Isaiah 40:11

40:11 Like a shepherd he tends his flock;

he gathers up the lambs with his arm;

he carries them close to his heart; ¹ 

he leads the ewes along.

Isaiah 40:2

40:2 “Speak kindly to ²  Jerusalem, ³  and tell her

that her time of warfare is over, ⁴ 

that her punishment is completed. ⁵ 

For the Lord has made her pay double ⁶  for all her sins.”

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ⁷  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Galatians 5:22

5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit ⁸  is love, ⁹  joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ¹⁰ 

Galatians 5:1

Freedom of the Believer

5:1 For freedom ¹¹  Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke ¹²  of slavery.

Galatians 2:7

2:7 On the contrary, when they saw ¹³  that I was entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised ¹⁴  just as Peter was to the circumcised ¹⁵ 

Titus 3:2

3:2 They must not slander ¹⁶  anyone, but be peaceable, gentle, showing complete courtesy to all people.

James 3:17

3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, ¹⁷  full of mercy and good fruit, ¹⁸  impartial, and not hypocritical. ¹⁹ 

James 3:1

The Power of the Tongue

3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, ²⁰  because you know that we will be judged more strictly. ²¹ 

James 3:8

3:8 But no human being can subdue the tongue; it is a restless ²²  evil, full of deadly poison.

¹ tn Heb “in his bosom” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV), an expression which reflects closeness and protective care.

² tn Heb “speak to the heart of Jerusalem.” Jerusalem is personified as a woman.

³ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁴ tn Heb “that she is filled [with] her warfare.” Some understand צָבָא (tsavah, “warfare”) as meaning “hard service” or “compulsory labor” in this context.

⁵ tn Heb “that her punishment is accepted [as satisfactory].”

⁶ tn Heb “for she has received from the hand of the Lord double.” The principle of the double portion in punishment is also seen in Jer 16:18; 17:18 and Rev 18:6. For examples of the double portion in Israelite law, see Exod 22:4, 7, 9 (double restitution by a thief) and Deut 21:17 (double inheritance portion for the firstborn).

⁷ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

⁸ tn That is, the fruit the Spirit produces.

⁹ sn Another way to punctuate this is “love” followed by a colon (love: joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control). It is thus possible to read the eight characteristics following “love” as defining love.

¹⁰ tn Or “reliability”; see BDAG 818 s.v. πίστις 1.a.

¹¹ tn Translating the dative as “For freedom” shows the purpose for Christ setting us free; however, it is also possible to take the phrase in the sense of means or instrument (“with [or by] freedom”), referring to the freedom mentioned in 4:31 and implied throughout the letter.

¹² sn Here the yoke figuratively represents the burdensome nature of slavery.

¹³ tn The participle ἰδόντες (idontes) has been taken temporally to retain the structure of the passage. Many modern translations, because of the length of the sentence here, translate this participle as a finite verb and break the Greek sentences into several English sentences (NIV, for example, begins new sentences at the beginning of both vv. 8 and 9).

¹⁴ tn Grk “to the uncircumcision,” that is, to the Gentiles.

¹⁵ tn Grk “to the circumcision,” a collective reference to the Jewish people.

¹⁶ tn Or “discredit,” “damage the reputation of.”

¹⁷ tn Or “willing to yield,” “open to persuasion.”

¹⁸ tn Grk “fruits.” The plural Greek term καρπούς has been translated with the collective singular “fruit.”

¹⁹ tn Or “sincere.”

²⁰ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

²¹ tn Grk “will receive a greater judgment.”

²² tc Most mss (C Ψ 1739^c Ï as well as a few versions and fathers) read “uncontrollable” (ἀκατασχετόν, akatasceton), while the most important witnesses (א A B K P 1739* latt) have “restless” (ἀκατάστατον, akatastaton). Externally, the latter reading should be preferred. Internally, however, things get a bit more complex. The notion of being uncontrollable is well suited to the context, especially as a counterbalance to v. 8a, though for this very reason scribes may have been tempted to replace ἀκατάστατον with ἀκατασχετόν. However, in a semantically parallel early Christian text, ἀκατάστατος (akatastato") was considered strong enough of a term to denounce slander as “a restless demon” (Herm. 27:3). On the other hand, ἀκατάστατον may have been substituted for ἀκατασχετόν by way of assimilation to 1:8 (especially since both words were relatively rare, scribes may have replaced the less familiar with one that was already used in this letter). On internal evidence, it is difficult to decide, though ἀκατασχετόν is slightly preferred. However, in light of the strong support for ἀκατάστατον, and the less-than-decisive internal evidence, ἀκατάστατον is preferred instead.