63:9 Through all that they suffered, he suffered too. 1
The messenger sent from his very presence 2 delivered them.
In his love and mercy he protected 3 them;
he lifted them up and carried them throughout ancient times. 4
63:1 Who is this who comes from Edom, 5
dressed in bright red, coming from Bozrah? 6
Who 7 is this one wearing royal attire, 8
who marches confidently 9 because of his great strength?
“It is I, the one who announces vindication,
and who is able to deliver!” 10
5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit 15 is love, 16 joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 17
5:1 Therefore, be 22 imitators of God as dearly loved children 5:2 and live 23 in love, just as Christ also loved us 24 and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering 25 to God.
3:12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, 26 kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 3:13 bearing with one another and forgiving 27 one another, if someone happens to have 28 a complaint against anyone else. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others. 29
3:1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, 35 and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face. 36
2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, 37 and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face. 38
4:2 Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.
1 tn Heb “in all their distress, there was distress to him” (reading לוֹ [lo] with the margin/Qere).
2 tn Heb “the messenger [or “angel”] of his face”; NIV “the angel of his presence.”
3 tn Or “redeemed” (KJV, NAB, NIV), or “delivered.”
4 tn Heb “all the days of antiquity”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “days of old.”
5 sn Edom is here an archetype for the Lord’s enemies. See 34:5.
6 tn Heb “[in] bright red garments, from Bozrah.”
7 tn The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis; note the first line of the verse.
8 tn Heb “honored in his clothing”; KJV, ASV “glorious in his apparel.”
9 tc The Hebrew text has צָעָה (tsa’ah), which means “stoop, bend” (51:14). The translation assumes an emendation to צָעַד (tsa’ad, “march”; see BDB 858 s.v. צָעָה).
10 tn Heb “I, [the one] speaking in vindication [or “righteousness”], great to deliver.”
11 tn The adverbial participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") is understood to be temporal and translated with “since.” A causal idea may also be in the apostle’s mind, but the context emphasizes temporal ideas, e.g., “from the day” (v. 6).
12 tn Col 1:3-8 form one long sentence in the Greek text and have been divided at the end of v. 4 and v. 6 and within v. 6 for clarity, in keeping with the tendency in contemporary English toward shorter sentences. Thus the phrase “Your faith and love have arisen from the hope” is literally “because of the hope.” The perfect tense “have arisen” was chosen in the English to reflect the fact that the recipients of the letter had acquired this hope at conversion in the past, but that it still remains and motivates them to trust in Christ and to love one another.
13 tn BDAG 113 s.v. ἀπόκειμαι 2 renders ἀποκειμένην (apokeimenhn) with the expression “reserved” in this verse.
14 tn The term “the gospel” (τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, tou euangeliou) is in apposition to “the word of truth” (τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθείας, tw logw th" alhqeia") as indicated in the translation.
15 tn That is, the fruit the Spirit produces.
16 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.
17 tn Or “reliability”; see BDAG 818 s.v. πίστις 1.a.
18 tn Or “meekness.” The word is often used in Hellenistic Greek of the merciful execution of justice on behalf of those who have no voice by those who are in a position of authority (Matt 11:29; 21:5).
19 tn Or “putting up with”; or “forbearing.”
20 tc ‡ Although most witnesses have either δέ (de; Ì49 א A D2 Ψ 33 1739mg Ï lat) or οὖν (oun; D* F G 1175) here, a few important
21 tn Or “forgiving.”
22 tn Or “become.”
23 tn Grk “walk.” The NT writers often used the verb “walk” (περιπατέω, peripatew) to refer to ethical conduct (cf. Rom 8:4; Gal 5:16; Col 4:5).
24 tc A number of important witnesses have ὑμᾶς (Jumas, “you”; e.g., א* A B P 0159 81 1175 al it co as well as several fathers). Other, equally important witnesses read ἡμᾶς (Jhmas, “us”; Ì46 א2 D F G Ψ 0278 33 1739 1881 al lat sy). It is possible that ἡμᾶς was accidentally introduced via homoioarcton with the previous word (ἠγάπησεν, hgaphsen). On the other hand, ὑμᾶς may have been motivated by the preceding ὑμῖν (Jumin) in 4:32 and second person verbs in 5:1, 2. Further, the flow of argument seems to require the first person pronoun. A decision is difficult to make, but the first person pronoun has a slightly greater probability of being original.
25 tn Grk “an offering and sacrifice to God as a smell of fragrance.” The first expression, προσφορὰν καὶ θυσίαν (prosforan kai qusian), is probably a hendiadys and has been translated such that “sacrificial” modifies “offering.” The second expression, εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας (ei" osmhn euwdia", “as a smell of fragrance”) has been translated as “a fragrant offering”; see BDAG 728-29 s.v. ὀσμή 2. Putting these two together in a clear fashion in English yields the translation: “a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.”
26 tn If the genitive construct σπλάγχνα οἰκτιρμοῦ (splancna oiktirmou) is a hendiadys then it would be “compassion” or “tenderheartedness.” See M. J. Harris, Colossians and Philemon (EGGNT), 161.
27 tn For the translation of χαριζόμενοι (carizomenoi) as “forgiving,” see BDAG 1078 s.v. χαρίζομαι 3. The two participles “bearing” (ἀνεχόμενοι, anecomenoi) and “forgiving” (χαριζόμενοι) express the means by which the action of the finite verb “clothe yourselves” is to be carried out.
28 tn Grk “if someone has”; the term “happens,” though not in the Greek text, is inserted to bring out the force of the third class condition.
29 tn The expression “forgive others” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. It is included in the translation to make the sentence complete and more comprehensible to the English reader.
30 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.
31 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.
32 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).
33 tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”
34 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
35 tn Or “I want you to know how hard I am working for you…”
36 tn Grk “as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.”
37 tn Or “I want you to know how hard I am working for you…”
38 tn Grk “as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.”
39 tn Grk “as being imprisoned together.”
40 tn Or “since you too are vulnerable”; Grk “you also being in the body.”