Psalms 110:2-3

110:2 The Lord ¹  extends ²  your dominion ³  from Zion.

Rule in the midst of your enemies!

110:3 Your people willingly follow you ⁴  when you go into battle. ⁵ 

On the holy hills ⁶  at sunrise ⁷  the dew of your youth ⁸  belongs to you. ⁹ 

Acts 9:3-6

9:3 As he was going along, approaching ¹⁰  Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed ¹¹  around him. 9:4 He ¹²  fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, ¹³  why are you persecuting me?” ¹⁴  9:5 So he said, “Who are you, Lord?” He replied, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting! 9:6 But stand up ¹⁵  and enter the city and you will be told ¹⁶  what you must do.”

Acts 9:15

9:15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, because this man is my chosen instrument ¹⁷  to carry my name before Gentiles and kings and the people of Israel. ¹⁸ 

Ephesians 1:4

1:4 For ¹⁹  he chose us in Christ ²⁰  before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished ²¹  in his sight ²²  in love. ²³ 

Ephesians 1:2

1:2 Grace and peace to you ²⁴  from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Ephesians 2:13

2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ²⁵ 

[110:2]  ¹ tn Since the Lord is mentioned in the third person (note the use of the first person in v. 1), it is likely that these are the psalmist’s words to the king, not a continuation of the oracle per se.

[110:2]  ² tn The prefixed verbal form is understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing, though it could be taken as future.

[110:2]  ³ tn Heb “your strong scepter,” symbolic of the king’s royal authority and dominion.

[110:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “your people, free will offerings.” Perhaps the people, in their willingness to volunteer, are compared metaphorically to freewill offerings. Following the LXX, some revocalize the text and read “with you is nobility.”

[110:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “in the day of your power.”

[110:3]  ⁶ tc Heb “in splendor of holiness.” The plural construct form הַדְרֵי (hadrey, from הָדַר, hadar, “splendor”) occurs only here; it may indicate degree or perhaps refer by metonymy to garments (see Pss 29:2 and 96:9, where the phrase הַדְרַת קֹדֶשׁ [hadrat qodesh] refers to “holy attire”). If one retains the reading of the MT, this phrase should probably be taken with the preceding line. However, because of the subsequent references to “dawn” and to “dew,” it is better to emend the text to הַרְרֵי קֹדֶשׁ (harrey qodesh, “mountains of holiness”), a reading found in many medieval Hebrew mss and in some other ancient witnesses (see Joel 2:2; Ps 133:3, as well as L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 80). The “mountains of holiness” are probably the hills surrounding Zion (see Ps 87:1; 125:2; 133:3).

[110:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “from the womb of dawn.” The Hebrew noun רֶחֶם (rekhem, “womb”) is probably used here metonymically for “birth.” The form מִשְׁחָר (mishkhar) occurs only here and should be emended to שַׁחַר (shakhar, “dawn”) with the mem (מ) being understood as dittographic (note the final mem [ם] on the preceding word). The phrase “womb [i.e., “birth”] of dawn” refers to sunrise.

[110:3]  ⁸ sn The point of the metaphor is not entirely clear. The dew may symbolize the king’s youthful vitality or, more likely (note the parallelism), may refer to his army of strong, youthful warriors.

[110:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “to you [is].”

[9:3]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “As he was going along, it happened that when he was approaching.” The phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[9:3]  ¹¹ tn Or “shone” (BDAG 799 s.v. περιαστράπτω). The light was more brilliant than the sun according to Acts 26:13.

[9:4]  ¹² tn Grk “and he.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.

[9:4]  ¹³ tn The double vocative suggests emotion.

[9:4]  ¹⁴ sn Persecuting me. To persecute the church is to persecute Jesus.

[9:6]  ¹⁵ tn Or “But arise.”

[9:6]  ¹⁶ tn Literally a passive construction, “it will be told to you.” This has been converted to another form of passive construction in the translation.

[9:15]  ¹⁷ tn Or “tool.”

[9:15]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “the sons of Israel.” In Acts, Paul is a minister to all nations, including Israel (Rom 1:16-17).

[1:4]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “just as.” Eph 1:3-14 are one long sentence in Greek that must be broken up in English translation. Verse 4 expresses the reason why God the Father is blessed (cf. BDAG 494 s.v. καθώς 3).

[1:4]  ²⁰ tn Grk “in him.”

[1:4]  ²¹ sn The Greek word translated unblemished (ἀμώμους, amwmous) is often used of an acceptable paschal lamb. Christ, as our paschal lamb, is also said to be unblemished (Heb 9:14; 1 Pet 1:19). Since believers are in Christ, God views them positionally and will make them ultimately without blemish as well (Jude 24; Eph 5:27; Col 1:22).

[1:4]  ²² tn Grk “before him.”

[1:4]  ²³ tn The prepositional phrase ἐν ἀγάπῃ (en agaph, “in love”) may modify one of three words or phrases: (1) “chose,” (2) “holy and unblemished,” both in v. 4, or (3) “by predestining” in v. 5. If it modifies “chose,” it refers to God’s motivation in that election, but this option is unlikely because of the placement of the prepositional phrase far away from the verb. The other two options are more likely. If it modifies “holy and unblemished,” it specifies that our holiness cannot be divorced from love. This view is in keeping with the author’s use of ἀγάπη to refer often to human love in Ephesians, but the placement of the prepositional phrase not immediately following the words it modifies would be slightly awkward. If it modifies “by predestining” (v. 5), again the motivation of God’s choice is love. This would fit the focus of the passage on God’s gracious actions toward believers, but it could be considered slightly redundant in that God’s predestination itself proves his love.

[1:2]  ²⁴ tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”

[2:13]  ²⁵ tn Or “have come near in the blood of Christ.”