Psalms 84:11

84:11 For the Lord God is our sovereign protector. ¹ 

The Lord bestows favor ²  and honor;

he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity. ³ 

Micah 6:8

6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good,

and what the Lord really wants from you: ⁴ 

He wants you to ⁵  promote ⁶  justice, to be faithful, ⁷ 

and to live obediently before ⁸  your God.

Micah 6:1

The Lord Demands Justice, not Ritual

6:1 Listen to what the Lord says:

“Get up! Defend yourself ⁹  before the mountains! ¹⁰ 

Present your case before the hills!” ¹¹ 

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ¹²  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Ephesians 1:3

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

1:3 Blessed ¹³  is ¹⁴  the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed ¹⁵  us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ.

James 1:17

1:17 All generous giving and every perfect gift ¹⁶  is from above, coming down ¹⁷  from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change. ¹⁸ 

[84:11]  ¹ tn Heb “[is] a sun and a shield.” The epithet “sun,” though rarely used of Israel’s God in the OT, was a well-attested royal title in the ancient Near East. For several examples from Ugaritic texts, the Amarna letters, and Assyrian royal inscriptions, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 131, n. 2.

[84:11]  ² tn Or “grace.”

[84:11]  ³ tn Heb “he does not withhold good to those walking in integrity.”

[6:8]  ⁴ sn What the Lord really wants from you. Now the prophet switches roles and answers the hypothetical worshiper’s question. He makes it clear that the Lord desires proper attitudes more than ritual and sacrifice.

[6:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “except.” This statement is actually linked with what precedes, “What does he want from you except….”

[6:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “to do,” in the sense of “promote.”

[6:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “to love faithfulness.”

[6:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “to walk humbly [or perhaps, “carefully”] with.”

[6:1]  ⁹ tn Or “plead your case” (NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “present your plea”; NLT “state your case.”

[6:1]  ¹⁰ sn As in some ancient Near Eastern treaties, the mountains are personified as legal witnesses that will settle the dispute between God and Israel.

[6:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “let the hills hear your voice.”

[1:1]  ¹² tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:3]  ¹³ sn Eph 1:3-14 comprises one long sentence in Greek, with three major sections. Each section ends with a note of praise for God (vv. 6, 12, 14), focusing on a different member of the Trinity. After an opening summary of all the saints’ spiritual blessings (v. 3), the first section (vv. 4-6) offers up praise that the Father has chosen us in eternity past; the second section (vv. 7-12) offers up praise that the Son has redeemed us in the historical past (i.e., at the cross); the third section (vv. 13-14) offers up praise that the Holy Spirit has sealed us in our personal past, at the point of conversion.

[1:3]  ¹⁴ tn There is no verb in the Greek text; either the optative (“be”) or the indicative (“is”) can be supplied. The meaning of the term εὐλογητός (euloghtos), the author’s intention at this point in the epistle, and the literary genre of this material must all come into play to determine which is the preferred nuance. εὐλογητός as an adjective can mean either that one is praised or that one is blessed, that is, in a place of favor and benefit. The meaning “blessed” would be more naturally paired with an indicative verb here and would suggest that blessedness is an intrinsic part of God’s character. The meaning “praised” would be more naturally paired with an optative verb here and would suggest that God ought to be praised. Pauline style in the epistles generally moves from statements to obligations, expressing the reality first and then the believer’s necessary response, which would favor the indicative. However, many scholars regard Eph 1:3-14 as a berakah psalm (cf. A. T. Lincoln, Ephesians [WBC], 10-11). Rooted in the OT and Jewish worship, berakah psalms were songs of praise in which the worshiper gave praise to God; this would favor the optative (although not all scholars are agreed on this genre classification here; see H. W. Hoehner, Ephesians, 153-59, for discussion and an alternate conclusion). When considered as a whole, although a decision is difficult, the indicative seems to fit all the factors better. The author seems to be pointing to who God is and what he has done for believers in this section; the indicative more naturally fits that emphasis. Cf. also 2 Cor 1:3; 1 Pet 1:3.

[1:3]  ¹⁵ tn Or “enriched,” “conferred blessing.”

[1:17]  ¹⁶ tn The first phrase refers to the action of giving and the second to what is given.

[1:17]  ¹⁷ tn Or “All generous giving and every perfect gift from above is coming down.”

[1:17]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “variation or shadow of turning” (referring to the motions of heavenly bodies causing variations of light and darkness).