Psalms 95:7-8

95:7 For he is our God;

we are the people of his pasture,

the sheep he owns. ¹ 

Today, if only you would obey him! ² 

95:8 He says, ³  “Do not be stubborn like they were at Meribah, ⁴ 

like they were that day at Massah ⁵  in the wilderness, ⁶ 

Isaiah 28:23

28:23 Pay attention and listen to my message! ⁷ 

Be attentive and listen to what I have to say! ⁸ 

Isaiah 42:23

42:23 Who among you will pay attention to this?

Who will listen attentively in the future? ⁹ 

Isaiah 51:4

51:4 Pay attention to me, my people!

Listen to me, my people!

For ¹⁰  I will issue a decree, ¹¹ 

I will make my justice a light to the nations. ¹² 

Isaiah 55:3

55:3 Pay attention and come to me!

Listen, so you can live! ¹³ 

Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to ¹⁴  you,

just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David. ¹⁵ 

Matthew 13:9

13:9 The one who has ears had better listen!” ¹⁶ 

Matthew 13:15-16

13:15 For the heart of this people has become dull;

they are hard of hearing,

and they have shut their eyes,

so that they would not see with their eyes

and hear with their ears

and understand with their hearts

and turn, and I would heal them.’ ¹⁷ 

13:16 “But your eyes are blessed ¹⁸  because they see, and your ears because they hear.

[95:7]  ¹ tn Heb “of his hand.”

[95:7]  ² tn Heb “if only you would listen to his voice.” The Hebrew particle אִם (’im, “if”) and following prefixed verbal form here express a wish (cf. Ps 81:8). Note that the apodosis (the “then” clause of the conditional sentence) is suppressed.

[95:8]  ³ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation to clarify that the following words are spoken by the Lord (see vv. 9-11).

[95:8]  ⁴ sn The name Meribah means “strife.” Two separate but similar incidents at Meribah are recorded in the Pentateuch (Exod 17:1-7; Num 20:1-13, see also Pss 81:7; 106:32). In both cases the Israelites complained about lack of water and the Lord miraculously provided for them.

[95:8]  ⁵ sn The name Massah means “testing.” This was another name (along with Meribah) given to the place where Israel complained following the Red Sea Crossing (see Exod 17:1-7, as well as Deut 6:16; 9:22; 33:8).

[95:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “do not harden your heart[s] as [at] Meribah, as [in] the day of Massah in the wilderness.”

[28:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “to my voice.”

[28:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “to my word”; cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV “hear my speech.”

[42:23]  ⁹ tn The interrogative particle is understood in the second line by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[51:4]  ¹⁰ tn Or “certainly.”

[51:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “instruction [or “a law”] will go out from me.”

[51:4]  ¹² tn Heb “and my justice for a light to the nations I will cause to rest.”

[55:3]  ¹³ tn The jussive with vav (ו) conjunctive following the imperative indicates purpose/result.

[55:3]  ¹⁴ tn Or “an eternal covenant with.”

[55:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the reliable expressions of loyalty of David.” The syntactical relationship of חַסְדֵי (khasde, “expressions of loyalty”) to the preceding line is unclear. If the term is appositional to בְּרִית (bÿrit, “covenant”), then the Lord here transfers the promises of the Davidic covenant to the entire nation. Another option is to take חַסְדֵי (khasde) as an adverbial accusative and to translate “according to the reliable covenantal promises.” In this case the new covenantal arrangement proposed here is viewed as an extension or perhaps fulfillment of the Davidic promises. A third option, the one reflected in the above translation, is to take the last line as comparative. In this case the new covenant being proposed is analogous to the Davidic covenant. Verses 4-5, which compare David’s international prominence to what Israel will experience, favors this view. In all three of these interpretations, “David” is an objective genitive; he is the recipient of covenantal promises. A fourth option would be to take David as a subjective genitive and understand the line as giving the basis for the preceding promise: “Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you, because of David’s faithful acts of covenantal loyalty.”

[13:9]  ¹⁶ tn The translation “had better listen!” captures the force of the third person imperative more effectively than the traditional “let him hear,” which sounds more like a permissive than an imperative to the modern English reader. This was Jesus’ common expression to listen and heed carefully (cf. Matt 11:15, 13:43; Mark 4:9, 23; Luke 8:8, 14:35).

[13:15]  ¹⁷ sn A quotation from Isa 6:9-10. Thus parables both conceal or reveal depending on whether one is open to hearing what they teach.

[13:16]  ¹⁸ sn This beatitude highlights the great honor bestowed on the disciples to share in this salvation.