Discovery BoxProverbs 1:7
Context1:7 Fearing the Lord 1 is the beginning 2 of moral knowledge, 3
but 4 fools 5 despise 6 wisdom and instruction. 7
Proverbs 8:13
Context8:13 The fear of the Lord is to hate 8 evil;
I hate arrogant pride 9 and the evil way
and perverse utterances. 10
Exodus 1:17-21
Context1:17 But 11 the midwives feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live. 12
1:18 Then the king of Egypt summoned 13 the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this and let the boys live?” 14 1:19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew 15 women are not like the Egyptian women – for the Hebrew women 16 are vigorous; they give birth before the midwife gets to them!” 17 1:20 So God treated the midwives well, 18 and the people multiplied and became very strong. 1:21 And because the midwives feared God, he made 19 households 20 for them.
Psalms 147:11
Context147:11 The Lord takes delight in his faithful followers, 21
and in those who wait for his loyal love.
Luke 1:6
Context1:6 They 22 were both righteous in the sight of God, following 23 all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly. 24
Luke 1:46-50
Context“My soul exalts 27 the Lord, 28
1:47 and my spirit has begun to rejoice 29 in God my Savior,
1:48 because he has looked upon the humble state of his servant. 30
For 31 from now on 32 all generations will call me blessed, 33
1:49 because he who is mighty 34 has done great things for me, and holy is his name;
1:50 from 35 generation to generation he is merciful 36 to those who fear 37 him.
Luke 1:1
Context1:1 Now 38 many have undertaken to compile an account 39 of the things 40 that have been fulfilled 41 among us,
Luke 3:4-5
Context3:4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
“The voice 42 of one shouting in the wilderness: 43
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make 44 his paths straight.
3:5 Every valley will be filled, 45
and every mountain and hill will be brought low,
and the crooked will be made straight,
and the rough ways will be made smooth,
[1:7] 1 tn Heb “fear of the
[1:7] 2 tn The noun רֵאשִׁית (re’shit) has a two-fold range of meaning (BDB 912 s.v.): (1) “beginning” = first step in a course of action (e.g., Ps 111:10; Prov 17:14; Mic 1:13) or (2) “chief thing” as the principal aspect of something (e.g., Prov 4:7). So fearing the
[1:7] 3 tn Heb “knowledge.” The noun דָּעַת (da’at, “knowledge”) refers to experiential knowledge, not just cognitive knowledge, including the intellectual assimilation and practical application (BDB 394 s.v.). It is used in parallelism to מוּסָר (musar, “instruction, discipline”) and חָכְמָה (khokhmah, “wisdom, moral skill”).
[1:7] 4 tn The conjunction “but” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the antithetical parallelism. It is supplied in the translation for clarity.
[1:7] 5 tn The term אֱוִיל (’evil, “fool”) refers to a person characterized by moral folly (BDB 17 s.v.). Fools lack understanding (10:21), do not store up knowledge (10:14), fail to attain wisdom (24:7), and refuse correction (15:5; 27:22). They are arrogant (26:5), talk loosely (14:3) and are contentious (20:3). They might have mental intelligence but they are morally foolish. In sum, they are stubborn and “thick-brained” (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 6).
[1:7] 6 tn The verb of בָּזָה (bazah, “despise”) means to treat things of value with contempt, as if they were worthless (BDB 102 s.v.). The classic example is Esau who despised his birthright and sold it for lentil stew (Gen 25:34). The perfect tense of this verb may be classified as characteristic perfect (what they have done and currently do) or gnomic perfect (what they always do in past, present and future). The latter is preferred; this describes a trait of fools, and elsewhere the book says that fools do not change.
[1:7] 7 sn Hebrew word order is emphatic here. Normal word order is: verb + subject + direct object. Here it is: direct object + subject + verb (“wisdom and instruction fools despise”).
[8:13] 8 tn The verb שָׂנֵא (sane’) means “to hate.” In this sentence it functions nominally as the predicate. Fearing the
[8:13] 9 tn Since both גֵּאָה (ge’ah, “pride”) and גָּאוֹן (ga’on, “arrogance; pride”) are both from the same verbal root גָּאָה (ga’ah, “to rise up”), they should here be interpreted as one idea, forming a nominal hendiadys: “arrogant pride.”
[8:13] 10 tn Heb “and a mouth of perverse things.” The word “mouth” is a metonymy of cause for what is said; and the noun תַהְפֻּכוֹת (tahpukhot, “perverse things”) means destructive things (the related verb is used for the overthrowing of Sodom).
[1:17] 11 tn Heb “and they [fem. pl.] feared”; the referent (the midwives) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[1:17] 12 tn The verb is the Piel preterite of חָיָה (khaya, “to live”). The Piel often indicates a factitive nuance with stative verbs, showing the cause of the action. Here it means “let live, cause to live.” The verb is the exact opposite of Pharaoh’s command for them to kill the boys.
[1:18] 13 tn The verb קָרָא (qara’) followed by the lamed (ל) preposition has here the nuance of “summon.” The same construction is used later when Pharaoh summons Moses.
[1:18] 14 tn The second verb in Pharaoh’s speech is a preterite with a vav (ו) consecutive. It may indicate a simple sequence: “Why have you done…and (so that you) let live?” It could also indicate that this is a second question, “Why have you done …[why] have you let live?”
[1:19] 15 sn See further N. Lemche, “‘Hebrew’ as a National Name for Israel,” ST 33 (1979): 1-23.
[1:19] 16 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Hebrew women) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[1:19] 17 tn Heb “before the midwife comes to them (and) they give birth.” The perfect tense with the vav consecutive serves as the apodosis to the preceding temporal clause; it has the frequentative nuance (see GKC 337-38 §112.oo).
[1:20] 18 tn The verb וַיֵּיטֶב (vayyetev) is the Hiphil preterite of יָטַב (yatav). In this stem the word means “to cause good, treat well, treat favorably.” The vav (ו) consecutive shows that this favor from God was a result of their fearing and obeying him.
[1:21] 19 tn The temporal indicator וַיְהִי (vayÿhi) focuses attention on the causal clause and lays the foundation for the main clause, namely, “God made households for them.” This is the second time the text affirms the reason for their defiance, their fear of God.
[1:21] 20 tn Or “families”; Heb “houses.”
[147:11] 21 tn Heb “those who fear him.”
[1:6] 22 tn Grk “And they.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
[1:6] 23 tn Grk “walking in” (an idiom for one’s lifestyle).
[1:6] 24 tn The predicate adjective has the effect of an adverb here (BDF §243).
[1:46] 25 tc A few witnesses, especially Latin
[1:46] 26 sn The following passage has been typeset as poetry because many scholars regard this passage as poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage, so the decision to typeset it as poetry should be viewed as a tentative decision about its genre.
[1:46] 27 tn Or “lifts up the Lord in praise.”
[1:46] 28 sn This psalm (vv. 46-55) is one of the few praise psalms in the NT. Mary praises God and then tells why both in terms of his care for her (vv. 46-49) and for others, including Israel (vv. 50-55). Its traditional name, the “Magnificat,” comes from the Latin for the phrase My soul magnifies the Lord at the hymn’s start.
[1:47] 29 tn Or “rejoices.” The translation renders this aorist, which stands in contrast to the previous line’s present tense, as ingressive, which highlights Mary’s joyous reaction to the announcement. A comprehensive aorist is also possible here.
[1:48] 30 tn See the note on the word “servant” in v. 38.
[1:48] 31 tn Grk “for behold.”
[1:48] 32 sn From now on is a favorite phrase of Luke’s, showing how God’s acts change things from this point on (5:10; 12:52; 22:18, 69; Acts 18:6).
[1:48] 33 sn Mary is seen here as an example of an object of God’s grace (blessed) for all generations.
[1:49] 34 tn Traditionally, “the Mighty One.”
[1:50] 35 tn Grk “and from.” Here καί (kai) has been translated by a semicolon to improve the English style.
[1:50] 36 sn God’s mercy refers to his “loyal love” or “steadfast love,” expressed in faithful actions, as the rest of the psalm illustrates.
[1:50] 37 tn That is, “who revere.” This refers to those who show God a reverential respect for his sovereignty.
[1:1] 38 tn Grk “Since” or “Because.” This begins a long sentence that extends through v. 4. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, the Greek sentence has been divided up into shorter English sentences in the translation.
[1:1] 39 tn This is sometimes translated “narrative,” but the term itself can refer to an oral or written account. It is the verb “undertaken” which suggests a written account, since it literally is “to set one’s hand” to something (BDAG 386 s.v. ἐπιχειρέω). “Narrative” is too specific, denoting a particular genre of work for the accounts that existed in the earlier tradition. Not all of that material would have been narrative.
[1:1] 41 tn Or “have been accomplished.” Given Luke’s emphasis on divine design (e.g., Luke 24:43-47) a stronger sense (“fulfilled”) is better than a mere reference to something having taken place (“accomplished”).
[3:4] 43 tn Or “desert.” The syntactic position of the phrase “in the wilderness” is unclear in both Luke and the LXX. The MT favors taking it with “Prepare a way,” while the LXX takes it with “a voice shouting.” If the former, the meaning would be that such preparation should be done “in the wilderness.” If the latter, the meaning would be that the place from where John’s ministry went forth was “in the wilderness.” There are Jewish materials that support both renderings: 1QS 8:14 and 9.19-20 support the MT while certain rabbinic texts favor the LXX (see D. L. Bock, Luke [BECNT], 1:290-91). While it is not absolutely necessary that a call in the wilderness led to a response in the wilderness, it is not unlikely that such would be the case. Thus, in the final analysis, the net effect between the two choices may be minimal. In any case, a majority of commentators and translations take “in the wilderness” with “The voice of one shouting” (D. L. Bock; R. H. Stein, Luke [NAC], 129; I. H. Marshall, Luke [NIGTC], 136; NIV, NRSV, NKJV, NLT, NASB, REB).
[3:4] 44 tn This call to “make paths straight” in this context is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance as the verb ποιέω (poiew) reappears in vv. 8, 10, 11, 12, 14.
[3:5] 45 sn The figurative language of this verse speaks of the whole creation preparing for the arrival of a major figure, so all obstacles to his approach are removed.
