Deuteronomy 10:20

10:20 Revere the Lord your God, serve him, be loyal to him and take oaths only in his name.

Deuteronomy 30:20

30:20 I also call on you ¹  to love the Lord your God, to obey him and be loyal to him, for he gives you life and enables you to live continually ²  in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Joshua 22:5

22:5 But carefully obey the commands and instructions Moses the Lord’s servant gave you. Love ³  the Lord your God, follow all his instructions, ⁴  obey ⁵  his commands, be loyal to him, ⁶  and serve him with all your heart and being!” ⁷ 

Joshua 23:8

23:8 But you must be loyal to ⁸  the Lord your God, as you have been ⁹  to this very day.

Matthew 16:24

16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ¹⁰  he must deny ¹¹  himself, take up his cross, ¹²  and follow me.

Matthew 16:1

The Demand for a Sign

16:1 Now when the Pharisees ¹³  and Sadducees ¹⁴  came to test Jesus, ¹⁵  they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. ¹⁶ 

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ¹⁷  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

¹ tn The words “I also call on you” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 19-20 are one long sentence, which the translation divides into two.

² tn Heb “he is your life and the length of your days to live.”

¹ tn Heb “But be very careful to do the commandment and the law which Moses, the Lord’s servant, commanded you, to love.”

² tn Heb “walk in all his paths.”

³ tn Or “keep.”

⁴ tn Heb “hug him.”

⁵ tn Or “soul.”

¹ tn Heb “hug.”

² tn Heb “done.”

¹ tn Grk “to come after me.”

² tn This translation better expresses the force of the Greek third person imperative than the traditional “let him deny,” which could be understood as merely permissive.

³ sn To bear the cross means to accept the rejection of the world for turning to Jesus and following him. Discipleship involves a death that is like a crucifixion; see Gal 6:14.

¹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

² sn See the note on Sadducees in 3:7.

³ tn The object of the participle πειράζοντες (peirazontes) is not given in the Greek text but has been supplied here for clarity.

⁴ sn What exactly this sign would have been, given what Jesus was already doing, is not clear. But here is where the fence-sitters reside, refusing to commit to him.

¹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.