22:19
In this verse, there are no parallel parts. The first line gives the purpose for the second line.
19a So that your trust may be in the LORD,
19b I instruct you today—yes, you.
In Hebrew, the word order is literally “To be in the LORD your trust, I make known to you this day, even you.” This unusual order emphasizes the speaker’s purpose for teaching this particular listener. His purpose is that his listener will trust only in the LORD. In many languages, it will not be necessary or possible to emphasize all these things explicitly. Use natural ways in your language to place emphasis on one or more of these things.
See the General Comment on 22:19a–b for ways to express the speaker’s purpose.
22:19a
So that your trust may be in the LORD: The teacher’s intention is that his listener will continue to rely or depend on the LORD and have confidence in him. In Hebrew, the word order emphasizes that the listener should trust only the LORD. In some languages, it may be more natural to express the noun phrase your trust as a verb. For example:
So that you will ⌊always⌋ rely on the LORD ⌊alone⌋
22:19b
I instruct you today: In Hebrew, the verb instruct is literally “make-known.” It refers back to “the words of the wise” in 22:17a and “my knowledge” in 22:17b.
yes, you: This phrase emphasizes you rather than a different listener. It may imply a personal relationship between the teacher and the one he is teaching. Other ways to express this emphasis are:
Today I have made them known to you, especially to you. (God’s Word)
-or-
You are the one that I am now teaching
General Comment on 22:19a–b
In many languages, it is not natural to put a purpose clause before the main clause. It is also not natural to begin a sentence with a conjunction such as “So that…” In such languages, one or more of the following options may be possible:
• State the author’s purpose in terms of what he wants or intends. For example:
I want you to put your trust in the Lord ; that is why I am going to tell them to you now. (Good News Translation)
• Reorder the parts of the sentence. For example:
I am teaching you today—yes, you—so you will trust in the Lord. (New Living Translation (2004))
© 2012, 2016, 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.