14:1 The Lord will certainly have compassion on Jacob; 1 he will again choose Israel as his special people 2 and restore 3 them to their land. Resident foreigners will join them and unite with the family 4 of Jacob.
12:9 Love must be 13 without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good.
1 tn The sentence begins with כִּי (ki), which is understood as asseverative (“certainly”) in the translation. Another option is to translate, “For the Lord will have compassion.” In this case one of the reasons for Babylon’s coming demise (13:22b) is the Lord’s desire to restore his people.
2 tn The words “as his special people” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
3 tn Or “settle” (NASB, NIV, NCV, NLT).
4 tn Heb “house.”
5 tn Grk “Antioch, who when.” The relative pronoun was omitted and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek.
6 tn BDAG 883 s.v. προσμένω 1.a.β has “remain true to the Lord” for προσμένειν (prosmenein) in this verse.
7 tn Grk “with purpose of heart”; BDAG 869 s.v. πρόθεσις 2.a translates this phrase “purpose of heart, i.e. devotion” here.
8 tn Although the Greek word here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which normally refers to males, husbands, etc., in this particular context it must have a generic force similar to that of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), since “a woman named Damaris” is mentioned specifically as being part of this group (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. ἀνήρ 1.a).
9 tn Grk “joining him, believed.” The participle κολληθέντες (kollhqente") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. On the use of this verb in Acts, see 5:13; 8:29; 9:26; 10:28.
10 tn Grk “among whom.” Due to the length of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“whom”) has been translated as a third person plural pronoun (“them”) and a new sentence begun in the translation.
11 tn Grk “the Areopagite” (a member of the council of the Areopagus). The noun “Areopagite” is not in common usage today in English. It is clearer to use a descriptive phrase “a member of the Areopagus” (L&N 11.82). However, this phrase alone can be misleading in English: “Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, and a woman named Damaris” could be understood to refer to three people (Dionysius, an unnamed member of the Areopagus, and Damaris) rather than only two. Converting the descriptive phrase to a relative clause in English (“who was a member of the Areopagus”) removes the ambiguity.
12 tn Grk “and a woman”; but this καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.
13 tn The verb “must be” is understood in the Greek text.