Psalms 138:8

138:8 The Lord avenges me. ¹ 

O Lord, your loyal love endures.

Do not abandon those whom you have made! ² 

Proverbs 4:18

4:18 But the path of the righteous is like the bright morning light, ³ 

growing brighter and brighter ⁴  until full day. ⁵ 

Isaiah 66:9

66:9 “Do I bring a baby to the birth opening and then not deliver it?”

asks the Lord.

“Or do I bring a baby to the point of delivery and then hold it back?”

asks your God. ⁶ 

Hosea 6:3

6:3 So let us acknowledge him! ⁷ 

Let us seek ⁸  to acknowledge ⁹  the Lord!

He will come to our rescue as certainly as the appearance of the dawn,

as certainly as the winter rain comes,

as certainly as the spring rain that waters the land.”

Zechariah 4:7

Oracle of Response

4:7 “What are you, you great mountain? ¹⁰  Because of Zerubbabel you will become a level plain! And he will bring forth the temple ¹¹  capstone with shoutings of ‘Grace! Grace!’ ¹²  because of this.”

Mark 4:28

4:28 By itself the soil produces a crop, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.

Mark 4:1

The Parable of the Sower

4:1 Again he began to teach by the lake. Such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there while ¹³  the whole crowd was on the shore by the lake.

Colossians 1:8

1:8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

Philippians 1:6

1:6 For I am sure of this very thing, ¹⁴  that the one ¹⁵  who began a good work in ¹⁶  you will perfect it ¹⁷  until the day of Christ Jesus.

[138:8]  ¹ tn Heb “avenges on my behalf.” For the meaning “to avenge” for the verb גָּמַר (gamar), see HALOT 197-98 s.v. גמר.

[138:8]  ² tn Heb “the works of your hands.” Many medieval Hebrew mss read the singular, “work of your hands.”

[4:18]  ³ tn Heb “like light of brightness.” This construction is an attributive genitive: “bright light.” The word “light” (אוֹר, ’or) refers to the early morning light or the dawn (BDB 21 s.v.). The point of the simile is that the course of life that the righteous follow is like the clear, bright morning light. It is illumined, clear, easy to follow, and healthy and safe – the opposite of what darkness represents.

[4:18]  ⁴ tn The construction uses the Qal active participle of הָלַךְ (halakh) in a metaphorical sense to add the idea of continuance or continually to the participle הוֹלֵךְ (holekh). Here the path was growing light, but the added participle signifies continually.

[4:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “until the day is established.” This expression refers to the coming of the full day or the time of high noon.

[66:9]  ⁶ sn The rhetorical questions expect the answer, “Of course not!”

[6:3]  ⁷ tn The object (“him”) is omitted in the Hebrew text, but supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “let us pursue in order to know.” The Hebrew term רָדַף (radaf, “to pursue”) is used figuratively: “to aim to secure” (BDB 923 s.v. רָדַף 2). It describes the pursuit of a moral goal: “Do not pervert justice…nor accept a bribe…pursue [רָדַף] justice” (Deut 16:20); “those who pursue [רָדַף] righteousness and who seek [בָּקַשׁ, baqash] the Lord” (Isa 51:1); “He who pursues [רָדַף] righteousness and love finds life, prosperity, and honor” (Prov 21:20); “Seek [בָּקַשׁ] peace and pursue [רָדַף] it” (Ps 34:15); “they slander me when I pursue [רָדַף] good” (Ps 38:21).

[6:3]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew infinitive construct with לְ (lamed) denotes purpose: “to know” (לָדַעַת, lada’at).

[4:7]  ¹⁰ sn In context, the great mountain here must be viewed as a metaphor for the enormous task of rebuilding the temple and establishing the messianic kingdom (cf. TEV “Obstacles as great as mountains”).

[4:7]  ¹¹ tn The word “temple” has been supplied in the translation to clarify the referent (cf. NLT “final stone of the Temple”).

[4:7]  ¹² sn Grace is a fitting response to the idea that it was “not by strength and not by power” but by God’s gracious Spirit that the work could be done (cf. v. 6).

[4:1]  ¹³ tn Grk “and all the crowd.” The clause in this phrase, although coordinate in terms of grammar, is logically subordinate to the previous clause.

[1:6]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “since I am sure of this very thing.” The verse begins with an adverbial participle that is dependent on the main verb in v. 3 (“I thank”). Paul here gives one reason for his thankfulness.

[1:6]  ¹⁵ tn The referent is clearly God from the overall context of the paragraph and the mention of “the day of Christ Jesus” at the end, which would be redundant if Christ were referred to here.

[1:6]  ¹⁶ tn Or “among.”

[1:6]  ¹⁷ tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text but has been supplied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.