Psalms 141:5

141:5 May the godly strike me in love and correct me!

May my head not refuse ¹  choice oil! ² 

Indeed, my prayer is a witness against their evil deeds. ³ 

Proverbs 9:9

9:9 Give instruction ⁴  to a wise person, ⁵  and he will become wiser still;

teach ⁶  a righteous person and he will add to his ⁷  learning.

Proverbs 25:12

25:12 Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold, ⁸ 

so is a wise reprover to the ear of the one who listens. ⁹ 

Matthew 18:15

Restoring Christian Relationships

18:15 “If ¹⁰  your brother ¹¹  sins, ¹²  go and show him his fault ¹³  when the two of you are alone. If he listens to you, you have regained your brother.

Matthew 18:1

Questions About the Greatest

18:1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

Colossians 4:14

4:14 Our dear friend Luke the physician and Demas greet you.

Titus 3:10

3:10 Reject a divisive person after one or two warnings.

James 5:19-20

5:19 My brothers and sisters, ¹⁴  if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, 5:20 he should know that the one who turns a sinner back from his wandering path ¹⁵  will save that person’s ¹⁶  soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

[141:5]  ¹ tn The form יָנִי (yaniy) appears to be derived from the verbal root נוּא (nu’). Another option is to emend the form to יְנָא (yÿna’), a Piel from נָאָה (na’ah), and translate “may choice oil not adorn my head” (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 271). In this case, choice oil, like delicacies in v. 4, symbolize the pleasures of sin.

[141:5]  ² sn May my head not refuse choice oil. The psalmist compares the constructive criticism of the godly (see the previous line) to having refreshing olive oil poured over one’s head.

[141:5]  ³ tc Heb “for still, and my prayer [is] against their evil deeds.” The syntax of the Hebrew text is difficult; the sequence -כִּי־עוֹד וּ (kiy-’od u-, “for still and”) occurs only here. The translation assumes an emendation to כִּי עֵד תְפלָּתִי (“indeed a witness [is] my prayer”). The psalmist’s lament about the evil actions of sinful men (see v. 4) testifies against the wicked in the divine court.

[9:9]  ⁴ tn The noun “instruction” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation.

[9:9]  ⁵ sn The parallelism shows what Proverbs will repeatedly stress, that the wise person is the righteous person.

[9:9]  ⁶ tn The Hiphil verb normally means “to cause to know, make known”; but here the context suggests “to teach” (so many English versions).

[9:9]  ⁷ tn The term “his” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for the sake of smoothness and clarity.

[25:12]  ⁸ sn This saying is another example of emblematic parallelism; the first half is the simile, and the second half makes the point from it: A wise rebuke that is properly received is of lasting value. The rebuke in the ear of an obedient student is like ornaments of fine jewelry.

[25:12]  ⁹ tn The “ear of the listener” refers to the obedient disciple, the one who complies with the reproof he hears. Cf. KJV, ASV, NAB “an obedient ear.”

[18:15]  ¹⁰ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated. All the “if” clauses in this paragraph are third class conditions in Greek.

[18:15]  ¹¹ tn The Greek term “brother” can mean “fellow believer” or “fellow Christian” (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 2.a) whether male or female. It can also refer to siblings, though here it is used in a broader sense to connote familial relationships within the family of God. Therefore, because of the familial connotations, “brother” has been retained in the translation here in preference to the more generic “fellow believer” (“fellow Christian” would be anachronistic in this context).

[18:15]  ¹² tc ‡ The earliest and best witnesses lack “against you” after “if your brother sins.” It is quite possible that the shorter reading in these witnesses (א B, as well as 0281 ˹ 579 pc sa) occurred when scribes either intentionally changed the text (to make it more universal in application) or unintentionally changed the text (owing to the similar sound of the end of the verb ἁμαρτήσῃ [Jamarthsh] and the prepositional phrase εἰς σέ [eis se]). However, if the mss were normally copied by sight rather than by sound, especially in the early centuries of Christianity, such an unintentional change is not as likely for these mss. And since scribes normally added material rather than deleted it for intentional changes, on balance, the shorter reading appears to be original. NA²⁷ includes the words in brackets, indicating doubts as to their authenticity.

[18:15]  ¹³ tn Grk “go reprove him.”

[5:19]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[5:20]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “from the error of his way” (using the same root as the verb “to wander, to err” in the first part of the verse).

[5:20]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “his soul”; the referent (the sinner mentioned at the beginning of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.