Jeremiah 1:19

1:19 They will attack you but they will not be able to overcome you, for I will be with you to rescue you,” says the Lord.

Job 5:19-21

5:19 He will deliver you ¹  from six calamities;

yes, in seven ²  no evil will touch you.

5:20 In time of famine ³  he will redeem you from death,

and in time of war from the power of the sword. ⁴ 

5:21 You will be protected ⁵  from malicious gossip, ⁶ 

and will not be afraid of the destruction ⁷  when it comes.

Psalms 41:1-2

Psalm 41 ⁸ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

41:1 How blessed ⁹  is the one who treats the poor properly! ¹⁰ 

When trouble comes, ¹¹  the Lord delivers him. ¹² 

41:2 May the Lord protect him and save his life! ¹³ 

May he be blessed ¹⁴  in the land!

Do not turn him over ¹⁵  to his enemies! ¹⁶ 

Psalms 50:15

50:15 Pray to me when you are in trouble! ¹⁷ 

I will deliver you, and you will honor me!” ¹⁸ 

Psalms 91:14-15

91:14 The Lord says, ¹⁹ 

“Because he is devoted to me, I will deliver him;

I will protect him ²⁰  because he is loyal to me. ²¹ 

91:15 When he calls out to me, I will answer him.

I will be with him when he is in trouble;

I will rescue him and bring him honor.

Daniel 6:16

6:16 So the king gave the order, ²²  and Daniel was brought and thrown into a den ²³  of lions. The king consoled ²⁴  Daniel by saying, “Your God whom you continually serve will rescue you!”

Matthew 10:40-42

Rewards

10:40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. ²⁵  10:41 Whoever receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. Whoever ²⁶  receives a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 10:42 And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple, I tell you the truth, ²⁷  he will never lose his reward.”

Matthew 25:40

25:40 And the king will answer them, ²⁸  ‘I tell you the truth, ²⁹  just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters ³⁰  of mine, you did it for me.’

Matthew 25:2

25:2 Five ³¹  of the virgins ³²  were foolish, and five were wise.

Matthew 1:16-18

1:16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, by whom ³³  Jesus was born, who is called Christ. ³⁴ 

1:17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to Christ, ³⁵  fourteen generations.

The Birth of Jesus Christ

1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, ³⁶  she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

[5:19]  ¹ tn The verb is the Hiphil imperfect of נָצַל (natsal, “deliver”). These verbs might have been treated as habitual imperfects if it were not for the use of the numerical images – “six calamities…in seven.” So the nuance is specific future instead.

[5:19]  ² tn The use of a numerical ladder as we have here – “six // seven” is frequent in wisdom literature to show completeness. See Prov 6:16; Amos 1:3, Mic 5:5. A number that seems to be sufficient for the point is increased by one, as if to say there is always one more. By using this Eliphaz simply means “in all troubles” (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 56).

[5:20]  ³ sn Targum Job here sees an allusion to the famine of Egypt and the war with Amalek.

[5:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the hand of the sword.” This is idiomatic for “the power of the sword.” The expression is also metonymical, meaning from the effect of the sword, which is death.

[5:21]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew verb essentially means “you will be hidden.” In the Niphal the verb means “to be hidden, to be in a hiding place,” and protected (Ps 31:20).

[5:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “from the lash [i.e., whip] of the tongue.” Sir 26:9 and 51:2 show usages of these kinds of expressions: “the lash of the tongue” or “the blow of the tongue.” The expression indicates that a malicious gossip is more painful than a blow.

[5:21]  ⁷ tn The word here is שׁוֹד (shod); it means “destruction,” but some commentators conjecture alternate readings: שׁוֹאָה (sho’ah, “desolation”); or שֵׁד (shed, “demon”). One argument for maintaining שׁוֹד (shod) is that it fits the assonance within the verse שׁוֹד…לָשׁוֹן…שׁוֹט (shot…lashon…shod).

[41:1]  ⁸ sn Psalm 41. The psalmist is confident (vv. 11-12) that the Lord has heard his request to be healed (vv. 4-10), and he anticipates the joy he will experience when the Lord intervenes (vv. 1-3). One must assume that the psalmist is responding to a divine oracle of assurance (see P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 319-20). The final verse is a fitting conclusion to this psalm, but it is also serves as a fitting conclusion to the first “book” (or major editorial division) of the Psalter. Similar statements appear at or near the end of each of the second, third, and fourth “books” of the Psalter (see Pss 72:19, 89:52, and 106:48 respectively).

[41:1]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1, 3; 2:12; 34:9; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).

[41:1]  ¹⁰ sn One who treats the poor properly. The psalmist is characterizing himself as such an individual and supplying a reason why God has responded favorably to his prayer. The Lord’s attitude toward the merciful mirrors their treatment of the poor.

[41:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in the day of trouble” (see Ps 27:5).

[41:1]  ¹² tn That is, the one who has been kind to the poor. The prefixed verbal form could be taken as jussive of prayer (“may the Lord deliver,” see v. 2), but the preceding parallel line is a declaration of fact, not a prayer per se. The imperfect can be taken here as future (“will deliver,” cf. NEB, NASB) or as generalizing (“delivers,” cf. NIV, NRSV). The parallel line, which has a generalizing tone, favors the latter. At the same time, though the psalmist uses a generalizing style here, he clearly has himself primarily in view.

[41:2]  ¹³ tn The prefixed verbal forms are taken as jussives in the translation because the jussive is clearly used in the final line of the verse, suggesting that this is a prayer. The psalmist stops to pronounce a prayer of blessing on the godly individual envisioned in v. 1. Of course, he actually has himself primarily in view. He mixes confidence (vv. 1, 3) with petition (v. 2) because he stands in the interval between the word of assurance and the actual intervention by God.

[41:2]  ¹⁴ tc The translation follows the consonantal Hebrew text (Kethib), which has a Pual (passive) prefixed form, regarded here as a jussive. The Pual of the verb אָשַׁר (’ashar) also appears in Prov 3:18. The marginal reading (Qere) assumes a vav (ו) consecutive and Pual perfect. Some, with the support of the LXX, change the verb to a Piel (active) form with an objective pronominal suffix, “and may he bless him,” or “and he will bless him” (cf. NIV).

[41:2]  ¹⁵ tn The negative particle אַל (’al) before the prefixed verbal form indicates the verb is a jussive and the statement a prayer. Those who want to take v. 2 as a statement of confidence suggest emending the negative particle to לֹא (lo’), which is used with the imperfect. See the earlier note on the verbal forms in line one of this verse. According to GKC 322 §109.e, this is a case where the jussive is used rhetorically to “express that something cannot or should not happen.” In this case one might translate, “you will not turn him over to his enemies,” and take the preceding verbal forms as indicative in mood.

[41:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “do not give him over to the desire of his enemies” (see Ps 27:12).

[50:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “call [to] me in a day of trouble.”

[50:15]  ¹⁸ sn In vv. 7-15 the Lord makes it clear that he was not rebuking Israel because they had failed to offer sacrifices (v. 8a). On the contrary, they had been faithful in doing so (v. 8b). However, their understanding of the essence of their relationship with God was confused. Apparently they believed that he needed/desired such sacrifices and that offering them would ensure their prosperity. But the Lord owns all the animals of the world and did not need Israel’s meager sacrifices (vv. 9-13). Other aspects of the relationship were more important to the Lord. He desired Israel to be thankful for his blessings (v. 14a), to demonstrate gratitude for his intervention by repaying the vows they made to him (v. 14b), and to acknowledge their absolute dependence on him (v. 15a). Rather than viewing their sacrifices as somehow essential to God’s well-being, they needed to understand their dependence on him.

[91:14]  ¹⁹ tn The words “the Lord says” are supplied in the translation to clarify that the words which follow are the Lord’s oracle of assurance.

[91:14]  ²⁰ tn Or “make him secure” (Heb “set him on high”).

[91:14]  ²¹ tn Heb “because he knows my name” (see Ps 9:10).

[6:16]  ²² tn Aram “said.” So also in vv. 24, 25.

[6:16]  ²³ sn The den was perhaps a pit below ground level which could be safely observed from above.

[6:16]  ²⁴ tn Aram “answered and said [to Daniel].”

[10:40]  ²⁵ sn The one who sent me refers to God.

[10:41]  ²⁶ tn Grk “And whoever.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[10:42]  ²⁷ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[25:40]  ²⁸ tn Grk “answering, the king will say to them.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation.

[25:40]  ²⁹ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[25:40]  ³⁰ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited). In this context Jesus is ultimately speaking of his “followers” (whether men or women, adults or children), but the familial connotation of “brothers and sisters” is also important to retain here.

[25:2]  ³¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[25:2]  ³² tn Grk “Five of them.”

[1:16]  ³³ tc There are three significant variant readings at this point in the text. Some mss and versional witnesses (Θ Ë¹³ it) read, “Joseph, to whom the virgin Mary, being betrothed, bore Jesus, who is called Christ.” This reading makes even more explicit than the feminine pronoun (see sn below) the virginal conception of Jesus and as such seems to be a motivated reading. The Sinaitic Syriac ms alone indicates that Joseph was the father of Jesus (“Joseph, to whom was betrothed Mary the virgin, fathered Jesus who is called the Christ”). Although much discussed, this reading has not been found in any Greek witnesses. B. M. Metzger suggests that it was produced by a careless scribe who simply reproduced the set formula of the preceding lines in the genealogy (TCGNT 6). In all likelihood, the two competing variants were thus produced by intentional and unintentional scribal alterations respectively. The reading adopted in the translation has overwhelming support from a variety of witnesses (̹ א B C L W [˹] 33 Ï co), and therefore should be regarded as authentic. For a detailed discussion of this textual problem, see TCGNT 2-6.

[1:16]  ³⁴ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[1:17]  ³⁵ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[1:18]  ³⁶ tn The connotation of the Greek is “before they came together in marital and domestic union” (so BDAG 970 s.v. συνέρχομαι 3).