Proverbs 13:23

13:23 There is abundant food in the field ¹  of the poor,

but it is swept away by injustice. ² 

Proverbs 14:4

14:4 Where there are no oxen, the feeding trough is clean,

but an abundant harvest is produced by strong oxen. ³ 

Proverbs 14:23

14:23 In all hard work ⁴  there is profit,

but merely talking about it ⁵  only brings ⁶  poverty. ⁷ 

Proverbs 27:27

27:27 And there will be enough goat’s milk for your food, ⁸ 

for the food of your household,

and for the sustenance ⁹  of your servant girls.

Proverbs 28:19

28:19 The one who works his land will be satisfied with food, ¹⁰ 

but whoever chases daydreams ¹¹  will have his fill ¹²  of poverty.

Genesis 3:19

3:19 By the sweat of your brow ¹³  you will eat food

until you return to the ground, ¹⁴ 

for out of it you were taken;

for you are dust, and to dust you will return.” ¹⁵ 

Psalms 128:2

128:2 You ¹⁶  will eat what you worked so hard to grow. ¹⁷ 

You will be blessed and secure. ¹⁸ 

Ephesians 4:28

4:28 The one who steals must steal no longer; rather he must labor, doing good with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with the one who has need.

Ephesians 4:1

Live in Unity

4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, ¹⁹  urge you to live ²⁰  worthily of the calling with which you have been called, ²¹ 

Ephesians 4:11-12

4:11 It was he ²²  who gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, ²³  4:12 to equip ²⁴  the saints for the work of ministry, that is, ²⁵  to build up the body of Christ,

Ephesians 4:2

4:2 with all humility and gentleness, ²⁶  with patience, bearing with ²⁷  one another in love,

Ephesians 3:8

3:8 To me – less than the least of all the saints ²⁸  – this grace was given, ²⁹  to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ

[13:23]  ¹ tn Heb “fallow ground” (so NASB). The word נִיר (nir) means “the tillable [or untilled; or fallow] ground.” BDB 644 s.v. says this line could be rendered: “abundant food [yields] the fallow ground of poor men” (i.e., with the Lord’s blessing).

[13:23]  ² tc The MT reads “there is what is swept away because [there is] no justice” (וְיֵשׁ נִסְפֶּה בְּלֹא מִשְׁפָּט, vÿyesh nispeh bÿlo’ mishpat). The LXX reads “the great enjoy wealth many years, but some men perish little by little.” The Syriac reads “those who have no habitation waste wealth many years, and some waste it completely.” Tg. Prov 13:23 reads “the great man devours the land of the poor, and some men are taken away unjustly.” The Vulgate has “there is much food in the fresh land of the fathers, and for others it is collected without judgment.” C. H. Toy says that the text is corrupt (Proverbs [ICC], 277). Nevertheless, the MT makes sense: The ground could produce enough food for people if there were no injustice in the land. Poverty is unnecessary as long as there is justice and not injustice.

[14:4]  ³ tn Heb “the strength of oxen.” The genitive שׁוֹר (shor, “oxen”) functions as an attributed genitive: “strong oxen.” Strong oxen are indispensable for a good harvest, and for oxen to be strong they must be well-fed. The farmer has to balance grain consumption with the work oxen do.

[14:23]  ⁴ sn The Hebrew term עֶצֶב (’etsev, “painful toil; labor”) is first used in scripture in Gen 3:19 to describe the effects of the Fall. The point here is that people should be more afraid of idle talk than of hard labor.

[14:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “word of lips.” This construct phrase features a genitive of source (“a word from the lips”) or a subjective genitive (“speaking a word”). Talk without work (which produces nothing) is contrasted with labor that produces something.

[14:23]  ⁶ tn The term “brings” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.

[14:23]  ⁷ sn The noun מַחְסוֹר (makhsor, “need; thing needed; poverty”) comes from the verb “to lack; to be lacking; to decrease; to need.” A person given to idle talk rather than industrious work will have needs that go unmet.

[27:27]  ⁸ sn This part of the proverb shows the proper interplay between human labor and divine provision. It teaches people to take care of what they have because it will not last forever.

[27:27]  ⁹ tn Heb “life”; KJV, NAB “maintenance”; NRSV “nourishment.”

[28:19]  ¹⁰ tn Or “will have plenty of food” (Heb “bread”); so NAB, NASB, NCV.

[28:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “empty things” or “vain things”; NRSV “follows worthless pursuits.”

[28:19]  ¹² tn The repetition of the verb strengthens the contrast. Both halves of the verse use the verb יִשְׂבַּע (yisba’, “will be satisfied; will be filled with; will have enough”). It is positive in the first colon, but negative in the second – with an ironic twist to say one is “satisfied” with poverty.

[3:19]  ¹³ tn The expression “the sweat of your brow” is a metonymy, the sweat being the result of painful toil in the fields.

[3:19]  ¹⁴ sn Until you return to the ground. The theme of humankind’s mortality is critical here in view of the temptation to be like God. Man will labor painfully to provide food, obviously not enjoying the bounty that creation promised. In place of the abundance of the orchard’s fruit trees, thorns and thistles will grow. Man will have to work the soil so that it will produce the grain to make bread. This will continue until he returns to the soil from which he was taken (recalling the creation in 2:7 with the wordplay on Adam and ground). In spite of the dreams of immortality and divinity, man is but dust (2:7), and will return to dust. So much for his pride.

[3:19]  ¹⁵ sn In general, the themes of the curse oracles are important in the NT teaching that Jesus became the cursed one hanging on the tree. In his suffering and death, all the motifs are drawn together: the tree, the sweat, the thorns, and the dust of death (see Ps 22:15). Jesus experienced it all, to have victory over it through the resurrection.

[128:2]  ¹⁶ tn The psalmist addresses the representative God-fearing man, as indicated by the references to “your wife” (v. 3) and “the man” (v. 4), as well as the second masculine singular pronominal and verbal forms in vv. 2-6.

[128:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the work of your hands, indeed you will eat.”

[128:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “how blessed you [will be] and it will be good for you.”

[4:1]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “prisoner in the Lord.”

[4:1]  ²⁰ tn Grk “walk.” The verb “walk” in the NT letters refers to the conduct of one’s life, not to physical walking.

[4:1]  ²¹ sn With which you have been called. The calling refers to the Holy Spirit’s prompting that caused them to believe. The author is thus urging his readers to live a life that conforms to their saved status before God.

[4:11]  ²² tn The emphasis on Christ is continued through the use of the intensive pronoun, αὐτός (autos), and is rendered in English as “it was he” as this seems to lay emphasis on the “he.”

[4:11]  ²³ sn Some interpreters have understood the phrase pastors and teachers to refer to one and the same group. This would mean that all pastors are teachers and that all teachers are pastors. This position is often taken because it is recognized that both nouns (i.e., pastors and teachers) are governed by one article in Greek. But because the nouns are plural, it is extremely unlikely that they refer to the same group, but only that the author is linking them closely together. It is better to regard the pastors as a subset of teachers. In other words, all pastors are teachers, but not all teachers are pastors. See ExSyn 284.

[4:12]  ²⁴ tn On the translation of πρὸς τὸν καταρτισμὸν τῶν ἁγίων (pro" ton katartismon twn Jagiwn) as “to equip the saints” see BDAG 526 s.v. καταρτισμός. In this case the genitive is taken as objective and the direct object of the verbal idea implied in καταρτισμός (katartismo").

[4:12]  ²⁵ tn The εἰς (eis) clause is taken as epexegetical to the previous εἰς clause, namely, εἰς ἔργον διακονίας (ei" ergon diakonia").

[4:2]  ²⁶ tn Or “meekness.” The word is often used in Hellenistic Greek of the merciful execution of justice on behalf of those who have no voice by those who are in a position of authority (Matt 11:29; 21:5).

[4:2]  ²⁷ tn Or “putting up with”; or “forbearing.”

[3:8]  ²⁸ sn In Pauline writings saints means any true believer. Thus for Paul to view himself as less than the least of all the saints is to view himself as the most unworthy object of Christ’s redemption.

[3:8]  ²⁹ sn The parallel phrases to proclaim and to enlighten which follow indicate why God’s grace was manifested to Paul. Grace was not something just to be received, but to be shared with others (cf. Acts 13:47).