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 50:23

50:23 Whoever presents a thank-offering honors me. ⁶ 

To whoever obeys my commands, I will reveal my power to deliver.” ⁷ 

Psalms 119:155

119:155 The wicked have no chance for deliverance, ⁸ 

for they do not seek your statutes.

Isaiah 46:13

46:13 I am bringing my deliverance near, it is not far away;

I am bringing my salvation near, ⁹  it does not wait.

I will save Zion; ¹⁰ 

I will adorn Israel with my splendor.” ¹¹ 

Mark 12:32-34

12:32 The expert in the law said to him, “That is true, Teacher; you are right to say that he is one, and there is no one else besides him. ¹²  12:33 And to love him with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength ¹³  and to love your neighbor as yourself ¹⁴  is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 12:34 When Jesus saw that he had answered thoughtfully, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Then no one dared any longer to question him.

John 7:17

7:17 If anyone wants to do God’s will, ¹⁵  he will know about my teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak from my own authority. ¹⁶ 

Acts 10:2-4

10:2 He ¹⁷  was a devout, God-fearing man, ¹⁸  as was all his household; he did many acts of charity for the people ¹⁹  and prayed to God regularly. 10:3 About three o’clock one afternoon ²⁰  he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God ²¹  who came in ²²  and said to him, “Cornelius.” 10:4 Staring at him and becoming greatly afraid, Cornelius ²³  replied, ²⁴  “What is it, Lord?” The angel ²⁵  said to him, “Your prayers and your acts of charity ²⁶  have gone up as a memorial ²⁷  before God.

Acts 11:13-14

11:13 He informed us how he had seen an angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter, 11:14 who will speak a message ²⁸  to you by which you and your entire household will be saved.’

Acts 13:16

13:16 So Paul stood up, ²⁹  gestured ³⁰  with his hand and said,

“Men of Israel, ³¹  and you Gentiles who fear God, ³²  listen:

[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.”

[50:23]  ⁶ sn The reference to a thank-offering recalls the earlier statement made in v. 14. Gratitude characterizes genuine worship.

[50:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “and [to one who] sets a way I will show the deliverance of God.” Elsewhere the phrase “set a way” simply means “to travel” (see Gen 30:36; cf. NRSV). The present translation assumes an emendation of וְשָׂם דֶּרֶךְ (vÿsam derekh) to וְשֹׁמֵר דְּרָכַּי (vÿshomer dÿrakhay, “and [the one who] keeps my ways” [i.e., commands, see Pss 18:21; 37:34). Another option is to read וְשֹׁמֵר דַּרְכּוֹ (vÿshomer darko, “and [the one who] guards his way,” i.e., “the one who is careful to follow a godly lifestyle”; see Ps 39:1).

[119:155]  ⁸ tn Heb “far from the wicked [is] deliverance.”

[46:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “my salvation.” The verb “I am bringing near” is understood by ellipsis (note the previous line).

[46:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I will place in Zion salvation”; NASB “I will grant salvation in Zion.”

[46:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to Israel my splendor”; KJV, ASV “for Israel my glory.”

[12:32]  ¹² sn A quotation from Deut 4:35.

[12:33]  ¹³ sn A quotation from Deut 6:5.

[12:33]  ¹⁴ sn A quotation from Lev 19:18.

[7:17]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “his will.”

[7:17]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “or whether I speak from myself.”

[10:2]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn Grk “at about the ninth hour of the day.” This would be the time for afternoon prayer.

[10:3]  ²¹ 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]  ²² 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]  ²³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Cornelius) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:4]  ²⁴ tn Grk “said,” but in response to the angel’s address, “replied” is better English style.

[10:4]  ²⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:4]  ²⁶ tn Or “your gifts to the needy.”

[10:4]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ tn Grk “words” (ῥήματα, rJhmata), but in this context the overall message is meant rather than the individual words.

[13:16]  ²⁹ tn This participle, ἀναστάς (anasta"), and the following one, κατασείσας (kataseisa"), are both translated as adverbial participles of attendant circumstance.

[13:16]  ³⁰ tn Or “motioned.”

[13:16]  ³¹ tn Or “Israelite men,” although this is less natural English. The Greek term here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which only exceptionally is used in a generic sense of both males and females. In this context involving an address to a synagogue gathering, it is conceivable that this is a generic usage, although it can also be argued that Paul’s remarks were addressed primarily to the men present, even if women were there.

[13:16]  ³² tn Grk “and those 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.