Isaiah 35:8

35:8 A thoroughfare will be there –

it will be called the Way of Holiness. ¹ 

The unclean will not travel on it;

it is reserved for those authorized to use it ²  –

fools ³  will not stray into it.

Isaiah 35:1

The Land and Its People Are Transformed

35:1 Let the desert and dry region be happy; ⁴ 

let the wilderness ⁵  rejoice and bloom like a lily!

Isaiah 29:17

Changes are Coming

29:17 In just a very short time ⁶ 

Lebanon will turn into an orchard,

and the orchard will be considered a forest. ⁷ 

Job 27:5-6

27:5 I will never ⁸  declare that you three ⁹  are in the right;

until I die, I will not set aside my integrity!

27:6 I will maintain my righteousness

and never let it go;

my conscience ¹⁰  will not reproach me

for as long as I live. ¹¹ 

Psalms 18:23-26

18:23 I was innocent before him,

and kept myself from sinning. ¹² 

18:24 The Lord rewarded me for my godly deeds; ¹³ 

he took notice of my blameless behavior. ¹⁴ 

18:25 You prove to be loyal ¹⁵  to one who is faithful; ¹⁶ 

you prove to be trustworthy ¹⁷  to one who is innocent. ¹⁸ 

18:26 You prove to be reliable ¹⁹  to one who is blameless,

but you prove to be deceptive ²⁰  to one who is perverse. ²¹ 

Proverbs 20:7

20:7 The righteous person ²²  behaves in integrity; ²³ 

blessed are his children after him. ²⁴ 

Proverbs 20:2

20:2 The king’s terrifying anger ²⁵  is like the roar of a lion;

whoever provokes him ²⁶  sins against himself. ²⁷ 

Colossians 1:12

1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share ²⁸  in the saints’ ²⁹  inheritance in the light.

Ephesians 2:10

2:10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them. ³⁰ 

Ephesians 2:1

New Life Individually

2:1 And although you were ³¹  dead ³²  in your transgressions and sins,

Ephesians 3:7

3:7 I became a servant of this gospel ³³  according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by ³⁴  the exercise of his power. ³⁵ 

Ephesians 3:10

3:10 The purpose of this enlightenment is that ³⁶  through the church the multifaceted wisdom ³⁷  of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms.

[35:8]  ¹ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and there will be there a road and a way, and the Way of Holiness it will be called.” וְדֶרֶךְ (vÿderekh, “and a/the way”) is accidentally duplicated; the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a does not reflect the repetition of the phrase.

[35:8]  ² tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The text reads literally “and it is for them, the one who walks [on the] way.” In this context those authorized to use the Way of Holiness would be morally upright people who are the recipients of God’s deliverance, in contrast to the morally impure and foolish who are excluded from the new covenant community.

[35:8]  ³ tn In this context “fools” are those who are morally corrupt, not those with limited intellectual capacity.

[35:1]  ⁴ tn The final mem (ם) on the verb יְשֻׂשׂוּם (yÿsusum) is dittographic (note the initial mem on the following noun מִדְבָּר [midbar]). The ambiguous verbal form is translated as a jussive because it is parallel to the jussive form תָגֵל (tagel). The jussive is used rhetorically here, not as a literal command or prayer.

[35:1]  ⁵ tn Or “Arabah” (NASB); NAB, NIV, TEV “desert.”

[29:17]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text phrases this as a rhetorical question, “Is it not yet a little, a short [time]?”

[29:17]  ⁷ sn The meaning of this verse is debated, but it seems to depict a reversal in fortunes. The mighty forest of Lebanon (symbolic of the proud and powerful, see 2:13; 10:34) will be changed into a common orchard, while the common orchard (symbolic of the oppressed and lowly) will grow into a great forest. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:538.

[27:5]  ⁸ tn The text uses חָלִילָה לִּי (khalilah li) meaning “far be it from me,” or more strongly, something akin to “sacrilege.”

[27:5]  ⁹ tn In the Hebrew text “you” is plural – a reference to Eliphaz, Zophar, and Bildad. To make this clear, “three” is supplied in the translation.

[27:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “my heart.”

[27:6]  ¹¹ tn The prepositional phrase “from my days” probably means “from the days of my birth,” or “all my life.”

[18:23]  ¹² tn Heb “from my sin,” that is, from making it my own in any way.

[18:24]  ¹³ tn Heb “according to my righteousness.”

[18:24]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “according to the purity of my hands before his eyes.” 2 Sam 22:25 reads “according to my purity before his eyes.” The verbal repetition (compare vv. 20 and 24) sets off vv. 20-24 as a distinct sub-unit within the psalm.

[18:25]  ¹⁵ tn The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 25-29 draw attention to God’s characteristic actions. Based on his experience, the psalmist generalizes about God’s just dealings with people (vv. 25-27) and about the way in which God typically empowers him on the battlefield (vv. 28-29). The Hitpael stem is used in vv. 26-27 in a reflexive resultative (or causative) sense. God makes himself loyal, etc. in the sense that he conducts or reveals himself as such. On this use of the Hitpael stem, see GKC 149-50 §54.e.

[18:25]  ¹⁶ tn Or “to a faithful follower.” A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 16:10; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).

[18:25]  ¹⁷ tn Or “innocent.”

[18:25]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a man of innocence.”

[18:26]  ¹⁹ tn Or “blameless.”

[18:26]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew verb פָתַל (patal) is used in only three other texts. In Gen 30:8 it means literally “to wrestle,” or “to twist.” In Job 5:13 it refers to devious individuals, and in Prov 8:8 to deceptive words.

[18:26]  ²¹ tn The adjective עִקֵּשׁ (’iqqesh) has the basic nuance “twisted, crooked,” and by extension refers to someone or something that is morally perverse. It appears frequently in Proverbs, where it is used of evil people (22:5), speech (8:8; 19:1), thoughts (11:20; 17:20), and life styles (2:15; 28:6). A righteous king opposes such people (Ps 101:4).

[20:7]  ²² sn Two terms describe the subject of this proverb: “righteous” and “integrity.” The first describes the person as a member of the covenant community who strives to live according to God’s standards; the second emphasizes that his lifestyle is blameless.

[20:7]  ²³ tn Heb “walks in his integrity” (so NASB); cf. NIV “leads a blameless life.” The Hitpael participle of הָלַךְ (halakh) means “to walk about; to walk to and fro.” The idiom of walking representing living is intensified here in this stem. This verbal stem is used in scripture to describe people “walking with” God.

[20:7]  ²⁴ sn The nature and the actions of parents have an effect on children (e.g., Exod 20:4-6); if the parents are righteous, the children will enjoy a blessing – the respect and the happiness which the parent reflects on them.

[20:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the terror of a king” (so ASV, NASB); The term “terror” is a metonymy of effect for cause: the anger of a king that causes terror among the people. The term “king” functions as a possessive genitive: “a king’s anger” (cf. NIV “A king’s wrath”; NLT “The king’s fury”).

[20:2]  ²⁶ tn The verb מִתְעַבְּרוֹ (mit’abbÿro) is problematic; in the MT the form is the Hitpael participle with a pronominal suffix, which is unusual, for the direct object of this verb usually takes a preposition first: “is angry with.” The LXX rendered it “angers [or, irritates].”

[20:2]  ²⁷ sn The expression “sins against himself” has been taken by some to mean “forfeits his life” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) or “endangers his life” (cf. NCV, NLT). That may be the implication of getting oneself in trouble with an angry king (cf. TEV “making him angry is suicide”).

[1:12]  ²⁸ tn BDAG 473 s.v. ἱκανόω states, “τινὰ εἴς τι someone for someth. Col 1:12.” The point of the text is that God has qualified the saints for a “share” or “portion” in the inheritance of the saints.

[1:12]  ²⁹ tn Grk “the inheritance of the saints.” The genitive noun τῶν ἁγίων (twn Jagiwn) is a possessive genitive: “the saints’ inheritance.”

[2:10]  ³⁰ tn Grk “so that we might walk in them” (or “by them”).

[2:1]  ³¹ tn The adverbial participle “being” (ὄντας, ontas) is taken concessively.

[2:1]  ³² sn Chapter 2 starts off with a participle, although you were dead, that is left dangling. The syntax in Greek for vv. 1-3 constitutes one incomplete sentence, though it seems to have been done intentionally. The dangling participle leaves the readers in suspense while they wait for the solution (in v. 4) to their spiritual dilemma.

[3:7]  ³³ tn Grk “of which I was made a minister,” “of which I became a servant.”

[3:7]  ³⁴ tn Grk “according to.”

[3:7]  ³⁵ sn On the exercise of his power see 1:19-20.

[3:10]  ³⁶ tn Grk “that.” Verse 10 is a subordinate clause to the verb “enlighten” in v. 9.

[3:10]  ³⁷ tn Or “manifold wisdom,” “wisdom in its rich variety.”