Ezekiel 21:12

21:12 Cry out and moan, son of man,

for it is wielded against my people;

against all the princes of Israel.

They are delivered up to the sword, along with my people.

Therefore, strike your thigh. ¹ 

Luke 18:13

18:13 The tax collector, however, stood ²  far off and would not even look up ³  to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful ⁴  to me, sinner that I am!’ ⁵ 

Luke 18:2

18:2 He said, ⁶  “In a certain city ⁷  there was a judge ⁸  who neither feared God nor respected people. ⁹ 

Colossians 1:10-11

1:10 so that you may live ¹⁰  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ¹¹  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God, 1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of ¹²  all patience and steadfastness, joyfully

¹ sn This physical action was part of an expression of grief. Cp. Jer. 31:19.

² tn Grk “standing”; the Greek participle has been translated as a finite verb.

³ tn Grk “even lift up his eyes” (an idiom).

⁴ tn The prayer is a humble call for forgiveness. The term for mercy (ἱλάσκομαι, Jilaskomai) is associated with the concept of a request for atonement (BDAG 473-74 s.v. 1; Ps 51:1, 3; 25:11; 34:6, 18).

⁵ tn Grk “the sinner.” The tax collector views himself not just as any sinner but as the worst of all sinners. See ExSyn 222-23.

⁶ tn Grk “lose heart, saying.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in the Greek text, but a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the pronominal subject “He.”

⁷ tn Or “town.”

⁸ sn The judge here is apparently portrayed as a civil judge who often handled financial cases.

⁹ tn Grk “man,” but the singular ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used as a generic in comparison to God.

¹⁰ 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.”

¹¹ 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.”

¹² tn The expression “for the display of” is an attempt to convey in English the force of the Greek preposition εἰς (eis) in this context.