Acts 14:1

Paul and Barnabas at Iconium

14:1 The same thing happened in Iconium ¹  when Paul and Barnabas ²  went into the Jewish synagogue ³  and spoke in such a way that a large group ⁴  of both Jews and Greeks believed.

Ezra 9:2

9:2 Indeed, they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race ⁵  has become intermingled with the local residents. Worse still, the leaders and the officials have been at the forefront of all of this!”

Ezra 9:1

A Prayer of Ezra

9:1 Now when these things had been completed, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the local residents ⁶  who practice detestable things similar to those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.

Colossians 1:14

1:14 in whom we have redemption, ⁷  the forgiveness of sins.

¹ sn Iconium. See the note in 13:51.

² tn Grk “they”; the referents (Paul and Barnabas) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

⁴ tn Or “that a large crowd.”

⁵ tn Heb “the holy seed,” referring to the Israelites as God’s holy people.

⁶ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.” So also in v. 2.

⁷ tc διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ (dia tou {aimato" autou, “through his blood”) is read at this juncture by several minuscule mss (614 630 1505 2464 al) as well as a few, mostly secondary, versional and patristic witnesses. But the reading was prompted by the parallel in Eph 1:7 where the wording is solid. If these words had been in the original of Colossians, why would scribes omit them here but not in Eph 1:7? Further, the testimony on behalf of the shorter reading is quite overwhelming: {א A B C D F G Ψ 075 0150 6 33 1739 1881 Ï latt co as well as several other versions and fathers}. The conviction that “through his blood” is not authentic in Col 1:14 is as strong as the conviction that these words are authentic in Eph 1:7.