Proverbs 15:16

15:16 Better ¹  is little with the fear of the Lord

than great wealth and turmoil ²  with it. ³ 

Proverbs 28:14

28:14 Blessed is the one who is always cautious, ⁴ 

but whoever hardens his heart ⁵  will fall into evil.

Psalms 111:10--112:1

111:10 To obey the Lord is the fundamental principle for wise living; ⁶ 

all who carry out his precepts acquire good moral insight. ⁷ 

He will receive praise forever. ⁸ 

Psalm 112 ⁹ 

112:1 Praise the Lord!

How blessed is the one ¹⁰  who obeys ¹¹  the Lord,

who takes great delight in keeping his commands. ¹² 

Ecclesiastes 5:7

5:7 Just as there is futility in many dreams,

so also in many words. ¹³ 

Therefore, fear God!

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

12:13 Having heard everything, I have reached this conclusion: ¹⁴ 

Fear God and keep his commandments,

because this is the whole duty ¹⁵  of man.

12:14 For God will evaluate every deed, ¹⁶ 

including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Acts 9:31

9:31 Then ¹⁷  the church throughout Judea, Galilee, ¹⁸  and Samaria experienced ¹⁹  peace and thus was strengthened. ²⁰  Living ²¹  in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, the church ²²  increased in numbers.

Acts 9:2

9:2 and requested letters from him to the synagogues ²³  in Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, ²⁴  either men or women, he could bring them as prisoners ²⁵  to Jerusalem. ²⁶ 

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²⁷  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²⁸  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 1:17

1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together ²⁹  in him.

[15:16]  ¹ sn One of the frequent characteristics of wisdom literature is the “better” saying; it is a comparison of different but similar things to determine which is to be preferred. These two verses focus on spiritual things being better than troubled material things.

[15:16]  ² sn Turmoil refers to anxiety; the fear of the Lord alleviates anxiety, for it brings with it contentment and confidence.

[15:16]  ³ sn Not all wealth has turmoil with it. But the proverb is focusing on the comparison of two things – fear of the Lord with little and wealth with turmoil. Between these two, the former is definitely better.

[28:14]  ⁴ tn Most commentators (and some English versions, e.g., NIV) assume that the participle מְפַחֵד (mÿfakhed, “fears”) means “fears the Lord,” even though “the Lord” is not present in the text. Such an assumption would be more convincing if the word יִרְאַת (yir’at) had been used. It is possible that the verse refers to fearing sin or its consequences. In other words, the one who is always apprehensive about the nature and consequences of sin will avoid sin and find God’s blessing. Of course the assumption that the phrase means “fear the Lord” could be correct as well. There would be little difference in the outcome; in either case sin would be avoided.

[28:14]  ⁵ sn The one who “hardens his heart” in this context is the person who refuses to fear sin and its consequences. The image of the “hard heart” is one of a stubborn will, unyielding and unbending (cf. NCV, TEV, NLT). This individual will fall into sin.

[111:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “the beginning of wisdom [is] the fear of the Lord.”

[111:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “good sense [is] to all who do them.” The third masculine plural pronominal suffix must refer back to the “precepts” mentioned in v. 7. In the translation the referent has been specified for clarity. The phrase שֵׂכֶל טוֹב (shekhel tov) also occurs in Prov 3:4; 13:15 and 2 Chr 30:22.

[111:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “his praise stands forever.”

[112:1]  ⁹ sn Psalm 112. This wisdom psalm lists some of the benefits of living a godly life. The psalm is an acrostic. After the introductory call to praise, every poetic line (twenty-two in all) begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[112:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man.” Hebrew wisdom literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The individual is representative of a larger group, called the “godly” in vv. 3-4. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender specific “man” with the more neutral “one.” The generic masculine pronoun is used in the following verses.

[112:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “fears.”

[112:1]  ¹² tn Heb “in his commands he delights very much.” The words “in keeping” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Taking delight in the law is metonymic here for obeying God’s moral will. See Ps 1:2.

[5:7]  ¹³ tn The syntax of this verse is difficult. Perhaps the best approach is to classify the vav on וַהֲבָלִים (vahavalim, “futilities”) as introducing the predicate (e.g., Gen 40:9; 2 Sam 23:3; Prov 10:25; Isa 34:12; Job 4:6; 36:26); BDB 255 s.v. ו 5.c.γ: “There is futility….” The phrase בְרֹב הֲלֹמוֹת (vÿrob halomot) is an adverbial modifier (“in many dreams”), as is דְבָרִים הַרְבֵּה (dÿvarim harbeh, “many words”). The vav prefixed to וּדְבָרִים (udÿvarim) and the juxtaposition of the two lines suggests a comparison: “just as…so also…” (BDB 253 s.v. ו 1.j). The English versions reflect a variety of approaches: “In the multitude of dreams and many words there are also diverse vanities” (KJV); “In the multitude of dreams there are vanities, and in many words” (ASV); “When dreams increase, empty words grow many” (RSV); “In many dreams and follies and many words” (MLB); “In the abundance of dreams both vanities and words abound” (YLT); “Where there are many dreams, there are many vanities, and words without number” (Douay); “Many dreams and words mean many a vain folly” (Moffatt); “Much dreaming leads to futility and to superfluous talk” (NJPS); “In many dreams and in many words there is emptiness” (NASB); “Much dreaming and many words are meaningless” (NIV); “With many dreams comes vanities and a multitude of words” (NRSV).

[12:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “The end of the matter, everything having been heard.”

[12:13]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “This is all men”; or “This is the whole of man.” The phrase זֶה כָּל־הָאָדָם (zeh kol-ha’adam, “this is all men”) features rhetorical elision of a key word. The ambiguity over the elided word has led to no less than five basic approaches: (1) “this is the whole duty of man” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NAB, NIV); (2) “this is the duty of all men” (MLB, ASV margin, RSV margin); (3) “this applies to all men” (NASB, NJPS); (4) “this is the whole duty of all men” (NRSV, Moffatt); and (5) “there is no more to man than this” (NEB). The four-fold repetition of כֹּל (kol, “all”) in 12:13-14 suggests that Qoheleth is emphasizing the “bottom line,” that is, the basic duty of man is simply to fear and obey God: After “all” (כֹּל) has been heard in the book, his conclusion is that the “whole” (כֹּל) duty of man is to obey God because God will bring “all” (כֹּל) acts into judgment, including “all” (כֹּל) that is hidden, whether good or bad. See D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 3:596.

[12:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “will bring every deed into judgment.”

[9:31]  ¹⁷ tn Or “Therefore.” This verse is another summary text in Acts (cf. 2:41-47; 4:32-37; 5:12-16; 6:7).

[9:31]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “and Galilee,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[9:31]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “had.”

[9:31]  ²⁰ tn Or “Built up.” The participle οἰκοδομουμένη (oikodomoumenh) has been translated as a participle of result related to εἶχεν (eicen). It could also be understood as adverbial to ἐπληθύνετο (eplhquneto): “Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria experienced peace. Strengthened and living in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.” Although some scholars do not regard the participle of result as a legitimate category, it is actually fairly common (see ExSyn 637-39).

[9:31]  ²¹ tn Grk “And living.” 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.

[9:31]  ²² tn Grk “it”; the referent (the church) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:2]  ²³ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[9:2]  ²⁴ sn The expression “the way” in ancient religious literature refers at times to “the whole way of life fr. a moral and spiritual viewpoint” (BDAG 692 s.v. ὁδός 3.c), and it has been so used of Christianity and its teachings in the book of Acts (see also 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22). It is a variation of Judaism’s idea of two ways, the true and the false, where “the Way” is the true one (1 En. 91:18; 2 En. 30:15).

[9:2]  ²⁵ tn Grk “bring them bound”; the translation “bring someone as prisoner” for δεδεμένον ἄγειν τινά (dedemenon agein tina) is given by BDAG 221 s.v. δέω 1.b.

[9:2]  ²⁶ sn From Damascus to Jerusalem was a six-day journey. Christianity had now expanded into Syria.

[1:1]  ²⁷ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ²⁸ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:17]  ²⁹ tn BDAG 973 s.v. συνίστημι B.3 suggests “continue, endure, exist, hold together” here.