Imamat 18:4-5

18:4 You must observe my regulations ¹  and you must be sure to walk in my statutes. ²  I am the Lord your God. 18:5 So you must keep ³  my statutes and my regulations; anyone who does so will live by keeping them. ⁴  I am the Lord.

Ulangan 4:1-2

The Privileges of the Covenant

4:1 Now, Israel, pay attention to the statutes and ordinances ⁵  I am about to teach you, so that you might live and go on to enter and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, ⁶  is giving you. 4:2 Do not add a thing to what I command you nor subtract from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I am delivering to ⁷  you.

Ulangan 4:5-6

4:5 Look! I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the Lord my God told me to do, so that you might carry them out in ⁸  the land you are about to enter and possess. 4:6 So be sure to do them, because this will testify of your wise understanding ⁹  to the people who will learn of all these statutes and say, “Indeed, this great nation is a very wise ¹⁰  people.”

Ulangan 5:1

The Opening Exhortation

5:1 Then Moses called all the people of Israel together and said to them: ¹¹  “Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances that I am about to deliver to you today; learn them and be careful to keep them!

Ulangan 6:1-2

Exhortation to Keep the Covenant Principles

6:1 Now these are the commandments, ¹²  statutes, and ordinances that the Lord your God instructed me to teach you so that you may carry them out in the land where you are headed ¹³  6:2 and that you may so revere the Lord your God that you will keep all his statutes and commandments ¹⁴  that I am giving ¹⁵  you – you, your children, and your grandchildren – all your lives, to prolong your days.

Ulangan 8:1

The Lord’s Provision in the Desert

8:1 You must keep carefully all these commandments ¹⁶  I am giving ¹⁷  you today so that you may live, increase in number, ¹⁸  and go in and occupy the land that the Lord promised to your ancestors. ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 119:4

119:4 You demand that your precepts

be carefully kept. ²⁰ 

Mazmur 119:34

119:34 Give me understanding so that I might observe your law,

and keep it with all my heart. ²¹ 

Mazmur 119:1

Psalm 119 ²² 

א (Alef)

119:1 How blessed are those whose actions are blameless, ²³ 

who obey ²⁴  the law of the Lord.

Yohanes 3:22-23

Further Testimony About Jesus by John the Baptist

3:22 After this, ²⁵  Jesus and his disciples came into Judean territory, and there he spent time with them and was baptizing. 3:23 John ²⁶  was also baptizing at Aenon near Salim, ²⁷  because water was plentiful there, and people were coming ²⁸  to him ²⁹  and being baptized.

[18:4]  ¹ tn Heb “My regulations you shall do”; KJV, NASB “my judgments”; NRSV “My ordinances”; NIV, TEV “my laws.”

[18:4]  sn The Hebrew term translated “regulation” (מִשְׁפָּט, mishpat) refers to the set of regulations about to be set forth in the following chapters (cf. Lev 19:37; 20:22; 25:18; 26:46). Note especially the thematic and formulaic relationships between the introduction here in Lev 18:1-5 and the paraenesis in Lev 20:22-26, both of which refer explicitly to the corrupt nations and the need to separate from them by keeping the Lord’s regulations.

[18:4]  ² tn Heb “and my statutes you shall keep [or “watch; guard”] to walk in them.”

[18:5]  ³ tn Heb “And you shall keep.”

[18:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “which the man shall do them and shall live in them.” The term for “a man, human being; mankind” (אָדָם, ’adam; see the note on Lev 1:2) in this case refers to any person among “mankind,” male or female. The expression וָחַי (vakhay, “and shall live”) looks like the adjective “living” so it is written וְחָיָה (vÿkhayah) in Smr, but the MT form is simply the same verb written as a double ayin verb (see HALOT 309 s.v. חיה qal and GKC 218 §76.i; cf. Lev 25:35).

[4:1]  ⁵ tn These technical Hebrew terms (חֻקִּים [khuqqim] and מִשְׁפָּטִים [mishpatim]) occur repeatedly throughout the Book of Deuteronomy to describe the covenant stipulations to which Israel had been called to subscribe (see, in this chapter alone, vv. 1, 5, 6, 8). The word חֻקִּים derives from the verb חֹק (khoq, “to inscribe; to carve”) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim) from שָׁפַט (shafat, “to judge”). They are virtually synonymous and are used interchangeably in Deuteronomy.

[4:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 31, 37).

[4:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “commanding.”

[4:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the midst of” (so ASV).

[4:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “it is wisdom and understanding.”

[4:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “wise and understanding.”

[5:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and Moses called to all Israel and he said to them”; NAB, NASB, NIV “Moses summoned (convened NRSV) all Israel.”

[6:1]  ¹² tn Heb “commandment.” The word מִצְוָה (mitsvah) again is in the singular, serving as a comprehensive term for the whole stipulation section of the book. See note on the word “commandments” in 5:31.

[6:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “where you are going over to possess it” (so NASB); NRSV “that you are about to cross into and occupy.”

[6:2]  ¹⁴ tn Here the terms are not the usual חֻקִּים (khuqqim) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim; as in v. 1) but חֻקֹּת (khuqqot, “statutes”) and מִצְוֹת (mitsot, “commandments”). It is clear that these terms are used interchangeably and that their technical precision ought not be overly stressed.

[6:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “commanding.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation.

[8:1]  ¹⁶ tn The singular term (מִצְוָה, mitsvah) includes the whole corpus of covenant stipulations, certainly the book of Deuteronomy at least (cf. Deut 5:28; 6:1, 25; 7:11; 11:8, 22; 15:5; 17:20; 19:9; 27:1; 30:11; 31:5). The plural (מִצְוֹת, mitsot) refers to individual stipulations (as in vv. 2, 6).

[8:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation (likewise in v. 11).

[8:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “multiply” (so KJV, NASB, NLT); NIV, NRSV “increase.”

[8:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 16, 18).

[119:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “you, you commanded your precepts, to keep, very much.”

[119:34]  ²¹ tn The two prefixed verbal forms with vav (ו) conjunctive indicate purpose/result after the introductory imperative.

[119:1]  ²² sn Psalm 119. The psalmist celebrates God’s law and the guidance it provides his people. He expresses his desire to know God’s law thoroughly so that he might experience the blessings that come to those who obey it. This lengthy psalm exhibits an elaborate acrostic pattern. The psalm is divided into twenty-two sections (corresponding to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet), each of which is comprised of eight verses. Each of the verses in the first section (vv. 1-8) begins with the letter alef (א), the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This pattern continues throughout the psalm as each new section highlights a successive letter of the alphabet. Each verse in section two (vv. 9-16) begins with the second letter of the alphabet, each verse in section three (vv. 17-24) with the third letter, etc. This rigid pattern creates a sense of order and completeness and may have facilitated memorization.

[119:1]  ²³ tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness of those who are blameless of way.”

[119:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “walk in.”

[3:22]  ²⁵ tn This section is related loosely to the preceding by μετὰ ταῦτα (meta tauta). This constitutes an indefinite temporal reference; the intervening time is not specified.

[3:23]  ²⁶ sn John refers to John the Baptist.

[3:23]  ²⁷ tn The precise locations of Αἰνών (Ainwn) and Σαλείμ (Saleim) are unknown. Three possibilities are suggested: (1) In Perea, which is in Transjordan (cf. 1:28). Perea is just across the river from Judea. (2) In the northern Jordan Valley, on the west bank some 8 miles [13 km] south of Scythopolis. But with the Jordan River so close, the reference to abundant water (3:23) seems superfluous. (3) Thus Samaria has been suggested. 4 miles (6.6 km) east of Shechem is a town called Salim, and 8 miles (13 km) northeast of Salim lies modern Ainun. In the general vicinity are many springs. Because of the meanings of the names (Αἰνών = “springs” in Aramaic and Σαλείμ = Salem, “peace”) some have attempted to allegorize here that John the Baptist is near salvation. Obviously there is no need for this. It is far more probable that the author has in mind real places, even if their locations cannot be determined with certainty.

[3:23]  ²⁸ tn Or “people were continually coming.”

[3:23]  ²⁹ tn The words “to him” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.