Proverbs 15:23

15:23 A person has joy ¹  in giving an appropriate answer, ² 

and a word at the right time ³  – how good it is!

Psalms 19:14

19:14 May my words and my thoughts

be acceptable in your sight, ⁴ 

O Lord, my sheltering rock ⁵  and my redeemer. ⁶ 

Psalms 37:30-31

37:30 The godly speak wise words

and promote justice. ⁷ 

37:31 The law of their God controls their thinking; ⁸ 

their ⁹  feet do not slip.

Psalms 45:1

Psalm 45 ¹⁰ 

For the music director; according to the tune of “Lilies;” ¹¹  by the Korahites, a well-written poem, ¹²  a love song.

45:1 My heart is stirred by a beautiful song. ¹³ 

I say, “I have composed this special song ¹⁴  for the king;

my tongue is as skilled as the stylus of an experienced scribe.” ¹⁵ 

Matthew 12:34-37

12:34 Offspring of vipers! How are you able to say anything good, since you are evil? For the mouth speaks from what fills the heart. 12:35 The good person ¹⁶  brings good things out of his ¹⁷  good treasury, ¹⁸  and the evil person brings evil things out of his evil treasury. 12:36 I ¹⁹  tell you that on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every worthless word they speak. 12:37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

[15:23]  ¹ tn Heb “joy to the man” or “the man has joy.”

[15:23]  ² tn Heb “in the answer of his mouth” (so ASV); NASB “in an apt answer.” The term “mouth” is a metonymy of cause for what he says. But because the parallelism is loosely synonymous, the answer given here must be equal to the good word spoken in season. So it is an answer that is proper or fitting.

[15:23]  ³ tn Heb “in its season.” To say the right thing at the right time is useful; to say the right thing at the wrong time is counterproductive.

[19:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “may the words of my mouth and the thought of my heart be acceptable before you.” The prefixed verbal form at the beginning of the verse is understood as a jussive of prayer. Another option is to translate the form as an imperfect continuing the thought of v. 14b: “[Then] the words of my mouth and the thought of my heart will be acceptable before you.”

[19:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “my rocky cliff,” which is a metaphor for protection; thus the translation “sheltering rock.”

[19:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “and the one who redeems me.” The metaphor casts the Lord in the role of a leader who protects members of his extended family in times of need and crisis.

[37:30]  ⁷ tn Heb “The mouth of the godly [one] utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.” The singular form is used in a representative sense; the typical godly individual is in view. The imperfect verbal forms draw attention to the characteristic behavior of the godly.

[37:31]  ⁸ tn Heb “the law of his God [is] in his heart.” The “heart” is here the seat of one’s thoughts and motives.

[37:31]  ⁹ tn Heb “his.” The pronoun has been translated as plural to agree with the representative or typical “godly” in v. 30.

[45:1]  ¹⁰ sn Psalm 45. This is a romantic poem celebrating the Davidic king’s marriage to a lovely princess. The psalmist praises the king for his military prowess and commitment to justice, urges the bride to be loyal to the king, and anticipates that the marriage will be blessed with royal offspring.

[45:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “according to lilies.” “Lilies” may be a tune title or musical style, suggestive of romantic love. The imagery of a “lily” appears frequently in the Song of Solomon in a variety of contexts (see 2:1-2, 16; 4:5; 5:13; 6:2-3; 7:2).

[45:1]  ¹² tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 42.

[45:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “[with] a good word.” The “good word” probably refers here to the song that follows.

[45:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “my works [are] for a king.” The plural “works” may here indicate degree, referring to the special musical composition that follows.

[45:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “my tongue [is] a stylus of a skillful scribe.” Words flow from the psalmist’s tongue just as they do from a scribe’s stylus.

[12:35]  ¹⁶ tn The Greek text reads here ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpos). The term is generic referring to any person.

[12:35]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “the”; the Greek article has been translated here and in the following clause (“his evil treasury”) as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[12:35]  ¹⁸ sn The treasury here is a metaphorical reference to a person’s heart (cf. BDAG 456 s.v. θησαυρός 1.b and the parallel passage in Luke 6:45).

[12:36]  ¹⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.