Kejadian 26:12

26:12 When Isaac planted in that land, he reaped in the same year a hundred times what he had sown, ¹  because the Lord blessed him. ² 

Imamat 26:3-13

The Benefits of Obedience

26:3 “‘If you walk in my statutes and are sure to obey my commandments, ³  26:4 I will give you your rains in their time so that ⁴  the land will give its yield and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. ⁵  26:5 Threshing season will extend for you until the season for harvesting grapes, ⁶  and the season for harvesting grapes will extend until sowing season, so ⁷  you will eat your bread until you are satisfied, ⁸  and you will live securely in your land. 26:6 I will grant peace in the land so that ⁹  you will lie down to sleep without anyone terrifying you. ¹⁰  I will remove harmful animals ¹¹  from the land, and no sword of war ¹²  will pass through your land. 26:7 You will pursue your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword. ¹³  26:8 Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword. 26:9 I will turn to you, make you fruitful, multiply you, and maintain ¹⁴  my covenant with you. 26:10 You will still be eating stored produce from the previous year ¹⁵  and will have to clean out what is stored from the previous year to make room for new. ¹⁶ 

26:11 “‘I will put my tabernacle ¹⁷  in your midst and I will not abhor you. ¹⁸  26:12 I will walk among you, and I will be your God and you will be my people. 26:13 I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from being their slaves, ¹⁹  and I broke the bars of your yoke and caused you to walk upright. ²⁰ 

Ulangan 15:10

15:10 You must by all means lend ²¹  to him and not be upset by doing it, ²²  for because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you attempt.

Ulangan 28:2-15

28:2 All these blessings will come to you in abundance ²³  if you obey the Lord your God: 28:3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field. ²⁴  28:4 Your children ²⁵  will be blessed, as well as the produce of your soil, the offspring of your livestock, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. 28:5 Your basket and your mixing bowl will be blessed. 28:6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. ²⁶  28:7 The Lord will cause your enemies who attack ²⁷  you to be struck down before you; they will attack you from one direction ²⁸  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 ²⁹  is giving you. 28:9 The Lord will designate you as his holy people just as he promised you, if you keep his commandments ³⁰  and obey him. ³¹  28:10 Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you belong to the Lord, ³²  and they will respect you. 28:11 The Lord will greatly multiply your children, ³³  the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil in the land which he ³⁴  promised your ancestors ³⁵  he would give you. 28:12 The Lord will open for you his good treasure house, the heavens, to give you rain for the land in its season and to bless all you do; ³⁶  you will lend to many nations but you will not borrow from any. 28:13 The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his ³⁷  commandments which I am urging ³⁸  you today to be careful to do. 28:14 But you must not turn away from all the commandments I am giving ³⁹  you today, to either the right or left, nor pursue other gods and worship ⁴⁰  them.

Curses as Reversal of Blessings

28:15 “But if you ignore ⁴¹  the Lord your God and are not careful to keep all his commandments and statutes I am giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you in full force: ⁴² 

Mazmur 84:12

84:12 O Lord who rules over all, ⁴³ 

how blessed are those who trust in you! ⁴⁴ 

Mazmur 128:1-5

Psalm 128 ⁴⁵ 

A song of ascents. ⁴⁶ 

128:1 How blessed is every one of the Lord’s loyal followers, ⁴⁷ 

each one who keeps his commands! ⁴⁸ 

128:2 You ⁴⁹  will eat what you worked so hard to grow. ⁵⁰ 

You will be blessed and secure. ⁵¹ 

128:3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine ⁵² 

in the inner rooms of your house;

your children ⁵³  will be like olive branches,

as they sit all around your table.

128:4 Yes indeed, the man who fears the Lord

will be blessed in this way. ⁵⁴ 

128:5 May the Lord bless you ⁵⁵  from Zion,

that you might see ⁵⁶  Jerusalem ⁵⁷  prosper

all the days of your life,

Mazmur 133:3

133:3 It is like the dew of Hermon, ⁵⁸ 

which flows down upon the hills of Zion. ⁵⁹ 

Indeed ⁶⁰  that is where the Lord has decreed

a blessing will be available – eternal life. ⁶¹ 

Amsal 3:9-10

3:9 Honor ⁶²  the Lord from your wealth

and from the first fruits of all your crops; ⁶³ 

3:10 then your barns will be filled completely, ⁶⁴ 

and your vats ⁶⁵  will overflow ⁶⁶  with new wine.

Zakharia 8:11-15

8:11 But I will be different now to this remnant of my people from the way I was in those days,’ says the Lord who rules over all, 8:12 ‘for there will be a peaceful time of sowing, the vine will produce its fruit and the ground its yield, and the skies ⁶⁷  will rain down dew. Then I will allow the remnant of my people to possess all these things. 8:13 And it will come about that just as you (both Judah and Israel) were a curse to the nations, so I will save you and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid! Instead, be strong!’

8:14 “For the Lord who rules over all says, ‘As I had planned to hurt ⁶⁸  you when your fathers made me angry,’ says the Lord who rules over all, ‘and I was not sorry, 8:15 so, to the contrary, I have planned in these days to do good to Jerusalem and Judah – do not fear!

Maleakhi 3:10

3:10 “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse ⁶⁹  so that there may be food in my temple. Test me in this matter,” says the Lord who rules over all, “to see if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until there is no room for it all.

Matius 6:33

6:33 But above all pursue his kingdom ⁷⁰  and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

[26:12]  ¹ tn Heb “a hundredfold.”

[26:12]  ² tn This final clause explains why Isaac had such a bountiful harvest.

[26:3]  ³ tn Heb “and my commandments you shall keep and do them.” This appears to be a kind of verbal hendiadys, where the first verb is a modifier of the action of the second verb (see GKC 386 §120.d, although שָׁמַר [shamar, “to keep”] is not cited there; cf. Lev 20:8; 25:18, etc.).

[26:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.

[26:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “the tree of the field will give its fruit.” As a collective singular this has been translated as plural.

[26:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “will reach for you the vintage season.”

[26:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.

[26:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “to satisfaction”; KJV, ASV, NASB “to the full.”

[26:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.

[26:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and there will be no one who terrifies.” The words “to sleep” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[26:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “harmful animal,” singular, but taken here as a collective plural (so almost all English versions).

[26:6]  ¹² tn Heb “no sword”; the words “of war” are supplied in the translation to indicate what the metaphor of the sword represents.

[26:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “to the sword.”

[26:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “cause to arise,” but probably used here for the Lord’s intention of confirming or maintaining the covenant commitment made at Sinai. Cf. KJV “establish”; NASB “will confirm”; NAB “carry out”; NIV “will keep.”

[26:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “old [produce] growing old.”

[26:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and old from the presence of new you will bring out.”

[26:11]  ¹⁷ tn LXX codexes Vaticanus and Alexandrinus have “my covenant” rather than “my tabernacle.” Cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV “my dwelling.”

[26:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and my soul [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] will not abhor you.”

[26:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “from being to them slaves.”

[26:13]  ²⁰ tn In other words, to walk as free people and not as slaves. Cf. NIV “with (+ your CEV, NLT) heads held high”; NCV “proudly.”

[15:10]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “by all means.”

[15:10]  ²² tc Heb “your heart must not be grieved in giving to him.” The LXX and Orig add, “you shall surely lend to him sufficient for his need,” a suggestion based on the same basic idea in v. 8. Such slavish adherence to stock phrases is without warrant in most cases, and certainly here.

[28:2]  ²³ tn Heb “come upon you and overtake you” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “come upon you and accompany you.”

[28:3]  ²⁴ tn Or “in the country” (so NAB, NIV, NLT). This expression also occurs in v. 15.

[28:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[28:6]  ²⁶ sn Come in…go out. To “come in” and “go out” is a figure of speech (merism) indicating all of life and its activities.

[28:7]  ²⁷ tn Heb “who rise up against” (so NIV).

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

[28:8]  ²⁹ 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.

[28:9]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the commandments of the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in the previous verse.

[28:9]  ³¹ tn Heb “and walk in his ways” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[28:10]  ³² tn Heb “the name of the Lord is called over you.” The Hebrew idiom indicates ownership; see 2 Sam 12:28; Isa 4:1, as well as BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph. 2.d.(4).

[28:11]  ³³ tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “will give you a lot of children.”

[28:11]  ³⁴ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 28:8.

[28:11]  ³⁵ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 36, 64).

[28:12]  ³⁶ tn Heb “all the work of your hands.”

[28:13]  ³⁷ tn Heb “the Lord your God’s.” See note on “he” in 28:8.

[28:13]  ³⁸ tn Heb “commanding” (so NRSV); NASB “which I charge you today.”

[28:14]  ³⁹ tn Heb “from all the words which I am commanding.”

[28:14]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “in order to serve.”

[28:15]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “do not hear the voice of.”

[28:15]  ⁴² tn Heb “and overtake you” (so NIV, NRSV); NAB, NLT “and overwhelm you.”

[84:12]  ⁴³ tn Traditionally “Lord of hosts.”

[84:12]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man [who] trusts in you.” Hebrew literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle stated here is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender and age specific “man” with the plural “those.” The individual referred to here is representative of all followers of God, as the use of the plural form in v. 12b indicates.

[128:1]  ⁴⁵ sn Psalm 128. The psalmist observes that the godly individual has genuine happiness because the Lord rewards such a person with prosperity and numerous children.

[128:1]  ⁴⁶ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[128:1]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “every fearer of the Lord.”

[128:1]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “the one who walks in his ways.”

[128:2]  ⁴⁹ tn The psalmist addresses the representative God-fearing man, as indicated by the references to “your wife” (v. 3) and “the man” (v. 4), as well as the second masculine singular pronominal and verbal forms in vv. 2-6.

[128:2]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “the work of your hands, indeed you will eat.”

[128:2]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “how blessed you [will be] and it will be good for you.”

[128:3]  ⁵² sn The metaphor of the fruitful vine pictures the wife as fertile; she will give her husband numerous children (see the next line).

[128:3]  ⁵³ tn One could translate “sons” (see Ps 127:3 and the note on the word “sons” there), but here the term seems to refer more generally to children of both genders.

[128:4]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “look, indeed thus will the man, the fearer of the Lord, be blessed.”

[128:5]  ⁵⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive of prayer (note the imperatives that are subordinated to this clause in vv. 5b-6a). Having described the blessings that typically come to the godly, the psalmist concludes by praying that this ideal may become reality for the representative godly man being addressed.

[128:5]  ⁵⁶ tn The imperative with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding jussive.

[128:5]  ⁵⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[133:3]  ⁵⁸ sn Hermon refers to Mount Hermon, located north of Israel.

[133:3]  ⁵⁹ sn The hills of Zion are those surrounding Zion (see Pss 87:1; 125:2). The psalmist does not intend to suggest that the dew from Mt. Hermon in the distant north actually flows down upon Zion. His point is that the same kind of heavy dew that replenishes Hermon may also be seen on Zion’s hills. See A. Cohen, Psalms (SoBB), 439. “Dew” here symbolizes divine blessing, as the next line suggests.

[133:3]  ⁶⁰ tn Or “for.”

[133:3]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forever.”

[3:9]  ⁶² tn The imperative כַּבֵּד (kabbed, “honor”) functions as a command, instruction, counsel or exhortation. To honor God means to give him the rightful place of authority by rendering to him gifts of tribute. One way to acknowledge God in one’s ways (v. 6) is to honor him with one’s wealth (v. 9).

[3:9]  ⁶³ tn Heb “produce.” The noun תְּבוּאָה (tÿvu’ah) has a two-fold range of meaning: (1) “product; yield” of the earth (= crops; harvest) and (2) “income; revenue” in general (BDB 100 s.v.). The imagery in vv. 9-10 is agricultural; however, all Israelites – not just farmers – were expected to give the best portion (= first fruits) of their income to Lord.

[3:10]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “with plenty” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NIV “to overflowing.” The noun שָׂבָע (sava’, “plenty; satiety”) functions as an adverbial accusative of manner or contents: “completely.”

[3:10]  ⁶⁵ sn This pictures the process of pressing grapes in which the upper receptacle is filled with grapes and the lower one catches the juice. The harvest of grapes will be so plentiful that the lower vat will overflow with grape juice. The pictures in v. 10 are metonymies of effect for cause (= the great harvest that God will provide when they honor him).

[3:10]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “burst open.” The verb פָּרַץ (parats, “to burst open”) functions as hyperbole here to emphasize the fullness of the wine vats (BDB 829 s.v. 9).

[8:12]  ⁶⁷ tn Or “the heavens” (so KJV, NAB, NIV). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “skies” depending on the context.

[8:14]  ⁶⁸ tn The verb זָמַם (zamam) usually means “to plot to do evil,” but with a divine subject (as here), and in light of v. 15 where it means to plan good, the meaning here has to be the implementation of discipline (cf. NCV, CEV “punish”). God may bring hurt but its purpose is redemptive and/or pedagogical.

[3:10]  ⁶⁹ tn The Hebrew phrase בֵּית הָאוֹצָר (bet ha’otsar, here translated “storehouse”) refers to a kind of temple warehouse described more fully in Nehemiah (where the term לִשְׁכָּה גְדוֹלָה [lishkah gÿdolah, “great chamber”] is used) as a place for storing grain, frankincense, temple vessels, wine, and oil (Neh 13:5). Cf. TEV “to the Temple.”

[6:33]  ⁷⁰ tc ‡ Most mss (L W Θ 0233 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat sy mae) read τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ (thn basileian tou qeou kai thn dikaiosunhn aujtou, “the kingdom of God and his righteousness”) here, but the words “of God” are lacking in א B pc sa bo Eus. On the one hand, there is the possibility of accidental omission on the part of these Alexandrian witnesses, but it seems unlikely that the scribe’s eye would skip over both words (especially since τοῦ θεοῦ is bracketed by first declension nouns). Intrinsically, the author generally has a genitive modifier with βασιλεία – especially θεοῦ or οὐρανῶν (ouranwn) – but this argument cuts both ways: Although he might be expected to use such an adjunct here, scribes might also be familiar with his practice and would thus naturally insert it if it were missing in their copy of Matthew. Although a decision is difficult, the omission of τοῦ θεοῦ is considered most likely to be original. NA²⁷ includes the words in brackets, indicating doubt as to their authenticity.

[6:33]  sn God’s kingdom is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong.