6:26 So I said, 1 “Oh, my dear people, 2 put on sackcloth
and roll in ashes.
Mourn with painful sobs
as though you had lost your only child.
For any moment now 3 that destructive army 4
will come against us.”
8:10 I will turn your festivals into funerals, 5
and all your songs into funeral dirges.
I will make everyone wear funeral clothes 6
and cause every head to be shaved bald. 7
I will make you mourn as if you had lost your only son; 8
when it ends it will indeed have been a bitter day. 9
2:37 Now when they heard this, 16 they were acutely distressed 17 and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “What should we do, brothers?”
1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, 22 have not ceased praying for you and asking God 23 to fill 24 you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 1:10 so that you may live 25 worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects 26 – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God, 1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of 27 all patience and steadfastness, joyfully
1 tn These words are not in the text but are implicit from the context.
2 tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the translator’s note there.
3 tn Heb “suddenly.”
4 tn Heb “the destroyer.”
5 tn Heb “mourning.”
6 tn Heb “I will place sackcloth on all waists.”
7 tn Heb “and make every head bald.” This could be understood in a variety of ways, while the ritual act of mourning typically involved shaving the head (although occasionally the hair could be torn out as a sign of mourning).
8 tn Heb “I will make it like the mourning for an only son.”
9 tn Heb “and its end will be like a bitter day.” The Hebrew preposition כְּ (kaf) sometimes carries the force of “in every respect,” indicating identity rather than mere comparison.
10 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
11 tn Or “in the sky”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context.
12 tn Here τότε (tote, “then”) has not been translated to avoid redundancy in English.
13 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
14 sn An allusion to Dan 7:13. Here is Jesus returning with full authority to judge.
15 sn When Peter went out and wept bitterly it shows he really did not want to fail here and was deeply grieved that he had.
16 tn The word “this” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.
17 tn Grk “they were pierced to the heart” (an idiom for acute emotional distress).
18 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated for stylistic reasons. It occurs as part of the formula καὶ ἐγένετο (kai egeneto) which is often left untranslated in Luke-Acts because it is redundant in contemporary English. Here it is possible (and indeed necessary) to translate ἐγένετο as “came” so that the initial clause of the English translation contains a verb; nevertheless the translation of the conjunction καί is not necessary.
19 tn Or “a noise.”
20 tn While φέρω (ferw) generally refers to movement from one place to another with the possible implication of causing the movement of other objects, in Acts 2:2 φέρομαι (feromai) should probably be understood in a more idiomatic sense of “blowing” since it is combined with the noun for wind (πνοή, pnoh).
21 tn Or “from the sky.” The Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven” depending on the context.
22 tn Or “heard about it”; Grk “heard.” There is no direct object stated in the Greek (direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context). A direct object is expected by an English reader, however, so most translations supply one. Here, however, it is not entirely clear what the author “heard”: a number of translations supply “it” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV; NAB “this”), but this could refer back either to (1) “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8, or (2) “your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints” (v. 4). In light of this uncertainty, other translations supply “about you” (TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). This is preferred by the present translation since, while it does not resolve the ambiguity entirely, it does make it less easy for the English reader to limit the reference only to “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8.
23 tn The term “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but the following reference to “the knowledge of his will” makes it clear that “God” is in view as the object of the “praying and asking,” and should therefore be included in the English translation for clarity.
24 tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as substantival, indicating the content of the prayer and asking. The idea of purpose may also be present in this clause.
25 tn The infinitive περιπατῆσαι (peripathsai, “to walk, to live, to live one’s life”) is best taken as an infinitive of purpose related to “praying” (προσευχόμενοι, proseucomenoi) and “asking” (αἰτούμενοι, aitoumenoi) in v. 9 and is thus translated as “that you may live.”
26 tn BDAG 129 s.v. ἀρεσκεία states that ἀρεσκείαν (areskeian) refers to a “desire to please εἰς πᾶσαν ἀ. to please (the Lord) in all respects Col 1:10.”
27 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.