1 Samuel 2:2

2:2 No one is holy ¹  like the Lord!

There is no one other than you!

There is no rock ²  like our God!

Mazmur 52:1

Psalm 52 ³ 

For the music director; a well-written song ⁴  by David. It was written when Doeg the Edomite went and informed Saul: “David has arrived at the home of Ahimelech.” ⁵ 

52:1 Why do you boast about your evil plans, ⁶  O powerful man?

God’s loyal love protects me all day long! ⁷ 

Mazmur 145:7-9

145:7 They will talk about the fame of your great kindness, ⁸ 

and sing about your justice. ⁹ 

145:8 The Lord is merciful and compassionate;

he is patient ¹⁰  and demonstrates great loyal love. ¹¹ 

145:9 The Lord is good to all,

and has compassion on all he has made. ¹² 

Yakobus 1:17

1:17 All generous giving and every perfect gift ¹³  is from above, coming down ¹⁴  from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change. ¹⁵ 

Yakobus 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From James, ¹⁶  a slave ¹⁷  of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes dispersed abroad. ¹⁸  Greetings!

Yohanes 4:8-10

4:8 (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies. ¹⁹ ) ²⁰  4:9 So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you – a Jew ²¹  – ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water ²²  to drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common ²³  with Samaritans.) ²⁴ 

4:10 Jesus answered ²⁵  her, “If you had known ²⁶  the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water ²⁷  to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ²⁸ 

Yohanes 4:16

4:16 He ²⁹  said to her, “Go call your husband and come back here.” ³⁰ 

[2:2]  ¹ sn In this context God’s holiness refers primarily to his sovereignty and incomparability. He is unique and distinct from all other so-called gods.

[2:2]  ² tn The LXX has “and there is none righteous like our God.” The Hebrew term translated “rock” refers to a rocky cliff where one can seek refuge from enemies. Here the metaphor depicts God as a protector of his people. Cf. TEV “no protector like our God”; CEV “We’re safer with you than on a high mountain.”

[52:1]  ³ sn Psalm 52. The psalmist confidently confronts his enemy and affirms that God will destroy evildoers and vindicate the godly.

[52:1]  ⁴ 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.

[52:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him, ‘David has come to the house of Ahimelech.’”

[52:1]  sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm during the period when Saul was seeking his life. On one occasion Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s head shepherd (1 Sam 21:7), informed Saul of David’s whereabouts (see 1 Sam 21-22).

[52:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “Why do you boast in evil?”

[52:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “the loyal love of God [is] all the day.” In this context, where the psalmist is threatened by his enemy, the point seems to be that the psalmist is protected by God’s loyal love at all times.

[145:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “the fame of the greatness of your goodness.”

[145:7]  ⁹ tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 7 are understood as imperfects, indicating how the psalmist expects his audience to respond to his praise. Another option is to take the forms as jussives, indicating the psalmist’s wish, “may they talk…and sing.”

[145:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “slow to anger” (see Pss 86:15; 103:8).

[145:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and great of loyal love” (see Pss 86:15; 103:8).

[145:9]  ¹² tn Heb “and his compassion is over all his works.”

[1:17]  ¹³ tn The first phrase refers to the action of giving and the second to what is given.

[1:17]  ¹⁴ tn Or “All generous giving and every perfect gift from above is coming down.”

[1:17]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “variation or shadow of turning” (referring to the motions of heavenly bodies causing variations of light and darkness).

[1:1]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “James.” The word “From” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ¹⁷ tn Traditionally, “servant” or “bondservant.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  sn Undoubtedly the background for the concept of being the Lord’s slave or servant is to be found in the Old Testament scriptures. For a Jew this concept did not connote drudgery, but honor and privilege. It was used of national Israel at times (Isa 43:10), but was especially associated with famous OT personalities, including such great men as Moses (Josh 14:7), David (Ps 89:3; cf. 2 Sam 7:5, 8) and Elijah (2 Kgs 10:10); all these men were “servants (or slaves) of the Lord.”

[1:1]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “to the twelve tribes in the Diaspora.” The Greek term διασπορά (diaspora, “dispersion”) refers to Jews not living in Palestine but “dispersed” or scattered among the Gentiles.

[4:8]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “buy food.”

[4:8]  ²⁰ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author, indicating why Jesus asked the woman for a drink (for presumably his disciples also took the water bucket with them).

[4:9]  ²¹ tn Or “a Judean.” Here BDAG 478 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαίος 2.a states, “Judean (with respect to birth, nationality, or cult).” The same term occurs in the plural later in this verse. In one sense “Judean” would work very well in the translation here, since the contrast is between residents of the two geographical regions. However, since in the context of this chapter the discussion soon becomes a religious rather than a territorial one (cf. vv. 19-26), the translation “Jew” has been retained here and in v. 22.

[4:9]  ²² tn “Water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).

[4:9]  ²³ tn D. Daube (“Jesus and the Samaritan Woman: the Meaning of συγχράομαι [Jn 4:7ff],” JBL 69 [1950]: 137-47) suggests this meaning.

[4:9]  sn The background to the statement use nothing in common is the general assumption among Jews that the Samaritans were ritually impure or unclean. Thus a Jew who used a drinking vessel after a Samaritan had touched it would become ceremonially unclean.

[4:9]  ²⁴ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[4:10]  ²⁵ tn Grk “answered and said to her.”

[4:10]  ²⁶ tn Or “if you knew.”

[4:10]  ²⁷ tn The phrase “some water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).

[4:10]  ²⁸ tn This is a second class conditional sentence in Greek.

[4:10]  sn The word translated living is used in Greek of flowing water, which leads to the woman’s misunderstanding in the following verse. She thought Jesus was referring to some unknown source of drinkable water.

[4:16]  ²⁹ tc Most witnesses have “Jesus” here, either with the article (א^c C² D L W^s Ψ 086 Ï lat) or without (א* A Θ Ë^1,13 al), while several important and early witnesses lack the name (Ì^66,75 B C* 33^vid pc). It is unlikely that scribes would have deliberately expunged the name of Jesus from the text here, especially since it aids the reader with the flow of the dialogue. Further, that the name occurs both anarthrously and with the article suggests that it was a later addition. (For similar arguments, see the tc note on “woman” in 4:11).

[4:16]  ³⁰ tn Grk “come here” (“back” is implied).