. At the same time, he must identify himself further: Since Jude was a common name in the 1st century (two of Jesus’ disciples were so named, including his betrayer), more information was needed, that is to say, brother of James.

[1:1]  ⁷ tn Grk “loved in.” The perfect passive participle suggests that the audience’s relationship to God is not recent; the preposition ἐν (en) before πατρί (patri) could be taken as sphere or instrument (agency is unlikely, however). Another possible translation would be “dear to God.”

[1:1]  ⁸ tn Or “by.” Datives of agency are quite rare in the NT (and other ancient Greek), almost always found with a perfect verb. Although this text qualifies, in light of the well-worn idiom of τηρέω (threw) in eschatological contexts, in which God or Christ keeps the believer safe until the parousia (cf. 1 Thess 5:23; 1 Pet 1:4; Rev 3:10; other terms meaning “to guard,” “to keep” are also found in similar eschatological contexts [cf. 2 Thess 3:3; 2 Tim 1:12; 1 Pet 1:5; Jude 24]), it is probably better to understand this verse as having such an eschatological tinge. It is at the same time possible that Jude’s language was intentionally ambiguous, implying both ideas (“kept by Jesus Christ [so that they might be] kept for Jesus Christ”). Elsewhere he displays a certain fondness for wordplays; this may be a hint of things to come.

[4:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “one is his law”; NASB “he (the king NIV) has but one law”

[4:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he will live”; KJV, ASV “that he may live”; NIV “and spare his life.”

[4:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the words of Esther”; TEV, NLT “Esther’s message.”

[4:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “Mordecai.” The pronoun (“he”) was used in the translation for stylistic reasons. A repetition of the proper name here is redundant in terms of contemporary English style.

[4:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “from all the Jews”; KJV “more than all the Jews”; NIV “you alone of all the Jews.”

[4:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “stand”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NLT “arise.”

[4:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “place” (so KJV, NIV, NLT); NRSV “from another quarter.” This is probably an oblique reference to help coming from God. D. J. A. Clines disagrees; in his view a contrast between deliverance by Esther and deliverance by God is inappropriate (Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther [NCBC], 302). But Clines’ suggestion that perhaps the reference is to deliverance by Jewish officials or by armed Jewish revolt is less attractive than seeing this veiled reference as part of the literary strategy of the book, which deliberately keeps God’s providential dealings entirely in the background.

[4:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “And who knows whether” (so NASB). The question is one of hope, but free of presumption. Cf. Jonah 3:9.

[4:14]  ²⁰ tn Heb “have come to the kingdom”; NRSV “to royal dignity”; NIV “to royal position”; NLT “have been elevated to the palace.”

[4:16]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “I and my female attendants.” The translation reverses the order for stylistic reasons.

[4:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “which is not according to the law” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “contrary to the law.”

[40:4]  ²² tn The word קַלֹּתִי (qalloti) means “to be light; to be of small account; to be unimportant.” From this comes the meaning “contemptible,” which in the causative stem would mean “to treat with contempt; to curse.” Dhorme tries to make the sentence a conditional clause and suggests this meaning: “If I have been thoughtless.” There is really no “if” in Job’s mind.

[40:4]  ²³ tn The perfect verb here should be classified as an instantaneous perfect; the action is simultaneous with the words.

[40:4]  ²⁴ tn The words “to silence myself” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “for the one who seeks shed blood remembered them.” The idiomatic expression “to seek shed blood” seems to carry the idea “to seek payment/restitution for one’s shed blood.” The plural form דָּמִים (damim, “shed blood”) occurs only here as the object of דָּרַשׁ (darash); the singular form דָּם (dam, “blood”) appears with the verb in Gen 9:5; 42:22; Ezek 33:6. “Them,” the pronominal object of the verb “remembered,” refers to the oppressed, mentioned specifically in the next line, so the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:12]  ²⁶ tn Heb “did not forget.”

[9:12]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the cry for help of the oppressed.” In this context the “oppressed” are the psalmist and those he represents, whom the hostile nations have threatened.

[10:17]  ²⁸ sn You have heard. The psalmist is confident that God has responded positively to his earlier petitions for divine intervention. The psalmist apparently prayed the words of vv. 16-18 after the reception of an oracle of deliverance (given in response to the confident petition of vv. 12-15) or after the Lord actually delivered him from his enemies.

[10:17]  ²⁹ tn Heb “desire.”

[10:17]  ³⁰ tn Heb “you make firm their heart, you cause your ear to listen.”

[89:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “feared.”

[89:7]  ³² tn Heb “in the great assembly of the holy ones.”

[89:7]  ³³ tn Or perhaps “feared by.”

[6:5]  ³⁴ tn Isaiah uses the suffixed (perfect) form of the verb for rhetorical purposes. In this way his destruction is described as occurring or as already completed. Rather than understanding the verb as derived from דָּמַה (damah, “be destroyed”), some take it from a proposed homonymic root דמה, which would mean “be silent.” In this case, one might translate, “I must be silent.”

[6:5]  ³⁵ tn Heb “a man unclean of lips am I.” Isaiah is not qualified to praise the king. His lips (the instruments of praise) are “unclean” because he has been contaminated by sin.

[6:5]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and among a nation unclean of lips I live.”

[6:5]  ³⁷ tn Perhaps in this context, the title has a less militaristic connotation and pictures the Lord as the ruler of the heavenly assembly. See the note at 1:9.

[55:8]  ³⁷ tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV).

[55:8]  ³⁸ tn Or “thoughts” (so many English versions).

[55:8]  ³⁹ tn Heb “are not.” “Like” is interpretive, but v. 9 indicates that a comparison is in view.

[55:8]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “ways” (so many English versions).

[55:8]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “are not.” “Like” is interpretive, but v. 9 indicates that a comparison is in view.

[55:9]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[55:9]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “ways” (so many English versions).

[55:9]  ⁴² tn Heb “are higher than.”

[55:9]  ⁴³ tn Or “thoughts” (so many English versions).

[12:29]  ⁴³ sn A quotation from Deut 4:24; 9:3.