Psalms 58:11

58:11 Then ¹  observers ²  will say,

“Yes indeed, the godly are rewarded! ³ 

Yes indeed, there is a God who judges ⁴  in the earth!”

Psalms 58:1

Psalm 58 ⁵ 

For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; ⁶  a prayer ⁷  of David.

58:1 Do you rulers really pronounce just decisions? ⁸ 

Do you judge people ⁹  fairly?

Psalms 24:1

Psalm 24 ¹⁰ 

A psalm of David.

24:1 The Lord owns the earth and all it contains,

the world and all who live in it.

Psalms 24:1

Psalm 24 ¹¹ 

A psalm of David.

24:1 The Lord owns the earth and all it contains,

the world and all who live in it.

Proverbs 11:18

11:18 The wicked person ¹²  earns ¹³  deceitful wages, ¹⁴ 

but the one who sows ¹⁵  righteousness reaps ¹⁶  a genuine ¹⁷  reward. ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 49:4

49:4 But I thought, ¹⁹  “I have worked in vain;

I have expended my energy for absolutely nothing.” ²⁰ 

But the Lord will vindicate me;

my God will reward me. ²¹ 

Isaiah 62:11

62:11 Look, the Lord announces to the entire earth: ²² 

“Say to Daughter Zion,

‘Look, your deliverer comes!

Look, his reward is with him

and his reward goes before him!’” ²³ 

Matthew 6:4

6:4 so that your gift may be in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. ²⁴ 

Matthew 6:1

Pure-hearted Giving

6:1 “Be ²⁵  careful not to display your righteousness merely to be seen by people. ²⁶  Otherwise you have no reward with your Father in heaven.

Colossians 3:8

3:8 But now, put off all such things ²⁷  as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth.

[58:11]  ¹ tn Following the imperfects of v. 10, the prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive probably indicates a result or consequence of what precedes.

[58:11]  ² tn Heb “man.” The singular is representative here.

[58:11]  ³ tn Heb “surely [there] is fruit for the godly.”

[58:11]  ⁴ tn The plural participle is unusual here if the preceding אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) is here a plural of majesty, referring to the one true God. Occasionally the plural of majesty does take a plural attributive (see GKC 428-29 §132.h). It is possible that the final mem (ם) on the participle is enclitic, and that it was later misunderstood as a plural ending. Another option is to translate, “Yes indeed, there are gods who judge in the earth.” In this case, the statement reflects the polytheistic mindset of pagan observers who, despite their theological ignorance, nevertheless recognize divine retribution when they see it.

[58:1]  ⁵ sn Psalm 58. The psalmist calls on God to punish corrupt judges because a vivid display of divine judgment will convince observers that God is the just judge of the world who vindicates the godly.

[58:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “do not destroy.” Perhaps this refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. These words also appear in the heading to Pss 57, 59, and 75.

[58:1]  ⁷ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam) which also appears in the heading to Pss 16 and 56-57, 59-60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”

[58:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “Really [in] silence, what is right do you speak?” The Hebrew noun אֵלֶם (’elem, “silence”) makes little, if any, sense in this context. Some feel that this is an indictment of the addressees’ failure to promote justice; they are silent when they should make just decisions. The present translation assumes an emendation to אֵלִם (’elim), which in turn is understood as a defectively written form of אֵילִים (’elim, “rulers,” a metaphorical use of אַיִל, ’ayil, “ram”; see Exod 15:15; Ezek 17:13). The rhetorical question is sarcastic, challenging their claim to be just. Elsewhere the collocation of דָּבַר (davar, “speak”) with צֶדֶק (tsedeq, “what is right”) as object means “to speak the truth” (see Ps 52:3; Isa 45:19). Here it refers specifically to declaring what is right in a legal setting, as the next line indicates.

[58:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “the sons of mankind.” The translation assumes the phrase is the object of the verb “to judge.” Some take it as a vocative, “Do you judge fairly, O sons of mankind?” (Cf. NASB; see Ezek 20:4; 22:2; 23:36.)

[24:1]  ¹⁰ sn Psalm 24. The psalmist affirms the universal kingship of the sovereign creator, reminds his people that only the morally pure are qualified to worship him, and celebrates his splendor as a mighty warrior king.

[24:1]  ¹¹ sn Psalm 24. The psalmist affirms the universal kingship of the sovereign creator, reminds his people that only the morally pure are qualified to worship him, and celebrates his splendor as a mighty warrior king.

[11:18]  ¹² tn The form is the masculine singular adjective used as a substantive.

[11:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “makes” (so NAB).

[11:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “wages of deception.”

[11:18]  ¹⁵ sn The participle “sowing” provides an implied comparison (the figure is known as hypocatastasis) with the point of practicing righteousness and inspiring others to do the same. What is sown will yield fruit (1 Cor 9:11; 2 Cor 9:6; Jas 3:18).

[11:18]  ¹⁶ tn The term “reaps” does not appear in the Hebrew but has been supplied in the translation from context for the sake of smoothness.

[11:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “true” (so NASB, NRSV); KJV, NAB, NIV “sure.”

[11:18]  ¹⁸ sn A wordplay (paronomasia) occurs between “deceptive” (שָׁקֶר, shaqer) and “reward” (שֶׂכֶר, sekher), underscoring the contrast by the repetition of sounds. The wages of the wicked are deceptive; the reward of the righteous is sure.

[49:4]  ¹⁹ tn Or “said” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “I replied.”

[49:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “for nothing and emptiness.” Synonyms are combined to emphasize the common idea.

[49:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “But my justice is with the Lord, and my reward [or “wage”] with my God.”

[62:11]  ²² tn Heb “to the end of the earth” (so NASB, NRSV).

[62:11]  ²³ sn As v. 12 indicates, the returning exiles are the Lord’s reward/prize. See also 40:10 and the note there.

[6:4]  ²⁴ tc L W Θ 0250 Ï it read ἐν τῷ φανερῷ (en tw fanerw, “openly”) at the end of this verse, giving a counterweight to what is done in secret. But this reading is suspect because of the obvious literary balance, because of detouring the point of the passage (the focus of vv. 1-4 is not on two kinds of public rewards but on human vs. divine approbation), and because of superior external testimony that lacks this reading (א B D Z Ë^1,13 33 al).

[6:1]  ²⁵ tc ‡ Several mss (א L Z Θ Ë¹ 33 892 1241 1424 al) have δέ (de, “but, now”) at the beginning of this verse; the reading without δέ is supported by B D W 0250 ˹³ Ï lat. A decision is difficult, but apparently the conjunction was added by later scribes to indicate a transition in the thought-flow of the Sermon on the Mount. NA²⁷ has δέ in brackets, indicating reservations about its authenticity.

[6:1]  ²⁶ tn Grk “before people in order to be seen by them.”

[3:8]  ²⁷ tn The Greek article with τὰ πάντα (ta panta) is anaphoric, referring to the previous list of vices, and has been translated here as “all such things.”