Isaiah 57:15

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

the one who rules ¹  forever, whose name is holy:

“I dwell in an exalted and holy place,

but also with the discouraged and humiliated, ² 

in order to cheer up the humiliated

and to encourage the discouraged. ³ 

Isaiah 66:2

66:2 My hand made them; ⁴ 

that is how they came to be,” ⁵  says the Lord.

I show special favor ⁶  to the humble and contrite,

who respect what I have to say. ⁷ 

Psalms 34:18

34:18 The Lord is near the brokenhearted;

he delivers ⁸  those who are discouraged. ⁹ 

Psalms 51:17

51:17 The sacrifices God desires are a humble spirit ¹⁰  –

O God, a humble and repentant heart ¹¹  you will not reject. ¹² 

Psalms 147:3

147:3 He heals ¹³  the brokenhearted,

and bandages their wounds.

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 ¹⁴  us,

but he will bandage our wounds!

6:2 He will restore ¹⁵  us in a very short time; ¹⁶ 

he will heal us in a little while, ¹⁷ 

so that we may live in his presence.

Colossians 1:6

1:6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel ¹⁸  is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing ¹⁹  among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.

[57:15]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “to restore the lowly of spirit and to restore the heart of the crushed.”

[66:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “all these.” The phrase refers to the heavens and earth, mentioned in the previous verse.

[66:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “and all these were.” Some prefer to emend וַיִּהְיוּ (vayyihyu, “and they were”) to וְלִי הָיוּ (vÿli hayu, “and to me they were”), i.e., “and they belong to me.”

[66:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “and to this one I look” (KJV and NASB both similar).

[66:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “to the humble and the lowly in spirit and the one who trembles at my words.”

[34:18]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form highlights the generalizing statement and draws attention to the fact that the Lord typically delivers the oppressed and needy.

[34:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “the crushed in spirit.”

[51:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a broken spirit.”

[51:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a broken and crushed heart.”

[51:17]  ¹² tn Or “despise.”

[147:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “the one who heals.”

[6:1]  ¹⁴ tn “has struck”; NRSV “struck down.”

[6:2]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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.

[1:6]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “just as in the entire world it is bearing fruit.” The antecedent (“the gospel”) of the implied subject (“it”) of ἐστιν (estin) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:6]  ¹⁹ tn Though the participles are periphrastic with the present tense verb ἐστίν (estin), the presence of the temporal indicator “from the day” in the next clause indicates that this is a present tense that reaches into the past and should be translated as “has been bearing fruit and growing.” For a discussion of this use of the present tense, see ExSyn 519-20.