Psalms 28:8-9

28:8 The Lord strengthens his people; ¹ 

he protects and delivers his chosen king. ² 

28:9 Deliver your people!

Empower ³  the nation that belongs to you! ⁴ 

Care for them like a shepherd and carry them in your arms ⁵  at all times! ⁶ 

Psalms 68:35

68:35 You are awe-inspiring, O God, as you emerge from your holy temple! ⁷ 

It is the God of Israel ⁸  who gives the people power and strength.

God deserves praise! ⁹ 

Psalms 84:7

84:7 They are sustained as they travel along; ¹⁰ 

each one appears ¹¹  before God in Zion.

Psalms 85:8

85:8 I will listen to what God the Lord says. ¹² 

For he will make ¹³  peace with his people, his faithful followers. ¹⁴ 

Yet they must not ¹⁵  return to their foolish ways.

Psalms 85:10

85:10 Loyal love and faithfulness meet; ¹⁶ 

deliverance and peace greet each other with a kiss. ¹⁷ 

Psalms 138:3

138:3 When ¹⁸  I cried out for help, you answered me.

You made me bold and energized me. ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 40:29

40:29 He gives strength to those who are tired;

to the ones who lack power, he gives renewed energy.

Isaiah 40:31

40:31 But those who wait for the Lord’s help ²⁰  find renewed strength;

they rise up as if they had eagles’ wings, ²¹ 

they run without growing weary,

they walk without getting tired.

Isaiah 41:10

41:10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you!

Don’t be frightened, for I am your God! ²² 

I strengthen you –

yes, I help you –

yes, I uphold you with my saving right hand! ²³ 

Zechariah 10:6

10:6 “I (says the Lord) will strengthen the kingdom ²⁴  of Judah and deliver the people of Joseph ²⁵  and will bring them back ²⁶  because of my compassion for them. They will be as though I had never rejected them, for I am the Lord their God and therefore I will hear them.

Zechariah 10:12

10:12 Thus I will strengthen them by my power, ²⁷  and they will walk about ²⁸  in my name,” says the Lord.

Ephesians 3:16

3:16 I pray that ²⁹  according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person,

Ephesians 3:2

3:2 if indeed ³⁰  you have heard of the stewardship ³¹  of God’s grace that was given to me for you,

Ephesians 4:17

Live in Holiness

4:17 So I say this, and insist ³²  in the Lord, that you no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility ³³  of their thinking. ³⁴ 

[28:8]  ¹ tn Heb “the Lord [is] strength to them” (or perhaps, “to him”). The form לָמוֹ (lamo, “to them/him”) is probably a corruption of an original לְעַמוֹ (lÿ’amo, “to his people”; see P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 236), perhaps due to quiescence of the letter ayin (ע; see P. McCarter, Textual Criticism [GBS], 55). Note the reference to the Lord’s “people” in the next verse.

[28:8]  ² tn Heb “he [is] a refuge of help for his anointed one.” The noun מָשִׁיחַ (mashiakh, “anointed one”) refers to the Davidic king, who perhaps speaks as representative of the nation in this psalm. See Pss 2:2; 18:50; 20:6; 84:9; 89:38, 51; 132:10, 17.

[28:9]  ³ tn Or “bless.”

[28:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “your inheritance.” The parallelism (note “your people”) indicates that Israel is in view.

[28:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “shepherd them and lift them up.”

[28:9]  ⁶ tn Or “forever.”

[68:35]  ⁷ tn Heb “awesome [is] God from his holy places.” The plural of מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdash, “holy places”) perhaps refers to the temple precincts (see Ps 73:17; Jer 51:51).

[68:35]  ⁸ tn Heb “the God of Israel, he.”

[68:35]  ⁹ tn Heb “blessed [be] God.”

[84:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they go from strength to strength.” The phrase “from strength to strength” occurs only here in the OT. With a verb of motion, the expression “from [common noun] to [same common noun]” normally suggests movement from one point to another or through successive points (see Num 36:7; 1 Chr 16:20; 17:5; Ps 105:13; Jer 25:32). Ps 84:7 may be emphasizing that the pilgrims move successively from one “place of strength” to another as they travel toward Jerusalem. All along the way they find adequate provisions and renewed energy for the trip.

[84:7]  ¹¹ tn The psalmist returns to the singular (see v. 5a), which he uses in either a representative or distributive (“each one” ) sense.

[85:8]  ¹² sn I will listen. Having asked for the Lord’s favor, the psalmist (who here represents the nation) anticipates a divine word of assurance.

[85:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “speak.” The idiom “speak peace” refers to establishing or maintaining peaceful relations with someone (see Gen 37:4; Zech 9:10; cf. Ps 122:8).

[85:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to his people and to his faithful followers.” The translation assumes that “his people” and “his faithful followers” are viewed as identical here.

[85:8]  ¹⁵ tn Or “yet let them not.” After the negative particle אֵל (’el), the prefixed verbal form is jussive, indicating the speaker’s desire or wish.

[85:10]  ¹⁶ tn The psalmist probably uses the perfect verbal forms in v. 10 in a dramatic or rhetorical manner, describing what he anticipates as if it were already occurring or had already occurred.

[85:10]  ¹⁷ sn Deliverance and peace greet each other with a kiss. The psalmist personifies these abstract qualities to emphasize that God’s loyal love and faithfulness will yield deliverance and peace for his people.

[138:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “in the day.”

[138:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “you made me bold in my soul [with] strength.”

[40:31]  ²⁰ tn The words “for the Lord’s help” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[40:31]  ²¹ tn Heb “they rise up [on] wings like eagles” (TEV similar).

[41:10]  ²² tn According to BDB (1043 s.v. שָׁעָה), the verb תִּשְׁתָּע (tishta’) in the second line of the poetic couplet is a Hitpael form from the root שָׁעָה (sha’ah, “gaze,” with metathesis of the stem prefix and the first root letter). Taking the Hitpael as iterative, one may then translate “do not anxiously look about.” However, the alleged Hitpael form of שָׁעָה (sha’ah) only occurs here and in verse 23. HALOT 1671 s.v. שׁתע proposes that the verb is instead a Qal form from the root שׁתע (“fear”) which is attested in cognate Semitic languages, including Ugaritic (discovered after the publishing of BDB), suggests the existence of this root. The poetic structure of v. 10 also supports the proposal, for the form in question is in synonymous parallelism to יָרֵא (yare’, “fear”).

[41:10]  ²³ tn The “right hand” is a symbol of the Lord’s power to deliver (Exod 15:6, 12) and protect (Ps 63:9 HT [63:8 ET]). Here צֶדֶק (tsedeq) has its well-attested nuance of “vindicated righteousness,” i.e., “victory, deliverance” (see 45:8; 51:5, and BDB 841-42 s.v.).

[10:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the house.”

[10:6]  ²⁵ tn Or “the kingdom of Israel”; Heb “the house of Joseph.”

[10:6]  ²⁶ tc The anomalous MT reading וְחוֹשְׁבוֹתִים (vÿkhoshÿvotim) should probably be וַהֲשִׁי בוֹתִם (vahashi votim), the Hiphil perfect consecutive of שׁוּב (shuv), “return” (cf. Jer 12:15).

[10:12]  ²⁷ tc Heb “I will strengthen them in the Lord.” Because of the perceived problem of the Lord saying he will strengthen the people “in the Lord,” both BHK and BHS suggest emending גִּבַּרְתִּים (gibbartim, “I will strengthen them”) to גְּבֻרָתָם (gevuratam, “their strength”). This is unnecessary, however, for the Lord frequently refers to himself in that manner (see Zech 2:11).

[10:12]  ²⁸ tc The LXX and Syriac presuppose יִתְהַלָּלוּ (yithallalu, “they will glory”) for יִתְהַלְּכוּ (yithallÿkhu, “they will walk about”). Since walking about is a common idiom in Zechariah (cf. 1:10, 11; 6:7 [3x]) to speak of dominion, and dominion is a major theme of the present passage, there is no reason to reject the MT reading, which is followed by most modern English versions.

[3:16]  ²⁹ tn Grk “that.” In Greek v. 16 is a subordinate clause to vv. 14-15.

[3:2]  ³⁰ sn If indeed. The author is not doubting whether his audience has heard, but is rather using provocative language (if indeed) to engage his audience in thinking about the magnificence of God’s grace. However, in English translation, the apodosis (“then”-clause) does not come until v. 13, leaving the protasis (“if”-clause) dangling. Eph 3:2-7 constitute one sentence in Greek.

[3:2]  ³¹ tn Or “administration,” “dispensation,” “commission.”

[4:17]  ³² tn On the translation of μαρτύρομαι (marturomai) as “insist” see BDAG 619 s.v. 2.

[4:17]  ³³ tn On the translation of ματαιότης (mataioth") as “futility” see BDAG 621 s.v.

[4:17]  ³⁴ tn Or “thoughts,” “mind.”