Psalms 39:3

39:3 my anxiety intensified. ¹ 

As I thought about it, I became impatient. ² 

Finally I spoke these words: ³ 

Psalms 104:34

104:34 May my thoughts ⁴  be pleasing to him!

I will rejoice in the Lord.

Proverbs 27:9

27:9 Ointment and incense make the heart rejoice, ⁵ 

likewise the sweetness of one’s friend from sincere counsel. ⁶ 

Proverbs 27:17

27:17 As ⁷  iron sharpens ⁸  iron,

so a person ⁹  sharpens his friend. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 50:4

The Servant Perseveres

50:4 The sovereign Lord has given me the capacity to be his spokesman, ¹¹ 

so that I know how to help the weary. ¹² 

He wakes me up every morning;

he makes me alert so I can listen attentively as disciples do. ¹³ 

Jeremiah 15:16

15:16 As your words came to me I drank them in, ¹⁴ 

and they filled my heart with joy and happiness

because I belong to you. ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 20:9

20:9 Sometimes I think, “I will make no mention of his message.

I will not speak as his messenger ¹⁶  any more.”

But then ¹⁷  his message becomes like a fire

locked up inside of me, burning in my heart and soul. ¹⁸ 

I grow weary of trying to hold it in;

I cannot contain it.

Jeremiah 23:29

23:29 My message is like a fire that purges dross! ¹⁹  It is like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces! ²⁰  I, the Lord, so affirm it! ²¹ 

John 6:63

6:63 The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help! ²²  The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. ²³ 

Hebrews 4:12

4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart.

[39:3]  ¹ tn Heb “my heart was hot within me.”

[39:3]  ² tn Heb “In my reflection fire burned.” The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite (past tense) or an imperfect being used in a past progressive or customary sense (“fire was burning”).

[39:3]  ³ tn Heb “I spoke with my tongue.” The phrase “these words” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[104:34]  ⁴ tn That is, the psalmist’s thoughts as expressed in his songs of praise.

[27:9]  ⁵ sn The first line of the proverb provides the emblem to the parallel point. The emblem is the joy that anointing oil (ointment) and incense bring, and the point is the value of the advice of a friend.

[27:9]  ⁶ tn Some think the MT is unintelligible as it stands: “The sweetness of his friend from the counsel of the soul.” The Latin version has “the soul is sweetened by the good counsels of a friend.” D. W. Thomas suggests, “counsels of a friend make sweet the soul” (“Notes on Some Passages in the Book of Proverbs,” VT 15 [1965]: 275). G. R. Driver suggests, “the counsel of a friend is sweeter than one’s own advice” (literally, “more than the counsel of the soul”). He also suggests “more than of fragrant wood.” See G. R. Driver, “Hebrew Notes,” ZAW 52 (1934): 54; idem, “Suggestions and Objections,” ZAW 55 (1937): 69-70. The LXX reads “and the soul is rent by misfortunes.” The MT, for want of better or more convincing readings, may be interpreted to mean something like “[Just as] ointment and incense brings joy to the heart, [so] the sweetness of one’s friend [comes] from his sincere counsel.”

[27:17]  ⁷ tn The term “as” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation to clarify the comparison.

[27:17]  ⁸ tn BDB classifies the verb in the first colon as a Qal apocopated jussive of I חָדָה (khadah, “to grow sharp”; BDB 292 s.v.), and the verb in the second half of the verse (יַחַד, yakhad) as a Hiphil apocopated jussive. The difference would be: “let iron by means of iron grow sharp, and let a man sharpen the countenance of his friend.” But it makes more sense to take them both as Hiphil forms, the first being in pause. Other suggestions have been put forward for the meaning of the word, but the verb “sharpens” fits the context the best, and is followed by most English versions. The verb may be a shortened form of the imperfect rather than a jussive.

[27:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “and a man,” although the context does not indicate this should be limited to males only.

[27:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “sharpens the face of his friend.” The use of the word “face” (cf. KJV, ASV “countenance”) would here emphasize that it is the personality or character that is being sharpened. Constructive criticism sharpens character. Use of the wits in interaction that makes two people sharp as a razor (W. McKane, Proverbs [OTL], 615); another example, from the Talmud, is that of two students sharpening each other in the study of the Torah (b. Ta’anit 7a).

[50:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “has given to me a tongue of disciples.”

[50:4]  ¹² tc Heb “to know [?] the weary with a word.” Comparing it with Arabic and Aramaic cognates yields the meaning of “help, sustain.” Nevertheless, the meaning of עוּת (’ut) is uncertain. The word occurs only here in the OT (see BDB 736 s.v.). Various scholars have suggested an emendation to עָנוֹת (’anot) from עָנָה (’anah, “answer”): “so that I know how to respond kindly to the weary.” Since the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a and the Vulgate support the MT reading, that reading is retained.

[50:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “he arouses for me an ear, to hear like disciples.”

[15:16]  ¹⁴ sn Heb “Your words were found and I ate them.” This along with Ezek 2:8–3:3 is a poetic picture of inspiration. The prophet accepted them, assimilated them, and made them such a part of himself that he spoke with complete assurance what he knew were God’s words.

[15:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Your name is called upon me.”

[20:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “speak in his name.” This idiom occurs in passages where someone functions as the messenger under the authority of another. See Exod 5:23; Deut 18:19, 29:20; Jer 14:14. The antecedent in the first line is quite commonly misidentified as being “him,” i.e., the Lord. Comparison, however, with the rest of the context, especially the consequential clause “then it becomes” (וְהָיָה, vÿhayah), and Jer 23:36 shows that it is “the word of the Lord.”

[20:9]  ¹⁷ tn The English sentence has again been restructured for the sake of English style. The Hebrew construction involves two vav consecutive perfects in a condition and consequence relation, “If I say to myself…then it [his word] becomes.” See GKC 337 §112.kk for the construction.

[20:9]  ¹⁸ sn Heb “It is in my heart like a burning fire, shut up in my bones.” In addition to standing as part for the whole, the “bones” for the person (e.g., Ps 35:10), the bones were associated with fear (e.g., Job 4:14) and with pain (e.g., Job 33:19, Ps 102:3 [102:4 HT]) and joy or sorrow (e.g., Ps 51:8 [51:10 HT]). As has been mentioned several times, the heart was connected with intellectual and volitional concerns.

[23:29]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Is not my message like a fire?” The rhetorical question expects a positive answer that is made explicit in the translation. The words “that purges dross” are not in the text but are implicit to the metaphor. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[23:29]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Is it not like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?” See preceding note.

[23:29]  ²¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[6:63]  ²² tn Grk “the flesh counts for nothing.”

[6:63]  ²³ tn Or “are spirit-giving and life-producing.”