2 Chronicles 3:17

3:17 He set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right side and the other on the left. He named the one on the right Jachin, and the one on the left Boaz.

Galatians 2:9

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

Revelation 3:12

3:12 The one who conquers 11  I will make 12  a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never depart from it. I 13  will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God (the new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven from my God), 14  and my new name as well.

tn Or “one on the south and the other on the north.”

tn The name “Jachin” appears to be a verbal form and probably means, “he establishes.”

tn The meaning of the name “Boaz” is uncertain. For various proposals, see BDB 126-27 s.v. בֹּעַז. One attractive option is to revocalize the name asבְּעֹז (bÿoz, “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.”

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

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

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

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

tn Grk “me and Barnabas.”

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.

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

11 tn Or “who is victorious”; traditionally, “who overcomes.”

12 tn Grk “I will make him,” but the pronoun (αὐτόν, auton, “him”) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated here.

13 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

14 sn This description of the city of my God is parenthetical, explaining further the previous phrase and interrupting the list of “new names” given here.