Job 25:3

25:3 Can his armies be numbered? ¹ 

On whom does his light ²  not rise?

Psalms 145:9

145:9 The Lord is good to all,

and has compassion on all he has made. ³ 

Acts 14:17

14:17 yet he did not leave himself without a witness by doing good, ⁴  by giving you rain from heaven ⁵  and fruitful seasons, satisfying you ⁶  with food and your hearts with joy.” ⁷ 

[25:3]  ¹ tn Heb “Is there a number to his troops?” The question is rhetorical: there is no number to them!

[25:3]  ² tc In place of “light” here the LXX has “his ambush,” perhaps reading אֹרְבוֹ (’orÿvo) instead of אוֹרֵהוּ (’orehu, “his light”). But while that captures the idea of troops and warfare, the change should be rejected because the armies are linked with stars and light. The expression is poetic; the LXX interpretation tried to make it concrete.

[145:9]  ³ tn Heb “and his compassion is over all his works.”

[14:17]  ⁴ tn The participle ἀγαθουργῶν (agaqourgwn) is regarded as indicating means here, parallel to the following participles διδούς (didou") and ἐμπιπλῶν (empiplwn). This is the easiest way to understand the Greek structure. Semantically, the first participle is a general statement, followed by two participles giving specific examples of doing good.

[14:17]  ⁵ tn Or “from the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).

[14:17]  ⁶ tn Grk “satisfying [filling] your hearts with food and joy.” This is an idiomatic expression; it strikes the English reader as strange to speak of “filling one’s heart with food.” Thus the additional direct object “you” has been supplied, separating the two expressions somewhat: “satisfying you with food and your hearts with joy.”

[14:17]  ⁷ sn God’s general sovereignty and gracious care in the creation are the way Paul introduces the theme of the goodness of God. He was trying to establish monotheism here. It is an OT theme (Gen 8:22; Ps 4:7; 145:15-16; 147:8-9; Isa 25:6; Jer 5:24) which also appears in the NT (Luke 12:22-34).