Psalms 24:4-5

24:4 The one whose deeds are blameless

and whose motives are pure, ¹ 

who does not lie, ² 

or make promises with no intention of keeping them. ³ 

24:5 Such godly people are rewarded by the Lord, ⁴ 

and vindicated by the God who delivers them. ⁵ 

Psalms 25:14

25:14 The Lord’s loyal followers receive his guidance, ⁶ 

and he reveals his covenantal demands to them. ⁷ 

Psalms 85:9

85:9 Certainly his loyal followers will soon experience his deliverance; ⁸ 

then his splendor will again appear in our land. ⁹ 

John 7:17

7:17 If anyone wants to do God’s will, ¹⁰  he will know about my teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak from my own authority. ¹¹ 

John 8:31-32

Abraham’s Children and the Devil’s Children

8:31 Then Jesus said to those Judeans ¹²  who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, ¹³  you are really ¹⁴  my disciples 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ¹⁵ 

Acts 10:2-4

10:2 He ¹⁶  was a devout, God-fearing man, ¹⁷  as was all his household; he did many acts of charity for the people ¹⁸  and prayed to God regularly. 10:3 About three o’clock one afternoon ¹⁹  he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God ²⁰  who came in ²¹  and said to him, “Cornelius.” 10:4 Staring at him and becoming greatly afraid, Cornelius ²²  replied, ²³  “What is it, Lord?” The angel ²⁴  said to him, “Your prayers and your acts of charity ²⁵  have gone up as a memorial ²⁶  before God.

Acts 11:14

11:14 who will speak a message ²⁷  to you by which you and your entire household will be saved.’

Acts 13:26

13:26 Brothers, ²⁸  descendants ²⁹  of Abraham’s family, ³⁰  and those Gentiles among you who fear God, ³¹  the message ³²  of this salvation has been sent to us.

Galatians 6:16

6:16 And all who will behave ³³  in accordance with this rule, peace and mercy be on them, and on the Israel of God. ³⁴ 

[24:4]  ¹ tn Heb “the innocent of hands and the pure of heart.” The “hands” allude to one’s actions, the “heart” to one’s thought life and motives.

[24:4]  ² tn Heb “who does not lift up for emptiness my life.” The first person pronoun on נַפְשִׁי (nafshiy, “my life”) makes little sense here; many medieval Hebrew mss support the ancient versions in reading a third person pronoun “his.” The idiom “lift the life” here means to “long for” or “desire strongly.” In this context (note the reference to an oath in the following line) “emptiness” probably refers to speech (see Ps 12:2).

[24:4]  ³ tn Heb “and does not swear an oath deceitfully.”

[24:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “he (the righteous individual described in v. 4) lifts up a blessing from the Lord.” The singular subject is representative here, as v. 6 makes clear. The referent (godly people like the individual in v. 4) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The imperfect verbal form is generalizing; such people are typically rewarded for their deeds.

[24:5]  ⁵ tn “and vindication from the God of his deliverance.”

[25:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “the advice of the Lord belongs to those who fear him.”

[25:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “and his covenant, to make them know.”

[85:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “certainly his deliverance [is] near to those who fear him.”

[85:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “to dwell, glory, in our land.” “Glory” is the subject of the infinitive. The infinitive with -לְ (lÿ), “to dwell,” probably indicates result here (“then”). When God delivers his people and renews his relationship with them, he will once more reveal his royal splendor in the land.

[7:17]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “his will.”

[7:17]  ¹¹ tn Grk “or whether I speak from myself.”

[8:31]  ¹² tn Grk “to the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory (i.e., “Judeans”), the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9; also BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e.) Here the phrase refers to the Jewish people in Jerusalem who had been listening to Jesus’ teaching in the temple and had believed his claim to be the Messiah, hence, “those Judeans who had believed him.” The term “Judeans” is preferred here to the more general “people” because the debate concerns descent from Abraham (v. 33).

[8:31]  ¹³ tn Grk “If you continue in my word.”

[8:31]  ¹⁴ tn Or “truly.”

[8:32]  ¹⁵ tn Or “the truth will release you.” The translation “set you free” or “release you” (unlike the more traditional “make you free”) conveys more the idea that the hearers were currently in a state of slavery from which they needed to be freed. The following context supports precisely this idea.

[10:2]  ¹⁶ tn In the Greek text this represents a continuation of the previous sentence. Because of the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences, a new sentence was begun here in the translation.

[10:2]  ¹⁷ sn The description of Cornelius as a devout, God-fearing man probably means that he belonged to the category called “God-fearers,” Gentiles who worshiped the God of Israel and in many cases kept the Mosaic law, but did not take the final step of circumcision necessary to become a proselyte to Judaism. See further K. G. Kuhn, TDNT 6:732-34, 43-44, and Sir 11:17; 27:11; 39:27.

[10:2]  ¹⁸ tn Or “gave many gifts to the poor.” This was known as “giving alms,” or acts of mercy (Sir 7:10; BDAG 315-16 s.v. ἐλεημοσύνη).

[10:3]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “at about the ninth hour of the day.” This would be the time for afternoon prayer.

[10:3]  ²⁰ tn Or “the angel of God.” Linguistically, “angel of God” is the same in both testaments (and thus, he is either “an angel of God” or “the angel of God” in both testaments). For arguments and implications, see ExSyn 252; M. J. Davidson, “Angels,” DJG, 9; W. G. MacDonald argues for “an angel” in both testaments: “Christology and ‘The Angel of the Lord’,” Current Issues in Biblical and Patristic Interpretation, 324-35.

[10:3]  ²¹ tn The participles εἰσελθόντα (eiselqonta) and εἰπόντα (eiponta) are accusative, and thus best taken as adjectival participles modifying ἄγγελον (angelon): “an angel who came in and said.”

[10:4]  ²² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Cornelius) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:4]  ²³ tn Grk “said,” but in response to the angel’s address, “replied” is better English style.

[10:4]  ²⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:4]  ²⁵ tn Or “your gifts to the needy.”

[10:4]  ²⁶ sn The language used in the expression gone up as a memorial before God parallels what one would say of acceptable sacrifices (Ps 141:2; Sir 35:6; 50:16).

[11:14]  ²⁷ tn Grk “words” (ῥήματα, rJhmata), but in this context the overall message is meant rather than the individual words.

[13:26]  ²⁸ tn Grk “Men brothers,” but this is both awkward and unnecessary in English.

[13:26]  ²⁹ tn Grk “sons”

[13:26]  ³⁰ tn Or “race.”

[13:26]  ³¹ tn Grk “and those among you who fear God,” but this is practically a technical term for the category called God-fearers, Gentiles who worshiped the God of Israel and in many cases kept the Mosaic law, but did not take the final step of circumcision necessary to become a proselyte to Judaism. See further K. G. Kuhn, TDNT 6:732-34, 743-44. Note how Paul includes God-fearing Gentiles as recipients of this promise.

[13:26]  ³² tn Grk “word.”

[6:16]  ³³ tn The same Greek verb, στοιχέω (stoicew), occurs in Gal 5:25.

[6:16]  ³⁴ tn The word “and” (καί) can be interpreted in two ways: (1) It could be rendered as “also” which would indicate that two distinct groups are in view, namely “all who will behave in accordance with this rule” and “the Israel of God.” Or (2) it could be rendered “even,” which would indicate that “all who behave in accordance with this rule” are “the Israel of God.” In other words, in this latter view, “even” = “that is.”