Psalms 116:15

116:15 The Lord values

the lives of his faithful followers. ¹ 

Psalms 116:1

Psalm 116 ² 

116:1 I love the Lord

because he heard my plea for mercy, ³ 

Psalms 26:10

26:10 who are always ready to do wrong ⁴ 

or offer a bribe. ⁵ 

Psalms 26:2

26:2 Examine me, O Lord, and test me!

Evaluate my inner thoughts and motives! ⁶ 

Psalms 7:12

7:12 If a person ⁷  does not repent, God sharpens his sword ⁸ 

and prepares to shoot his bow. ⁹ 

Job 24:1

The Apparent Indifference of God

24:1 “Why are times not appointed by ¹⁰  the Almighty? ¹¹ 

Why do those who know him not see his days?

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

A Time for All Events in Life

3:1 For everything ¹²  there is an appointed time, ¹³ 

and an appropriate time ¹⁴  for every activity ¹⁵  on earth: ¹⁶ 

3:2 A time to be born, ¹⁷  and a time to die; ¹⁸ 

a time to plant, and a time to uproot what was planted;

3:3 A time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

3:4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

3:5 A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

3:6 A time to search, and a time to give something up as lost; ¹⁹ 

a time to keep, and a time to throw away;

3:7 A time to rip, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silent, and a time to speak.

3:8 A time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.

Luke 9:51

Rejection in Samaria

9:51 Now when ²⁰  the days drew near ²¹  for him to be taken up, ²²  Jesus ²³  set out resolutely ²⁴  to go to Jerusalem. ²⁵ 

John 7:6

7:6 So Jesus replied, ²⁶  “My time ²⁷  has not yet arrived, ²⁸  but you are ready at any opportunity! ²⁹ 

John 7:30

7:30 So then they tried to seize Jesus, ³⁰  but no one laid a hand on him, because his time ³¹  had not yet come.

John 12:27

12:27 “Now my soul is greatly distressed. And what should I say? ‘Father, deliver me ³²  from this hour’? ³³  No, but for this very reason I have come to this hour. ³⁴ 

John 13:1

Washing the Disciples’ Feet

13:1 Just before the Passover feast, Jesus knew that his time ³⁵  had come to depart ³⁶  from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the very end. ³⁷ 

John 17:1

Jesus Prays for the Father to Glorify Him

17:1 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he looked upward ³⁸  to heaven ³⁹  and said, “Father, the time ⁴⁰  has come. Glorify your Son, so that your ⁴¹  Son may glorify you –

Acts 1:7

1:7 He told them, “You are not permitted to know ⁴²  the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.

Acts 23:11

23:11 The following night the Lord ⁴³  stood near ⁴⁴  Paul ⁴⁵  and said, “Have courage, ⁴⁶  for just as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, ⁴⁷  so you must also testify in Rome.” ⁴⁸ 

Acts 27:24

27:24 and said, ⁴⁹  ‘Do not be afraid, Paul! You must stand before ⁵⁰  Caesar, ⁵¹  and God has graciously granted you the safety ⁵²  of all who are sailing with you.’

Acts 27:2

27:2 We went on board ⁵³  a ship from Adramyttium ⁵⁴  that was about to sail to various ports ⁵⁵  along the coast of the province of Asia ⁵⁶  and put out to sea, ⁵⁷  accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian ⁵⁸  from Thessalonica. ⁵⁹ 

Acts 4:6

4:6 Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and others who were members of the high priest’s family. ⁶⁰ 

Acts 4:2

4:2 angry ⁶¹  because they were teaching the people and announcing ⁶²  in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.

Acts 1:14

1:14 All these continued together in prayer with one mind, together with the women, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. ⁶³ 

[116:15]  ¹ tn Heb “precious in the eyes of the Lord [is] the death of his godly ones.” The point is not that God delights in or finds satisfaction in the death of his followers! The psalmist, who has been delivered from death, affirms that the life-threatening experiences of God’s followers get God’s attention, just as a precious or rare object would attract someone’s eye. See Ps 72:14 for a similar expression of this belief.

[116:1]  ² sn Psalm 116. The psalmist thanks the Lord for delivering him from a life threatening crisis and promises to tell the entire covenant community what God has done for him.

[116:1]  ³ tn Heb “I love because the Lord heard my voice, my pleas.” It is possible that “the Lord” originally appeared directly after “I love” and was later accidentally misplaced. The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls that God heard his cry for help (note the perfect in v. 2a and the narrative in vv. 3-4).

[26:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “who [have] in their hands evil.”

[26:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “and their right hand is full of a bribe.”

[26:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “evaluate my kidneys and my heart.” The kidneys and heart were viewed as the seat of one’s volition, conscience, and moral character.

[7:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “If he”; the referent (a person who is a sinner) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The subject of the first verb is understood as the sinner who fails to repent of his ways and becomes the target of God’s judgment (vv. 9, 14-16).

[7:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “if he does not return, his sword he sharpens.” The referent (God) of the pronominal subject of the second verb (“sharpens”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “his bow he treads and prepares it.” “Treading the bow” involved stepping on one end of it in order to string it and thus prepare it for battle.

[24:1]  ¹⁰ tn The preposition מִן (min) is used to express the cause (see GKC 389 §121.f).

[24:1]  ¹¹ tc The LXX reads “Why are times hidden from the Almighty?” as if to say that God is not interested in the events on the earth. The MT reading is saying that God fails to set the times for judgment and vindication and makes good sense as it stands.

[3:1]  ¹² tn Verse 1 is arranged in an ABB’A’ chiasm (לַכֹּל זְמָן וְעֵת לְכָל־חֵפֶץ, lakkol zÿman vÿ’et lÿkhol-khefets): (A) “for everything”; (B) “a season”; (B’) “a time”; (A’) “for every matter.” The terms “season” (זְמָן, zÿman) and “time” (עֵת, ’et) are parallel. In the light of its parallelism with “every matter” (כָל־חֵפֶץ, khol-khefets), the term “everything” (כָל, khol) must refer to events and situations in life.

[3:1]  ¹³ tn The noun זְמָן (zÿman) denotes “appointed time” or “appointed hour” (HALOT 273 s.v. זְמָן; BDB 273 s.v. זְמָן; see Eccl 3:1; Esth 9:27, 31; Neh 2:6; Sir 43:7), e.g., the appointed or designated time for the Jewish feasts (Esth 9:27, 31), the length of time that Nehemiah set for his absence from Susa (Neh 2:6), and the appointed times in the Jewish law for the months to begin (Sir 43:7). It is used in parallelism with מועד (“appointed time”), i.e., מועד ירח (“the appointed time of the moon”) parallels זמני חק (“the appointed times of the law”; Sir 43:7). The related verb, a Pual of זָמַן (zaman), means “to be appointed” (HALOT 273 s.v. זְמָן); e.g. Ezra 10:14; Neh 10:35; 13:31. These terms may be related to the noun I זִמָּה (zimmah, “plan; intention”; Job 17:11; HALOT 272 s.v. I זִמָּה) and מְזִמָּה (mÿzimmah, “purpose; plan; project”), e.g., the purposes of God (Job 42:2; Jer 23:20; 30:24; 51:11) and man’s plan (Isa 5:12); see HALOT 566 s.v. מְזִמָּה; BDB 273 s.v. מְזִמָּה.

[3:1]  ¹⁴ tn The noun עֵת (’et, “point in time”) has a basic two-fold range of meanings: (1) “time of an event” and (2) “time for an event” (BDB 773 s.v. עֵת). The latter has subcategories: (a) “usual time,” (b) “the proper, suitable or appropriate time,” (c) “the appointed time,” and (d) “uncertain time” (Eccl 9:11). Here it connotes “a proper, suitable time for an event” (HALOT 900 s.v. עֵת 6; BDB s.v. עֵת 2.b). Examples: “the time for rain” (Ezra 10:13), “a time of judgment for the nations” (Ezek 30:3), “an appropriate time for every occasion” (Eccl 3:1), “the time when mountain goats are born” (Job 39:1), “the rain in its season” (Deut 11:14; Jer 5:24), “the time for the harvest” (Hos 2:11; Ps 1:3), “food in its season” (Ps 104:27), “no one knows his hour of destiny” (Eccl 9:12), “the right moment” (Eccl 8:5); cf. HALOT 900 s.v. עֵת 6.

[3:1]  ¹⁵ tn The noun חֵפֶץ (khefets, here “matter, business”) has a broad range of meanings: (1) “delight; joy,” (2) “desire; wish; longing,” (3) “the good pleasure; will; purpose,” (4) “precious stones” (i.e., jewelry), i.e., what someone takes delight in, and (5) “matter; business,” as a metonymy of adjunct to what someone takes delight in (Eccl 3:1, 17; 5:7; 8:6; Isa 53:10; 58:3, 13; Pss 16:3; 111:2; Prov 31:13); see HALOT 340 s.v. חֵפֶץ 4; BDB 343 s.v. חֵפֶץ 4. It is also sometimes used in reference to the “good pleasure” of God, that is, his sovereign plan, e.g., Judg 13:23; Isa 44:28; 46:10; 48:14 (BDB 343 s.v. חֵפֶץ). While the theme of the sovereignty of God permeates Eccl 3:1–4:3, the content of 3:1-8 refers to human activities that are planned and purposed by man. The LXX translated it with πράγματι (pragmati, “matter”). The term is translated variously by modern English versions: “every purpose” (KJV, ASV), “every event” (NASB), “every delight” (NASB margin), “every affair” (NAB), “every matter” (RSV, NRSV), “every activity” (NEB, NIV), “every project” (MLB), and “every experience” (NJPS).

[3:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “under heaven.”

[3:2]  ¹⁷ tn The verb יָלָד (yalad, “to bear”) is used in the active sense of a mother giving birth to a child (HALOT 413 s.v. ילד; BDB 408 s.v. יָלָד). However, in light of its parallelism with “a time to die,” it should be taken as a metonymy of cause (i.e., to give birth to a child) for effect (i.e., to be born).

[3:2]  ¹⁸ sn In 3:2-8, Qoheleth uses fourteen sets of merisms (a figure using polar opposites to encompass everything in between, that is, totality), e.g., Deut 6:6-9; Ps 139:2-3 (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 435).

[3:6]  ¹⁹ tn The term לְאַבֵּד (lÿ’abbed, Piel infinitive construct from אָבַד, ’avad, “to destroy”) means “to lose” (e.g., Jer 23:1) as the contrast with בָּקַשׁ (baqash, “to seek to find”) indicates (HALOT 3 s.v. I אבד; BDB 2 s.v. אבד 3). This is the declarative or delocutive-estimative sense of the Piel: “to view something as lost” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 28, §145; IBHS 403 §24.2g).

[9:51]  ²⁰ tn Grk “And it happened that when.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[9:51]  ²¹ tn Grk “the days were being fulfilled.” There is literary design here. This starts what has been called in the Gospel of Luke the “Jerusalem Journey.” It is not a straight-line trip, but a journey to meet his fate (Luke 13:31-35).

[9:51]  ²² sn Taken up is a reference to Jesus’ upcoming return to heaven by crucifixion and resurrection (compare Luke 9:31). This term was used in the LXX of Elijah’s departure in 2 Kgs 2:9.

[9:51]  ²³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:51]  ²⁴ tn Grk “he set his face,” a Semitic idiom that speaks of a firm, unshakable resolve to do something (Gen 31:21; Isa 50:7).

[9:51]  ²⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[7:6]  ²⁶ tn Grk “Then Jesus said to them.”

[7:6]  ²⁷ tn Or “my opportunity.”

[7:6]  ²⁸ tn Or “is not yet here.”

[7:6]  ²⁹ tn Grk “your time is always ready.”

[7:30]  ³⁰ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:30]  ³¹ tn Grk “his hour.”

[12:27]  ³² tn Or “save me.”

[12:27]  ³³ tn Or “this occasion.”

[12:27]  ³⁴ tn Or “this occasion.”

[13:1]  ³⁵ tn Grk “his hour.”

[13:1]  ³⁶ tn Grk “that he should depart.” The ἵνα (Jina) clause in Koine Greek frequently encroached on the simple infinitive (for the sake of greater clarity).

[13:1]  ³⁷ tn Or “he now loved them completely,” or “he now loved them to the uttermost” (see John 19:30). All of John 13:1 is a single sentence in Greek, although in English this would be unacceptably awkward. At the end of the verse the idiom εἰς τέλος (eis telos) was translated literally as “to the end” and the modern equivalents given in the note above, because there is an important lexical link between this passage and John 19:30, τετέλεσται (tetelestai, “It is ended”).

[17:1]  ³⁸ tn Grk “he raised his eyes” (an idiom).

[17:1]  ³⁹ tn Or “to the sky.” The Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven” depending on the context.

[17:1]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “the hour.”

[17:1]  ⁴¹ tc The better witnesses (א B C* W 0109 0301) have “the Son” (ὁ υἱός, Jo Juios) here, while the majority (C³ L Ψ Ë¹³ 33 Ï) read “your Son also” (καὶ ὁ υἱὸς σου, kai Jo Juio" sou), or “your Son” (ὁ υἱὸς σου; A D Θ 0250 1 579 pc lat sy); the second corrector of C has καὶ ὁ υἱός (“the Son also”). The longer readings appear to be predictable scribal expansions and as such should be considered secondary.

[1:7]  ⁴² tn Grk “It is not for you to know.”

[23:11]  ⁴³ sn The presence of the Lord indicated the vindicating presence and direction of God.

[23:11]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “standing near Paul, said.” The participle ἐπιστάς (epistas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[23:11]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:11]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “Do not be afraid.”

[23:11]  ⁴⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[23:11]  ⁴⁸ sn Like Jesus went to Jerusalem, Paul would now go to Rome. This trip forms the concluding backdrop to Acts. This is the second notice about going to Rome (see Acts 19:21 for the first).

[27:24]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “came to me saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[27:24]  ⁵⁰ tn BDAG 778 s.v. παρίστημι/παριστάνω 2.a.α states, “Also as a t.t. of legal usage appear before, come before…Καίσαρι σε δεῖ παραστῆναι you must stand before the Emperor (as judge) Ac 27:24.” See Acts 23:11. Luke uses the verb δεῖ (dei) to describe what must occur.

[27:24]  ⁵¹ tn Or “before the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

[27:24]  ⁵² tn Grk “God has graciously granted you all who are sailing with you.” The words “the safety of” have been supplied to clarify the meaning of the verb κεχάρισται (kecaristai) in this context.

[27:2]  ⁵³ tn Grk “Going on board.” The participle ἐπιβάντες (epibante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[27:2]  ⁵⁴ sn Adramyttium was a seaport in Mysia on the western coast of Asia Minor.

[27:2]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “places.”

[27:2]  ⁵⁶ tn Grk “Asia”; in the NT this always refers to the Roman province of Asia, made up of about one-third of the west and southwest end of modern Asia Minor. Asia lay to the west of the region of Phrygia and Galatia. The words “the province of” are supplied to indicate to the modern reader that this does not refer to the continent of Asia.

[27:2]  ⁵⁷ tn BDAG 62 s.v. ἀνάγω 4 states, “as a nautical t.t. (ἀ. τὴν ναῦν put a ship to sea), mid. or pass. ἀνάγεσθαι to begin to go by boat, put out to sea.”

[27:2]  ⁵⁸ sn A Macedonian. The city of Thessalonica (modern Salonica) was in the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.

[27:2]  ⁵⁹ map For location see JP1 C1; JP2 C1; JP3 C1; JP4 C1.

[4:6]  ⁶⁰ sn The high priest’s family. This family controlled the high priesthood as far back as a.d. 6. Annas, Caiaphas, and Alexander were all high priests at one time (though Alexander held that office after this event).

[4:2]  ⁶¹ tn Or “greatly annoyed,” “provoked.”

[4:2]  ⁶² tn Or “proclaiming.”

[1:14]  ⁶³ sn Jesus’ brothers are mentioned in Matt 13:55 and John 7:3.