Psalms 19:8

19:8 The Lord’s precepts are fair ¹ 

and make one joyful. ² 

The Lord’s commands ³  are pure ⁴ 

and give insight for life. ⁵ 

Psalms 43:3

43:3 Reveal ⁶  your light ⁷  and your faithfulness!

They will lead me, ⁸ 

they will escort ⁹  me back to your holy hill, ¹⁰ 

and to the place where you live. ¹¹ 

Proverbs 6:23

6:23 For the commandments ¹²  are like ¹³  a lamp, ¹⁴ 

instruction is like a light,

and rebukes of discipline are like ¹⁵  the road leading to life, ¹⁶ 

Ephesians 5:13

5:13 But all things being exposed by the light are made evident.

Ephesians 5:2

5:2 and live ¹⁷  in love, just as Christ also loved us ¹⁸  and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering ¹⁹  to God.

Ephesians 1:19

1:19 and what is the incomparable ²⁰  greatness of his power toward ²¹  us who believe, as displayed in ²²  the exercise of his immense strength. ²³ 

[19:8]  ¹ tn Or “just.” Perhaps the idea is that they impart a knowledge of what is just and right.

[19:8]  ² tn Heb “[they] make happy [the] heart.” Perhaps the point is that they bring a sense of joyful satisfaction to the one who knows and keeps them, for those who obey God’s law are richly rewarded. See v. 11b.

[19:8]  ³ tn Heb “command.” The singular here refers to the law as a whole.

[19:8]  ⁴ tn Because they reflect God’s character, his commands provide a code of moral and ethical purity.

[19:8]  ⁵ tn Heb [they] enlighten [the] eyes.

[43:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “send.”

[43:3]  ⁷ sn God’s deliverance is compared here to a light which will lead the psalmist back home to the Lord’s temple. Divine deliverance will in turn demonstrate the Lord’s faithfulness to his people.

[43:3]  ⁸ tn Or “may they lead me.” The prefixed verbal forms here and in the next line may be taken as jussives.

[43:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “bring.”

[43:3]  ¹⁰ sn In this context the Lord’s holy hill is Zion/Jerusalem. See Isa 66:20; Joel 2:1; 3:17; Zech 8:3; Pss 2:6; 15:1; 48:1; 87:1; Dan 9:16.

[43:3]  ¹¹ tn Or “to your dwelling place[s].” The plural form of the noun may indicate degree or quality; this is the Lord’s special dwelling place (see Pss 46:4; 84:1; 132:5, 7).

[6:23]  ¹² tn Heb “the commandment” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).

[6:23]  ¹³ tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[6:23]  ¹⁴ sn The terms “lamp,” “light,” and “way” are all metaphors. The positive teachings and commandments will illumine or reveal to the disciple the way to life; the disciplinary correctives will provide guidance into fullness of life.

[6:23]  ¹⁵ tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[6:23]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the way of life” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NIV, NLT “the way to life.” The noun “life” is a genitive following the construct “way.” It could be an attributive genitive modifying the kind of way/course of life that instruction provides, but it could also be objective in that the course of life followed would produce and lead to life.

[5:2]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “walk.” The NT writers often used the verb “walk” (περιπατέω, peripatew) to refer to ethical conduct (cf. Rom 8:4; Gal 5:16; Col 4:5).

[5:2]  ¹⁸ tc A number of important witnesses have ὑμᾶς (Jumas, “you”; e.g., א* A B P 0159 81 1175 al it co as well as several fathers). Other, equally important witnesses read ἡμᾶς (Jhmas, “us”; Ì⁴⁶ א² D F G Ψ 0278 33 1739 1881 al lat sy). It is possible that ἡμᾶς was accidentally introduced via homoioarcton with the previous word (ἠγάπησεν, hgaphsen). On the other hand, ὑμᾶς may have been motivated by the preceding ὑμῖν (Jumin) in 4:32 and second person verbs in 5:1, 2. Further, the flow of argument seems to require the first person pronoun. A decision is difficult to make, but the first person pronoun has a slightly greater probability of being original.

[5:2]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “an offering and sacrifice to God as a smell of fragrance.” The first expression, προσφορὰν καὶ θυσίαν (prosforan kai qusian), is probably a hendiadys and has been translated such that “sacrificial” modifies “offering.” The second expression, εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας (ei" osmhn euwdia", “as a smell of fragrance”) has been translated as “a fragrant offering”; see BDAG 728-29 s.v. ὀσμή 2. Putting these two together in a clear fashion in English yields the translation: “a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.”

[1:19]  ²⁰ tn Or “immeasurable, surpassing”

[1:19]  ²¹ tn Or “for, to”

[1:19]  ²² tn Grk “according to.”

[1:19]  ²³ tn Grk “according to the exercise of the might of his strength.”