Job 17:9

17:9 But the righteous man holds to his way,

and the one with clean hands grows stronger. ¹ 

Psalms 84:5

84:5 How blessed are those who ²  find their strength in you,

and long to travel the roads that lead to your temple! ³ 

Psalms 84:7

84:7 They are sustained as they travel along; ⁴ 

each one appears ⁵  before God in Zion.

Proverbs 10:29

10:29 The way of the Lord ⁶  is like ⁷  a stronghold for the upright, ⁸ 

but it is destruction ⁹  to evildoers. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 8:13-15

8:13 You must recognize the authority of the Lord who commands armies. ¹¹ 

He is the one you must respect;

he is the one you must fear. ¹² 

8:14 He will become a sanctuary, ¹³ 

but a stone that makes a person trip,

and a rock that makes one stumble –

to the two houses of Israel. ¹⁴ 

He will become ¹⁵  a trap and a snare

to the residents of Jerusalem. ¹⁶ 

8:15 Many will stumble over the stone and the rock, ¹⁷ 

and will fall and be seriously injured,

and will be ensnared and captured.”

Matthew 11:19

11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him, ¹⁸  a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors ¹⁹  and sinners!’ ²⁰  But wisdom is vindicated ²¹  by her deeds.” ²² 

[17:9]  ¹ tn The last two words are the imperfect verb יֹסִיף (yosif) which means “he adds,” and the abstract noun “energy, strength.” This noun is not found elsewhere; its Piel verb occurs in Job 4:4 and 16:5. “he increases strength.”

[84:5]  ² tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man.” Hebrew literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle stated here was certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender and age specific “man” with the plural “those.” The individual referred to in v. 5a is representative of followers of God, as the use of plural forms in vv. 5b-7 indicates.

[84:5]  ³ tn Heb “roads [are] in their heart[s].” The roads are here those that lead to Zion (see v. 7).

[84:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “they go from strength to strength.” The phrase “from strength to strength” occurs only here in the OT. With a verb of motion, the expression “from [common noun] to [same common noun]” normally suggests movement from one point to another or through successive points (see Num 36:7; 1 Chr 16:20; 17:5; Ps 105:13; Jer 25:32). Ps 84:7 may be emphasizing that the pilgrims move successively from one “place of strength” to another as they travel toward Jerusalem. All along the way they find adequate provisions and renewed energy for the trip.

[84:7]  ⁵ tn The psalmist returns to the singular (see v. 5a), which he uses in either a representative or distributive (“each one” ) sense.

[10:29]  ⁶ sn The “way of the Lord” is an idiom for God’s providential administration of life; it is what the Lord does (“way” being a hypocatastasis).

[10:29]  ⁷ tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[10:29]  ⁸ tn Heb “for the one with integrity” (לַתֹּם, latom).

[10:29]  ⁹ tn Or “ruin” (so NIV).

[10:29]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “those who practice iniquity.”

[8:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts], him you must set apart.” The word order is emphatic, with the object being placed first.

[8:13]  ¹² tn Heb “he is your [object of] fear, he is your [object of] terror.” The roots יָרֵא (yare’) and עָרַץ (’arats) are repeated from v. 12b.

[8:14]  ¹³ tn Because the metaphor of protection (“sanctuary”) does not fit the negative mood that follows in vv. 14b-15, some contend that מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdash, “sanctuary”) is probably a corruption of an original מוֹקֵשׁ (moqesh, “snare”), a word that appears in the next line (cf. NAB and H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:355-56). If the MT reading is retained (as in the above translation), the fact that Yahweh is a sanctuary wraps up the point of v. 13 and stands in contrast to God’s treatment of those who rebel against him (the rest of v. 14).

[8:14]  ¹⁴ sn The two “houses” of Israel (= the patriarch Jacob) are the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.

[8:14]  ¹⁵ tn These words are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. וְהָיָה (vÿhayah, “and he will be”) does double duty in the parallel structure of the verse.

[8:14]  ¹⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[8:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “over them” (so NASB); NCV “over this rock.”

[11:19]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “Behold a man.”

[11:19]  ¹⁹ sn See the note on tax collectors in 5:46.

[11:19]  ²⁰ sn Neither were they happy with Jesus (the Son of Man), even though he was the opposite of John and associated freely with people like tax collectors and sinners. Either way, God’s messengers were subject to complaint.

[11:19]  ²¹ tn Or “shown to be right.”

[11:19]  ²² tc Most witnesses (B² C D L Θ Ë¹ 33 Ï lat) have “children” (τέκνων, teknwn) here instead of “deeds” (ἔργων, ergwn), but since “children” is the reading of the parallel in Luke 7:35, scribes would be motivated to convert the less colorful “deeds” into more animate offspring of wisdom. Further, ἔργων enjoys support from א B* W (˹³) as well as early versional and patristic support.