Psalms 27:1

Psalm 27 ¹ 

By David.

27:1 The Lord delivers and vindicates me! ² 

I fear no one! ³ 

The Lord protects my life!

I am afraid of no one! ⁴ 

Job 29:3

29:3 when ⁵  he caused ⁶  his lamp ⁷ 

to shine upon my head,

and by his light

I walked ⁸  through darkness; ⁹ 

Proverbs 4:18

4:18 But the path of the righteous is like the bright morning light, ¹⁰ 

growing brighter and brighter ¹¹  until full day. ¹² 

Isaiah 2:5

2:5 O descendants ¹³  of Jacob,

come, let us walk in the Lord’s guiding light. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 60:1-2

Zion’s Future Splendor

60:1 “Arise! Shine! For your light arrives!

The splendor ¹⁵  of the Lord shines on you!

60:2 For, look, darkness covers the earth

and deep darkness covers ¹⁶  the nations,

but the Lord shines on you;

his splendor ¹⁷  appears over you.

Isaiah 60:19

60:19 The sun will no longer supply light for you by day,

nor will the moon’s brightness shine on you;

the Lord will be your permanent source of light –

the splendor of your God will shine upon you. ¹⁸ 

Malachi 4:2

4:2 But for you who respect my name, the sun of vindication ¹⁹  will rise with healing wings, ²⁰  and you will skip about ²¹  like calves released from the stall.

John 1:8-9

1:8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify ²²  about the light. 1:9 The true light, who gives light to everyone, ²³  was coming into the world. ²⁴ 

John 8:12

Jesus as the Light of the World

8:12 Then Jesus spoke out again, ²⁵  “I am the light of the world. ²⁶  The one who follows me will never ²⁷  walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 8:2

8:2 Early in the morning he came to the temple courts again. All the people came to him, and he sat down and began to teach ²⁸  them.

Colossians 4:6

4:6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer everyone.

James 1:17

1:17 All generous giving and every perfect gift ²⁹  is from above, coming down ³⁰  from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change. ³¹ 

James 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From James, ³²  a slave ³³  of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes dispersed abroad. ³⁴  Greetings!

James 2:9

2:9 But if you show prejudice, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as violators. ³⁵ 

James 2:1

Prejudice and the Law of Love

2:1 My brothers and sisters, ³⁶  do not show prejudice ³⁷  if you possess faith ³⁸  in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. ³⁹ 

James 1:7

1:7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord,

Revelation 21:23

21:23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God lights it up, and its lamp is the Lamb.

[27:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 27. The author is confident of the Lord’s protection and asks the Lord to vindicate him.

[27:1]  ² tn Heb “the Lord [is] my light and my deliverance.” “Light” is often used as a metaphor for deliverance and the life/blessings it brings. See Pss 37:6; 97:11; 112:4; Isa 49:6; 51:4; Mic 7:8. Another option is that “light” refers here to divine guidance (see Ps 43:3).

[27:1]  ³ tn Heb “Whom shall I fear?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

[27:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “Of whom shall I be afraid?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

[29:3]  ⁵ tn This clause is in apposition to the preceding (see GKC 426 §131.o). It offers a clarification.

[29:3]  ⁶ tn The form בְּהִלּוֹ (bÿhillo) is unusual; it should be parsed as a Hiphil infinitive construct with the elision of the ה (he). The proper spelling would have been with a ַ (patakh) under the preposition, reflecting הַהִלּוֹ (hahillo). If it were Qal, it would just mean “when his light shone.”

[29:3]  ⁷ sn Lamp and light are symbols of God’s blessings of life and all the prosperous and good things it includes.

[29:3]  ⁸ tn Here too the imperfect verb is customary – it describes action that was continuous, but in a past time.

[29:3]  ⁹ tn The accusative (“darkness”) is here an adverbial accusative of place, namely, “in the darkness,” or because he was successfully led by God’s light, “through the darkness” (see GKC 374 §118.h).

[4:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “like light of brightness.” This construction is an attributive genitive: “bright light.” The word “light” (אוֹר, ’or) refers to the early morning light or the dawn (BDB 21 s.v.). The point of the simile is that the course of life that the righteous follow is like the clear, bright morning light. It is illumined, clear, easy to follow, and healthy and safe – the opposite of what darkness represents.

[4:18]  ¹¹ tn The construction uses the Qal active participle of הָלַךְ (halakh) in a metaphorical sense to add the idea of continuance or continually to the participle הוֹלֵךְ (holekh). Here the path was growing light, but the added participle signifies continually.

[4:18]  ¹² tn Heb “until the day is established.” This expression refers to the coming of the full day or the time of high noon.

[2:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “house,” referring to the family line or descendants (likewise in v. 6).

[2:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “let’s walk in the light of the Lord.” In this context, which speaks of the Lord’s instruction and commands, the “light of the Lord” refers to his moral standards by which he seeks to guide his people. One could paraphrase, “let’s obey the Lord’s commands.”

[60:1]  ¹⁵ tn Or “glory” (so most English versions).

[60:2]  ¹⁶ tn The verb “covers” is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[60:2]  ¹⁷ tn Or “glory” (so most English versions); TEV “the brightness of his presence.”

[60:19]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and your God for your splendor.”

[4:2]  ¹⁹ tn Here the Hebrew word צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah), usually translated “righteousness” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT; cf. NAB “justice”), has been rendered as “vindication” because it is the vindication of God’s people that is in view in the context. Cf. BDB 842 s.v. צְדָקָה 6; “righteousness as vindicated, justification, salvation, etc.”

[4:2]  ²⁰ sn The point of the metaphor of healing wings is unclear. The sun seems to be compared to a bird. Perhaps the sun’s “wings” are its warm rays. “Healing” may refer to a reversal of the injury done by evildoers (see Mal 3:5).

[4:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “you will go out and skip about.”

[1:8]  ²² tn Or “to bear witness.”

[1:9]  ²³ tn Grk “every man” (but in a generic sense, “every person,” or “every human being”).

[1:9]  ²⁴ tn Or “He was the true light, who gives light to everyone who comes into the world.” The participle ἐρχόμενον (ercomenon) may be either (1) neuter nominative, agreeing with τὸ φῶς (to fw"), or (2) masculine accusative, agreeing with ἄνθρωπον (anqrwpon). Option (1) results in a periphrastic imperfect with ἦν (hn), ἦν τὸ φῶς… ἐρχόμενον, referring to the incarnation. Option (2) would have the participle modifying ἄνθρωπον and referring to the true light as enlightening “every man who comes into the world.” Option (2) has some rabbinic parallels: The phrase “all who come into the world” is a fairly common expression for “every man” (cf. Leviticus Rabbah 31.6). But (1) must be preferred here, because: (a) In the next verse the light is in the world; it is logical for v. 9 to speak of its entering the world; (b) in other passages Jesus is described as “coming into the world” (6:14, 9:39, 11:27, 16:28) and in 12:46 Jesus says: ἐγὼ φῶς εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἐλήλυθα (egw fw" ei" ton kosmon elhluqa); (c) use of a periphrastic participle with the imperfect tense is typical Johannine style: 1:28, 2:6, 3:23, 10:40, 11:1, 13:23, 18:18 and 25. In every one of these except 13:23 the finite verb is first and separated by one or more intervening words from the participle.

[8:12]  ²⁵ tn Grk “Then again Jesus spoke to them saying.”

[8:12]  ²⁶ sn The theory proposed by F. J. A. Hort (The New Testament in the Original Greek, vol. 2, Introduction; Appendix, 87-88), that the backdrop of 8:12 is the lighting of the candelabra in the court of women, may offer a plausible setting to the proclamation by Jesus that he is the light of the world. The last time that Jesus spoke in the narrative (assuming 7:53-8:11 is not part of the original text, as the textual evidence suggests) is in 7:38, where he was speaking to a crowd of pilgrims in the temple area. This is where he is found in the present verse, and he may be addressing the crowd again. Jesus’ remark has to be seen in view of both the prologue (John 1:4, 5) and the end of the discourse with Nicodemus (John 3:19-21). The coming of Jesus into the world provokes judgment: A choosing up of sides becomes necessary. The one who comes to the light, that is, who follows Jesus, will not walk in the darkness. The one who refuses to come, will walk in the darkness. In this contrast, there are only two alternatives. So it is with a person’s decision about Jesus. Furthermore, this serves as in implicit indictment of Jesus’ opponents, who still walk in the darkness, because they refuse to come to him. This sets up the contrast in chap. 9 between the man born blind, who receives both physical and spiritual sight, and the Pharisees (John 9:13, 15, 16) who have physical sight but remain in spiritual darkness.

[8:12]  ²⁷ tn The double negative οὐ μή (ou mh) is emphatic in 1st century Hellenistic Greek.

[8:2]  ²⁸ tn An ingressive sense for the imperfect fits well here following the aorist participle.

[1:17]  ²⁹ tn The first phrase refers to the action of giving and the second to what is given.

[1:17]  ³⁰ tn Or “All generous giving and every perfect gift from above is coming down.”

[1:17]  ³¹ tn Grk “variation or shadow of turning” (referring to the motions of heavenly bodies causing variations of light and darkness).

[1:1]  ³² tn Grk “James.” The word “From” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ³³ tn Traditionally, “servant” or “bondservant.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  ³⁴ tn Grk “to the twelve tribes in the Diaspora.” The Greek term διασπορά (diaspora, “dispersion”) refers to Jews not living in Palestine but “dispersed” or scattered among the Gentiles.

[2:9]  ³⁵ tn Or “transgressors.”

[2:1]  ³⁶ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[2:1]  ³⁷ tn Or “partiality.”

[2:1]  ³⁸ tn Grk “do not have faith with personal prejudice,” with emphasis on the last phrase.

[2:1]  ³⁹ tn Grk “our Lord Jesus Christ of glory.” Here δόξης (doxhs) has been translated as an attributive genitive.