Isaiah 40:1-2

The Lord Returns to Jerusalem

40:1 “Comfort, comfort my people,”

says your ¹  God.

40:2 “Speak kindly to ²  Jerusalem, ³  and tell her

that her time of warfare is over, ⁴ 

that her punishment is completed. ⁵ 

For the Lord has made her pay double ⁶  for all her sins.”

Isaiah 52:1-2

52:1 Wake up! Wake up!

Clothe yourself with strength, O Zion!

Put on your beautiful clothes,

O Jerusalem, ⁷  holy city!

For uncircumcised and unclean pagans

will no longer invade you.

52:2 Shake off the dirt! ⁸ 

Get up, captive ⁹  Jerusalem!

Take off the iron chains around your neck,

O captive daughter Zion!

Isaiah 57:14-16

57:14 He says, ¹⁰ 

“Build it! Build it! Clear a way!

Remove all the obstacles out of the way of my people!”

57:15 For this is what the high and exalted one says,

the one who rules ¹¹  forever, whose name is holy:

“I dwell in an exalted and holy place,

but also with the discouraged and humiliated, ¹² 

in order to cheer up the humiliated

and to encourage the discouraged. ¹³ 

57:16 For I will not be hostile ¹⁴  forever

or perpetually angry,

for then man’s spirit would grow faint before me, ¹⁵ 

the life-giving breath I created.

Jude 1:11

1:11 Woe to them! For they have traveled down Cain’s path, ¹⁶  and because of greed ¹⁷  have abandoned themselves ¹⁸  to ¹⁹  Balaam’s error; hence, ²⁰  they will certainly perish ²¹  in Korah’s rebellion.

Job 4:3-4

4:3 Look, ²²  you have instructed ²³  many;

you have strengthened ²⁴  feeble hands. ²⁵ 

4:4 Your words have supported ²⁶  those

who stumbled, ²⁷ 

and you have strengthened the knees

that gave way. ²⁸ 

Job 16:5

16:5 But ²⁹  I would strengthen ³⁰  you with my words; ³¹ 

comfort from my lips would bring ³²  you relief.

Luke 22:32

22:32 but I have prayed for you, Simon, ³³  that your faith may not fail. ³⁴  When ³⁵  you have turned back, ³⁶  strengthen ³⁷  your brothers.”

Luke 22:43

22:43 [Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.

Acts 18:23

18:23 After he spent ³⁸  some time there, Paul left and went through the region of Galatia ³⁹  and Phrygia, ⁴⁰  strengthening all the disciples.

Hebrews 12:12

12:12 Therefore, strengthen ⁴¹  your listless hands and your weak knees, ⁴² 

[40:1]  ¹ tn The pronominal suffix is second masculine plural. The identity of the addressee is uncertain: (1) God’s people may be addressed, or (2) the unidentified heralds commanded to comfort Jerusalem.

[40:2]  ² tn Heb “speak to the heart of Jerusalem.” Jerusalem is personified as a woman.

[40:2]  ³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[40:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “that she is filled [with] her warfare.” Some understand צָבָא (tsavah, “warfare”) as meaning “hard service” or “compulsory labor” in this context.

[40:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “that her punishment is accepted [as satisfactory].”

[40:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “for she has received from the hand of the Lord double.” The principle of the double portion in punishment is also seen in Jer 16:18; 17:18 and Rev 18:6. For examples of the double portion in Israelite law, see Exod 22:4, 7, 9 (double restitution by a thief) and Deut 21:17 (double inheritance portion for the firstborn).

[52:1]  ³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[52:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “Shake yourself free from the dirt.”

[52:2]  ⁵ tc The Hebrew text has שְּׂבִי (shÿvi), which some understand as a feminine singular imperative from יָשַׁב (yashav, “sit”). The LXX, Vulgate, Syriac, and the Targum support the MT reading (the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a does indirectly). Some interpret this to mean “take your throne”: The Lord exhorts Jerusalem to get up from the dirt and sit, probably with the idea of sitting in a place of honor (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 2:361). However, the form is likely a corruption of שְׁבִיָּה (shÿviyyah, “captive”), which appears in the parallel line.

[57:14]  ⁵ tn Since God is speaking throughout this context, perhaps we should emend the text to “and I say.” However, divine speech is introduced in v. 15.

[57:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “the one who dwells forever.” שֹׁכֵן עַד (shokhen ’ad) is sometimes translated “the one who lives forever,” and understood as a reference to God’s eternal existence. However, the immediately preceding and following descriptions (“high and exalted” and “holy”) emphasize his sovereign rule. In the next line, he declares, “I dwell in an exalted and holy [place],” which refers to the place from which he rules. Therefore it is more likely that שֹׁכֵן עַד (shokhen ’ad) means “I dwell [in my lofty palace] forever” and refers to God’s eternal kingship.

[57:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “and also with the crushed and lowly of spirit.” This may refer to the repentant who have humbled themselves (see 66:2) or more generally to the exiles who have experienced discouragement and humiliation.

[57:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “to restore the lowly of spirit and to restore the heart of the crushed.”

[57:16]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps, “argue,” or “accuse” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[57:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “for a spirit from before me would be faint.”

[1:11]  ⁸ tn Or “they have gone the way of Cain.”

[1:11]  ⁹ tn Grk “for wages.”

[1:11]  ¹⁰ tn The verb ἐκχέω (ekcew) normally means “pour out.” Here, in the passive, it occasionally has a reflexive idea, as BDAG 312 s.v. 3. suggests (with extra-biblical examples).

[1:11]  ¹¹ tn Or “in.”

[1:11]  ¹² tn Grk “and.” See note on “perish” later in this verse.

[1:11]  ¹³ tn The three verbs in this verse are all aorist indicative (“have gone down,” “have abandoned,” “have perished”). Although the first and second could be considered constative or ingressive, the last is almost surely proleptic (referring to the certainty of their future judgment). Although it may seem odd that a proleptic aorist is so casually connected to other aorists with a different syntactical force, it is not unparalleled (cf. Rom 8:30).

[4:3]  ⁹ tn The deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “behold”) summons attention; it has the sense of “consider, look.”

[4:3]  ¹⁰ tn The verb יָסַר (yasar) in the Piel means “to correct,” whether by words with the sense of teach, or by chastening with the sense of punish, discipline. The double meaning of “teach” and “discipline” is also found with the noun מוּסָר (musar).

[4:3]  ¹¹ tn The parallelism again uses a perfect verb in the first colon and an imperfect in the second; but since the sense of the line is clearly what Job has done in the past, the second verb may be treated as a preterite, or a customary imperfect – what Job repeatedly did in the past (GKC 315 §107.e). The words in this verse may have double meanings. The word יָסַר (yasar, “teach, discipline”) may have the idea of instruction and correction, but also the connotation of strength (see Y. Hoffmann, “The Use of Equivocal Words in the First Speech of Eliphaz [Job IV–V],” VT 30 [1980]: 114-19).

[4:3]  ¹² tn The “feeble hands” are literally “hands hanging down.” This is a sign of weakness, helplessness, or despondency (see 2 Sam 4:1; Isa 13:7).

[4:4]  ¹⁰ tn Both verbs in this line are imperfects, and probably carry the same nuance as the last verb in v. 3, namely, either customary imperfect or preterite. The customary has the aspect of stressing that this was what Job used to do.

[4:4]  ¹¹ tn The form is the singular active participle, interpreted here collectively. The verb is used of knees that give way (Isa 35:3; Ps 109:24).

[4:4]  ¹² tn The expression is often translated as “feeble knees,” but it literally says “the bowing [or “tottering”] knees.” The figure is one who may be under a heavy load whose knees begin to shake and buckle (see also Heb 12:12).

[16:5]  ¹¹ tn “But” has been added in the translation to strengthen the contrast.

[16:5]  ¹² tn The Piel of אָמַץ (’amats) means “to strengthen, fortify.”

[16:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “my mouth.”

[16:5]  ¹⁴ tn The verb יַחְשֹׂךְ (yakhsokh) means “to restrain; to withhold.” There is no object, so many make it first person subject, “I will not restrain.” The LXX and the Syriac have a different person – “I would not restrain.” G. R. Driver, arguing that the verb is intransitive here, made it “the solace of my lips would not [added] be withheld” (see JTS 34 [1933]: 380). D. J. A. Clines says that what is definitive is the use of the verb in the next line, where it clearly means “soothed, assuaged.”

[22:32]  ¹² sn Here and in the remainder of the verse the second person pronouns are singular, so only Peter is in view. The name “Simon” has been supplied as a form of direct address to make this clear in English.

[22:32]  ¹³ sn That your faith may not fail. Note that Peter’s denials are pictured here as lapses, not as a total absence of faith.

[22:32]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “And when.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[22:32]  ¹⁵ tn Or “turned around.”

[22:32]  ¹⁶ sn Strengthen your brothers refers to Peter helping to strengthen their faith. Jesus quite graciously restores Peter “in advance,” even with the knowledge of his approaching denials.

[18:23]  ¹³ tn Grk “Having spent”; the participle ποιήσας (poihsas) is taken temporally.

[18:23]  ¹⁴ sn Galatia refers to either (1) the region of the old kingdom of Galatia in the central part of Asia Minor, or (2) the Roman province of Galatia, whose principal cities in the 1st century were Ancyra and Pisidian Antioch. The exact extent and meaning of this area has been a subject of considerable controversy in modern NT studies.

[18:23]  ¹⁵ sn Phrygia was a district in central Asia Minor west of Pisidia. See Acts 16:6.

[12:12]  ¹⁴ tn Or “straighten.”

[12:12]  ¹⁵ sn A quotation from Isa 35:3. Strengthen your listless hands and your weak knees refers to the readers’ need for renewed resolve and fresh strength in their struggles (cf. Heb 10:36-39; 12:1-3).