Psalms 74:19

74:19 Do not hand the life of your dove ¹  over to a wild animal!

Do not continue to disregard ²  the lives of your oppressed people!

Psalms 105:37

105:37 He brought his people ³  out enriched ⁴  with silver and gold;

none of his tribes stumbled.

Psalms 149:4

149:4 For the Lord takes delight in his people;

he exalts the oppressed by delivering them. ⁵ 

Psalms 149:1

Psalm 149 ⁶ 

149:1 Praise the Lord!

Sing to the Lord a new song!

Praise him in the assembly of the godly! ⁷ 

Psalms 4:1

Psalm 4 ⁸ 

For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a psalm of David.

4:1 When I call out, answer me,

O God who vindicates me! ⁹ 

Though I am hemmed in, you will lead me into a wide, open place. ¹⁰ 

Have mercy on me ¹¹  and respond to ¹²  my prayer!

Psalms 4:1

Psalm 4 ¹³ 

For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a psalm of David.

4:1 When I call out, answer me,

O God who vindicates me! ¹⁴ 

Though I am hemmed in, you will lead me into a wide, open place. ¹⁵ 

Have mercy on me ¹⁶  and respond to ¹⁷  my prayer!

Ezekiel 16:6-14

16:6 “‘I passed by you and saw you kicking around helplessly in your blood. I said to you as you lay there in your blood, “Live!” I said to you as you lay there in your blood, “Live!” ¹⁸  16:7 I made you plentiful like sprouts in a field; you grew tall and came of age so that you could wear jewelry. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, but you were still naked and bare.

16:8 “‘Then I passed by you and watched you, noticing ¹⁹  that you had reached the age for love. ²⁰  I spread my cloak ²¹  over you and covered your nakedness. I swore a solemn oath to you and entered into a marriage covenant with you, declares the sovereign Lord, and you became mine.

16:9 “‘Then I bathed you in water, washed the blood off you, and anointed you with fragrant oil. 16:10 I dressed you in embroidered clothing and put fine leather sandals on your feet. I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 16:11 I adorned you with jewelry. I put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. 16:12 I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 16:13 You were adorned with gold and silver, while your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidery. You ate the finest flour, honey, and olive oil. You became extremely beautiful and attained the position of royalty. 16:14 Your fame ²²  spread among the nations because of your beauty; your beauty was perfect because of the splendor which I bestowed on you, declares the sovereign Lord. ²³ 

Luke 15:16

15:16 He ²⁴  was longing to eat ²⁵  the carob pods ²⁶  the pigs were eating, but ²⁷  no one gave him anything.

Luke 15:22

15:22 But the father said to his slaves, ²⁸  ‘Hurry! Bring the best robe, ²⁹  and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger ³⁰  and sandals ³¹  on his feet!

Ephesians 5:26-27

5:26 to sanctify her by cleansing her ³²  with the washing of the water by the word, 5:27 so that he ³³  may present the church to himself as glorious – not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. ³⁴ 

Revelation 1:5-6

1:5 and from Jesus Christ – the faithful ³⁵  witness, ³⁶  the firstborn from among the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and has set us free ³⁷  from our sins at the cost of ³⁸  his own blood 1:6 and has appointed ³⁹  us as a kingdom, ⁴⁰  as priests ⁴¹  serving his God and Father – to him be the glory and the power for ever and ever! ⁴²  Amen.

[74:19]  ¹ sn Your dove. The psalmist compares weak and vulnerable Israel to a helpless dove.

[74:19]  ² tn Heb “do not forget forever.”

[105:37]  ³ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the Lord’s people) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[105:37]  ⁴ tn The word “enriched” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[149:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “he honors the oppressed [with] deliverance.”

[149:1]  ⁷ sn Psalm 149. The psalmist calls upon God’s people to praise him because he is just and avenges them.

[149:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “his praise in the assembly of the godly ones.”

[4:1]  ⁹ sn Psalm 4. The psalmist asks God to hear his prayer, expresses his confidence that the Lord will intervene, and urges his enemies to change their ways and place their trust in God. He concludes with another prayer for divine intervention and again affirms his absolute confidence in God’s protection.

[4:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “God of my righteousness.”

[4:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in distress (or “a narrow place”) you make (a place) large for me.” The function of the Hebrew perfect verbal form here is uncertain. The translation above assumes that the psalmist is expressing his certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer, he can describe God’s deliverance as if it had already happened. Such confidence is consistent with the mood of the psalm (vv. 3, 8). Another option is to take the perfects as precative, expressing a wish or request (“lead me”). See IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4c, d. However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.

[4:1]  ¹² tn Or “show me favor.”

[4:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “hear.”

[4:1]  ¹¹ sn Psalm 4. The psalmist asks God to hear his prayer, expresses his confidence that the Lord will intervene, and urges his enemies to change their ways and place their trust in God. He concludes with another prayer for divine intervention and again affirms his absolute confidence in God’s protection.

[4:1]  ¹² tn Heb “God of my righteousness.”

[4:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “in distress (or “a narrow place”) you make (a place) large for me.” The function of the Hebrew perfect verbal form here is uncertain. The translation above assumes that the psalmist is expressing his certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer, he can describe God’s deliverance as if it had already happened. Such confidence is consistent with the mood of the psalm (vv. 3, 8). Another option is to take the perfects as precative, expressing a wish or request (“lead me”). See IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4c, d. However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.

[4:1]  ¹⁴ tn Or “show me favor.”

[4:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “hear.”

[16:6]  ¹³ tc The translation reflects the Hebrew text, which repeats the statement, perhaps for emphasis. However, a few medieval Hebrew manuscripts, the Old Greek, and the Syriac do not include the repetition. The statement could have been accidentally repeated or the second occurrence could have been accidentally omitted. Based on the available evidence it is difficult to know which is more likely.

[16:8]  ¹⁵ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a participle.

[16:8]  ¹⁶ tn See similar use of this term in Ezek 23:17; Prov 7:16; Song of Songs 4:10; 7:13.

[16:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “wing” or “skirt.” The gesture symbolized acquiring a woman in early Arabia (similarly, see Deut 22:30; Ruth 3:9).

[16:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “name.”

[16:14]  ¹⁸ sn The description of the nation Israel in vv. 10-14 recalls the splendor of the nation’s golden age under King Solomon.

[15:16]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[15:16]  ²⁰ tn Or “would gladly have eaten”; Grk “was longing to be filled with.”

[15:16]  ²¹ tn This term refers to the edible pods from a carob tree (BDAG 540 s.v. κεράτιον). They were bean-like in nature and were commonly used for fattening pigs, although they were also used for food by poor people (L&N 3.46).

[15:16]  ²² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[15:22]  ²¹ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 7:2.

[15:22]  ²² sn With the instructions Hurry! Bring the best robe, there is a total acceptance of the younger son back into the home.

[15:22]  ²³ tn Grk “hand”; but χείρ (ceir) can refer to either the whole hand or any relevant part of it (L&N 8.30).

[15:22]  ²⁴ sn The need for sandals underlines the younger son’s previous destitution, because he was barefoot.

[5:26]  ²³ tn The direct object “her” is implied, but not found in the Greek text. It has been supplied in the English translation to clarify the sense of the passage.

[5:27]  ²⁵ tn The use of the pronoun αὐτός (autos) is intensive and focuses attention on Christ as the one who has made the church glorious.

[5:27]  ²⁶ tn Grk “but in order that it may be holy and blameless.”

[1:5]  ²⁷ tn Or “Jesus Christ – the faithful one, the witness…” Some take ὁ πιστός (Jo pistos) as a second substantive in relation to ὁ μάρτυς (Jo martus). In the present translation, however, ὁ πιστός was taken as an adjective in attributive position to ὁ μάρτυς. The idea of martyrdom and faithfulness are intimately connected. See BDAG 820 s.v. πιστός 1.a.α: “ὁ μάρτυς μου ὁ πιστός μου Rv 2:13 (μάρτυς 3); in this ‘book of martyrs’ Christ is ὁ μάρτυς ὁ πιστὸς (καὶ ὁ ἀληθινός) 1:5; 3:14; cp. 19:11 (the combination of ἀληθινός and πιστός in the last two passages is like 3 Macc 2:11). Cp. Rv 17:14.”

[1:5]  ²⁸ sn The Greek term translated witness can mean both “witness” and “martyr.”

[1:5]  ²⁹ tc The reading “set free” (λύσαντι, lusanti) has better ms support (̹⁸ א A C 1611 2050 2329 2351 Ï^A sy) than its rival, λούσαντι (lousanti, “washed”; found in P 1006 1841 1854 2053 2062 Ï^K lat bo). Internally, it seems that the reading “washed” could have arisen in at least one of three ways: (1) as an error of hearing (both “released” and “washed” are pronounced similarly in Greek); (2) an error of sight (both “released” and “washed” look very similar – a difference of only one letter – which could have resulted in a simple error during the copying of a ms); (3) through scribal inability to appreciate that the Hebrew preposition ב can be used with a noun to indicate the price paid for something. Since the author of Revelation is influenced significantly by a Semitic form of Greek (e.g., 13:10), and since the Hebrew preposition “in” (ב) can indicate the price paid for something, and is often translated with the preposition “in” (ἐν, en) in the LXX, the author may have tried to communicate by the use of ἐν the idea of a price paid for something. That is, John was trying to say that Christ delivered us at the price of his own blood. This whole process, however, may have been lost on a later scribe, who being unfamiliar with Hebrew, found the expression “delivered in his blood” too difficult, and noticing the obvious similarities between λύσαντι and λούσαντι, assumed an error and then proceeded to change the text to “washed in his blood” – a thought more tolerable in his mind. Both readings, of course, are true to scripture; the current question is what the author wrote in this verse.

[1:5]  ³⁰ tn The style here is somewhat Semitic, with the use of the ἐν (en) + the dative to mean “at the price of.” The addition of “own” in the English is stylistic and is an attempt to bring out the personal nature of the statement and the sacrificial aspect of Jesus’ death – a frequent refrain in the Apocalypse.

[1:6]  ²⁹ tn The verb ποιέω (poiew) can indicate appointment or assignment rather than simply “make” or “do.” See Mark 3:14 (L&N 37.106).

[1:6]  ³⁰ tn See BDAG 168 s.v. βασιλεία 1.a for the idea of “he made us a kingdom,” which was translated as “he appointed us (to be or function) as a kingdom” (see the note on the word “appointed” earlier in the verse).

[1:6]  ³¹ tn Grk “a kingdom, priests.” The term ἱερεῖς (Jiereis) is either in apposition to βασιλείαν (basileian) or as a second complement to the object “us” (ἡμᾶς, Jhmas). The translation retains this ambiguity.

[1:6]  ³² tc Both the longer reading τῶν αἰώνων (twn aiwnwn, “to the ages of the ages” or, more idiomatically, “for ever and ever”; found in א C Ï) and the shorter (“for ever”; found in ̹⁸ A P 2050 pc bo) have good ms support. The author uses the longer expression (εἰς [τοὺς] αἰῶνας [τῶν] αἰώνων, ei" [tou"] aiwna" [twn] aiwnwn) in every other instance of αἰών in Revelation, twelve passages in all (1:18; 4:9, 10; 5:13; 7:12; 10:6; 11:15; 14:11; 15:7; 19:3; 20:10; 22:5). Thus, on the one hand, the style of the author is consistent, while on the other hand, the scribes may have been familiar with such a stylistic feature, causing them to add the words here. The issues are more complex than can be presented here; the longer reading, however, is probably original (the shorter reading arising from accidental omission of the genitive phrase due to similarity with the preceding words).