Psalms 34:1-2

Psalm 34 ¹ 

Written by David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, causing the king to send him away. ² 

34:1 I will praise ³  the Lord at all times;

my mouth will continually praise him. ⁴ 

34:2 I will boast ⁵  in the Lord;

let the oppressed hear and rejoice! ⁶ 

Psalms 145:1-2

Psalm 145 ⁷ 

A psalm of praise, by David.

145:1 I will extol you, my God, O king!

I will praise your name continually! ⁸ 

145:2 Every day I will praise you!

I will praise your name continually! ⁹ 

Psalms 146:2

146:2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live!

I will sing praises to my God as long as I exist!

Matthew 5:12

5:12 Rejoice and be glad because your reward is great in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way.

Acts 5:41

5:41 So they left the council rejoicing because they had been considered worthy ¹⁰  to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name. ¹¹ 

Acts 16:25

16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying ¹²  and singing hymns to God, ¹³  and the rest of ¹⁴  the prisoners were listening to them.

Romans 5:2-3

5:2 through whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice ¹⁵  in the hope of God’s glory. 5:3 Not ¹⁶  only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

Romans 5:1

The Expectation of Justification

5:1 ¹⁷ Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have ¹⁸  peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Romans 5:16-18

5:16 And the gift is not like the one who sinned. ¹⁹  For judgment, resulting from the one transgression, ²⁰  led to condemnation, but ²¹  the gracious gift from the many failures ²²  led to justification. 5:17 For if, by the transgression of the one man, ²³  death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!

5:18 Consequently, ²⁴  just as condemnation ²⁵  for all people ²⁶  came ²⁷  through one transgression, ²⁸  so too through the one righteous act ²⁹  came righteousness leading to life ³⁰  for all people.

James 1:2-4

Joy in Trials

1:2 My brothers and sisters, ³¹  consider it nothing but joy ³²  when you fall into all sorts of trials, 1:3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 1:4 And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything.

James 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From James, ³³  a slave ³⁴  of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes dispersed abroad. ³⁵  Greetings!

James 4:13

4:13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town ³⁶  and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”

[34:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 34. In this song of thanksgiving the psalmist praises God for delivering him from distress. He encourages others to be loyal to the Lord, tells them how to please God, and assures them that the Lord protects his servants. The psalm is an acrostic; vv. 1-21 begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. (Verse 6 begins with the letter he (ה) and v. 7 with the letter zayin (ז). The letter vav (ו), which comes between ה and ז, seems to be omitted, although it does appear at the beginning of v. 6b. The final verse of the psalm, which begins with the letter pe (פ), is outside the acrostic scheme.

[34:1]  ² tn Heb “By David, when he changed his sense before Abimelech and he drove him away and he went.”

[34:1]  ³ tn Heb “bless.”

[34:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “continually [will] his praise [be] in my mouth.”

[34:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “my soul will boast”; or better, “let my soul boast.” Following the cohortative form in v. 1, it is likely that the prefixed verbal form here is jussive.

[34:2]  ⁶ tn The two prefixed verbal forms in this verse are best taken as jussives, for the psalmist is calling his audience to worship (see v. 3).

[145:1]  ⁹ sn Psalm 145. The psalmist praises God because he is a just and merciful king who cares for his people.

[145:1]  ¹⁰ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”

[145:2]  ¹³ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”

[5:41]  ¹⁷ sn That is, considered worthy by God. They “gloried in their shame” of honoring Jesus with their testimony (Luke 6:22-23; 2 Macc 6:30).

[5:41]  ¹⁸ sn The name refers to the name of Jesus (cf. 3 John 7).

[16:25]  ²¹ tn Grk “praying, were singing.” The participle προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[16:25]  ²² sn Praying and singing hymns to God. Tertullian said, “The legs feel nothing in the stocks when the heart is in heaven” (To the Martyrs 2; cf. Rom 5:3; Jas 1:2; 1 Pet 5:6). The presence of God means the potential to be free (cf. v. 26).

[16:25]  ²³ tn The words “the rest of” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[5:2]  ²⁵ tn Or “exult, boast.”

[5:3]  ²⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[5:1]  ³³ sn Many interpreters see Rom 5:1 as beginning the second major division of the letter.

[5:1]  ³⁴ tc A number of important witnesses have the subjunctive ἔχωμεν (ecwmen, “let us have”) instead of ἔχομεν (ecomen, “we have”) in v. 1. Included in the subjunctive’s support are א* A B* C D K L 33 81 630 1175 1739* pm lat bo. But the indicative is not without its supporters: א¹ B² F G P Ψ 0220^vid 104 365 1241 1505 1506 1739^c 1881 2464 pm. If the problem were to be solved on an external basis only, the subjunctive would be preferred. Because of this, the “A” rating on behalf of the indicative in the UBS⁴ appears overly confident. Nevertheless, the indicative is probably correct. First, the earliest witness to Rom 5:1 has the indicative (0220^vid, third century). Second, the first set of correctors is sometimes, if not often, of equal importance with the original hand. Hence, א¹ might be given equal value with א*. Third, there is a good cross-section of witnesses for the indicative: Alexandrian (in 0220^vid, probably א¹ 1241 1506 1881 al), Western (in F G), and Byzantine (noted in NA²⁷ as pm). Thus, although the external evidence is strongly in favor of the subjunctive, the indicative is represented well enough that its ancestry could easily go back to the original. Turning to the internal evidence, the indicative gains much ground. (1) The variant may have been produced via an error of hearing (since omicron and omega were pronounced alike in ancient Greek). This, of course, does not indicate which reading was original – just that an error of hearing may have produced one of them. In light of the indecisiveness of the transcriptional evidence, intrinsic evidence could play a much larger role. This is indeed the case here. (2) The indicative fits well with the overall argument of the book to this point. Up until now, Paul has been establishing the “indicatives of the faith.” There is only one imperative (used rhetorically) and only one hortatory subjunctive (and this in a quotation within a diatribe) up till this point, while from ch. 6 on there are sixty-one imperatives and seven hortatory subjunctives. Clearly, an exhortation would be out of place in ch. 5. (3) Paul presupposes that the audience has peace with God (via reconciliation) in 5:10. This seems to assume the indicative in v. 1. (4) As C. E. B. Cranfield notes, “it would surely be strange for Paul, in such a carefully argued writing as this, to exhort his readers to enjoy or to guard a peace which he has not yet explicitly shown to be possessed by them” (Romans [ICC], 1:257). (5) The notion that εἰρήνην ἔχωμεν (eirhnhn ecwmen) can even naturally mean “enjoy peace” is problematic (ExSyn 464), yet those who embrace the subjunctive have to give the verb some such force. Thus, although the external evidence is stronger in support of the subjunctive, the internal evidence points to the indicative. Although a decision is difficult, ἔχομεν appears to be the authentic reading.

[5:16]  ³⁷ tn Grk “and not as through the one who sinned [is] the gift.”

[5:16]  ³⁸ tn The word “transgression” is not in the Greek text at this point, but has been supplied for clarity.

[5:16]  ³⁹ tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.

[5:16]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “falls, trespasses,” the same word used in vv. 15, 17, 18, 20.

[5:17]  ⁴¹ sn Here the one man refers to Adam (cf. 5:14).

[5:18]  ⁴⁵ tn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.

[5:18]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “[it is] unto condemnation for all people.”

[5:18]  ⁴⁷ tn Here ἀνθρώπους (anqrwpou") has been translated as a generic (“people”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.

[5:18]  ⁴⁸ tn There are no verbs in the Greek text of v. 18, forcing translators to supply phrases like “came through one transgression,” “resulted from one transgression,” etc.

[5:18]  ⁴⁹ sn One transgression refers to the sin of Adam in Gen 3:1-24.

[5:18]  ⁵⁰ sn The one righteous act refers to Jesus’ death on the cross.

[5:18]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “righteousness of life.”

[1:2]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited). Where the plural term is used in direct address, as here, “brothers and sisters” is used; where the term is singular and not direct address (as in v. 9), “believer” is preferred.

[1:2]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “all joy,” “full joy,” or “greatest joy.”

[1:1]  ⁵³ tn Grk “James.” The word “From” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ⁵⁴ tn Traditionally, “servant” or “bondservant.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “to the twelve tribes in the Diaspora.” The Greek term διασπορά (diaspora, “dispersion”) refers to Jews not living in Palestine but “dispersed” or scattered among the Gentiles.

[4:13]  ⁵⁷ tn Or “city.”