Psalms 72:2

72:2 Then he will judge ¹  your people fairly,

and your oppressed ones ²  equitably.

Psalms 72:4

72:4 He will defend ³  the oppressed among the people;

he will deliver ⁴  the children ⁵  of the poor

and crush the oppressor.

Deuteronomy 10:18

10:18 who justly treats ⁶  the orphan and widow, and who loves resident foreigners, giving them food and clothing.

Job 29:12-13

29:12 for I rescued the poor who cried out for help,

and the orphan who ⁷  had no one to assist him;

29:13 the blessing of the dying man descended on me, ⁸ 

and I made the widow’s heart rejoice; ⁹ 

Isaiah 1:23

1:23 Your officials are rebels, ¹⁰ 

they associate with ¹¹  thieves.

All of them love bribery,

and look for ¹²  payoffs. ¹³ 

They do not take up the cause of the orphan, ¹⁴ 

or defend the rights of the widow. ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 5:28

5:28 That is how ¹⁶  they have grown fat and sleek. ¹⁷ 

There is no limit to the evil things they do. ¹⁸ 

They do not plead the cause of the fatherless in such a way as to win it.

They do not defend the rights of the poor.

Luke 18:2-7

18:2 He said, ¹⁹  “In a certain city ²⁰  there was a judge ²¹  who neither feared God nor respected people. ²²  18:3 There was also a widow ²³  in that city ²⁴  who kept coming ²⁵  to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 18:4 For ²⁶  a while he refused, but later on ²⁷  he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor have regard for people, ²⁸  18:5 yet because this widow keeps on bothering me, I will give her justice, or in the end she will wear me out ²⁹  by her unending pleas.’” ³⁰  18:6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge says! ³¹  18:7 Won’t ³²  God give justice to his chosen ones, who cry out ³³  to him day and night? ³⁴  Will he delay ³⁵  long to help them?

Ephesians 5:1

Live in Love

5:1 Therefore, be ³⁶  imitators of God as dearly loved children

[72:2]  ¹ tn The prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, not a jussive.

[72:2]  ² sn These people are called God’s oppressed ones because he is their defender (see Pss 9:12, 18; 10:12; 12:5).

[72:4]  ³ tn Heb “judge [for].”

[72:4]  ⁴ tn The prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, not a jussive.

[72:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “sons.”

[10:18]  ⁶ tn Or “who executes justice for” (so NAB, NRSV); NLT “gives justice to.”

[29:12]  ⁷ tn The negative introduces a clause that serves as a negative attribute; literally the following clause says, “and had no helper” (see GKC 482 §152.u).

[29:13]  ⁸ tn The verb is simply בּוֹא (bo’, “to come; to enter”). With the preposition עַל (’al, “upon”) it could mean “came to me,” or “came upon me,” i.e., descended (see R. Gordis, Job, 320).

[29:13]  ⁹ tn The verb אַרְנִן (’arnin) is from רָנַן (ranan, “to give a ringing cry”) but here “cause to give a ringing cry,” i.e., shout of joy. The rejoicing envisioned in this word is far greater than what the words “sing” or “rejoice” suggest.

[1:23]  ¹⁰ tn Or “stubborn”; CEV “have rejected me.”

[1:23]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and companions of” (so KJV, NASB); CEV “friends of crooks.”

[1:23]  ¹² tn Heb “pursue”; NIV “chase after gifts.”

[1:23]  ¹³ sn Isaiah may have chosen the word for gifts (שַׁלְמוֹנִים, shalmonim; a hapax legomena here), as a sarcastic pun on what these rulers should have been doing. Instead of attending to peace and wholeness (שָׁלוֹם, shalom), they sought after payoffs (שַׁלְמוֹנִים).

[1:23]  ¹⁴ sn See the note at v. 17.

[1:23]  ¹⁵ sn The rich oppressors referred to in Isaiah and the other eighth century prophets were not rich capitalists in the modern sense of the word. They were members of the royal military and judicial bureaucracies in Israel and Judah. As these bureaucracies grew, they acquired more and more land and gradually commandeered the economy and legal system. At various administrative levels bribery and graft become commonplace. The common people outside the urban administrative centers were vulnerable to exploitation in such a system, especially those, like widows and orphans, who had lost their family provider through death. Through confiscatory taxation, conscription, excessive interest rates, and other oppressive governmental measures and policies, they were gradually disenfranchised and lost their landed property, and with it, their rights as citizens. The socio-economic equilibrium envisioned in the law of Moses was radically disturbed.

[5:28]  ¹⁶ tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to show that this line is parallel with the preceding.

[5:28]  ¹⁷ tn The meaning of this word is uncertain. This verb occurs only here. The lexicons generally relate it to the word translated “plate” in Song 5:14 and understand it to mean “smooth, shiny” (so BDB 799 s.v. I עֶשֶׁת) or “fat” (so HALOT 850 s.v. II עֶשֶׁת). The word in Song 5:14 more likely means “smooth” than “plate” (so TEV). So “sleek” is most likely here.

[5:28]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “they cross over/transgress with respect to matters of evil.”

[18:2]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “lose heart, saying.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in the Greek text, but a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the pronominal subject “He.”

[18:2]  ²⁰ tn Or “town.”

[18:2]  ²¹ sn The judge here is apparently portrayed as a civil judge who often handled financial cases.

[18:2]  ²² tn Grk “man,” but the singular ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used as a generic in comparison to God.

[18:3]  ²³ sn This widow was not necessarily old, since many people lived only into their thirties in the 1st century.

[18:3]  ²⁴ tn Or “town.”

[18:3]  ²⁵ tn This is an iterative imperfect; the widow did this on numerous occasions.

[18:4]  ²⁶ tn Grk “And for.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[18:4]  ²⁷ tn Grk “after these things.”

[18:4]  ²⁸ tn Grk “man,” but the singular ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used as a generic in comparison to God.

[18:5]  ²⁹ tn The term ὑπωπιάζω (Jupwpiazw) in this context means “to wear someone out by continual annoying” (L&N 25.245).

[18:5]  ³⁰ tn Grk “by her continual coming,” but the point of annoyance to the judge is her constant pleas for justice (v. 3).

[18:6]  ³¹ sn Listen to what the unrighteous judge says! The point of the parable is that the judge’s lack of compassion was overcome by the widow’s persistence.

[18:7]  ³² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[18:7]  ³³ sn The prayers have to do with the righteous who cry out to him to receive justice. The context assumes the righteous are persecuted.

[18:7]  ³⁴ tn The emphatic particles in this sentence indicate that God will indeed give justice to the righteous.

[18:7]  ³⁵ sn The issue of delay has produced a whole host of views for this verse. (1) Does this assume provision to endure in the meantime? Or (2) does it mean God restricts the level of persecution until he comes? Either view is possible.

[5:1]  ³⁶ tn Or “become.”