Pengkhotbah 8:12

8:12 Even though a sinner might commit a hundred crimes ¹  and still live a long time, ² 

yet I know that it will go well with God-fearing people ³  – for they stand in fear ⁴  before him.

Pengkhotbah 12:13

12:13 Having heard everything, I have reached this conclusion: ⁵ 

Fear God and keep his commandments,

because this is the whole duty ⁶  of man.

Mazmur 25:12-14

25:12 The Lord shows his faithful followers

the way they should live. ⁷ 

25:13 They experience his favor; ⁸ 

their descendants ⁹  inherit the land. ¹⁰ 

25:14 The Lord’s loyal followers receive his guidance, ¹¹ 

and he reveals his covenantal demands to them. ¹² 

Mazmur 145:19-20

145:19 He satisfies the desire ¹³  of his loyal followers; ¹⁴ 

he hears their cry for help and delivers them.

145:20 The Lord protects those who love him,

but he destroys all the wicked.

Yeremia 32:40

32:40 I will make a lasting covenant ¹⁵  with them that I will never stop doing good to them. ¹⁶  I will fill their hearts and minds with respect for me so that ¹⁷  they will never again turn ¹⁸  away from me.

Maleakhi 4:2

4:2 But for you who respect my name, the sun of vindication ¹⁹  will rise with healing wings, ²⁰  and you will skip about ²¹  like calves released from the stall.

Lukas 1:50

1:50 from ²²  generation to generation he is merciful ²³  to those who fear ²⁴  him.

[8:12]  ¹ tn Heb “does evil one hundred [times].”

[8:12]  ² tn Heb “and prolongs his [life].”

[8:12]  ³ tn Heb “those who fear God.”

[8:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “they fear.”

[12:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “The end of the matter, everything having been heard.”

[12:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “This is all men”; or “This is the whole of man.” The phrase זֶה כָּל־הָאָדָם (zeh kol-ha’adam, “this is all men”) features rhetorical elision of a key word. The ambiguity over the elided word has led to no less than five basic approaches: (1) “this is the whole duty of man” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NAB, NIV); (2) “this is the duty of all men” (MLB, ASV margin, RSV margin); (3) “this applies to all men” (NASB, NJPS); (4) “this is the whole duty of all men” (NRSV, Moffatt); and (5) “there is no more to man than this” (NEB). The four-fold repetition of כֹּל (kol, “all”) in 12:13-14 suggests that Qoheleth is emphasizing the “bottom line,” that is, the basic duty of man is simply to fear and obey God: After “all” (כֹּל) has been heard in the book, his conclusion is that the “whole” (כֹּל) duty of man is to obey God because God will bring “all” (כֹּל) acts into judgment, including “all” (כֹּל) that is hidden, whether good or bad. See D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 3:596.

[25:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “Who is this man, the one who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.” The singular (note “man”) is representative here (see v. 14, where the plural is used), and has thus been translated as a plural (“followers…they”).

[25:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “his life in goodness dwells.” The singular is representative (see v. 14).

[25:13]  ⁹ tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[25:13]  ¹⁰ tn Or “earth.”

[25:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the advice of the Lord belongs to those who fear him.”

[25:14]  ¹² tn Heb “and his covenant, to make them know.”

[145:19]  ¹³ tn In this context “desire” refers to the followers’ desire to be delivered from wicked enemies.

[145:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the desire of those who fear him, he does.”

[32:40]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “an everlasting covenant.” For the rationale for the rendering “agreement” and the nature of the biblical covenants see the study note on 11:2.

[32:40]  sn For other references to the lasting (or everlasting) nature of the new covenant see Isa 55:3; 61:8; Jer 50:5; Ezek 16:60; 37:26. The new covenant appears to be similar to the ancient Near Eastern covenants of grants whereby a great king gave a loyal vassal a grant of land or dynastic dominion over a realm in perpetuity in recognition of past loyalty. The right to such was perpetual as long as the great king exercised dominion, but the actual enjoyment could be forfeited by individual members of the vassal’s dynasty. The best example of such an covenant in the OT is the Davidic covenant where the dynasty was given perpetual right to rule over Israel. Individual kings might be disciplined and their right to enjoy dominion taken away, but the dynasty still maintained the right to rule (see 2 Sam 23:5; Ps 89:26-37 and note especially 1 Kgs 11:23-39). The new covenant appears to be the renewal of God’s promise to Abraham to always be the God of his descendants and for his descendants to be his special people (Gen 17:7) something they appear to have forfeited by their disobedience (see Hos 1:9). However, under the new covenant he promises to never stop doing them good and grants them a new heart, a new spirit, the infusion of his own spirit, and the love and reverence necessary to keep from turning away from him. The new covenant is not based on their past loyalty but on his gracious forgiveness and his gifts.

[32:40]  ¹⁶ tn Or “stop being gracious to them” or “stop blessing them with good”; Heb “turn back from them to do good to them.”

[32:40]  ¹⁷ tn Or “I will make them want to fear and respect me so much that”; Heb “I will put the fear of me in their hearts.” However, as has been noted several times, “heart” in Hebrew is more the center of the volition (and intellect) than the center of emotions as it is in English. Both translations are intended to reflect the difference in psychology.

[32:40]  ¹⁸ tn The words “never again” are not in the text but are implicit from the context and are supplied not only by this translation but by a number of others.

[4:2]  ¹⁹ tn Here the Hebrew word צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah), usually translated “righteousness” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT; cf. NAB “justice”), has been rendered as “vindication” because it is the vindication of God’s people that is in view in the context. Cf. BDB 842 s.v. צְדָקָה 6; “righteousness as vindicated, justification, salvation, etc.”

[4:2]  sn The expression the sun of vindication will rise is a metaphorical way of describing the day of the Lord as a time of restoration when God vindicates his people (see 2 Sam 23:4; Isa 30:26; 60:1, 3). Their vindication and restoration will be as obvious and undeniable as the bright light of the rising sun.

[4:2]  ²⁰ sn The point of the metaphor of healing wings is unclear. The sun seems to be compared to a bird. Perhaps the sun’s “wings” are its warm rays. “Healing” may refer to a reversal of the injury done by evildoers (see Mal 3:5).

[4:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “you will go out and skip about.”

[1:50]  ²² tn Grk “and from.” Here καί (kai) has been translated by a semicolon to improve the English style.

[1:50]  ²³ sn God’s mercy refers to his “loyal love” or “steadfast love,” expressed in faithful actions, as the rest of the psalm illustrates.

[1:50]  ²⁴ tn That is, “who revere.” This refers to those who show God a reverential respect for his sovereignty.