Psalms 62:9

62:9 Men are nothing but a mere breath;

human beings are unreliable. ¹ 

When they are weighed in the scales,

all of them together are lighter than air. ² 

Psalms 62:1

Psalm 62 ³ 

For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of David.

62:1 For God alone I patiently wait; ⁴ 

he is the one who delivers me. ⁵ 

Psalms 2:7-8

2:7 The king says, ⁶  “I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me: ⁷ 

‘You are my son! ⁸  This very day I have become your father!

2:8 Ask me,

and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, ⁹ 

the ends of the earth as your personal property.

Job 34:19

34:19 who shows no partiality to princes,

and does not take note of ¹⁰  the rich more than the poor,

because all of them are the work of his hands?

Proverbs 22:2

22:2 The rich and the poor meet together; ¹¹ 

the Lord is the creator of them both. ¹² 

Jeremiah 5:4-5

5:4 I thought, “Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way. ¹³ 

They act like fools because they do not know what the Lord demands. ¹⁴ 

They do not know what their God requires of them. ¹⁵ 

5:5 I will go to the leaders ¹⁶ 

and speak with them.

Surely they know what the Lord demands. ¹⁷ 

Surely they know what their God requires of them.” ¹⁸ 

Yet all of them, too, have rejected his authority

and refuse to submit to him. ¹⁹ 

James 1:9-11

1:9 Now the believer ²⁰  of humble means ²¹  should take pride ²²  in his high position. ²³  1:10 But the rich person’s pride should be in his humiliation, because he will pass away like a wildflower in the meadow. ²⁴  1:11 For the sun rises with its heat and dries up the meadow; the petal of the flower falls off and its beauty is lost forever. ²⁵  So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will wither away.

James 2:1-7

Prejudice and the Law of Love

2:1 My brothers and sisters, ²⁶  do not show prejudice ²⁷  if you possess faith ²⁸  in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁹  2:2 For if someone ³⁰  comes into your assembly ³¹  wearing a gold ring and fine clothing, and a poor person enters in filthy clothes, 2:3 do you pay attention to the one who is finely dressed and say, ³²  “You sit here in a good place,” ³³  and to the poor person, “You stand over there,” or “Sit on the floor”? ³⁴  2:4 If so, have you not made distinctions ³⁵  among yourselves and become judges with evil motives? ³⁶  2:5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! ³⁷  Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him? 2:6 But you have dishonored the poor! ³⁸  Are not the rich oppressing you and dragging you into the courts? 2:7 Do they not blaspheme the good name of the one you belong to? ³⁹ 

Revelation 6:15-17

6:15 Then ⁴⁰  the kings of the earth, the ⁴¹  very important people, the generals, ⁴²  the rich, the powerful, and everyone, slave ⁴³  and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 6:16 They ⁴⁴  said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, ⁴⁵  6:17 because the great day of their ⁴⁶  wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?” ⁴⁷ 

[62:9]  ¹ tn Heb “only a breath [are] the sons of mankind, a lie [are] the sons of man.” The phrases “sons of mankind” and “sons of man” also appear together in Ps 49:2. Because of the parallel line there, where “rich and poor” are mentioned, a number of interpreters and translators treat these expressions as polar opposites, בְּנֵי אָדָם (bÿney ’adam) referring to the lower classes and בְּנֵי אִישׁ (bÿney ’ish) to higher classes. But usage does not support such a view. The rare phrase בְּנֵי אִישׁ (“sons of man”) appears to refer to human beings in general in its other uses (see Pss 4:2; Lam 3:33). It is better to understand the phrases as synonymous expressions.

[62:9]  ² tn The noun הֶבֶל (hevel), translated “a breath” earlier in the verse, appears again here.

[62:1]  ³ sn Psalm 62. The psalmist expresses his unwavering confidence in God’s justice and in his ability to protect his people.

[62:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “only for God [is] there silence [to] my soul.”

[62:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “from him [is] my deliverance.”

[2:7]  ⁵ tn The words “the king says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The speaker is the Lord’s chosen king.

[2:7]  ⁶ tn Or “I will relate the decree. The Lord said to me” (in accordance with the Masoretic accentuation).

[2:7]  ⁷ sn ‘You are my son!’ The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 89:26-27). The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty. See M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 184-203, for general discussion and some striking extra-biblical parallels.

[2:8]  ⁷ sn I will give you the nations. The Lord promises the Davidic king universal dominion.

[34:19]  ⁹ tn The verb means “to give recognition; to take note of” and in this passage with לִפְנֵי (lifne, “before”) it means to show preferential treatment to the rich before the poor. The word for “rich” here is an unusual word, found parallel to “noble” (Isa 32:2). P. Joüon thinks it is a term of social distinction (Bib 18 [1937]: 207-8).

[22:2]  ¹¹ tn The form of the verb is the Niphal perfect of פָּגַשׁ (pagash); it means “to meet together [or, each other]” (cf. KJV, ASV). The point is that rich and poor live side by side in this life, but they are both part of God’s creation (cf. NAB, NASB “have a common bond”). Some commentators have taken this to mean that they should live together because they are part of God’s creation; but the verb form will not sustain that meaning.

[22:2]  ¹² tn Heb “all.” The Lord is sovereign over both groups, that is, he has had the final say whether a person is rich or poor. People would do well to treat all people with respect, for God can as easily reduce the rich to poverty as raise up the poor to wealth.

[5:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “Surely they are poor.” The translation is intended to make clear the explicit contrasts and qualifications drawn in this verse and the next.

[5:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the way of the Lord.”

[5:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the judgment [or ordinance] of their God.”

[5:5]  ¹⁵ tn Or “people in power”; Heb “the great ones.”

[5:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the way of the Lord.”

[5:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the judgment [or ordinance] of their God.”

[5:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “have broken the yoke and torn off the yoke ropes.” Compare Jer 2:20 and the note there.

[1:9]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “brother.” Here the term “brother” means “fellow believer” or “fellow Christian” (cf. TEV, NLT “Christians”; CEV “God’s people”). The term broadly connotes familial relationships within the family of God (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 2.a).

[1:9]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “the lowly brother,” but “lowly/humble” is clarified in context by the contrast with “wealthy” in v. 10.

[1:9]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “let him boast.”

[1:9]  ²⁰ tn Grk “his height,” “his exaltation.”

[1:10]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “a flower of grass.”

[1:11]  ²¹ tn Or “perishes,” “is destroyed.”

[2:1]  ²³ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[2:1]  ²⁴ tn Or “partiality.”

[2:1]  ²⁵ tn Grk “do not have faith with personal prejudice,” with emphasis on the last phrase.

[2:1]  ²⁶ tn Grk “our Lord Jesus Christ of glory.” Here δόξης (doxhs) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

[2:2]  ²⁵ tn The word for “man” or “individual” here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But as BDAG 79 s.v. 2 says, “equivalent to τὶς someone.”

[2:2]  ²⁶ tn Grk “synagogue.” Usually συναγωγή refers to Jewish places of worship (e.g., Matt 4:23, Mark 1:21, Luke 4:15, John 6:59). The word can be used generally to refer to a place of assembly, and here it refers specifically to a Christian assembly (BDAG 963 s.v. 2.b.).

[2:3]  ²⁷ tn Grk “and you pay attention…and say,” continuing the “if” clauses from v. 2. In the Greek text, vv. 2-4 form one long sentence.

[2:3]  ²⁸ tn Or “sit here, please.”

[2:3]  ²⁹ tn Grk “sit under my footstool.” The words “on the floor” have been supplied in the translation to clarify for the modern reader the undesirability of this seating arrangement (so also TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). Another option followed by a number of translations is to replace “under my footstool” with “at my feet” (NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[2:4]  ²⁹ tn Grk “have you not made distinctions” (as the conclusion to the series of “if” clauses in vv. 2-3).

[2:4]  ³⁰ tn Grk “judges of evil reasonings.”

[2:5]  ³¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[2:6]  ³³ tn This is singular: “the poor person,” perhaps referring to the hypothetical one described in vv. 2-3.

[2:7]  ³⁵ tn Grk “that was invoked over you,” referring to their baptism in which they confessed their faith in Christ and were pronounced to be his own. To have the Lord’s name “named over them” is OT imagery for the Lord’s ownership of his people (cf. 2 Chr 7:14; Amos 9:12; Isa 63:19; Jer 14:9; 15:16; Dan 9:19; Acts 15:17).

[6:15]  ³⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[6:15]  ³⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated; nor is it translated before each of the following categories, since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[6:15]  ³⁹ tn Grk “chiliarchs.” A chiliarch was normally a military officer commanding a thousand soldiers, but here probably used of higher-ranking commanders like generals (see L&N 55.15; cf. Rev 6:15).

[6:15]  ⁴⁰ tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

[6:16]  ³⁹ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[6:16]  ⁴⁰ tn It is difficult to say where this quotation ends. The translation ends it after “withstand it” at the end of v. 17, but it is possible that it should end here, after “Lamb” at the end of v. 16. If it ends after “Lamb,” v. 17 is a parenthetical explanation by the author.

[6:17]  ⁴¹ tc Most mss (A Ï bo) change the pronoun “their” to “his” (αὐτοῦ, autou) in order to bring the text in line with the mention of the one seated on the throne in the immediately preceding verse, and to remove the ambiguity about whose wrath is in view here. The reading αὐτῶν (autwn, “their”) is well supported by א C 1611 1854 2053 2329 2344 pc latt sy. On both internal and external grounds, it should be regarded as original.

[6:17]  ⁴² tn The translation “to withstand (it)” for ἵστημι (Jisthmi) is based on the imagery of holding one’s ground in a military campaign or an attack (BDAG 482 s.v. B.4).