Proverbs 5:9-11

5:9 lest you give your vigor ¹  to others

and your years to a cruel person,

5:10 lest strangers devour ²  your strength, ³ 

and your labor ⁴  benefit ⁵  another man’s house.

5:11 And at the end of your life ⁶  you will groan ⁷ 

when your flesh and your body are wasted away. ⁸ 

Jude 1:19-21

1:19 These people are divisive, ⁹  worldly, ¹⁰  devoid of the Spirit. ¹¹  1:20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit, ¹²  1:21 maintain ¹³  yourselves in the love of God, while anticipating ¹⁴  the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that brings eternal life. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 38:1-8

Psalm 38 ¹⁶ 

A psalm of David, written to get God’s attention. ¹⁷ 

38:1 O Lord, do not continue to rebuke me in your anger!

Do not continue to punish me in your raging fury! ¹⁸ 

38:2 For your arrows pierce ¹⁹  me,

and your hand presses me down. ²⁰ 

38:3 My whole body is sick because of your judgment; ²¹ 

I am deprived of health because of my sin. ²² 

38:4 For my sins overwhelm me; ²³ 

like a heavy load, they are too much for me to bear.

38:5 My wounds ²⁴  are infected and starting to smell, ²⁵ 

because of my foolish sins. ²⁶ 

38:6 I am dazed ²⁷  and completely humiliated; ²⁸ 

all day long I walk around mourning.

38:7 For I am overcome with shame ²⁹ 

and my whole body is sick. ³⁰ 

38:8 I am numb with pain and severely battered; ³¹ 

I groan loudly because of the anxiety I feel. ³² 

Psalms 51:8

51:8 Grant me the ultimate joy of being forgiven! ³³ 

May the bones ³⁴  you crushed rejoice! ³⁵ 

[5:9]  ¹ sn The term הוֹד (hod, “vigor; splendor; majesty”) in this context means the best time of one’s life (cf. NIV “your best strength”), the full manly vigor that will be wasted with licentiousness. Here it is paralleled by “years,” which refers to the best years of that vigor, the prime of life. Life would be ruined by living this way, or the revenge of the woman’s husband would cut it short.

[5:10]  ² tn Or “are sated, satisfied.”

[5:10]  ³ tn The word כֹּחַ (coakh, “strength”) refers to what laborious toil would produce (so a metonymy of cause). Everything that this person worked for could become the property for others to enjoy.

[5:10]  ⁴ tn “labor, painful toil.”

[5:10]  ⁵ tn The term “benefit” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.

[5:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “at your end.”

[5:11]  ⁷ tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav consecutive; it is equal to a specific future within this context.

[5:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the finishing of your flesh and your body.” The construction uses the Qal infinitive construct of כָּלָה (calah) in a temporal clause; the verb means “be complete, at an end, finished, spent.”

[1:19]  ⁹ tn Grk “these are the ones who cause divisions.”

[1:19]  ¹⁰ tn Or “natural,” that is, living on the level of instincts, not on a spiritual level (the same word occurs in 1 Cor 2:14 as a description of nonbelievers).

[1:19]  ¹¹ tn Grk “not having [the] Spirit.”

[1:20]  ¹² tn The participles in v. 20 have been variously interpreted. Some treat them imperativally or as attendant circumstance to the imperative in v. 21 (“maintain”): “build yourselves up…pray.” But they do not follow the normal contours of either the imperatival or attendant circumstance participles, rendering this unlikely. A better option is to treat them as the means by which the readers are to maintain themselves in the love of God. This both makes eminently good sense and fits the structural patterns of instrumental participles elsewhere.

[1:21]  ¹³ tn Or “keep.”

[1:21]  ¹⁴ tn Or “waiting for.”

[1:21]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “unto eternal life.”

[38:1]  ¹⁶ sn Psalm 38. The author asks the Lord to deliver him from his enemies. He confesses his sin and recognizes that the crisis he faces is the result of divine discipline. Yet he begs the Lord not to reject him.

[38:1]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew text reads simply, “to cause to remember.” The same form, the Hiphil infinitive of זָכַר (zakhar, “remember”), also appears in the heading of Ps 70. Some understand this in the sense of “for the memorial offering,” but it may carry the idea of bringing one’s plight to God’s attention (see P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 303).

[38:1]  ¹⁸ tn The words “continue to” are supplied in the translation of both lines. The following verses make it clear that the psalmist is already experiencing divine rebuke/punishment. He asks that it might cease.

[38:2]  ¹⁹ tn The verb Hebrew נָחַת (nakhat) apparently here means “penetrate, pierce” (note the use of the Qal in Prov 17:10). The psalmist pictures the Lord as a warrior who shoots arrows at him (see Ps 7:12-13).

[38:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and your hand [?] upon me.” The meaning of the verb נָחַת (nakhat) is unclear in this context. It is preferable to emend the form to וַתָּנַח (vattanakh) from the verb נוּחַ (nuakh, “rest”). In this case the text would read literally, “and your hand rests upon me” (see Isa 25:10, though the phrase is used in a positive sense there, unlike Ps 38:2).

[38:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “there is no soundness in my flesh from before your anger.” “Anger” here refers metonymically to divine judgment, which is the practical effect of God’s anger at the psalmist’s sin.

[38:3]  ²² tn Heb “there is no health in my bones from before my sin.”

[38:4]  ²³ tn Heb “pass over my head.”

[38:5]  ²⁴ sn The reference to wounds may be an extension of the metaphorical language of v. 2. The psalmist pictures himself as one whose flesh is ripped and torn by arrows.

[38:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “my wounds stink, they are festering” (cf. NEB).

[38:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “from before my foolishness.”

[38:6]  ²⁷ tn The verb’s precise shade of meaning in this context is not entirely clear. The verb, which literally means “to bend,” may refer to the psalmist’s posture. In Isa 21:3 it seems to mean “be confused, dazed.”

[38:6]  ²⁸ tn Heb “I am bowed down to excess.”

[38:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “for my loins are filled with shame.” The “loins” are viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s emotions. The present translation assumes that נִקְלֶה (niqleh) is derived from קָלָה (qalah, “be dishonored”). Some derive it instead from a homonymic root קָלָה (qalah), meaning “to roast.” In this case one might translate “fever” (cf. NEB “my loins burn with fever”).

[38:7]  ³⁰ tn Heb “there is no soundness in my flesh” (see v. 3).

[38:8]  ³¹ tn Heb “I am numb and crushed to excess.”

[38:8]  ³² tn Heb “I roar because of the moaning of my heart.”

[51:8]  ³³ tn Heb “cause me to hear happiness and joy.” The language is metonymic: the effect of forgiveness (joy) has been substituted for its cause. The psalmist probably alludes here to an assuring word from God announcing that his sins are forgiven (a so-called oracle of forgiveness). The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request. The synonyms “happiness” and “joy” are joined together as a hendiadys to emphasize the degree of joy he anticipates.

[51:8]  ³⁴ sn May the bones you crushed rejoice. The psalmist compares his sinful condition to that of a person who has been physically battered and crushed. Within this metaphorical framework, his “bones” are the seat of his emotional strength.

[51:8]  ³⁵ tn In this context of petitionary prayer, the prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, expressing the psalmist’s wish or request.