Psalms 2:11

2:11 Serve ¹  the Lord in fear!

Repent in terror! ² 

Psalms 99:1-3

Psalm 99 ³ 

99:1 The Lord reigns!

The nations tremble. ⁴ 

He sits enthroned above the winged angels; ⁵ 

the earth shakes. ⁶ 

99:2 The Lord is elevated ⁷  in Zion;

he is exalted over all the nations.

99:3 Let them praise your great and awesome name!

He ⁸  is holy!

Psalms 119:120

119:120 My body ⁹  trembles ¹⁰  because I fear you; ¹¹ 

I am afraid of your judgments.

Isaiah 66:2

66:2 My hand made them; ¹² 

that is how they came to be,” ¹³  says the Lord.

I show special favor ¹⁴  to the humble and contrite,

who respect what I have to say. ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 10:10

10:10 The Lord is the only true God.

He is the living God and the everlasting King.

When he shows his anger the earth shakes.

None of the nations can stand up to his fury.

Luke 12:5

12:5 But I will warn ¹⁶  you whom you should fear: Fear the one who, after the killing, ¹⁷  has authority to throw you ¹⁸  into hell. ¹⁹  Yes, I tell you, fear him!

Hebrews 12:29

12:29 For our God is indeed a devouring fire. ²⁰ 

[2:11]  ¹ tn The Hebrew verb translated “serve” refers here to submitting to the Lord’s sovereignty as expressed through the rule of the Davidic king. Such “service” would involve maintaining allegiance to the Davidic king by paying tribute on a regular basis.

[2:11]  ² tn Traditionally, “rejoice with trembling” (KJV). The verb גִּיל (gil) normally means “rejoice,” but this meaning does not fit well here in conjunction with “in trembling.” Some try to understand “trembling” (and the parallel יִרְאָה, yir’ah, “fear”) in the sense of “reverential awe” and then take the verbs “serve” and “rejoice” in the sense of “worship” (cf. NASB). But רְעָדָה (rÿ’adah, “trembling”) and its related terms consistently refer to utter terror and fear (see Exod 15:15; Job 4:14; Pss 48:6; 55:5; 104:32; Isa 33:14; Dan 10:11) or at least great emotional distress (Ezra 10:9). It seems more likely here that גִּיל carries its polarized meaning “mourn, lament,” as in Hos 10:5. “Mourn, lament” would then be metonymic in this context for “repent” (referring to one’s rebellious ways). On the meaning of the verb in Hos 10:5, see F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Hosea (AB), 556-57.

[99:1]  ³ sn Psalm 99. The psalmist celebrates the Lord’s just rule and recalls how he revealed himself to Israel’s leaders.

[99:1]  ⁴ tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 1 are understood here as indicating the nations’ characteristic response to the reality of the Lord’s kingship. Another option is to take them as jussives: “let the nations tremble…let the earth shake!”

[99:1]  ⁵ sn Winged angels (Heb “cherubs”). Cherubs, as depicted in the OT, possess both human and animal (lion, ox, and eagle) characteristics (see Ezek 1:10; 10:14, 21; 41:18). They are pictured as winged creatures (Exod 25:20; 37:9; 1 Kgs 6:24-27; Ezek 10:8, 19) and serve as the very throne of God when the ark of the covenant is in view (Ps 99:1; see Num 7:89; 1 Sam 4:4; 2 Sam 6:2; 2 Kgs 19:15). The picture of the Lord seated on the cherubs suggests they might be used by him as a vehicle, a function they carry out in Ezek 1:22-28 (the “living creatures” mentioned here are identified as cherubs in Ezek 10:20). In Ps 18:10 the image of a cherub serves to personify the wind.

[99:1]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew verb נוּט (nut) occurs only here in the OT, but the meaning can be determined on the basis of the parallelism with רָגַז (ragaz, “tremble”) and evidence from the cognate languages (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 121).

[99:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “great.”

[99:3]  ⁸ tn The pronoun refers to the Lord himself (see vv. 5, 9).

[119:120]  ⁹ tn Heb “my flesh.”

[119:120]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew verb סָמַר (samar, “to tremble”) occurs only here and in Job 4:15.

[119:120]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from fear of you.” The pronominal suffix on the noun is an objective genitive.

[66:2]  ¹² tn Heb “all these.” The phrase refers to the heavens and earth, mentioned in the previous verse.

[66:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “and all these were.” Some prefer to emend וַיִּהְיוּ (vayyihyu, “and they were”) to וְלִי הָיוּ (vÿli hayu, “and to me they were”), i.e., “and they belong to me.”

[66:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and to this one I look” (KJV and NASB both similar).

[66:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to the humble and the lowly in spirit and the one who trembles at my words.”

[12:5]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “will show,” but in this reflective context such a demonstration is a warning or exhortation.

[12:5]  ¹⁷ sn The actual performer of the killing is not here specified. It could be understood to be God (so NASB, NRSV) but it could simply emphasize that, after a killing has taken place, it is God who casts the person into hell.

[12:5]  ¹⁸ tn The direct object (“you”) is understood.

[12:5]  ¹⁹ sn The word translated hell is “Gehenna” (γέεννα, geenna), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36).

[12:29]  ²⁰ sn A quotation from Deut 4:24; 9:3.