Psalms 22:23

22:23 You loyal followers of the Lord, ¹  praise him!

All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!

All you descendants of Israel, stand in awe of him! ² 

Psalms 31:23

31:23 Love the Lord, all you faithful followers ³  of his!

The Lord protects those who have integrity,

but he pays back in full the one who acts arrogantly. ⁴ 

Psalms 89:7

89:7 a God who is honored ⁵  in the great angelic assembly, ⁶ 

and more awesome than ⁷  all who surround him?

Genesis 22:12

22:12 “Do not harm the boy!” ⁸  the angel said. ⁹  “Do not do anything to him, for now I know ¹⁰  that you fear ¹¹  God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.”

Isaiah 8:13-14

8:13 You must recognize the authority of the Lord who commands armies. ¹² 

He is the one you must respect;

he is the one you must fear. ¹³ 

8:14 He will become a sanctuary, ¹⁴ 

but a stone that makes a person trip,

and a rock that makes one stumble –

to the two houses of Israel. ¹⁵ 

He will become ¹⁶  a trap and a snare

to the residents of Jerusalem. ¹⁷ 

Hosea 3:5

3:5 Afterward, the Israelites will turn and seek the Lord their God and their Davidic king. ¹⁸  Then they will submit to the Lord in fear and receive his blessings ¹⁹  in the future. ²⁰ 

Revelation 15:3-4

15:3 They ²¹  sang the song of Moses the servant ²²  of God and the song of the Lamb: ²³ 

“Great and astounding are your deeds,

Lord God, the All-Powerful! ²⁴ 

Just ²⁵  and true are your ways,

King over the nations! ²⁶ 

15:4 Who will not fear you, O Lord,

and glorify ²⁷  your name, because you alone are holy? ²⁸ 

All nations ²⁹  will come and worship before you

for your righteous acts ³⁰  have been revealed.”

[22:23]  ¹ tn Heb “[you] fearers of the Lord.” See Ps 15:4.

[22:23]  ² tn Heb “fear him.”

[31:23]  ³ tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 16:10; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).

[31:23]  ⁴ tn The participial forms in the second and third lines characterize the Lord as one who typically protects the faithful and judges the proud.

[89:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “feared.”

[89:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the great assembly of the holy ones.”

[89:7]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps “feared by.”

[22:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “Do not extend your hand toward the boy.”

[22:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Do not extend…’”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the context for clarity. The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[22:12]  ¹⁰ sn For now I know. The test was designed to see if Abraham would be obedient (see v. 1).

[22:12]  ¹¹ sn In this context fear refers by metonymy to obedience that grows from faith.

[8:13]  ¹² tn Heb “the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts], him you must set apart.” The word order is emphatic, with the object being placed first.

[8:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “he is your [object of] fear, he is your [object of] terror.” The roots יָרֵא (yare’) and עָרַץ (’arats) are repeated from v. 12b.

[8:14]  ¹⁴ tn Because the metaphor of protection (“sanctuary”) does not fit the negative mood that follows in vv. 14b-15, some contend that מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdash, “sanctuary”) is probably a corruption of an original מוֹקֵשׁ (moqesh, “snare”), a word that appears in the next line (cf. NAB and H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:355-56). If the MT reading is retained (as in the above translation), the fact that Yahweh is a sanctuary wraps up the point of v. 13 and stands in contrast to God’s treatment of those who rebel against him (the rest of v. 14).

[8:14]  ¹⁵ sn The two “houses” of Israel (= the patriarch Jacob) are the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.

[8:14]  ¹⁶ tn These words are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. וְהָיָה (vÿhayah, “and he will be”) does double duty in the parallel structure of the verse.

[8:14]  ¹⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “David their king”; cf. NCV “the king from David’s family”; TEV “a descendant of David their king”; NLT “David’s descendant, their king.”

[3:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “his goodness”; NLT “his good gifts.”

[3:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “in the end of the days.” Cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NLT “in the last days.”

[15:3]  ²¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[15:3]  ²² tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

[15:3]  ²³ tn Grk “saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[15:3]  ²⁴ tn On this word BDAG 755 s.v. παντοκράτωρ states, “the Almighty, All-Powerful, Omnipotent (One) only of God…(ὁ) κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ π. …Rv 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 21:22.”

[15:3]  ²⁵ tn Or “righteous,” although the context favors justice as the theme.

[15:3]  ²⁶ tc Certain mss (Ì⁴⁷ א*^,2 C 1006 1611 1841 pc) read “ages” (αἰώνων, aiwnwn) instead of “nations” (ἐθνῶν, eqnwn), which itself is supported by several mss (א¹ A 051 Ï). The ms evidence seems to be fairly balanced, though αἰώνων has somewhat better support. The replacement of “ages” with “nations” is possibly a scribal attempt to harmonize this verse with the use of “nations” in the following verse. On the other hand, the idea of “nations” fits well with v. 4 and it may be that “ages” is a scribal attempt to assimilate this text to 1 Tim 1:17: “the king of the ages” (βασιλεὺς τῶν αἰώνων, basileu" twn aiwnwn). The decision is a difficult one since both scenarios deal well with the evidence, though the verbal parallel with 1 Tim 1:17 is exact while the parallel with v. 4 is not. The term “king” occurs 17 other times (most occurrences refer to earthly kings) in Revelation and it is not used with either “ages” or “nations” apart from this verse. Probably the reading “nations” should be considered original due to the influence of 1 Tim 1:17.

[15:4]  ²⁷ tn Or “and praise.”

[15:4]  ²⁸ sn Because you alone are holy. In the Greek text the sentence literally reads “because alone holy.” Three points can be made in connection with John’s language here: (1) Omitting the second person, singular verb “you are” lays stress on the attribute of God’s holiness. (2) The juxtaposition of alone with holy stresses the unique nature of God’s holiness and complete “otherness” in relationship to his creation. It is not just moral purity which is involved in the use of the term holy, though it certainly includes that. It is also the pervasive OT idea that although God is deeply involved in the governing of his creation, he is to be regarded as separate and distinct from it. (3) John’s use of the term holy is also intriguing since it is the term ὅσιος (Josios) and not the more common NT term ἅγιος (Jagios). The former term evokes images of Christ’s messianic status in early Christian preaching. Both Peter in Acts 2:27 and Paul in Acts 13:35 apply Psalm 16:10 (LXX) to Jesus, referring to him as the “holy one” (ὅσιος). It is also the key term in Acts 13:34 (Isa 55:3 [LXX]) where it refers to the “holy blessings” (i.e., forgiveness and justification) brought about through Jesus in fulfillment of Davidic promise. Thus, in Rev 15:3-4, when John refers to God as “holy,” using the term ὅσιος in a context where the emphasis is on both God and Christ, there might be an implicit connection between divinity and the Messiah. This is bolstered by the fact that the Lamb is referred to in other contexts as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (cf. 1:5; 17:14; 19:16 and perhaps 11:15; G. K. Beale, Revelation [NIGTC], 796-97).

[15:4]  ²⁹ tn Or “all the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[15:4]  ³⁰ tn Or perhaps, “your sentences of condemnation.” On δικαίωμα (dikaiwma) in this context BDAG 249 s.v. 2. states, “righteous deed…δι᾿ ἑνὸς δικαιώματος (opp. παράπτωμα) Ro 5:18. – B 1:2 (cp. Wengst, Barnabas-brief 196, n.4); Rv 15:4 (here perh.= ‘sentence of condemnation’ [cp. Pla., Leg. 9, 864e; ins fr. Asia Minor: LBW 41, 2 [κατὰ] τὸ δι[καί]ωμα τὸ κυρω[θέν]= ‘acc. to the sentence which has become valid’]; difft. Wengst, s. above); 19:8.”