Psalms 16:8

16:8 I constantly trust in the Lord; ¹ 

because he is at my right hand, I will not be upended.

Psalms 55:22

55:22 Throw your burden ²  upon the Lord,

and he will sustain you. ³ 

He will never allow the godly to be upended. ⁴ 

Psalms 106:3

106:3 How blessed are those who promote justice,

and do what is right all the time!

Psalms 112:6

112:6 For he will never be upended;

others will always remember one who is just. ⁵ 

Proverbs 12:3

12:3 No one ⁶  can be established ⁷  through wickedness,

but a righteous root ⁸  cannot be moved.

Ezekiel 18:27

18:27 When a wicked person turns from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will preserve his life.

Matthew 7:21-25

Judgment of Pretenders

7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ ⁹  will enter into the kingdom of heaven – only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 7:22 On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do ¹⁰  many powerful deeds?’ 7:23 Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’ ¹¹ 

Hearing and Doing

7:24 “Everyone ¹²  who hears these words of mine and does them is like ¹³  a wise man ¹⁴  who built his house on rock. 7:25 The rain fell, the flood ¹⁵  came, and the winds beat against that house, but it did not collapse because it had been founded on rock.

John 13:17

13:17 If you understand ¹⁶  these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

James 1:22-25

1:22 But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. 1:23 For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone ¹⁷  who gazes at his own face ¹⁸  in a mirror. 1:24 For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets ¹⁹  what sort of person he was. 1:25 But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, ²⁰  and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out – he ²¹  will be blessed in what he does. ²² 

James 1:2

Joy in Trials

1:2 My brothers and sisters, ²³  consider it nothing but joy ²⁴  when you fall into all sorts of trials,

James 1:10-11

1:10 But the rich person’s pride should be in his humiliation, because he will pass away like a wildflower in the meadow. ²⁵  1:11 For the sun rises with its heat and dries up the meadow; the petal of the flower falls off and its beauty is lost forever. ²⁶  So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will wither away.

[16:8]  ¹ tn Heb “I set the Lord before me continually.” This may mean that the psalmist is aware of the Lord’s presence and sensitive to his moral guidance (see v. 7), or that he trusts in the Lord’s protection (see the following line).

[55:22]  ² tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here.

[55:22]  ³ tn The pronoun is singular; the psalmist addresses each member of his audience individually.

[55:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “he will never allow swaying for the righteous.”

[112:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “for an eternal memorial a just [one] will be.”

[12:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “a man cannot be.”

[12:3]  ⁷ tn The Niphal imperfect of כּוּן (cun, “to be established”) refers to finding permanent “security” (so NRSV, TEV, CEV) before God. Only righteousness can do that.

[12:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “a root of righteousness.” The genitive צַדִּיקִים (tsadiqim, “righteousness”) functions as an attributive adjective. The figure “root” (שֹׁרֶשׁ, shoresh) stresses the security of the righteous; they are firmly planted and cannot be uprooted (cf. NLT “the godly have deep roots”). The righteous are often compared to a tree (e.g., 11:30; Ps 1:3; 92:13).

[7:21]  ⁹ sn The double use of the vocative is normally used in situations of high emotion or emphasis. Even an emphatic confession without action means little.

[7:22]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “and in your name do.” This phrase was not repeated here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[7:23]  ¹¹ tn Grk “workers of lawlessness.”

[7:24]  ¹² tn Grk “Therefore everyone.” Here οὖν (oun) has not been translated.

[7:24]  ¹³ tn Grk “will be like.” The same phrase occurs in v. 26.

[7:24]  ¹⁴ tn Here and in v. 26 the Greek text reads ἀνήρ (anhr), while the parallel account in Luke 6:47-49 uses ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") in vv. 48 and 49.

[7:25]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “the rivers.”

[13:17]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “If you know.”

[1:23]  ¹⁷ tn The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” However, as BDAG 79 s.v. 2 says, here it is “equivalent to τὶς someone, a person.”

[1:23]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “the face of his beginning [or origin].”

[1:24]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “and he has gone out and immediately has forgotten.”

[1:25]  ²⁰ tn Grk “continues.”

[1:25]  ²¹ tn Grk “this one.”

[1:25]  ²² tn Grk “in his doing.”

[1:2]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ tn Grk “all joy,” “full joy,” or “greatest joy.”

[1:10]  ²⁵ tn Grk “a flower of grass.”

[1:11]  ²⁶ tn Or “perishes,” “is destroyed.”