Psalms 20:2

20:2 May he send you help from his temple; ¹ 

from Zion may he give you support!

Psalms 118:26

118:26 May the one who comes in the name of the Lord ²  be blessed!

We will pronounce blessings on you ³  in the Lord’s temple. ⁴ 

Psalms 134:3

134:3 May the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth,

bless you ⁵  from Zion! ⁶ 

Isaiah 2:3

2:3 many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain,

to the temple of the God of Jacob,

so ⁷  he can teach us his requirements, ⁸ 

and ⁹  we can follow his standards.” ¹⁰ 

For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; ¹¹ 

the Lord will issue edicts from Jerusalem. ¹² 

Ephesians 1:3

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

1:3 Blessed ¹³  is ¹⁴  the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed ¹⁵  us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ.

[20:2]  ¹ tc Heb “from [the] temple.” The third masculine singular pronominal suffix (ן, nun) has probably been accidentally omitted by haplography. Note that the following word begins with a prefixed vav (ו). See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 184.

[118:26]  ² sn The people refer here to the psalmist, who enters the Lord’s temple to thank him publicly (see vv. 19-21), as the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

[118:26]  ³ tn The pronominal suffix is second masculine plural, but the final mem (ם) is probably dittographic (note the mem [מ] at the beginning of the following form) or enclitic, in which case the suffix may be taken as second masculine singular, referring to the psalmist.

[118:26]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the house of the Lord.”

[134:3]  ⁵ tn The pronominal suffix is second masculine singular, suggesting that the servants addressed in vv. 1-2 are responding to the psalmist.

[134:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “may the Lord bless you from Zion, the maker of heaven and earth.”

[2:3]  ⁷ tn The prefixed verb form with simple vav (ו) introduces a purpose/result clause after the preceding prefixed verb form (probably to be taken as a cohortative; see IBHS 650 §39.2.2a).

[2:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “his ways.” In this context God’s “ways” are the standards of moral conduct he decrees that people should live by.

[2:3]  ⁹ tn The cohortative with vav (ו) after the prefixed verb form indicates the ultimate purpose/goal of their action.

[2:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “walk in his ways.”

[2:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for out of Zion will go instruction.”

[2:3]  ¹² tn Heb “the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

[1:3]  ¹³ sn Eph 1:3-14 comprises one long sentence in Greek, with three major sections. Each section ends with a note of praise for God (vv. 6, 12, 14), focusing on a different member of the Trinity. After an opening summary of all the saints’ spiritual blessings (v. 3), the first section (vv. 4-6) offers up praise that the Father has chosen us in eternity past; the second section (vv. 7-12) offers up praise that the Son has redeemed us in the historical past (i.e., at the cross); the third section (vv. 13-14) offers up praise that the Holy Spirit has sealed us in our personal past, at the point of conversion.

[1:3]  ¹⁴ tn There is no verb in the Greek text; either the optative (“be”) or the indicative (“is”) can be supplied. The meaning of the term εὐλογητός (euloghtos), the author’s intention at this point in the epistle, and the literary genre of this material must all come into play to determine which is the preferred nuance. εὐλογητός as an adjective can mean either that one is praised or that one is blessed, that is, in a place of favor and benefit. The meaning “blessed” would be more naturally paired with an indicative verb here and would suggest that blessedness is an intrinsic part of God’s character. The meaning “praised” would be more naturally paired with an optative verb here and would suggest that God ought to be praised. Pauline style in the epistles generally moves from statements to obligations, expressing the reality first and then the believer’s necessary response, which would favor the indicative. However, many scholars regard Eph 1:3-14 as a berakah psalm (cf. A. T. Lincoln, Ephesians [WBC], 10-11). Rooted in the OT and Jewish worship, berakah psalms were songs of praise in which the worshiper gave praise to God; this would favor the optative (although not all scholars are agreed on this genre classification here; see H. W. Hoehner, Ephesians, 153-59, for discussion and an alternate conclusion). When considered as a whole, although a decision is difficult, the indicative seems to fit all the factors better. The author seems to be pointing to who God is and what he has done for believers in this section; the indicative more naturally fits that emphasis. Cf. also 2 Cor 1:3; 1 Pet 1:3.

[1:3]  ¹⁵ tn Or “enriched,” “conferred blessing.”