Isaiah 64:5

64:5 You assist ¹  those who delight in doing what is right, ² 

who observe your commandments. ³ 

Look, you were angry because we violated them continually.

How then can we be saved? ⁴ 

Deuteronomy 8:3

8:3 So he humbled you by making you hungry and then feeding you with unfamiliar manna. ⁵  He did this to teach you ⁶  that humankind ⁷  cannot live by bread ⁸  alone, but also by everything that comes from the Lord’s mouth. ⁹ 

Job 33:19-28

33:19 Or a person is chastened ¹⁰  by pain on his bed,

and with the continual strife of his bones, ¹¹ 

33:20 so that his life loathes food,

and his soul rejects appetizing fare. ¹² 

33:21 His flesh wastes away from sight,

and his bones, which were not seen,

are easily visible. ¹³ 

33:22 He ¹⁴  draws near to the place of corruption,

and his life to the messengers of death. ¹⁵ 

33:23 If there is an angel beside him,

one mediator ¹⁶  out of a thousand,

to tell a person what constitutes his uprightness; ¹⁷ 

33:24 and if ¹⁸  God ¹⁹  is gracious to him and says,

‘Spare ²⁰  him from going down

to the place of corruption,

I have found a ransom for him,’ ²¹ 

33:25 then his flesh is restored ²²  like a youth’s;

he returns to the days of his youthful vigor. ²³ 

33:26 He entreats God, and God ²⁴  delights in him,

he sees God’s face ²⁵  with rejoicing,

and God ²⁶  restores to him his righteousness. ²⁷ 

33:27 That person sings ²⁸  to others, ²⁹  saying:

‘I have sinned and falsified what is right,

but I was not punished according to what I deserved. ³⁰ 

33:28 He redeemed my life ³¹ 

from going down to the place of corruption,

and my life sees the light!’

Psalms 71:20

71:20 Though you have allowed me to experience much trouble and distress, ³² 

revive me once again! ³³ 

Bring me up once again ³⁴  from the depths of the earth!

Matthew 4:4

4:4 But he answered, ³⁵  “It is written, ‘Man ³⁶  does not live ³⁷  by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” ³⁸ 

Matthew 4:1

The Temptation of Jesus

4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness ³⁹  to be tempted by the devil.

Colossians 1:1-2

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ⁴⁰  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 1:2 to the saints, the faithful ⁴¹  brothers and sisters ⁴²  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ⁴³  from God our Father! ⁴⁴ 

Colossians 4:17

4:17 And tell Archippus, “See to it that you complete the ministry you received in the Lord.”

Hebrews 12:10-11

12:10 For they disciplined us for a little while as seemed good to them, but he does so for our benefit, that we may share his holiness. 12:11 Now all discipline seems painful at the time, not joyful. ⁴⁵  But later it produces the fruit of peace and righteousness ⁴⁶  for those trained by it.

[64:5]  ¹ tn Heb “meet [with kindness].”

[64:5]  ² tn Heb “the one who rejoices and does righteousness.”

[64:5]  ³ tn Heb “in your ways they remember you.”

[64:5]  ⁴ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “look, you were angry and we sinned against them continually [or perhaps, “in ancient times”] and we were delivered.” The statement makes little sense as it stands. The first vav [ו] consecutive (“and we sinned”) must introduce an explanatory clause here (see Num 1:48 and Isa 39:1 for other examples of this relatively rare use of the vav [ו] consecutive). The final verb (if rendered positively) makes no sense in this context – God’s anger at their sin resulted in judgment, not deliverance. One of the alternatives involves an emendation to וַנִּרְשָׁע (vannirsha’, “and we were evil”; LXX, NRSV, TEV). The Vulgate and the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a support the MT reading. One can either accept an emendation or cast the statement as a question (as above).

[8:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “manna which you and your ancestors did not know.” By popular etymology the word “manna” comes from the Hebrew phrase מָן הוּא (man hu’), i.e., “What is it?” (Exod 16:15). The question remains unanswered to this very day. Elsewhere the material is said to be “white like coriander seed” with “a taste like honey cakes” (Exod 16:31; cf. Num 11:7). Modern attempts to associate it with various desert plants are unsuccessful for the text says it was a new thing and, furthermore, one that appeared and disappeared miraculously (Exod 16:21-27).

[8:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “in order to make known to you.” In the Hebrew text this statement is subordinated to what precedes, resulting in a very long sentence in English. The translation makes this statement a separate sentence for stylistic reasons.

[8:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “the man,” but in a generic sense, referring to the whole human race (“mankind” or “humankind”).

[8:3]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term may refer to “food” in a more general sense (cf. CEV).

[8:3]  ⁹ sn Jesus quoted this text to the devil in the midst of his forty-day fast to make the point that spiritual nourishment is incomparably more important than mere physical bread (Matt 4:4; cf. Luke 4:4).

[33:19]  ¹⁰ tc The MT has the passive form, and so a subject has to be added: “[a man] is chastened.” The LXX has the active form, indicating “[God] chastens,” but the object “a man” has to be added. It is understandable why the LXX thought this was active, within this sequence of verbs; and that is why it is the inferior reading.

[33:19]  ¹¹ tc The Kethib “the strife of his bones is continual,” whereas the Qere has “the multitude of his bones are firm.” The former is the better reading in this passage. It indicates that the pain is caused by the ongoing strife.

[33:20]  ¹² tn Heb “food of desire.” The word “rejects” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[33:21]  ¹³ tc Heb “are laid bare.” This is the Qere reading; the Kethib means “bare height.” Gordis reverses the word order: “his bones are bare [i.e., crushed] so that they cannot be looked upon.” But the sense of that is not clear.

[33:22]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “his soul [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh, “life”] draws near.”

[33:22]  ¹⁵ tn The MT uses the Hiphil participle, “to those who cause death.” This seems to be a reference to the belief in demons that brought about death, an idea not mentioned in the Bible itself. Thus many proposals have been made for this expression. Hoffmann and Budde divide the word into לְמוֹ מֵתִּים (lÿmo metim) and simply read “to the dead.” Dhorme adds a couple of letters to get לִמְקוֹם מֵתִּים (limqom metim, “to the place [or abode] of the dead”).

[33:23]  ¹⁶ sn The verse is describing the way God can preserve someone from dying by sending a messenger (translated here as “angel”), who could be human or angelic. This messenger will interpret/mediate God’s will. By “one … out of a thousand” Elihu could have meant either that one of the thousands of messengers at God’s disposal might be sent or that the messenger would be unique (see Eccl 7:28; and cp. Job 9:3).

[33:23]  ¹⁷ tn This is a smoother reading. The MT has “to tell to a man his uprightness,” to reveal what is right for him. The LXX translated this word “duty”; the choice is adopted by some commentaries. However, that is too far from the text, which indicates that the angel/messenger is to call the person to uprightness.

[33:24]  ¹⁸ tn This verse seems to continue the protasis begun in the last verse, with the apodosis coming in the next verse.

[33:24]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:24]  ²⁰ tc The verb is either taken as an anomalous form of פָּדַע (pada’, “to rescue; to redeem,” or “to exempt him”), or it is emended to some similar word, like פָּרַע (para’, “to let loose,” so Wright).

[33:24]  ²¹ sn This verse and v. 28 should be compared with Ps 49:7-9, 15 (8-10, 16 HT) where the same basic vocabulary and concepts are employed.

[33:25]  ²² tc The word רֻטֲפַשׁ (rutafash) is found nowhere else. One suggestion is that it should be יִרְטַב (yirtav, “to become fresh”), connected to רָטַב (ratav, “to be well watered [or moist]”). It is also possible that it was a combination of רָטַב (ratav, “to be well watered”) and טָפַשׁ (tafash, “to grow fat”). But these are all guesses in the commentaries.

[33:25]  ²³ tn The word describes the period when the man is healthy and vigorous, ripe for what life brings his way.

[33:26]  ²⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:26]  ²⁵ tn Heb “his face”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:26]  ²⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:26]  ²⁷ tc Many commentators think this line is superfluous and so delete it. The RSV changed the verb to “he recounts,” making the idea that the man publishes the news of his victory or salvation (taking “righteousness” as a metonymy of cause).

[33:27]  ²⁸ tc The verb יָשֹׁר (yashor) is unusual. The typical view is to change it to יָשִׁיר (yashir, “he sings”), but that may seem out of harmony with a confession. Dhorme suggests a root שׁוּר (shur, “to repeat”), but this is a doubtful root. J. Reider reads it יָשֵׁיר (yasher) and links it to an Arabic word “confesses” (ZAW 24 [1953]: 275).

[33:27]  ²⁹ tn Heb “to men.”

[33:27]  ³⁰ tn The verb שָׁוָה (shavah) has the impersonal meaning here, “it has not been requited to me.” The meaning is that the sinner has not been treated in accordance with his deeds: “I was not punished according to what I deserved.”

[33:28]  ³¹ sn See note on “him” in v. 24.

[71:20]  ³² tn Heb “you who have caused me to see many harmful distresses.”

[71:20]  ³³ tn Heb “you return, you give me life.” The Hebrew term שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) is used here in an adverbial sense, indicating repetition of the action described by the following verb. The imperfects are understood here as expressing the psalmist’s prayer or wish. (Note the use of a distinctly jussive form at the beginning of v. 21.) Another option is to understand this as a statement of confidence, “you will revive me once again” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[71:20]  ³⁴ tn Heb “you return, you bring me up.” The Hebrew term שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) is used here in an adverbial sense, indicating repetition of the action described by the following verb. The imperfects are understood here as expressing the psalmist’s prayer or wish. (Note the use of a distinctly jussive form at the beginning of v. 21.) Another option is to understand this as a statement of confidence, “you will bring me up once again” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[4:4]  ³⁵ tn Grk “answering, he said.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant, but the syntax of the phrase has been changed for clarity.

[4:4]  ³⁶ tn Or “a person.” Greek ὁ ἄνθρωπος (Jo anqrwpo") is used generically for humanity. The translation “man” is used because the emphasis in Jesus’ response seems to be on his dependence on God as a man.

[4:4]  ³⁷ tn Grk “will not live.” The verb in Greek is a future tense, but it is unclear whether it is meant to be taken as a command (also known as an imperatival future) or as a statement of reality (predictive future).

[4:4]  ³⁸ sn A quotation from Deut 8:3.

[4:1]  ³⁹ tn Or “desert.”

[1:1]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:2]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ⁴² tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ⁴³ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ⁴⁴ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

[12:11]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “all discipline at the time does not seem to be of joy, but of sorrow.”

[12:11]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”