Psalms 74:1-2

Psalm 74 ¹ 

A well-written song ²  by Asaph.

74:1 Why, O God, have you permanently rejected us? ³ 

Why does your anger burn ⁴  against the sheep of your pasture?

74:2 Remember your people ⁵  whom you acquired in ancient times,

whom you rescued ⁶  so they could be your very own nation, ⁷ 

as well as Mount Zion, where you dwell!

Psalms 78:52

78:52 Yet he brought out his people like sheep;

he led them through the wilderness like a flock.

Psalms 79:13

79:13 Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture,

will continually thank you. ⁸ 

We will tell coming generations of your praiseworthy acts. ⁹ 

Psalms 95:7

95:7 For he is our God;

we are the people of his pasture,

the sheep he owns. ¹⁰ 

Today, if only you would obey him! ¹¹ 

Isaiah 40:9-11

40:9 Go up on a high mountain, O herald Zion!

Shout out loudly, O herald Jerusalem! ¹² 

Shout, don’t be afraid!

Say to the towns of Judah,

“Here is your God!”

40:10 Look, the sovereign Lord comes as a victorious warrior; ¹³ 

his military power establishes his rule. ¹⁴ 

Look, his reward is with him;

his prize goes before him. ¹⁵ 

40:11 Like a shepherd he tends his flock;

he gathers up the lambs with his arm;

he carries them close to his heart; ¹⁶ 

he leads the ewes along.

Isaiah 63:11

63:11 His people remembered the ancient times. ¹⁷ 

Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea,

along with the shepherd of ¹⁸  his flock?

Where is the one who placed his holy Spirit among them, ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 63:19

63:19 We existed from ancient times, ²⁰ 

but you did not rule over them,

they were not your subjects. ²¹ 

Ezekiel 34:11

34:11 “‘For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out.

Ezekiel 34:30-31

34:30 Then they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, ²²  and that they are my people, the house of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord. ²³  34:31 And you, my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are my people, ²⁴  and I am your God, declares the sovereign Lord.’”

John 10:14-16

10:14 “I am the good shepherd. I ²⁵  know my own ²⁶  and my own know me – 10:15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life ²⁷  for ²⁸  the sheep. 10:16 I have ²⁹  other sheep that do not come from ³⁰  this sheepfold. ³¹  I must bring them too, and they will listen to my voice, ³²  so that ³³  there will be one flock and ³⁴  one shepherd.

John 10:26-28

10:26 But you refuse to believe because you are not my sheep. 10:27 My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 10:28 I give ³⁵  them eternal life, and they will never perish; ³⁶  no one will snatch ³⁷  them from my hand.

Acts 20:28-29

20:28 Watch out for ³⁸  yourselves and for all the flock of which ³⁹  the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, ⁴⁰  to shepherd the church of God ⁴¹  that he obtained ⁴²  with the blood of his own Son. ⁴³  20:29 I know that after I am gone ⁴⁴  fierce wolves ⁴⁵  will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

Acts 20:1

Paul Travels Through Macedonia and Greece

20:1 After the disturbance had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging ⁴⁶  them and saying farewell, ⁴⁷  he left to go to Macedonia. ⁴⁸ 

Acts 2:9

2:9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and the province of Asia, ⁴⁹ 

Acts 2:25

2:25 For David says about him,

‘I saw the Lord always in front of me, ⁵⁰ 

for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken.

Acts 5:2-4

5:2 He ⁵¹  kept back for himself part of the proceeds with his wife’s knowledge; he brought ⁵²  only part of it and placed it at the apostles’ feet. 5:3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled ⁵³  your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself part of the proceeds from the sale of ⁵⁴  the land? 5:4 Before it was sold, ⁵⁵  did it not ⁵⁶  belong to you? And when it was sold, was the money ⁵⁷  not at your disposal? How have you thought up this deed in your heart? ⁵⁸  You have not lied to people ⁵⁹  but to God!”

[74:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 74. The psalmist, who has just experienced the devastation of the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem in 586 b.c., asks God to consider Israel’s sufferings and intervene on behalf of his people. He describes the ruined temple, recalls God’s mighty deeds in the past, begs for mercy, and calls for judgment upon God’s enemies.

[74:1]  ² tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

[74:1]  ³ sn The psalmist does not really believe God has permanently rejected his people or he would not pray as he does in this psalm. But this initial question reflects his emotional response to what he sees and is overstated for the sake of emphasis. The severity of divine judgment gives the appearance that God has permanently abandoned his people.

[74:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “smoke.” The picture is that of a fire that continues to smolder.

[74:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “your assembly,” which pictures God’s people as an assembled community.

[74:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “redeemed.” The verb “redeem” casts God in the role of a leader who protects members of his extended family in times of need and crisis (see Ps 19:14).

[74:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “the tribe of your inheritance” (see Jer 10:16; 51:19).

[79:13]  ⁸ tn Or (hyperbolically) “will thank you forever.”

[79:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “to a generation and a generation we will report your praise.” Here “praise” stands by metonymy for the mighty acts that prompt worship. Cf. Ps 9:14.

[95:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “of his hand.”

[95:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “if only you would listen to his voice.” The Hebrew particle אִם (’im, “if”) and following prefixed verbal form here express a wish (cf. Ps 81:8). Note that the apodosis (the “then” clause of the conditional sentence) is suppressed.

[40:9]  ¹² tn The second feminine singular imperatives are addressed to personified Zion/Jerusalem, who is here told to ascend a high hill and proclaim the good news of the Lord’s return to the other towns of Judah. Isa 41:27 and 52:7 speak of a herald sent to Zion, but the masculine singular form מְבַשֵּׂר (mÿvaser) is used in these verses, in contrast to the feminine singular form מְבַשֶּׂרֶת (mÿvaseret) employed in 40:9, where Zion is addressed as a herald.

[40:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “comes as a strong one”; ASV “will come as a mighty one.” The preposition בְּ (bet) here carries the nuance “in the capacity of.” It indicates that the Lord possesses the quality expressed by the noun. See GKC 379 §119.i and HALOT 104 s.v. בְּ.

[40:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “his arm rules for him” (so NIV, NRSV). The Lord’s “arm” symbolizes his military power (see Isa 51:9-10; 63:5).

[40:10]  ¹⁵ tn As the Lord returns to Jerusalem as a victorious warrior, he brings with him the spoils of victory, called here his “reward” and “prize.” These terms might also be translated “wages” and “recompense.” Verse 11 indicates that his rescued people, likened to a flock of sheep, are his reward.

[40:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in his bosom” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV), an expression which reflects closeness and protective care.

[63:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he remembered the days of antiquity, Moses, his people.” The syntax of the statement is unclear. The translation assumes that “his people” is the subject of the verb “remembered.” If original, “Moses” is in apposition to “the days of antiquity,” more precisely identifying the time period referred to. However, the syntactical awkwardness suggests that “Moses” may have been an early marginal note (perhaps identifying “the shepherd of his flock” two lines later) that has worked its way into the text.

[63:11]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew text has a plural form, which if retained and taken as a numerical plural, would probably refer to Moses, Aaron, and the Israelite tribal leaders at the time of the Exodus. Most prefer to emend the form to the singular (רָעָה, ra’ah) and understand this as a reference just to Moses.

[63:11]  ¹⁹ sn See the note at v. 10.

[63:19]  ²⁰ tn Heb “we were from antiquity” (see v. 16). The collocation עוֹלָם + מִן + הָיָה (hayah + min + ’olam) occurs only here.

[63:19]  ²¹ tn Heb “you did not rule them, your name was not called over them.” The expression “the name is called over” indicates ownership; see the note at 4:1. As these two lines stand they are very difficult to interpret. They appear to be stating that the adversaries just mentioned in v. 18 have not been subject to the Lord’s rule in the past, perhaps explaining why they could commit the atrocity described in v. 18b.

[34:30]  ²² sn A promise given to Abraham (Gen 15:7) and his descendants (Gen 15:8; Exod 6:7).

[34:30]  ²³ sn The blessings described in vv. 25-30 are those promised for obedience in Lev 26:4-13.

[34:31]  ²⁴ tn Heb, “the sheep of my pasture, you are human.” See 36:37-38 for a similar expression. The possessive pronoun “my” is supplied in the translation to balance “I am your God” in the next clause.

[10:14]  ²⁵ tn Grk “And I.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[10:14]  ²⁶ tn The direct object is frequently omitted in Greek and must be supplied from the context. Here it could be “sheep,” but Jesus was ultimately talking about “people.”

[10:15]  ²⁷ tn Or “I die willingly.”

[10:15]  ²⁸ tn Or “on behalf of” or “for the sake of.”

[10:16]  ²⁹ tn Grk “And I have.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[10:16]  ³⁰ tn Or “that do not belong to”; Grk “that are not of.”

[10:16]  ³¹ sn The statement I have other sheep that do not come from this sheepfold almost certainly refers to Gentiles. Jesus has sheep in the fold who are Jewish; there are other sheep which, while not of the same fold, belong to him also. This recalls the mission of the Son in 3:16-17, which was to save the world – not just the nation of Israel. Such an emphasis would be particularly appropriate to the author if he were writing to a non-Palestinian and primarily non-Jewish audience.

[10:16]  ³² tn Grk “they will hear my voice.”

[10:16]  ³³ tn Grk “voice, and.”

[10:16]  ³⁴ tn The word “and” is not in the Greek text, but must be supplied to conform to English style. In Greek it is an instance of asyndeton (omission of a connective), usually somewhat emphatic.

[10:28]  ³⁵ tn Grk “And I give.”

[10:28]  ³⁶ tn Or “will never die” or “will never be lost.”

[10:28]  ³⁷ tn Or “no one will seize.”

[20:28]  ³⁸ tn Or “Be on your guard for” (cf. v. 29). Paul completed his responsibility to the Ephesians with this warning.

[20:28]  ³⁹ tn Grk “in which.”

[20:28]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “guardians.” BDAG 379-80 s.v. ἐπίσκοπος 2 states, “The term was taken over in Christian communities in ref. to one who served as overseer or supervisor, with special interest in guarding the apostolic tradition…Ac 20:28.” This functional term describes the role of the elders (see v. 17). They were to guard and shepherd the congregation.

[20:28]  ⁴¹ tc The reading “of God” (τοῦ θεοῦ, tou qeou) is found in א B 614 1175 1505 al vg sy; other witnesses have “of the Lord” (τοῦ κυρίου, tou kuriou) here (so Ì⁷⁴ A C* D E Ψ 33 1739 al co), while the majority of the later minuscule mss conflate these two into “of the Lord and God” (τοῦ κυρίου καὶ [τοῦ] θεοῦ, tou kuriou kai [tou] qeou). Although the evidence is evenly balanced between the first two readings, τοῦ θεοῦ is decidedly superior on internal grounds. The final prepositional phrase of this verse, διὰ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ ἰδίου (dia tou {aimato" tou idiou), could be rendered “through his own blood” or “through the blood of his own.” In the latter translation, the object that “own” modifies must be supplied (see tn below for discussion). But this would not be entirely clear to scribes; those who supposed that ἰδίου modified αἵματος would be prone to alter “God” to “Lord” to avoid the inference that God had blood. In a similar way, later scribes would be prone to conflate the two titles, thereby affirming the deity (with the construction τοῦ κυρίου καὶ θεοῦ following the Granville Sharp rule and referring to a single person [see ExSyn 272, 276-77, 290]) and substitutionary atonement of Christ. For these reasons, τοῦ θεοῦ best explains the rise of the other readings and should be considered authentic.

[20:28]  ⁴² tn Or “acquired.”

[20:28]  ⁴³ tn Or “with his own blood”; Grk “with the blood of his own.” The genitive construction could be taken in two ways: (1) as an attributive genitive (second attributive position) meaning “his own blood”; or (2) as a possessive genitive, “with the blood of his own.” In this case the referent is the Son, and the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. See further C. F. DeVine, “The Blood of God,” CBQ 9 (1947): 381-408.

[20:29]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “after my departure.”

[20:29]  ⁴⁵ tn That is, people like fierce wolves. See BDAG 167-68 s.v. βαρύς 4 on the term translated “fierce.” The battle that will follow would be a savage one.

[20:1]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “exhorting.”

[20:1]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “and taking leave of them.”

[20:1]  ⁴⁸ sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.

[2:9]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “Asia”; in the NT this always refers to the Roman province of Asia, made up of about one-third of the west and southwest end of modern Asia Minor. Asia lay to the west of the region of Phrygia and Galatia. The words “the province of” are supplied to indicate to the modern reader that this does not refer to the continent of Asia.

[2:25]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “always before me.”

[5:2]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “And he.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[5:2]  ⁵² tn The participle ἐνέγκας (enenka") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[5:3]  ⁵³ sn This is a good example of the Greek verb fill (πληρόω, plhrow) meaning “to exercise control over someone’s thought and action” (cf. Eph 5:18).

[5:3]  ⁵⁴ tn The words “from the sale of” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to clarify the meaning, since the phrase “proceeds from the land” could possibly be understood as crops rather than money from the sale.

[5:4]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “Remaining to you.”

[5:4]  ⁵⁶ tn The negative interrogative particle οὐχί (ouci) expects a positive reply to this question and the following one (“And when it was sold, was it not at your disposal?”).

[5:4]  ⁵⁷ tn Grk “it”; the referent of the pronoun (the money generated from the sale of the land) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:4]  ⁵⁸ tn Grk “How is it that you have [or Why have you] placed this deed in your heart?” Both of these literal translations differ from the normal way of expressing the thought in English.

[5:4]  ⁵⁹ tn Grk “to men.” If Peter’s remark refers only to the apostles, the translation “to men” would be appropriate. But if (as is likely) the action was taken to impress the entire congregation (who would presumably have witnessed the donation or been aware of it) then the more general “to people” is more appropriate, since the audience would have included both men and women.