Psalms 119:47

119:47 I will find delight in your commands,

which I love.

Psalms 119:72

119:72 The law you have revealed is more important to me

than thousands of pieces of gold and silver. ¹ 

Psalms 119:77

119:77 May I experience your compassion, ²  so I might live!

For I find delight in your law.

Psalms 119:111

119:111 I claim your rules as my permanent possession,

for they give me joy. ³ 

Psalms 119:127

119:127 For this reason ⁴  I love your commands

more than gold, even purest gold.

Psalms 119:162

119:162 I rejoice in your instructions,

like one who finds much plunder. ⁵ 

Psalms 19:9-10

19:9 The commands to fear the Lord are right ⁶ 

and endure forever. ⁷ 

The judgments given by the Lord are trustworthy

and absolutely just. ⁸ 

19:10 They are of greater value ⁹  than gold,

than even a great amount of pure gold;

they bring greater delight ¹⁰  than honey,

than even the sweetest honey from a honeycomb.

Psalms 112:1

Psalm 112 ¹¹ 

112:1 Praise the Lord!

How blessed is the one ¹²  who obeys ¹³  the Lord,

who takes great delight in keeping his commands. ¹⁴ 

Job 23:12

23:12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips;

I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my allotted portion. ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 15:16

15:16 As your words came to me I drank them in, ¹⁶ 

and they filled my heart with joy and happiness

because I belong to you. ¹⁷ 

Matthew 13:44

Parables on the Kingdom of Heaven

13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure, hidden in a field, that a person found and hid. Then because of joy he went and sold all that he had and bought that field.

Acts 2:41-47

2:41 So those who accepted ¹⁸  his message ¹⁹  were baptized, and that day about three thousand people ²⁰  were added. ²¹ 

The Fellowship of the Early Believers

2:42 They were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, ²²  to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ²³  2:43 Reverential awe ²⁴  came over everyone, ²⁵  and many wonders and miraculous signs ²⁶  came about by the apostles. 2:44 All who believed were together and held ²⁷  everything in common, 2:45 and they began selling ²⁸  their property ²⁹  and possessions and distributing the proceeds ³⁰  to everyone, as anyone had need. 2:46 Every day ³¹  they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, ³²  breaking bread from ³³  house to house, sharing their food with glad ³⁴  and humble hearts, ³⁵  2:47 praising God and having the good will ³⁶  of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number every day ³⁷  those who were being saved.

[119:72]  ¹ tn Heb “better to me [is] the law of your mouth than thousands of gold and silver.”

[119:77]  ² tn Heb “and may your compassion come to me.”

[119:111]  ³ tn Heb “for the joy of my heart [are] they.”

[119:127]  ⁴ tn “For this reason” connects logically with the statement made in v. 126. Because the judgment the psalmist fears (see vv. 119-120) is imminent, he remains loyal to God’s law.

[119:162]  ⁵ tn Heb “like one who finds great plunder.” See Judg 5:30. The image is that of a victorious warrior who finds a large amount of plunder on the field of battle.

[19:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “the fear of the Lord is clean.” The phrase “fear of the Lord” probably refers here to the law, which teaches one how to demonstrate proper reverence for the Lord. See Ps 111:10 for another possible use of the phrase in this sense.

[19:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “[it] stands permanently.”

[19:9]  ⁸ sn Trustworthy and absolutely just. The Lord’s commands accurately reflect God’s moral will for his people and are an expression of his just character.

[19:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “more desirable.”

[19:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “are sweeter.” God’s law is “sweet’ in the sense that, when obeyed, it brings a great reward (see v. 11b).

[112:1]  ¹¹ sn Psalm 112. This wisdom psalm lists some of the benefits of living a godly life. The psalm is an acrostic. After the introductory call to praise, every poetic line (twenty-two in all) begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[112:1]  ¹² tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man.” Hebrew wisdom literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The individual is representative of a larger group, called the “godly” in vv. 3-4. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender specific “man” with the more neutral “one.” The generic masculine pronoun is used in the following verses.

[112:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “fears.”

[112:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in his commands he delights very much.” The words “in keeping” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Taking delight in the law is metonymic here for obeying God’s moral will. See Ps 1:2.

[23:12]  ¹⁵ tc The form in the MT (מֵחֻקִּי, mekhuqqi) means “more than my portion” or “more than my law.” An expanded meaning results in “more than my necessary food” (see Ps 119:11; cf. KJV, NASB, ESV). HALOT 346 s.v. חֹק 1 indicates that חֹק (khoq) has the meaning of “portion” and is here a reference to “what is appointed for me.” The LXX and the Latin versions, along with many commentators, have בְּחֵקִי (bÿkheqi, “in my bosom”).

[15:16]  ¹⁶ sn Heb “Your words were found and I ate them.” This along with Ezek 2:8–3:3 is a poetic picture of inspiration. The prophet accepted them, assimilated them, and made them such a part of himself that he spoke with complete assurance what he knew were God’s words.

[15:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Your name is called upon me.”

[2:41]  ¹⁸ tn Or “who acknowledged the truth of.”

[2:41]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “word.”

[2:41]  ²⁰ tn Grk “souls” (here an idiom for the whole person).

[2:41]  ²¹ tn Or “were won over.”

[2:42]  ²² sn Fellowship refers here to close association involving mutual involvement and relationships.

[2:42]  ²³ tn Grk “prayers.” This word was translated as a collective singular in keeping with English style.

[2:43]  ²⁴ tn Or “Fear.”

[2:43]  ²⁵ tn Grk “on every soul” (here “soul” is an idiom for the whole person).

[2:43]  ²⁶ tn In this context the miraculous nature of these signs is implied. Cf. BDAG 920 s.v. σημεῖον 2.a.

[2:44]  ²⁷ tn Grk “had.”

[2:45]  ²⁸ tn The imperfect verb has been translated as an ingressive (“began…”). Since in context this is a description of the beginning of the community of believers, it is more likely that these statements refer to the start of various activities and practices that the early church continued for some time.

[2:45]  ²⁹ tn It is possible that the first term for property (κτήματα, kthmata) refers to real estate (as later usage seems to indicate) while the second term (ὑπάρξεις, Juparxeis) refers to possessions in general, but it may also be that the two terms are used together for emphasis, simply indicating that all kinds of possessions were being sold. However, if the first term is more specifically a reference to real estate, it foreshadows the incident with Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11.

[2:45]  ³⁰ tn Grk “distributing them” (αὐτά, auta). The referent (the proceeds of the sales) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:46]  ³¹ tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase.

[2:46]  ³² tn Grk “in the temple.” This is actually a reference to the courts surrounding the temple proper, and has been translated accordingly.

[2:46]  ³³ tn Here κατά (kata) is used as a distributive (BDAG 512 s.v. B.1.d).

[2:46]  ³⁴ sn The term glad (Grk “gladness”) often refers to joy brought about by God’s saving acts (Luke 1:14, 44; also the related verb in 1:47; 10:21).

[2:46]  ³⁵ tn Grk “with gladness and humbleness of hearts.” It is best to understand καρδίας (kardias) as an attributed genitive, with the two nouns it modifies actually listing attributes of the genitive noun which is related to them.

[2:47]  ³⁶ tn Or “the favor.”

[2:47]  ³⁷ tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase.