If I am wicked, woe to me! But if I am righteous, I dare not lift up my head. Job 10:15a NASB Dare not – Doesn’t Job teach us that it’s better not to be too religious? After all, if Job were just an ordinary person like us, God would not have pointed him out. He wouldn’t have gone through…
“Can mankind be righteous [h]before God? Can a man be pure [i]before his Maker?” Job 4:17 NASB Mankind/ man – As we learned yesterday, the Hebrew verse encompasses three important parallels. We have isolated two of them for investigation. We discovered that ʾĕnôš and geber, both translated “mankind,” actually reveal ethical and ontological distinctions that bolster Eliphaz’ argument. But…
Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your Law is truth. Psalm 119:142 NASB Everlasting – How long is everlasting? Wait, don’t give me a naïve answer, “Well, forever, of course.” Think deeper. The word is ʿôlām. Macrae makes the following remark about this Hebrew word: Probably derived from ʿālam I, “to hide,” thus pointing to what…
I have done justice and righteousness; do not leave me to my oppressors. Psalm 119:121 NASB Ayin 121 I have done justice and righteousness; Do not leave me to my oppressors. עָשִׂיתִי מִשְׁפָּ֣ט וָצֶ֑דֶק בַּל־תַּ֜נִּיחֵ֗נִי לְעֹֽשְׁקָֽי 122 Be a guarantor for Your servant for good; Do not let the arrogant oppress me. עֲרֹ֣ב עַבְדְּךָ֣ לְט֑וֹב אַל־יַֽעַשְׁקֻ֥נִי זֵדִֽים 123 My eyes…
Behold, I long for Your precepts; revive me through Your righteousness. Psalm 119:40 NASB Long – Well, it’s not exactly a hapax legomenon, but it might as well be. tāʾeb, translated “long for,” is used only twice; once here and once in verse 174 (which we will eventually examine). Since it is only found in this…
How then can mankind be righteous with God? Or how can anyone who is born of woman be pure? If even the moon has no brightness and the stars are not pure in His sight, Job 25:4-5 NASB Righteous – Perhaps Moses was delusional. Or maybe just egotistical. He certainly seems to have been affected by some mental mistake when he…
for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. Romans 10:10 NASB Resulting – You’ll need to read a few other English translations of this verse to see the issue. “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses…
Then he believed in the Lord; and He [a]credited it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:6 NASB Credited – You see that little footnote before the word “credited’? In the margin of the NASB you’ll find “or imputed.” Now that’s a problem. Why? Because the word “imputed,” like the word “credited,” strongly suggests some sort of divine accounting,…
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17 NASB 1995 Is revealed – Paul has this tendency to write run-on Greek sentences. In fact, the opening of Ephesians is one long sentence which we break up…
Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is…
