Psalms 5:4

5:4 Certainly ¹  you are not a God who approves of evil; ² 

evil people ³  cannot dwell with you. ⁴ 

Psalms 147:11

147:11 The Lord takes delight in his faithful followers, ⁵ 

and in those who wait for his loyal love.

Psalms 149:4

149:4 For the Lord takes delight in his people;

he exalts the oppressed by delivering them. ⁶ 

Isaiah 42:1

The Lord Commissions His Special Servant

42:1 ⁷ “Here is my servant whom I support,

my chosen one in whom I take pleasure.

I have placed my spirit on him;

he will make just decrees ⁸  for the nations. ⁹ 

Malachi 1:10

1:10 “I wish that one of you would close the temple doors, ¹⁰  so that you no longer would light useless fires on my altar. I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and I will no longer accept an offering from you.

Matthew 12:18

12:18 “Here is ¹¹  my servant whom I have chosen,

the one I love, in whom I take great delight. ¹² 

I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.

Matthew 12:1

Lord of the Sabbath

12:1 At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on a Sabbath. His ¹³  disciples were hungry, and they began to pick heads of wheat ¹⁴  and eat them.

Matthew 2:15

2:15 He stayed there until Herod ¹⁵  died. In this way what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet was fulfilled: “I called my Son out of Egypt.” ¹⁶ 

[5:4]  ¹ tn Or “for.”

[5:4]  ² tn Heb “not a God [who] delights [in] wickedness [are] you.”

[5:4]  ³ tn The Hebrew text has simply the singular form רע, which may be taken as an abstract noun “evil” (the reference to “wickedness” in the preceding line favors this; cf. NEB, NASB, NRSV) or as a substantival adjective “evil one” (the references to evil people in the next two verses favor this; cf. NIV “with you the wicked cannot dwell”).

[5:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “cannot dwell as a resident alien [with] you.” The negated imperfect verbal form here indicates incapability or lack of permission. These people are morally incapable of dwelling in God’s presence and are not permitted to do so.

[147:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[149:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “he honors the oppressed [with] deliverance.”

[42:1]  ⁷ sn Verses 1-7 contain the first of Isaiah’s “servant songs,” which describe the ministry of a special, ideal servant who accomplishes God’s purposes for Israel and the nations. This song depicts the servant as a just king who brings justice to the earth and relief for the oppressed. The other songs appear in 49:1-13; 50:4-11; and 52:13-53:12.

[42:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “he will bring out justice” (cf. ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[42:1]  ⁹ sn Like the ideal king portrayed in Isa 11:1-9, the servant is energized by the divine spirit and establishes justice on the earth.

[1:10]  ¹⁰ sn The rhetorical language suggests that as long as the priesthood and people remain disobedient, the temple doors may as well be closed because God is not “at home” to receive them or their worship there.

[12:18]  ¹¹ tn Grk “Behold my servant.”

[12:18]  ¹² tn Grk “in whom my soul is well pleased.”

[12:1]  ¹³ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[12:1]  ¹⁴ tn Or “heads of grain.” While the generic term στάχυς (stacus) can refer to the cluster of seeds at the top of grain such as barley or wheat, in the NT the term is restricted to wheat (L&N 3.40; BDAG 941 s.v. 1).

[2:15]  ¹⁵ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.

[2:15]  ¹⁶ sn A quotation from Hos 11:1.