“My son, do not scorn 1 the Lord’s discipline
or give up when he corrects 2 you.
24:10 If you faint 3 in the day of trouble, 4
your strength is small! 5
40:30 Even youths get tired and weary;
even strong young men clumsily stumble. 6
40:31 But those who wait for the Lord’s help 7 find renewed strength;
they rise up as if they had eagles’ wings, 8
they run without growing weary,
they walk without getting tired.
50:4 The sovereign Lord has given me the capacity to be his spokesman, 9
so that I know how to help the weary. 10
He wakes me up every morning;
he makes me alert so I can listen attentively as disciples do. 11
50:1 This is what the Lord says:
“Where is your mother’s divorce certificate
by which I divorced her?
Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? 12
Look, you were sold because of your sins; 13
because of your rebellious acts I divorced your mother. 14
1:1 From Paul, 15 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 1:2 to the saints, the faithful 16 brothers and sisters 17 in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you 18 from God our Father! 19
1 tn Or “disregard,” “think little of.”
2 tn Or “reproves,” “rebukes.” The Greek verb ἐλέγχω (elencw) implies exposing someone’s sin in order to bring correction.
3 tn Heb “show yourself slack” (NASB similar). The verb רָפָה (rafah) means “to sink; to relax.” In the causative stems it means “to let slacken; to let go; to refrain; to fail; to do nothing.” In the Hitpael stem BDB 952 s.v. defines it as “to show yourself slack.” It has also been rendered as “give up” (NCV, CEV); “fail” (NLT); “falter” (NIV). The colon implies a condition, for which the second part of the verse is the apodosis.
4 tn The verse employs a paronomasia to underscore the point: “trouble” is צָרָה (tsarah), literally “a bind; a strait [or, narrow] place”; “small” is צַר (tsar), with the same idea of “narrow” or “close.”
5 sn The test of strength is adversity, for it reveals how strong a person is. Of course a weak person can always plead adverse conditions in order to quit. This is the twenty-fourth saying.
6 tn Heb “stumbling they stumble.” The verbal idea is emphasized by the infinitive absolute.
7 tn The words “for the Lord’s help” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
8 tn Heb “they rise up [on] wings like eagles” (TEV similar).
9 tn Heb “has given to me a tongue of disciples.”
10 tc Heb “to know [?] the weary with a word.” Comparing it with Arabic and Aramaic cognates yields the meaning of “help, sustain.” Nevertheless, the meaning of עוּת (’ut) is uncertain. The word occurs only here in the OT (see BDB 736 s.v.). Various scholars have suggested an emendation to עָנוֹת (’anot) from עָנָה (’anah, “answer”): “so that I know how to respond kindly to the weary.” Since the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa and the Vulgate support the MT reading, that reading is retained.
11 tn Heb “he arouses for me an ear, to hear like disciples.”
12 sn The Lord challenges the exiles (Zion’s children) to bring incriminating evidence against him. The rhetorical questions imply that Israel accused the Lord of divorcing his wife (Zion) and selling his children (the Israelites) into slavery to pay off a debt.
13 sn The Lord admits that he did sell the Israelites, but it was because of their sins, not because of some debt he owed. If he had sold them to a creditor, they ought to be able to point him out, but the preceding rhetorical question implies they would not be able to do so.
14 sn The Lord admits he did divorce Zion, but that too was the result of the nation’s sins. The force of the earlier rhetorical question comes into clearer focus now. The question does not imply that a certificate does not exist and that no divorce occurred. Rather, the question asks for the certificate to be produced so the accuser can see the reason for the divorce in black and white. The Lord did not put Zion away arbitrarily.
15 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
16 tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.
17 tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).
18 tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”
19 tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these
20 tn Grk “when.”
21 tn The construction beginning with the imperative ποιήσατε ἵνα…ἀναγνωσθῇ (poihsate Jina…anagnwsqh) should be translated as “have it read” where the conjunction ἵνα functions to mark off its clause as the direct object of the imperative ποιήσατε. The content of the clause (“reading the letter”) is what Paul commands with the imperative ποιήσατε. Thus the translation “have it read” has been used here.
22 sn This letter is otherwise unknown, but some have suggested that it is the letter known today as Ephesians.
23 tn Or “not become discouraged,” “not lose heart” (L&N 25.288).
24 tn Or “if we do not become extremely weary,” “if we do not give out,” “if we do not faint from exhaustion” (L&N 23.79).
25 tn Grk “having become”; the participle γενόμενος (genomenos) has been taken instrumentally.
26 sn A quotation from Deut 21:23. By figurative extension the Greek word translated tree (ζύλον, zulon) can also be used to refer to a cross (L&N 6.28), the Roman instrument of execution.