1 Kings 7:21

7:21 He set up the pillars on the porch in front of the main hall. He erected one pillar on the right ¹  side and called it Jakin; ²  he erected the other pillar on the left ³  side and called it Boaz. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 1:18

1:18 I, the Lord, ⁵  hereby promise to make you ⁶  as strong as a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall. You will be able to stand up against all who live in ⁷  the land, including the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and all the people of the land.

Galatians 2:9

2:9 and when James, Cephas, ⁸  and John, who had a reputation as ⁹  pillars, ¹⁰  recognized ¹¹  the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me ¹²  the right hand of fellowship, agreeing ¹³  that we would go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹⁴ 

¹ tn Or “south.”

² sn The name Jakin appears to be a verbal form and probably means, “he establishes.”

³ tn Or “north.”

⁴ sn The meaning of the name Boaz is uncertain. For various proposals, see BDB 126-27 s.v. בעז. One attractive option is to revocalize the name as בְּעֹז (be’oz, “in strength”) and to understand it as completing the verbal form on the first pillar. Taking the words together and reading from right to left, one can translate the sentence, “he establishes [it] in strength.”

⁵ tn See the note on “Jeremiah” at the beginning of v. 17.

⁶ tn Heb “today I have made you.” The Hebrew verb form here emphasizes the certainty of a yet future act; the Lord is promising to protect Jeremiah from any future attacks which may result from his faithfully carrying out his commission. See a similar use of the same Hebrew verb tense in v. 9, and see the translator’s note there.

⁷ tn Heb “I make you a fortified city…against all the land….” The words “as strong as” and “so you will be able to stand against all the people of…” are given to clarify the meaning of the metaphor.

⁹ sn Cephas. This individual is generally identified with the Apostle Peter (L&N 93.211).

¹⁰ tn Or “who were influential as,” or “who were reputed to be.” See also the note on the word “influential” in 2:6.

¹¹ sn Pillars is figurative here for those like James, Peter, and John who were leaders in the Jerusalem church.

¹² tn The participle γνόντες (gnontes) has been taken temporally. It is structurally parallel to the participle translated “when they saw” in v. 7.

¹³ tn Grk “me and Barnabas.”

¹⁴ tn Grk “so,” with the ἵνα (Jina) indicating the result of the “pillars” extending the “right hand of fellowship,” but the translation “they gave…the right hand of fellowship so that we would go” could be misunderstood as purpose here. The implication of the scene is that an agreement, outlined at the end of v. 10, was reached between Paul and Barnabas on the one hand and the “pillars” of the Jerusalem church on the other.

¹⁵ tn Grk “to the circumcision,” a collective reference to the Jewish people.