Mazmur 119:34

119:34 Give me understanding so that I might observe your law,

and keep it with all my heart. ¹ 

Mazmur 119:58

119:58 I seek your favor ²  with all my heart.

Have mercy on me as you promised! ³ 

Matius 6:24

6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate ⁴  the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise ⁵  the other. You cannot serve God and money. ⁶ 

Yakobus 1:8

1:8 since he is a double-minded individual, ⁷  unstable in all his ways.

[119:34]  ¹ tn The two prefixed verbal forms with vav (ו) conjunctive indicate purpose/result after the introductory imperative.

[119:58]  ² tn Heb “I appease your face.”

[119:58]  ³ tn Heb “according to your word.”

[6:24]  ⁴ sn The contrast between hate and love here is rhetorical. The point is that one will choose the favorite if a choice has to be made.

[6:24]  ⁵ tn Or “and treat [the other] with contempt.”

[6:24]  ⁶ tn Grk “God and mammon.”

[6:24]  sn The term money is used to translate mammon, the Aramaic term for wealth or possessions. The point is not that money is inherently evil, but that it is often misused so that it is a means of evil; see 1 Tim 6:6-10, 17-19. God must be first, not money or possessions.

[1:8]  ⁷ tn Grk “a man of two minds,” continuing the description of the person in v. 7, giving the reason that he cannot expect to receive anything. The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But it sometimes is used generically to mean “anyone,” “a person,” as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 2).

[1:8]  sn A double-minded man is one whose devotion to God is less than total. His attention is divided between God and other things, and as a consequence he is unstable and therefore unable to receive from God.