Keluaran 15:26

15:26 He said, “If you will diligently obey ¹  the Lord your God, and do what is right ²  in his sight, and pay attention ³  to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, then all ⁴  the diseases ⁵  that I brought on the Egyptians I will not bring on you, for I, the Lord, am your healer.” ⁶ 

Ulangan 4:1-2

The Privileges of the Covenant

4:1 Now, Israel, pay attention to the statutes and ordinances ⁷  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, ⁸  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 ⁹  you.

Ulangan 4:6

4:6 So be sure to do them, because this will testify of your wise understanding ¹⁰  to the people who will learn of all these statutes and say, “Indeed, this great nation is a very wise ¹¹  people.”

Ulangan 4:9

Reminder of the Horeb Covenant

4:9 Again, however, pay very careful attention, ¹²  lest you forget the things you have seen and disregard them for the rest of your life; instead teach them to your children and grandchildren.

Ulangan 6:6-9

Exhortation to Teach the Covenant Principles

6:6 These words I am commanding you today must be kept in mind, 6:7 and you must teach ¹³  them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, ¹⁴  as you lie down, and as you get up. 6:8 You should tie them as a reminder on your forearm ¹⁵  and fasten them as symbols ¹⁶  on your forehead. 6:9 Inscribe them on the doorframes of your houses and gates. ¹⁷ 

Ulangan 6:17

6:17 Keep his ¹⁸  commandments very carefully, ¹⁹  as well as the stipulations and statutes he commanded you to observe.

Ulangan 11:22

11:22 For if you carefully observe all of these commandments ²⁰  I am giving you ²¹  and love the Lord your God, live according to his standards, ²²  and remain loyal to him,

Ulangan 11:1

Reiteration of the Call to Obedience

11:1 You must love the Lord your God and do what he requires; keep his statutes, ordinances, and commandments ²³  at all times.

Ulangan 28:7-8

28:7 The Lord will cause your enemies who attack ²⁴  you to be struck down before you; they will attack you from one direction ²⁵  but flee from you in seven different directions. 28:8 The Lord will decree blessing for you with respect to your barns and in everything you do – yes, he will bless you in the land he ²⁶  is giving you.

Mazmur 106:3

106:3 How blessed are those who promote justice,

and do what is right all the time!

Mazmur 119:4-6

119:4 You demand that your precepts

be carefully kept. ²⁷ 

119:5 If only I were predisposed ²⁸ 

to keep your statutes!

119:6 Then I would not be ashamed,

if ²⁹  I were focused on ³⁰  all your commands.

Amsal 4:23

4:23 Guard your heart with all vigilance, ³¹ 

for from it are the sources ³²  of life.

Yesaya 55:2

55:2 Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? ³³ 

Why spend ³⁴  your hard-earned money ³⁵  on something that will not satisfy?

Listen carefully ³⁶  to me and eat what is nourishing! ³⁷ 

Enjoy fine food! ³⁸ 

Yeremia 12:16

12:16 But they must make sure you learn to follow the religious practices of my people. ³⁹  Once they taught my people to swear their oaths using the name of the god Baal. ⁴⁰  But then, they must swear oaths using my name, saying, “As surely as the Lord lives, I swear.” ⁴¹  If they do these things, ⁴²  then they will be included among the people I call my own. ⁴³ 

Ibrani 6:11-12

6:11 But we passionately want each of you to demonstrate the same eagerness for the fulfillment of your hope until the end, 6:12 so that you may not be sluggish, ⁴⁴  but imitators of those who through faith and perseverance inherit the promises.

Ibrani 12:15

12:15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no one be like a bitter root springing up ⁴⁵  and causing trouble, and through him many become defiled.

Ibrani 12:2

12:2 keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. ⁴⁶ 

Pengkhotbah 1:5-10

1:5 The sun rises ⁴⁷  and the sun sets; ⁴⁸ 

it hurries away ⁴⁹  to a place from which it rises ⁵⁰  again. ⁵¹ 

1:6 The wind goes to the south and circles around to the north;

round and round ⁵²  the wind goes and on its rounds it returns. ⁵³ 

1:7 All the streams flow ⁵⁴  into the sea, but the sea is not full,

and to the place where the streams flow, there they will flow again. ⁵⁵ 

1:8 All this ⁵⁶  monotony ⁵⁷  is tiresome; no one can bear ⁵⁸  to describe it: ⁵⁹ 

The eye is never satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear ever content ⁶⁰  with hearing.

1:9 What exists now ⁶¹  is what will be, ⁶² 

and what has been done is what will be done;

there is nothing truly new on earth. ⁶³ 

1:10 Is there anything about which someone can say, “Look at this! It is new!”? ⁶⁴ 

It was already ⁶⁵  done long ago, ⁶⁶  before our time. ⁶⁷ 

[15:26]  ¹ tn The construction uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense of שָׁמַע (shama’). The meaning of the verb is idiomatic here because it is followed by “to the voice of Yahweh your God.” When this is present, the verb is translated “obey.” The construction is in a causal clause. It reads, “If you will diligently obey.” Gesenius points out that the infinitive absolute in a conditional clause also emphasizes the importance of the condition on which the consequence depends (GKC 342-43 §113.o).

[15:26]  ² tn The word order is reversed in the text: “and the right in his eyes you do,” or, “[if] you do what is right in his eyes.” The conditional idea in the first clause is continued in this clause.

[15:26]  ³ tn Heb “give ear.” This verb and the next are both perfect tenses with the vav (ו) consecutive; they continue the sequence of the original conditional clause.

[15:26]  ⁴ tn The substantive כָּל־ (kol, “all of”) in a negative clause can be translated “none of.”

[15:26]  ⁵ sn The reference is no doubt to the plagues that Yahweh has just put on them. These will not come on God’s true people. But the interesting thing about a conditional clause like this is that the opposite is also true – “if you do not obey, then I will bring these diseases.”

[15:26]  ⁶ tn The form is רֹפְאֶךָ (rofÿ’ekha), a participle with a pronominal suffix. The word is the predicate after the pronoun “I”: “I [am] your healer.” The suffix is an objective genitive – the Lord heals them.

[15:26]  sn The name I Yahweh am your healer comes as a bit of a surprise. One might expect, “I am Yahweh who heals your water,” but it was the people he came to heal because their faith was weak. God lets Israel know here that he can control the elements of nature to bring about a spiritual response in Israel (see Deut 8).

[4:1]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 31, 37).

[4:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “commanding.”

[4:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “it is wisdom and understanding.”

[4:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “wise and understanding.”

[4:9]  ¹² tn Heb “watch yourself and watch your soul carefully.”

[6:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “repeat” (so NLT). If from the root I שָׁנַן (shanan), the verb means essentially to “engrave,” that is, “to teach incisively” (Piel); note NAB “Drill them into your children.” Cf. BDB 1041-42 s.v.

[6:7]  ¹⁴ tn Or “as you are away on a journey” (cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT); NAB “at home and abroad.”

[6:8]  ¹⁵ sn Tie them as a sign on your forearm. Later Jewish tradition referred to the little leather containers tied to the forearms and foreheads as tefillin. They were to contain the following passages from the Torah: Exod 13:1-10, 11-16; Deut 6:5-9; 11:13-21. The purpose was to serve as a “sign” of covenant relationship and obedience.

[6:8]  ¹⁶ sn Fasten them as symbols on your forehead. These were also known later as tefillin (see previous note) or phylacteries (from the Greek term). These box-like containers, like those on the forearms, held the same scraps of the Torah. It was the hypocritical practice of wearing these without heartfelt sincerity that caused Jesus to speak scathingly about them (cf. Matt 23:5).

[6:9]  ¹⁷ sn The Hebrew term מְזוּזֹת (mÿzuzot) refers both to the door frames and to small cases attached on them containing scripture texts (always Deut 6:4-9 and 11:13-21; and sometimes the decalogue; Exod 13:1-10, 11-16; and Num 10:35-36). See J. H. Tigay, Deuteronomy (JPSTC), 443-44.

[6:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the commandments of the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[6:17]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute before the finite verb to emphasize the statement. The imperfect verbal form is used here with an obligatory nuance that can be captured in English through the imperative. Cf. NASB, NRSV “diligently keep (obey NLT).”

[11:22]  ²⁰ tn Heb “this commandment.” See note at Deut 5:30.

[11:22]  ²¹ tn Heb “commanding you to do it.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation and “to do it” has been left untranslated.

[11:22]  ²² tn Heb “walk in all his ways” (so KJV, NIV); TEV “do everything he commands.”

[11:1]  ²³ tn This collocation of technical terms for elements of the covenant text lends support to its importance and also signals a new section of paraenesis in which Moses will exhort Israel to covenant obedience. The Hebrew term מִשְׁמָרוֹת (mishmarot, “obligations”) sums up the three terms that follow – חֻקֹּת (khuqot), מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishppatim), and מִצְוֹת (mitsot).

[28:7]  ²⁴ tn Heb “who rise up against” (so NIV).

[28:7]  ²⁵ tn Heb “way” (also later in this verse and in v. 25).

[28:8]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” Because English would not typically reintroduce the proper name following a relative pronoun (“he will bless…the Lord your God is giving”), the pronoun (“he”) has been employed here in the translation.

[119:4]  ²⁷ tn Heb “you, you commanded your precepts, to keep, very much.”

[119:5]  ²⁸ tn Heb “if only my ways were established.”

[119:6]  ²⁹ tn Or “when.”

[119:6]  ³⁰ tn Heb “I gaze at.”

[4:23]  ³¹ tn Heb “more than all guarding.” This idiom means “with all vigilance.” The construction uses the preposition מִן (min) to express “above; beyond,” the word “all” and the noun “prison; guard; act of guarding.” The latter is the use here (BDB 1038 s.v. מִשְׁמָר).

[4:23]  ³² sn The word תּוֹצְאוֹת (tots’ot, from יָצָא, yatsa’) means “outgoings; extremities; sources.” It is used here for starting points, like a fountainhead, and so the translation “sources” works well.

[55:2]  ³³ tn Heb “for what is not food.”

[55:2]  ³⁴ tn The interrogative particle and the verb “spend” are understood here by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[55:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “your labor,” which stands by metonymy for that which one earns.

[55:2]  ³⁶ tn The infinitive absolute follows the imperative and lends emphasis to the exhortation.

[55:2]  ³⁷ tn Heb “good” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[55:2]  ³⁸ tn Heb “Let your appetite delight in fine food.”

[55:2]  sn Nourishing, fine food here represents the blessings God freely offers. These include forgiveness, a new covenantal relationship with God, and national prominence (see vv. 3-6).

[12:16]  ³⁹ tn Heb “the ways of my people.” For this nuance of the word “ways” compare 10:2 and the notes there.

[12:16]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “taught my people to swear by Baal.”

[12:16]  ⁴¹ tn The words “I swear” are not in the text but are implicit to the oath formula. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[12:16]  ⁴² tn The words “If they do this” are not in the text. They are part of an attempt to break up a Hebrew sentence which is long and complex into equivalent shorter sentences consistent with contemporary English style. Verse 16 in Hebrew is all one sentence with a long complex conditional clause followed by a short consequence: “If they carefully learn the ways of my people to swear by name, ‘By the life of the Lord,’ as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will be built up in the midst of my people.” The translation strives to create the same contingencies and modifications by breaking up the sentence into shorter sentences in accord with contemporary English style.

[12:16]  ⁴³ tn Heb “they will be built up among my people.” The expression “be built up among” is without parallel. However, what is involved here is conceptually parallel to the ideas expressed in Isa 19:23-25 and Zech 14:16-19. That is, these people will be allowed to live on their own land, to worship the Lord there, and to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts. To translate literally would be meaningless or misleading for many readers.

[6:12]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “dull.”

[12:15]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “that there not be any root of bitterness,” but referring figuratively to a person who causes trouble (as in Deut 29:17 [LXX] from which this is quoted).

[12:15]  sn An allusion to Deut 29:18.

[12:2]  ⁴⁶ sn An allusion to Ps 110:1.

[1:5]  ⁴⁷ tn The Hebrew text has a perfect verbal form, but it should probably be emended to the participial form, which occurs in the last line of the verse. Note as well the use of participles in vv. 4-7 to describe what typically takes place in the natural world. The participle זוֹרֵחַ (zoreakh, “to rise”) emphasizes continual, durative, uninterrupted action (present universal use of participle): the sun is continually rising (and continually setting) day after day.

[1:5]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “the sun goes.” The participle בָּא (ba’, “to go”) emphasizes continual, durative, uninterrupted action (present universal use of participle): the sun is continually rising and continually setting day after day. The repetition of בָּא in 1:4-5 creates a comparison between the relative futility of all human endeavor (“a generation comes and a generation goes [בָּא]”) with the relative futility of the action of the sun (“the sun rises and the sun goes” [i.e., “sets,” בָּא]).

[1:5]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “hastens” or “pants.” The verb שָׁאַף (sha’af) has a three-fold range of meanings: (1) “to gasp; to pant,” (2) “to pant after; to long for,” and (3) “to hasten; to hurry” (HALOT 1375 s.v. שׁאף; BDB 983 s.v. I שָׁאַף). The related Aramaic root שׁוף means “to be thirsty; to be parched.” The Hebrew verb is used of “gasping” for breath, like a woman in the travail of childbirth (Isa 42:14); “panting” with eagerness or desire (Job 5:5; 7:2; 36:20; Ps 119:131; Jer 2:24) or “panting” with fatigue (Jer 14:6; Eccl 1:5). Here שָׁאַף personifies the sun, panting with fatigue, as it hastens to its destination (BDB 983 s.v. I שָׁאַף 1). The participle form depicts continual, uninterrupted, durative action (present universal use). Like the sun, man – for all his efforts – never really changes anything; all he accomplishes in his toil is to wear himself out.

[1:5]  ⁵⁰ tn The verb זוֹרֵחַ (zoreakh, “to rise”) is repeated in this verse to emphasize that the sun is locked into a never changing, ever repeating monotonous cycle: rising, setting, rising, setting.

[1:5]  ⁵¹ tn The word “again” does not appear in Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.

[1:6]  ⁵² tn The Hebrew root סָבַב (savav, “to circle around”) is repeated four times in this verse to depict the wind’s continual motion: “The wind circles around (סוֹבֵב, sovev)…round and round (סוֹבֵב סֹבֵב)…its circuits (סְבִיבֹתָיו, sÿvivotayv).” This repetition is designed for a rhetorical purpose – to emphasize that the wind is locked into a never ending cycle. This vicious circle of monotonous action does not change anything. The participle form is used three times to emphasize continual, uninterrupted action (present universal use of participle). Despite the fact that the wind is always changing direction, nothing really new ever happens. The constant shifting of the wind cannot hide the fact that this is nothing but a repeated cycle; nothing new happens here (e.g., 1:9-10).

[1:6]  ⁵³ tn The use of שָׁב (shav, Qal active participle masculine singular from שׁוּב, shuv, “to return”) creates a wordplay (paronomasia) with the repetition of סָבַב (savav, “to circle around”). The participle emphasizes continual, durative, uninterrupted action (present universal use).

[1:7]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “are going” or “are walking.” The term הֹלְכִים (holÿkhim, Qal active participle masculine plural from הָלַךְ, halakh,“to walk”) emphasizes continual, durative, uninterrupted action (present universal use of participle). This may be an example of personification; this verb is normally used in reference to the human activity of walking. Qoheleth compares the flowing of river waters to the action of walking to draw out the comparison between the actions of man (1:4) and the actions of nature (1:5-11).

[1:7]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “there they are returning to go.” The term שָׁבִים (shavim, Qal active participle masculine plural from שׁוּב, shuv, “to return”) emphasizes the continual, durative action of the waters. The root שׁוּב is repeated in 1:6-7 to emphasize that everything in nature (e.g., wind and water) continually repeats its actions. For all of the repetition of the cycles of nature, nothing changes; all the constant motion produces nothing new.

[1:7]  sn This verse does not refer to the cycle of evaporation or the return of water by underground streams, as sometimes suggested. Rather, it describes the constant flow of river waters to the sea. For all the action of the water – endless repetition and water constantly in motion – there is nothing new accomplished.

[1:8]  ⁵⁶ tn The word “this” is not in Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:8]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “the things.” The Hebrew term דְּבָרִים (dÿvarim, masculine plural noun from דָּבָר, davar) is often used to denote “words,” but it can also refer to actions and events (HALOT 211 s.v. דָּבָר 3.a; BDB 183 s.v. דָּבָר IV.4). Here, it means “things,” as is clear from the context: “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done” (1:9). Here דְּבָרִים can be nuanced “occurrences” or even “[natural] phenomena.”

[1:8]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “is able.”

[1:8]  ⁵⁹ tn The Hebrew text has no stated object. The translation supplies “it” for stylistic reasons and clarification.

[1:8]  sn The statement no one can bear to describe it probably means that Qoheleth could have multiplied examples (beyond the sun, the wind, and the streams) of the endless cycle of futile events in nature. However, no tongue could ever tell, no eye could ever see, no ear could ever hear all the examples of this continual and futile activity.

[1:8]  ⁶⁰ tn The term מָלֵא (male’, “to be filled, to be satisfied”) is repeated in 1:7-8 to draw a comparison between the futility in the cycle of nature and human secular accomplishments: lots of action, but no lasting effects. In 1:7 אֵינֶנּוּ מָלֵא (’enennu male’, “it is never filled”) describes the futility of the water cycle: “All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is never filled.” In 1:8 וְלֹא־תִמָּלֵא (vÿlo-timmale’, “it is never satisfied”) describes the futility of human labor: “the ear is never satisfied with hearing.”

[1:9]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “what is.” The Hebrew verbal form is a perfect. Another option is to translate, “What has been.” See the next line, which speaks of the past and the future.

[1:9]  ⁶² tn The Hebrew verbal form is an imperfect.

[1:9]  ⁶³ tn Heb “under the sun.”

[1:10]  ⁶⁴ tn Alternately, “[Even when] there is something of which someone might claim…” The terms יֵשׁ דָּבָר שֶׁיֹּאמַר (yesh davar sheyyo’mar) may be an interrogative clause without an introductory interrogative particle (GKC 473 §150.a). In questions, יֵשׁ often implies doubt about the existence of something (BDB 441 s.v. יֵשׁ 2.b). The LXX rendered it as a question, as do most English versions: “Is there anything of which it can be said…?” (KJV, ASV, RSV, MLB, NEB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). On the other hand, יֵשׁ is used elsewhere in the Book of Ecclesiastes as a predication of existence (“There is…”) to assert the existence of something (2:13, 21; 4:8, 9; 5:13[12]; 6:1, 11; 7:15; 8:6, 14; 9:4; 10:5). HALOT 443 s.v. יֵשׁ 2 renders יֵשׁ דָּבָר as “There is something….” This view is taken by several translations: “Even the thing of which we say…” (NAB), “Men may say of something …” (Moffatt), and “Sometimes there is a phenomena of which they say…” (NJPS).

[1:10]  ⁶⁵ tn The perfect tense verb הָיָה (hayah) refers to a past perfect situation: It describes an action that is viewed as a remote past event from the perspective of the past. This past perfect situation is brought out by the temporal adverb כְּבָר (kÿvar, “already”; HALOT 459 s.v. I כְּבָר; BDB 460 s.v. I כְּבָר; cf. 1:10; 2:12, 16; 3:15; 4:2; 6:10; 9:6-7). The expression כְּבָר + הָיָה connotes a past perfect nuance: “it has already been” (Eccl 1:10; see BDB 460 s.v.).

[1:10]  ⁶⁶ sn This does not deny man’s creativity or inventiveness, only the ultimate newness of his accomplishments. For example, there is no essential difference between the first voyage to the moon and the discovery of America (different point of arrival, different vehicles of travel, but the same essential action and results).

[1:10]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “in the ages long ago before us.”