Psalms 65:4

65:4 How blessed ¹  is the one whom you choose,

and allow to live in your palace courts. ² 

May we be satisfied with the good things of your house –

your holy palace. ³ 

Psalms 84:10

84:10 Certainly ⁴  spending just one day in your temple courts is better

than spending a thousand elsewhere. ⁵ 

I would rather stand at the entrance ⁶  to the temple of my God

than live ⁷  in the tents of the wicked.

Psalms 116:7

116:7 Rest once more, my soul, ⁸ 

for the Lord has vindicated you. ⁹ 

Lamentations 3:25-26

ט (Tet)

3:25 The Lord is good to those who trust ¹⁰  in him,

to the one ¹¹  who seeks him.

3:26 It is good to wait patiently ¹² 

for deliverance from the Lord. ¹³ 

Luke 15:17-20

15:17 But when he came to his senses ¹⁴  he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have food ¹⁵  enough to spare, but here I am dying from hunger! 15:18 I will get up and go to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned ¹⁶  against heaven ¹⁷  and against ¹⁸  you. 15:19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me ¹⁹  like one of your hired workers.”’ 15:20 So ²⁰  he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way from home ²¹  his father saw him, and his heart went out to him; ²²  he ran and hugged ²³  his son ²⁴  and kissed him.

Hebrews 10:19-22

Drawing Near to God in Enduring Faith

10:19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, ²⁵  since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, 10:20 by the fresh and living way that he inaugurated for us ²⁶  through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, ²⁷  10:21 and since we have a great priest ²⁸  over the house of God, 10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, ²⁹  because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience ³⁰  and our bodies washed in pure water.

James 4:8

4:8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded. ³¹ 

James 4:1

Passions and Pride

4:1 Where do the conflicts and where ³²  do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, ³³  from your passions that battle inside you? ³⁴ 

James 3:18

3:18 And the fruit that consists of righteousness ³⁵  is planted ³⁶  in peace among ³⁷  those who make peace.

[65:4]  ¹ tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1; 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).

[65:4]  ² tn Heb “[whom] you bring near [so that] he might live [in] your courts.”

[65:4]  ³ tn Or “temple.”

[84:10]  ⁴ tn Or “for.”

[84:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “better is a day in your courts than a thousand [spent elsewhere].”

[84:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “I choose being at the entrance of the house of my God over living in the tents of the wicked.” The verb סָפַף (safaf) appears only here in the OT; it is derived from the noun סַף (saf, “threshold”). Traditionally some have interpreted this as a reference to being a doorkeeper at the temple, though some understand it to mean “lie as a beggar at the entrance to the temple” (see HALOT 765 s.v. ספף).

[84:10]  ⁷ tn The verb דּוּר (dur, “to live”) occurs only here in the OT.

[116:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “return, my soul, to your place of rest.”

[116:7]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew idiom גָּמַל עַל (gamal ’al) means “to repay,” here in a positive sense (cf. Ps 13:5).

[3:25]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “wait for him”

[3:25]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to the soul…” The term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul”) is a synecdoche of part (= “the soul who seeks him”) for the whole person (= “the person who seeks him”).

[3:26]  ¹² tn Heb “waiting and silently.” The two adjectives וְיָחִיל וְדוּמָם (vÿyakhil vÿdumam, “waiting and silently”) form a hendiadys: The first functions verbally and the second functions adverbially: “to wait silently.” The adjective דוּמָם (dumam, “silently”) also functions as a metonymy of association, standing for patience or rest (HALOT 217 s.v.). This metonymical nuance is captured well in less literal English versions: “wait in patience” (TEV) and “wait patiently” (CEV, NJPS). The more literal English versions do not express the metonymy as well: “quietly wait” (KJV, NKJV, ASV), “waits silently” (NASB), “wait quietly” (RSV, NRSV, NIV).

[3:26]  ¹³ tn Heb “deliverance of the Lord.” In the genitive-construct, the genitive יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”) denotes source, that is, he is the source of the deliverance: “deliverance from the Lord.”

[15:17]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “came to himself” (an idiom).

[15:17]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “bread,” but used figuratively for food of any kind (L&N 5.1).

[15:18]  ¹⁶ sn In the confession “I have sinned” there is a recognition of wrong that pictures the penitent coming home and “being found.”

[15:18]  ¹⁷ sn The phrase against heaven is a circumlocution for God.

[15:18]  ¹⁸ tn According to BDAG 342 s.v. ἐνωπιον 4.a, “in relation to ἁμαρτάνειν ἐ. τινος sin against someone Lk 15:18, 21 (cf. Jdth 5:17; 1 Km 7:6; 20:1).”

[15:19]  ¹⁹ tn Or “make me.” Here is a sign of total humility.

[15:20]  ²⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the son’s decision to return home. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style generally does not.

[15:20]  ²¹ tn Grk “a long way off from [home].” The word “home” is implied (L&N 85.16).

[15:20]  ²² tn Or “felt great affection for him,” “felt great pity for him.”

[15:20]  ²³ tn Grk “he fell on his neck,” an idiom for showing special affection for someone by throwing one’s arms around them. The picture is of the father hanging on the son’s neck in welcome.

[15:20]  ²⁴ tn Grk “him”; the referent (the son) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:19]  ²⁵ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 2:11.

[10:20]  ²⁶ tn Grk “that he inaugurated for us as a fresh and living way,” referring to the entrance mentioned in v. 19.

[10:20]  ²⁷ sn Through his flesh. In a bold shift the writer changes from a spatial phrase (Christ opened the way through the curtain into the inner sanctuary) to an instrumental phrase (he did this through [by means of] his flesh in his sacrifice of himself), associating the two in an allusion to the splitting of the curtain in the temple from top to bottom (Matt 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45). Just as the curtain was split, so Christ’s body was broken for us, to give us access into God’s presence.

[10:21]  ²⁸ tn Grk “and a great priest,” continuing the construction begun in v. 19.

[10:22]  ²⁹ tn Grk “in assurance of faith.”

[10:22]  ³⁰ sn The phrase our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience combines the OT imagery of the sprinkling with blood to give ritual purity with the emphasis on the interior cleansing provided by the new covenant: It is the heart that is cleansed and the conscience made perfect (cf. Heb 8:10; 9:9, 14; 10:2, 16).

[4:8]  ³¹ tn Or “two-minded” (the same description used in 1:8).

[4:1]  ³² tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.

[4:1]  ³³ tn Grk “from here.”

[4:1]  ³⁴ tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”

[3:18]  ³⁵ tn Grk “the fruit of righteousness,” meaning righteous living as a fruit, as the thing produced.

[3:18]  ³⁶ tn Grk “is sown.”

[3:18]  ³⁷ tn Or “for,” or possibly “by.”