Ulangan 5:33

5:33 Walk just as he ¹  has commanded you so that you may live, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long ²  in the land you are going to possess.

Yosua 22:5

22:5 But carefully obey the commands and instructions Moses the Lord’s servant gave you. Love ³  the Lord your God, follow all his instructions, ⁴  obey ⁵  his commands, be loyal to him, ⁶  and serve him with all your heart and being!” ⁷ 

Mazmur 81:13

81:13 If only my people would obey me! ⁸ 

If only Israel would keep my commands! ⁹ 

Yehezkiel 11:20

11:20 so that they may follow my statutes and observe my regulations and carry them out. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God. ¹⁰ 

Titus 2:11-12

2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people. ¹¹  2:12 It trains us ¹²  to reject godless ways ¹³  and worldly desires and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

Titus 2:1

Conduct Consistent with Sound Teaching

2:1 But as for you, communicate the behavior that goes with ¹⁴  sound teaching.

Pengkhotbah 1:15-16

1:15 What is bent ¹⁵  cannot be straightened, ¹⁶ 

and what is missing ¹⁷  cannot be supplied. ¹⁸ 

Futility of Secular Wisdom

1:16 I thought to myself, ¹⁹ 

“I have become much wiser ²⁰  than any of my predecessors who ruled ²¹  over Jerusalem; ²² 

I ²³  have acquired much wisdom and knowledge.” ²⁴ 

[5:33]  ¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[5:33]  ² tn Heb “may prolong your days”; NAB “may have long life”; TEV “will continue to live.”

[22:5]  ³ tn Heb “But be very careful to do the commandment and the law which Moses, the Lord’s servant, commanded you, to love.”

[22:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “walk in all his paths.”

[22:5]  ⁵ tn Or “keep.”

[22:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “hug him.”

[22:5]  ⁷ tn Or “soul.”

[81:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “if only my people were listening to me.” The Hebrew particle לוּ (lu, “if not”) introduces a purely hypothetical or contrary to fact condition (see 2 Sam 18:12).

[81:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “[and if only] Israel would walk in my ways.”

[11:20]  ¹⁰ sn The expression They will be my people, and I will be their God occurs as a promise to Abraham (Gen 17:8), Moses (Exod 6:7), and the nation (Exod 29:45).

[2:11]  ¹¹ tn Grk “all men”; but ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpois) is generic here, referring to both men and women.

[2:12]  ¹² tn Grk “training us” (as a continuation of the previous clause). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 12 by translating the participle παιδεύουσα (paideuousa) as a finite verb and supplying the pronoun “it” as subject.

[2:12]  ¹³ tn Grk “ungodliness.”

[2:1]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “say what is fitting for sound teaching” (introducing the behavior called for in this chapter.).

[1:15]  ¹⁵ tn The term מְעֻוָּת, mÿ’uvvat (Pual participle masculine singular from עָוַת, ’avat, “to bend”) is used substantively (“what is bent; what is crooked”) in reference to irregularities in life and obstacles to human secular achievement accomplishing anything of ultimate value.

[1:15]  ¹⁶ tn A parallel statement occurs in 7:13 which employs the active form of עָוַת, (’avat, “to bend”) with God as the subject: “Who is able to strengthen what God bends?” The passive form occurs here: “No one is able to straighten what is bent” (מְעֻוָּת לֹא־יוּכַל לֹתְקֹן, mÿ’uvvat lo’-yukhal lotÿqon). In the light of 7:13, the personal agent of the passive form is God.

[1:15]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew noun חֶסְרוֹן (khesron) is used in the OT only here and means “what is lacking” (as an antonym to יִתְרוֹן [yitron], “what is profitable”; HALOT 339 s.v. חֶסְרוֹן; BDB 341 s.v. חֶסְרוֹן). It is an Aramaic loanword meaning “deficit.” The related verb חָסַר (khasar) means “to lack, to be in need of, to decrease, to lessen [in number]”; the related noun חֹסֶר (khoser) refers to “one in want of”; and the noun חֶסֶר (kheser) means “poverty, want” (HALOT 338 s.v. חֶסֶר; BDB 341 s.v. חֶסֶר). It refers to what is absent (zero in terms of quantity) rather than what is deficient (poor in terms of quality). The LXX misunderstood the term and rendered it as ὑστέρημα (usterhma, “deficiency”): “deficiency cannot be numbered.” It is also misunderstood by a few English versions: “nor can you count up the defects in life” (Moffatt); “the number of fools is infinite” (Douay). However, most English versions correctly understand it as referring to what is lacking in terms of quantity: “what is lacking” (RSV, MLB, NASB, NIV, NRSV), “a lack” (NJPS), “that which is wanting” (KJV, ASV), “what is not there” (NEB), and “what is missing” (NAB).

[1:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “cannot be counted” or “cannot be numbered.” The term הִמָּנוֹת (himmanot, Niphal infinitive construct from מָנָה, manah, “to count”) is rendered literally by most translations: “[cannot] be counted” or “[cannot] be numbered” (KJV, ASV, RSV, MLB, NEB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, JPS, NJPS). However, the nuance “count” might function as a metonymy of effect for cause, that is, “to supply.” What is absent cannot be supplied (cause) therefore, it cannot be counted as present (effect). NAB adopts this approach: “what is missing cannot be supplied.”

[1:16]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “I spoke, I, with my heart.”

[1:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “I, look, I have made great and increased wisdom.” The expression הִגְדַּלְתִּי וְהוֹסַפְתִּי (higdalti vÿhosafti) is a verbal hendiadys; it means that Qoheleth had become the wisest man in the history of Jerusalem.

[1:16]  ²¹ tn The phrase “who ruled” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:16]  ²² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:16]  ²³ tn Heb “my heart” (לִבִּי, libbi). The term “heart” is a metonymy of part for the whole (“my heart” = myself).

[1:16]  ²⁴ tn Heb “My heart has seen much wisdom and knowledge.”