Exodus 20:19

20:19 They said to Moses, “You speak ¹  to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak with us, lest we die.”

Numbers 17:12

17:12 The Israelites said to Moses, “We are bound to die! ²  We perish, we all perish!

Luke 8:28

8:28 When he saw ³  Jesus, he cried out, fell ⁴  down before him, and shouted with a loud voice, “Leave me alone, ⁵  Jesus, Son of the Most High ⁶  God! I beg you, do not torment ⁷  me!”

Luke 8:37

8:37 Then ⁸  all the people of the Gerasenes ⁹  and the surrounding region ¹⁰  asked Jesus ¹¹  to leave them alone, ¹²  for they were seized with great fear. ¹³  So ¹⁴  he got into the boat and left. ¹⁵ 

John 16:8

16:8 And when he ¹⁶  comes, he will prove the world wrong ¹⁷  concerning sin and ¹⁸  righteousness and ¹⁹  judgment –

Acts 2:37

The Response to Peter’s Address

2:37 Now when they heard this, ²⁰  they were acutely distressed ²¹  and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “What should we do, brothers?”

Acts 16:29

16:29 Calling for lights, the jailer ²²  rushed in and fell down ²³  trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas.

Acts 16:1

Timothy Joins Paul and Silas

16:1 He also came to Derbe ²⁴  and to Lystra. ²⁵  A disciple ²⁶  named Timothy was there, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, ²⁷  but whose father was a Greek. ²⁸ 

Colossians 2:12

2:12 Having been buried with him in baptism, you also have been raised with him through your ²⁹  faith in the power ³⁰  of God who raised him from the dead.

Colossians 2:2

2:2 My goal is that ³¹  their hearts, having been knit together ³²  in love, may be encouraged, and that ³³  they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ, ³⁴ 

Colossians 1:7

1:7 You learned the gospel ³⁵  from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave ³⁶  – a ³⁷  faithful minister of Christ on our ³⁸  behalf –

Hebrews 2:15

2:15 and set free those who were held in slavery all their lives by their fear of death.

Hebrews 12:18-24

12:18 For you have not come to something that can be touched, ³⁹  to a burning fire and darkness and gloom and a whirlwind 12:19 and the blast of a trumpet and a voice uttering words ⁴⁰  such that those who heard begged to hear no more. ⁴¹  12:20 For they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.” ⁴²  12:21 In fact, the scene ⁴³  was so terrifying that Moses said, “I shudder with fear.” ⁴⁴  12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion, the city ⁴⁵  of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the assembly 12:23 and congregation of the firstborn, who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous, who have been made perfect, 12:24 and to Jesus, the mediator ⁴⁶  of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks of something better than Abel’s does. ⁴⁷ 

James 2:19

2:19 You believe that God is one; well and good. ⁴⁸  Even the demons believe that – and tremble with fear. ⁴⁹ 

James 2:1

Prejudice and the Law of Love

2:1 My brothers and sisters, ⁵⁰  do not show prejudice ⁵¹  if you possess faith ⁵²  in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. ⁵³ 

James 4:1

Passions and Pride

4:1 Where do the conflicts and where ⁵⁴  do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, ⁵⁵  from your passions that battle inside you? ⁵⁶ 

[20:19]  ¹ tn The verb is a Piel imperative. In this context it has more of the sense of a request than a command. The independent personal pronoun “you” emphasizes the subject and forms the contrast with God’s speaking.

[17:12]  ² tn The use of הֵן (hen) and the perfect tense in the nuance of a prophetic perfect expresses their conviction that they were bound to die – it was certain (see GKC 312-13 §106.n).

[8:28]  ³ tn Grk “And seeing.” The participle ἰδών (idwn) has been taken temporally. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[8:28]  ⁴ tn Grk “and fell,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[8:28]  ⁵ tn Grk “What to me and to you?” (an idiom). The phrase τί ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί (ti emoi kai soi) is Semitic in origin, though it made its way into colloquial Greek (BDAG 275 s.v. ἐγώ). The equivalent Hebrew expression in the OT had two basic meanings: (1) When one person was unjustly bothering another, the injured party could say “What to me and to you?” meaning, “What have I done to you that you should do this to me?” (Judg 11:12; 2 Chr 35:21; 1 Kgs 17:18). (2) When someone was asked to get involved in a matter he felt was no business of his own, he could say to the one asking him, “What to me and to you?” meaning, “That is your business, how am I involved?” (2 Kgs 3:13; Hos 14:8). These nuances were apparently expanded in Greek, but the basic notions of defensive hostility (option 1) and indifference or disengagement (option 2) are still present. BDAG suggests the following as glosses for this expression: What have I to do with you? What have we in common? Leave me alone! Never mind! Hostility between Jesus and the demons is certainly to be understood in this context, hence the translation: “Leave me alone….”

[8:28]  ⁶ sn On the title Most High see Luke 1:35.

[8:28]  ⁷ sn The demons’ plea “do not torment me” is a recognition of Jesus’ inherent authority over evil forces. The request is that Jesus not bother them. There was an appointed time in which demons would face their judgment, and they seem to have viewed Jesus’ arrival on the scene as an illegitimate change in God’s plan regarding the time when their sentence would be executed.

[8:37]  ⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[8:37]  ⁹ tc See the tc note on “Gerasenes” in v. 26 for the same geographical options for the textual variants.

[8:37]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “all the people of the surrounding region of the Gerasenes,” but according to L&N 1.80, “περίχωρος may include not only the surrounding region but also the point of reference, for example…‘the Gerasenes and the people living around them’ Lk 8:37.”

[8:37]  ¹¹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:37]  ¹² tn Or “to depart from them.”

[8:37]  ¹³ sn Again there is great fear at God’s activity, but there is a different reaction. Some people want nothing to do with God’s presence. Mark 5:16 hints that economic reasons motivated their request.

[8:37]  ¹⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate that Jesus’ departure was the result of the Gerasenes’ response. A new sentence was started in the translation at this point for stylistic reasons.

[8:37]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “returned,” but the effect is that he departed from the Gerasene region.

[16:8]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “when that one.”

[16:8]  ¹⁷ tn Or “will convict the world,” or “will expose the world.” The conjunction περί (peri) is used in 16:8-11 in the sense of “concerning” or “with respect to.” But what about the verb ἐλέγχω (elencw)? The basic meanings possible for this word are (1) “to convict or convince someone of something”; (2) “to bring to light or expose something; and (3) “to correct or punish someone.” The third possibility may be ruled out in these verses on contextual grounds since punishment is not implied. The meaning is often understood to be that the Paraclete will “convince” the world of its error, so that some at least will repent. But S. Mowinckel (“Die Vorstellungen des Spätjudentums vom heiligen Geist als Fürsprecher und der johanneische Paraklet,” ZNW 32 [1933]: 97-130) demonstrated that the verb ἐλέγχω did not necessarily imply the conversion or reform of the guilty party. This means it is far more likely that conviction in something of a legal sense is intended here (as in a trial). The only certainty is that the accused party is indeed proven guilty (not that they will acknowledge their guilt). Further confirmation of this interpretation is seen in John 14:17 where the world cannot receive the Paraclete and in John 3:20, where the evildoer deliberately refuses to come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed for what they really are (significantly, the verb in John 3:20 is also ἐλέγχω). However, if one wishes to adopt the meaning “prove guilty” for the use of ἐλέγχω in John 16:8 a difficulty still remains: While this meaning fits the first statement in 16:9 – the world is ‘proven guilty’ concerning its sin of refusing to believe in Jesus – it does not fit so well the second and third assertions in vv. 10-11. Thus R. E. Brown (John [AB], 2:705) suggests the more general meaning “prove wrong” which would fit in all three cases. This may be so, but there may also be a developmental aspect to the meaning, which would then shift from v. 9 to v. 10 to v. 11.

[16:8]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “and concerning.”

[16:8]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “and concerning.”

[2:37]  ²⁰ tn The word “this” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[2:37]  ²¹ tn Grk “they were pierced to the heart” (an idiom for acute emotional distress).

[16:29]  ²² tn Grk “he”; the referent (the jailer) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:29]  ²³ tn Or “and prostrated himself.”

[16:1]  ²⁴ sn Derbe was a city in Lycaonia about 35 mi (60 km) southeast of Lystra. It was about 90 mi (145 km) from Tarsus.

[16:1]  ²⁵ sn Lystra was a city in Lycaonia about 25 mi (40 km) south of Iconium.

[16:1]  ²⁶ tn Grk “And behold, a disciple.” Here ἰδού (idou) has not been translated.

[16:1]  ²⁷ tn L&N 31.103 translates this phrase “the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer.”

[16:1]  ²⁸ sn His father was a Greek. Timothy was the offspring of a mixed marriage between a Jewish woman (see 2 Tim 1:5) and a Gentile man. On mixed marriages in Judaism, see Neh 13:23-27; Ezra 9:1-10:44; Mal 2:10-16; Jub. 30:7-17; m. Qiddushin 3.12; m. Yevamot 7.5.

[2:12]  ²⁹ tn The article with the genitive modifier τῆς πίστεως (th" pistew") is functioning as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[2:12]  ³⁰ tn The genitive τῆς ἐνεργείας (th" energeia") has been translated as an objective genitive, “faith in the power.”

[2:2]  ³¹ tn Verse two begins a subordinate ἵνα (Jina) clause which was divided up into two sentences for the sake of clarity in English. Thus the phrase “My goal is that” is an attempt to reflect in the translation the purpose expressed through the ἵνα clauses.

[2:2]  ³² tn BDAG 956 s.v. συμβιβάζω 1.b reads “unite, knit together.” Some commentators take the verb as a reference to instruction, “instructed in love.” See P. T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (WBC), 93.

[2:2]  ³³ tn The phrase “and that” translates the first εἰς (eis) clause of v. 2 and reflects the second goal of Paul’s striving and struggle for the Colossians – the first is “encouragement” and the second is “full assurance.”

[2:2]  ³⁴ tc There are at least a dozen variants here, almost surely generated by the unusual wording τοῦ θεοῦ, Χριστοῦ (tou qeou, Cristou, “of God, Christ”; so Ì⁴⁶ B Hil). Scribes would be prone to conform this to more common Pauline expressions such as “of God, who is in Christ” (33), “of God, the Father of Christ” (א* A C 048^vid 1175 bo), and “of the God and Father of Christ” (א² Ψ 075 0278 365 1505 pc). Even though the external support for the wording τοῦ θεοῦ, Χριστοῦ is hardly overwhelming, it clearly best explains the rise of the other readings and should thus be regarded as authentic.

[1:7]  ³⁵ tn Or “learned it.” The Greek text simply has “you learned” without the reference to “the gospel,” but “the gospel” is supplied to clarify the sense of the clause. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[1:7]  ³⁶ tn The Greek word translated “fellow slave” is σύνδουλος (sundoulo"); the σύν- prefix here denotes association. Though δοῦλος is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:7]  ³⁷ tn The Greek text has “who (ὅς, Jos) is a faithful minister.” The above translation conveys the antecedent of the relative pronoun quite well and avoids the redundancy with the following substantival participle of v. 8, namely, “who told” (ὁ δηλώσας, Jo dhlwsa").

[1:7]  ³⁸ tc ‡ Judging by the superior witnesses for the first person pronoun ἡμῶν (Jhmwn, “us”; Ì⁴⁶ א* A B D* F G 326* 1505 al) vs. the second person pronoun ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “you”; found in א² C D¹ Ψ 075 33 1739 1881 Ï lat sy co), ἡμῶν should be regarded as original. Although it is possible that ἡμῶν was an early alteration of ὑμῶν (either unintentionally, as dittography, since it comes seventeen letters after the previous ἡμῶν; or intentionally, to conform to the surrounding first person pronouns), this supposition is difficult to maintain in light of the varied and valuable witnesses for this reading. Further, the second person is both embedded in the verb ἐμάθετε (emaqete) and is explicit in v. 8 (ὑμῶν). Hence, the motivation to change to the first person pronoun is counterbalanced by such evidence. The second person pronoun may have been introduced unintentionally via homoioarcton with the ὑπέρ (Juper) that immediately precedes it. As well, the second person reading is somewhat harder for it seems to address Epaphras’ role only in relation to Paul and his colleagues, rather than in relation to the Colossians. Nevertheless, the decision must be based ultimately on external evidence (because the internal evidence can be variously interpreted), and this strongly supports ἡμῶν.

[12:18]  ³⁹ tn This describes the nation of Israel approaching God on Mt. Sinai (Exod 19). There is a clear contrast with the reference to Mount Zion in v. 22, so this could be translated “a mountain that can be touched.” But the word “mountain” does not occur here and the more vague description seems to be deliberate.

[12:19]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “a voice of words.”

[12:19]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “a voice…from which those who heard begged that a word not be added to them.”

[12:20]  ⁴² sn A quotation from Exod 19:12-13.

[12:21]  ⁴³ tn Grk “that which appeared.”

[12:21]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “I am terrified and trembling.”

[12:22]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “and the city”; the conjunction is omitted in translation since it seems to be functioning epexegetically – that is, explaining further what is meant by “Mount Zion.”

[12:24]  ⁴⁶ tn The Greek word μεσίτης (mesith", “mediator”) in this context does not imply that Jesus was a mediator in the contemporary sense of the word, i.e., he worked for compromise between opposing parties. Here the term describes his function as the one who was used by God to enact a new covenant which established a new relationship between God and his people, but entirely on God’s terms.

[12:24]  ⁴⁷ sn Abel’s shed blood cried out to the Lord for justice and judgment, but Jesus’ blood speaks of redemption and forgiveness, something better than Abel’s does (Gen 4:10; Heb 9:11-14; 11:4).

[2:19]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “you do well.”

[2:19]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “believe and tremble.” The words “with fear” are implied.

[2:1]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[2:1]  ⁵¹ tn Or “partiality.”

[2:1]  ⁵² tn Grk “do not have faith with personal prejudice,” with emphasis on the last phrase.

[2:1]  ⁵³ tn Grk “our Lord Jesus Christ of glory.” Here δόξης (doxhs) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

[4:1]  ⁵⁴ tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.

[4:1]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “from here.”

[4:1]  ⁵⁶ tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”