Psalms 4:4

4:4 Tremble with fear and do not sin! ¹ 

Meditate as you lie in bed, and repent of your ways! ²  (Selah)

Genesis 39:9

39:9 There is no one greater in this household than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you because you are his wife. So how could I do ³  such a great evil and sin against God?”

Genesis 42:18

42:18 On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do as I say ⁴  and you will live, ⁵  for I fear God. ⁶ 

Genesis 42:2

42:2 He then said, “Look, I hear that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us ⁷  so that we may live ⁸  and not die.” ⁹ 

Genesis 22:19

22:19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set out together ¹⁰  for Beer Sheba where Abraham stayed. ¹¹ 

Nehemiah 5:15

5:15 But the former governors who preceded me had burdened the people and had taken food and wine from them, in addition to ¹²  forty shekels of silver. Their associates were also domineering over the people. But I did not behave in this way, due to my fear of God.

Job 31:23

31:23 For the calamity from God was a terror to me, ¹³ 

and by reason of his majesty ¹⁴  I was powerless.

Isaiah 66:2

66:2 My hand made them; ¹⁵ 

that is how they came to be,” ¹⁶  says the Lord.

I show special favor ¹⁷  to the humble and contrite,

who respect what I have to say. ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 36:23-25

36:23 As soon as Jehudi had read three or four columns ¹⁹  of the scroll, the king ²⁰  would cut them off with a penknife ²¹  and throw them on the fire in the firepot. He kept doing so until the whole scroll was burned up in the fire. ²²  36:24 Neither he nor any of his attendants showed any alarm when they heard all that had been read. Nor did they tear their clothes to show any grief or sorrow. ²³  36:25 The king did not even listen to Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah, who had urged him not to burn the scroll. ²⁴ 

[4:4]  ¹ sn The psalmist warns his enemies that they need to tremble with fear before God and repudiate their sinful ways.

[4:4]  ² tn Heb “say in your heart(s) on your bed(s) and wail/lament.” The verb דֹמּוּ (dommu) is understood as a form of דָמָם (“wail, lament”) in sorrow and repentance. Another option is to take the verb from II דָמָם (damam, “be quiet”); cf. NIV, NRSV “be silent.”

[39:9]  ³ tn The nuance of potential imperfect fits this context.

[42:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “Do this.”

[42:18]  ⁵ tn After the preceding imperative, the imperative with vav (ו) can, as here, indicate logical sequence.

[42:18]  ⁶ sn For I fear God. Joseph brings God into the picture to awaken his brothers’ consciences. The godly person cares about the welfare of people, whether they live or die. So he will send grain back, but keep one of them in Egypt. This action contrasts with their crime of selling their brother into slavery.

[42:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “and buy for us from there.” The word “grain,” the direct object of “buy,” has been supplied for clarity, and the words “from there” have been omitted in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[42:2]  ⁸ tn Following the imperatives, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav expresses purpose of result.

[42:2]  ⁹ tn The imperfect tense continues the nuance of the verb before it.

[22:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and they arose and went together.”

[22:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and Abraham stayed in Beer Sheba. This has been translated as a relative clause for stylistic reasons.

[5:15]  ¹² tc The Hebrew term אַחַר (’akhar) is difficult here. It normally means “after,” but that makes no sense here. Some scholars emend it to אַחַד (’akhad) and supply the word “day,” which yields the sense “daily.” Cf. TEV “40 silver coins a day for food and wine.”

[31:23]  ¹³ tc The LXX has “For the terror of God restrained me.” Several commentators changed it to “came upon me.” Driver had “The fear of God was burdensome.” I. Eitan suggested “The terror of God was mighty upon me” (“Two unknown verbs: etymological studies,” JBL 42 [1923]: 22-28). But the MT makes clear sense as it stands.

[31:23]  ¹⁴ tn The form is וּמִשְּׂאֵתוֹ (umissÿ’eto); the preposition is causal. The form, from the verb נָשָׂא (nasa’, “to raise; to lift high”), refers to God’s exalted person, his majesty (see Job 13:11).

[66:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “all these.” The phrase refers to the heavens and earth, mentioned in the previous verse.

[66:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and all these were.” Some prefer to emend וַיִּהְיוּ (vayyihyu, “and they were”) to וְלִי הָיוּ (vÿli hayu, “and to me they were”), i.e., “and they belong to me.”

[66:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and to this one I look” (KJV and NASB both similar).

[66:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to the humble and the lowly in spirit and the one who trembles at my words.”

[36:23]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “doors.” This is the only time the word “door” is used in this way but all the commentaries and lexicons agree that it means “columns.” The meaning is figurative based on the similarity of shape.

[36:23]  ²⁰ tn Heb “he.” The majority of commentaries and English versions are agreed that “he” is the king. However, since a penknife (Heb “a scribe’s razor”) is used to cut the columns off, it is possible that Jehudi himself did it. However, even if Jehudi himself did it, he was acting on the king’s orders.

[36:23]  ²¹ sn Heb “a scribe’s razor.” There is some irony involved here since a scribe’s razor was used to trim the sheets to be sewn together, scrape them in preparation for writing, and to erase errors. What was normally used to prepare the scroll was used to destroy it.

[36:23]  ²² tn Heb “until the whole scroll was consumed upon the fire which was in the fire pot.”

[36:24]  ²³ tn Heb “Neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words were afraid or tore their clothes.” The sentence has been broken up into two shorter sentences to better conform to English style and some of the terms explained (e.g., tore their clothes) for the sake of clarity.

[36:25]  ²⁴ tn Heb “And also Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah urged [or had urged] the king not to burn the scroll, but he did not listen to them.” The translation attempts to lessen the clash in chronological sequencing with the preceding. This sentence is essentially a flash back to a time before the scroll was totally burned (v. 23).