Isaiah 49:4

49:4 But I thought, ¹  “I have worked in vain;

I have expended my energy for absolutely nothing.” ² 

But the Lord will vindicate me;

my God will reward me. ³ 

Isaiah 49:1

Ideal Israel Delivers the Exiles

49:1 Listen to me, you coastlands! ⁴ 

Pay attention, you people who live far away!

The Lord summoned me from birth; ⁵ 

he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world. ⁶ 

Colossians 1:26

1:26 that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints.

Galatians 2:2

2:2 I went there ⁷  because of ⁸  a revelation and presented ⁹  to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so ¹⁰  only in a private meeting with the influential people, ¹¹  to make sure that I was not running – or had not run ¹²  – in vain.

Galatians 4:11

4:11 I fear for you that my work for you may have been in vain.

Galatians 4:1

4:1 Now I mean that the heir, as long as he is a minor, ¹³  is no different from a slave, though he is the owner ¹⁴  of everything.

Galatians 3:5

3:5 Does God then give ¹⁵  you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law ¹⁶  or by your believing what you heard? ¹⁷ 

¹ tn Or “said” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “I replied.”

² tn Heb “for nothing and emptiness.” Synonyms are combined to emphasize the common idea.

³ tn Heb “But my justice is with the Lord, and my reward [or “wage”] with my God.”

⁴ tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “in far-off lands.”

⁵ tn Heb “called me from the womb.”

⁶ tn Heb “from the inner parts of my mother he mentioned my name.”

⁷ tn Grk “I went up”; one always spoke idiomatically of going “up” to Jerusalem.

⁸ tn Or “in accordance with.” According to BDAG 512 s.v. κατά B.5.a.δ, “Oft. the norm is at the same time the reason, so that in accordance with and because of are merged…Instead of ‘in accordance w.’ κ. can mean simply because of, as a result of, on the basis of…κ. ἀποκάλυψιν Gal 2:2.”

⁹ tn Or “set before them.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “Gentiles, but only privately…to make sure.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started with “But” and the words “I did so,” an implied repetition from the previous clause, were supplied to make a complete English sentence.

¹¹ tn L&N 87.42 has “important persons, influential persons, prominent persons” for οἱ δοκοῦντες and translates this phrase in Gal 2:2 as “in a private meeting with the prominent persons.” The “prominent people” referred to here are the leaders of the Jerusalem church.

¹² tn Here the first verb (τρέχω, trecw, “was not running”) is present subjunctive, while the second (ἔδραμον, edramon, “had not run”) is aorist indicative.

¹³ tn Grk “a small child.” The Greek term νήπιος (nhpios) refers to a young child, no longer a helpless infant but probably not more than three or four years old (L&N 9.43). The point in context, though, is that this child is too young to take any responsibility for the management of his assets.

¹⁴ tn Grk “master” or “lord” (κύριος, kurios).

¹⁵ tn Or “provide.”

¹⁶ tn Grk “by [the] works of [the] law” (the same phrase as in v. 2).

¹⁷ tn Grk “by [the] hearing of faith” (the same phrase as in v. 2).