Psalms 34:14

34:14 Turn away from evil and do what is right! ¹ 

Strive for peace and promote it! ² 

Psalms 35:20

35:20 For they do not try to make peace with others, ³ 

but plan ways to deceive those who are unsuspecting. ⁴ 

Psalms 55:20

55:20 He ⁵  attacks ⁶  his friends; ⁷ 

he breaks his solemn promises to them. ⁸ 

Psalms 55:2

55:2 Pay attention to me and answer me!

I am so upset ⁹  and distressed, ¹⁰  I am beside myself, ¹¹ 

Psalms 20:1

Psalm 20 ¹² 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

20:1 May the Lord answer ¹³  you ¹⁴  when you are in trouble; ¹⁵ 

may the God of Jacob ¹⁶  make you secure!

Matthew 5:9

5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children ¹⁷  of God.

Romans 12:18

12:18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all people. ¹⁸ 

Ephesians 2:14-17

2:14 For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one ¹⁹  and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, 2:15 when he nullified ²⁰  in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man ²¹  out of two, ²²  thus making peace, 2:16 and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed. ²³  2:17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near,

Hebrews 12:14

Do Not Reject God’s Warning

12:14 Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness, ²⁴  for without it no one will see the Lord.

[34:14]  ¹ tn Or “do good.”

[34:14]  ² tn Heb “seek peace and pursue it.”

[35:20]  ³ tn Heb “for they do not speak peace.”

[35:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “but against the quiet ones of the land words of deceit they plan.” The imperfect verbal forms in v. 20 highlight their characteristic behavior.

[55:20]  ⁵ sn He. This must refer to the psalmist’s former friend, who was addressed previously in vv. 12-14.

[55:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “stretches out his hand against.”

[55:20]  ⁷ tc The form should probably be emended to an active participle (שֹׁלְמָיו, sholÿmayv) from the verbal root שָׁלַם (shalam, “be in a covenant of peace with”). Perhaps the translation “his friends” suggests too intimate a relationship. Another option is to translate, “he attacks those who made agreements with him.”

[55:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “he violates his covenant.”

[55:2]  ⁹ tn Or “restless” (see Gen 27:40). The Hiphil is intransitive-exhibitive, indicating the outward display of an inner attitude.

[55:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in my complaint.”

[55:2]  ¹¹ tn The verb is a Hiphil cohortative from הוּם (hum), which means “to confuse someone” in the Qal and “to go wild” in the Niphal. An Arabic cognate means “to be out of one’s senses, to wander about.” With the vav (ו) conjunctive prefixed to it, the cohortative probably indicates the result or effect of the preceding main verb. Some prefer to emend the form to וְאֵהוֹמָה (vÿ’ehomah), a Niphal of הוּם (hum), or to וְאֶהַמֶה (vÿ’ehameh), a Qal imperfect from הָמָה (hamah, “to moan”). Many also prefer to take this verb with what follows (see v. 3).

[20:1]  ¹² sn Psalm 20. The people pray for the king’s success in battle. When the king declares his assurance that the Lord will answer the people’s prayer, they affirm their confidence in God’s enablement.

[20:1]  ¹³ tn The prefixed verbal forms here and in vv. 1b-5 are interpreted as jussives of prayer (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). Another option is to understand them as imperfects, “the Lord will answer,” etc. In this case the people declare their confidence that the Lord will intervene on behalf of the king and extend to him his favor.

[20:1]  ¹⁴ sn May the Lord answer you. The people address the king as they pray to the Lord.

[20:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in a day of trouble.”

[20:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the name of the God of Jacob.” God’s “name” refers metonymically to his very person and to the divine characteristics suggested by his name, in this case “God of Jacob,” which highlights his relationship to Israel.

[5:9]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “sons,” though traditionally English versions have taken this as a generic reference to both males and females, hence “children” (cf. KJV, NAB, NRSV, NLT).

[12:18]  ¹⁸ tn Here ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used as a generic and refers to both men and women.

[2:14]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “who made the both one.”

[2:15]  ²⁰ tn Or “rendered inoperative.” This is a difficult text to translate because it is not easy to find an English term which communicates well the essence of the author’s meaning, especially since legal terminology is involved. Many other translations use the term “abolish” (so NRSV, NASB, NIV), but this term implies complete destruction which is not the author’s meaning here. The verb καταργέω (katargew) can readily have the meaning “to cause someth. to lose its power or effectiveness” (BDAG 525 s.v. 2, where this passage is listed), and this meaning fits quite naturally here within the author’s legal mindset. A proper English term which communicates this well is “nullify” since this word carries the denotation of “making something legally null and void.” This is not, however, a common English word. An alternate term like “rendered inoperative [or ineffective]” is also accurate but fairly inelegant. For this reason, the translation retains the term “nullify”; it is the best choice of the available options, despite its problems.

[2:15]  ²¹ tn In this context the author is not referring to a new individual, but instead to a new corporate entity united in Christ (cf. BDAG 497 s.v. καινός 3.b: “All the Christians together appear as κ. ἄνθρωπος Eph 2:15”). This is clear from the comparison made between the Gentiles and Israel in the immediately preceding verses and the assertion in v. 14 that Christ “made both groups into one.” This is a different metaphor than the “new man” of Eph 4:24; in that passage the “new man” refers to the new life a believer has through a relationship to Christ.

[2:15]  ²² tn Grk “in order to create the two into one new man.” Eph 2:14-16 is one sentence in Greek. A new sentence was started here in the translation for clarity since contemporary English is less tolerant of extended sentences.

[2:16]  ²³ tn Grk “by killing the hostility in himself.”

[12:14]  ²⁴ sn The references to peace and holiness show the close connection between this paragraph and the previous one. The pathway toward “holiness” and the need for it is cited in Heb 12:10 and 14. More importantly Prov 4:26-27 sets up the transition from one paragraph to the next: It urges people to stay on godly paths (Prov 4:26, quoted here in v. 13) and promises that God will lead them in peace if they do so (Prov 4:27 [LXX], quoted in v. 14).