Mazmur 25:9

25:9 May he show ¹  the humble what is right! ² 

May he teach ³  the humble his way!

Mazmur 37:11

37:11 But the oppressed will possess the land

and enjoy great prosperity. ⁴ 

Mazmur 145:14

145:14 ⁵ The Lord supports all who fall,

and lifts up all who are bent over. ⁶ 

Mazmur 146:8-9

146:8 The Lord gives sight to the blind.

The Lord lifts up all who are bent over. ⁷ 

The Lord loves the godly.

146:9 The Lord protects those residing outside their native land;

he lifts up the fatherless and the widow, ⁸ 

but he opposes the wicked. ⁹ 

Mazmur 149:4

149:4 For the Lord takes delight in his people;

he exalts the oppressed by delivering them. ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 149:1

Psalm 149 ¹¹ 

149:1 Praise the Lord!

Sing to the Lord a new song!

Praise him in the assembly of the godly! ¹² 

1 Samuel 2:8

2:8 He lifts the weak ¹³  from the dust;

he raises ¹⁴  the poor from the ash heap

to seat them with princes

and to bestow on them an honored position. ¹⁵ 

The foundations of the earth belong to the Lord,

and he has placed the world on them.

Zefanya 2:3

2:3 Seek the Lord’s favor, ¹⁶  all you humble people ¹⁷  of the land who have obeyed his commands! ¹⁸ 

Strive to do what is right! ¹⁹  Strive to be humble! ²⁰ 

Maybe you will be protected ²¹  on the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.

Matius 5:5

5:5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Yakobus 4:10

4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.

Yakobus 4:1

Passions and Pride

4:1 Where do the conflicts and where ²²  do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, ²³  from your passions that battle inside you? ²⁴ 

Pengkhotbah 3:4

3:4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

Pengkhotbah 5:6

5:6 Do not let your mouth cause you ²⁵  to sin,

and do not tell the priest, ²⁶  “It was a mistake!” ²⁷ 

Why make God angry at you ²⁸ 

so that he would destroy the work of your hands?”

[25:9]  ¹ tn The prefixed verbal form is jussive; the psalmist expresses his prayer.

[25:9]  ² tn Heb “may he guide the humble into justice.” The Hebrew term עֲנָוִים (’anavim, “humble”) usually refers to the oppressed, but in this context, where the psalmist confesses his sin and asks for moral guidance, it apparently refers to sinners who humble themselves before God and seek deliverance from their sinful condition.

[25:9]  ³ tn The prefixed verbal form is interpreted as a jussive (it stands parallel to the jussive form, “may he guide”).

[37:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “and they will take delight in (see v. 4) abundance of peace.”

[145:14]  ⁵ tc Psalm 145 is an acrostic psalm, with each successive verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. However, in the traditional Hebrew (Masoretic) text of Psalm 145 there is no verse beginning with the letter nun. One would expect such a verse to appear as the fourteenth verse, between the mem (מ) and samek (ס) verses. Several ancient witnesses, including one medieval Hebrew manuscript, the Qumran scroll from cave 11, the LXX, and the Syriac, supply the missing nun (נ) verse, which reads as follows: “The Lord is reliable in all his words, and faithful in all his deeds.” One might paraphrase this as follows: “The Lord’s words are always reliable; his actions are always faithful.” Scholars are divided as to the originality of this verse. L. C. Allen argues for its inclusion on the basis of structural considerations (Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 294-95), but there is no apparent explanation for why, if original, it would have been accidentally omitted. The psalm may be a partial acrostic, as in Pss 25 and 34 (see M. Dahood, Psalms [AB], 3:335). The glaring omission of the nun line would have invited a later redactor to add such a line.

[145:14]  ⁶ tn Perhaps “discouraged” (see Ps 57:6).

[146:8]  ⁷ tn Perhaps “discouraged” (see Ps 57:6).

[146:9]  ⁸ sn God is depicted here as a just ruler. In the ancient Near Eastern world a king was responsible for promoting justice, including caring for the weak and vulnerable, epitomized by resident aliens, the fatherless, and widows.

[146:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “he makes the way of the wicked twisted.” The “way of the wicked” probably refers to their course of life (see Prov 4:19; Jer 12:1). God makes their path tortuous in the sense that he makes them pay the harmful consequences of their actions.

[149:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he honors the oppressed [with] deliverance.”

[149:1]  ¹¹ sn Psalm 149. The psalmist calls upon God’s people to praise him because he is just and avenges them.

[149:1]  ¹² tn Heb “his praise in the assembly of the godly ones.”

[2:8]  ¹³ tn Or “lowly”; Heb “insignificant.”

[2:8]  ¹⁴ tn The imperfect verbal form, which is parallel to the participle in the preceding line, is best understood here as indicating what typically happens.

[2:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “a seat of honor.”

[2:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “seek the Lord,” but “favor” seems to be implied from the final line of the verse.

[2:3]  ¹⁷ tn Or “poor.” The precise referent of this Hebrew term is unclear. The word may refer to the economically poor or to the spiritually humble.

[2:3]  ¹⁸ tn The present translation assumes the Hebrew term מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) here refers to God’s covenantal requirements and is a synonym for the Law. The word can mean “justice” and could refer more specifically to the principles of justice contained in the Law. In this case the phrase could be translated, “who have promoted the justice God demands.”

[2:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Seek what is right.”

[2:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Seek humility.”

[2:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “hidden.” Cf. NEB “it may be that you will find shelter”; NRSV “perhaps you may be hidden.”

[4:1]  ²² tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.

[4:1]  ²³ tn Grk “from here.”

[4:1]  ²⁴ tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”

[5:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “your flesh.” The term בָּשָׂר (basar, “flesh”) is a synecdoche of part (i.e., flesh) for the whole (i.e., whole person), e.g., Gen 2:21; 6:12; Ps 56:4[5]; 65:2[3]; 145:21; Isa 40:5, 6; see HALOT 164 s.v. בָּשָׂר; E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 642.

[5:6]  ²⁶ tc The MT reads הַמַּלְאָךְ (hammal’akh, “messenger”), while the LXX reads τοῦ θεοῦ (tou qeou, “God”) which reflects an alternate textual tradition of הָאֱלֹהִים (ha’elohim, “God”). The textual problem was caused by orthographic confusion between similarly spelled words. The LXX might have been trying to make sense of a difficult expression. The MT is preferred as the original. All the major translations follow the MT except for Moffatt (“God”).

[5:6]  tn Heb “the messenger.” The term מַלְאָךְ (mal’akh, “messenger”) refers to a temple priest (e.g., Mal 2:7; cf. HALOT 585 s.v. מַלְאָךְ 2.b; BDB 521 s.v. מַלְאָךְ 1.c). The priests recorded what Israelite worshipers vowed (Lev 27:14-15). When an Israelite delayed in fulfilling a vow, a priest would remind him to pay what he had vowed. Although the traditional rabbinic view is that Qoheleth refers to an angelic superintendent over the temple, Rashi suggested that it is a temple-official. Translations reflect both views: “his representative” (NAB), “the temple messenger” (NIV), “the messenger” (RSV, NRSV, NASB, MLB, NJPS), “the angel” (KJV, ASV, Douay) and “the angel of God” (NEB).

[5:6]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew noun שְׁגָגָה (shÿgagah) denotes “error; mistake” and refers to a sin of inadvertence or unintentional sin (e.g., Lev 4:2, 22, 27; 5:18; 22:14; Num 15:24-29; 35:11, 15; Josh 20:3, 9; Eccl 5:5; 10:5); see HALOT 1412 s.v. שְׁגָגָה; BDB 993 s.v. שְׁגָגָה. In this case, it refers to a rash vow thoughtlessly made, which the foolish worshiper claims was a mistake (e.g., Prov 20:25).

[5:6]  ²⁸ tn Heb “at your voice.” This is an example of metonymy (i.e., your voice) of association (i.e., you).