Acts 15:32

15:32 Both Judas and Silas, who were prophets themselves, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with a long speech. ¹ 

Acts 15:41

15:41 He passed through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening ²  the churches.

Acts 18:23

18:23 After he spent ³  some time there, Paul left and went through the region of Galatia ⁴  and Phrygia, ⁵  strengthening all the disciples.

Isaiah 35:3

35:3 Strengthen the hands that have gone limp,

steady the knees that shake! ⁶ 

Isaiah 35:1

The Land and Its People Are Transformed

35:1 Let the desert and dry region be happy; ⁷ 

let the wilderness ⁸  rejoice and bloom like a lily!

Colossians 1:8

1:8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ⁹  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 3:2-4

3:2 Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth, 3:3 for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 3:4 When Christ (who is your ¹⁰  life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him.

Colossians 3:13

3:13 bearing with one another and forgiving ¹¹  one another, if someone happens to have ¹²  a complaint against anyone else. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others. ¹³ 

Colossians 3:1

Exhortations to Seek the Things Above

3:1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Colossians 1:10

1:10 so that you may live ¹⁴  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ¹⁵  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

¹ tn Here λόγου (logou) is singular. BDAG 599-600 s.v. λόγος 1.a.β has “in a long speech” for this phrase.

² sn Strengthening. See Acts 14:22; 15:32; 18:23.

³ tn Grk “Having spent”; the participle ποιήσας (poihsas) is taken temporally.

⁴ sn Galatia refers to either (1) the region of the old kingdom of Galatia in the central part of Asia Minor, or (2) the Roman province of Galatia, whose principal cities in the 1st century were Ancyra and Pisidian Antioch. The exact extent and meaning of this area has been a subject of considerable controversy in modern NT studies.

⁵ sn Phrygia was a district in central Asia Minor west of Pisidia. See Acts 16:6.

⁶ tn Heb “staggering knees”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “feeble knees”; NIV “knees that give way.”

⁷ tn The final mem (ם) on the verb יְשֻׂשׂוּם (yÿsusum) is dittographic (note the initial mem on the following noun מִדְבָּר [midbar]). The ambiguous verbal form is translated as a jussive because it is parallel to the jussive form תָגֵל (tagel). The jussive is used rhetorically here, not as a literal command or prayer.

⁸ tn Or “Arabah” (NASB); NAB, NIV, TEV “desert.”

⁹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

¹⁰ tc Certain mss (B^[*^] D¹ H 0278 1739 Ï sy sa) read ἡμῶν (Jhmwn, “our”), while others (Ì⁴⁶ א C D* F G P Ψ 075 33 81 1881 al latt bo) read ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “your”). Internally, it is possible that the second person pronoun arose through scribal conformity to the second person pronoun used previously in v. 3 (i.e., ὑμῶν) and following in v. 4 (ὑμεῖς, Jumeis). But in terms of external criteria, the second person pronoun has superior ms support (though there is an Alexandrian split) and ἡμῶν may have arisen through accident (error of sight) or scribal attempt to universalize the statement since all Christians have Jesus as their life. See TCGNT 557.

¹¹ tn For the translation of χαριζόμενοι (carizomenoi) as “forgiving,” see BDAG 1078 s.v. χαρίζομαι 3. The two participles “bearing” (ἀνεχόμενοι, anecomenoi) and “forgiving” (χαριζόμενοι) express the means by which the action of the finite verb “clothe yourselves” is to be carried out.

¹² tn Grk “if someone has”; the term “happens,” though not in the Greek text, is inserted to bring out the force of the third class condition.

¹³ tn The expression “forgive others” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. It is included in the translation to make the sentence complete and more comprehensible to the English reader.

¹⁴ tn The infinitive περιπατῆσαι (peripathsai, “to walk, to live, to live one’s life”) is best taken as an infinitive of purpose related to “praying” (προσευχόμενοι, proseucomenoi) and “asking” (αἰτούμενοι, aitoumenoi) in v. 9 and is thus translated as “that you may live.”

¹⁵ tn BDAG 129 s.v. ἀρεσκεία states that ἀρεσκείαν (areskeian) refers to a “desire to please εἰς πᾶσαν ἀ. to please (the Lord) in all respects Col 1:10.”