Job 16:19

16:19 Even now my witness ¹  is in heaven;

my advocate ²  is on high.

John 12:17

12:17 So the crowd who had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead were continuing to testify about it. ³ 

John 19:35

19:35 And the person who saw it ⁴  has testified (and his testimony is true, and he ⁵  knows that he is telling the truth), ⁶  so that you also may believe.

Romans 10:2

10:2 For I can testify that they are zealous for God, ⁷  but their zeal is not in line with the truth. ⁸ 

Romans 10:2

10:2 For I can testify that they are zealous for God, ⁹  but their zeal is not in line with the truth. ¹⁰ 

Colossians 1:23

1:23 if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, ¹¹  without shifting ¹²  from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant.

Colossians 1:3

Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Church

1:3 We always ¹³  give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ¹⁴  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 2:10-12

2:10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. 2:11 In him you also were circumcised – not, however, ¹⁵  with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal ¹⁶  of the fleshly body, ¹⁷  that is, ¹⁸  through the circumcision done by Christ. 2:12 Having been buried with him in baptism, you also have been raised with him through your ¹⁹  faith in the power ²⁰  of God who raised him from the dead.

¹ sn The witness in heaven must be God, to whom the cries and prayers come. Job’s dilemma is serious, but common to the human experience: the hostility of God toward him is baffling, but he is conscious of his innocence and can call on God to be his witness.

² tn The parallelism now uses the Aramaic word “my advocate” – the one who testifies on my behalf. The word again appears in Gen 31:47 for Laban’s naming of the “heap of witness” in Aramaic – “Sahadutha.”

³ tn The word “it” is not included in the Greek text. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.

⁴ tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

⁵ tn Grk “and that one.”

⁶ sn A parenthetical note by the author.

⁷ tn Grk “they have a zeal for God.”

⁸ tn Grk “in accord with knowledge.”

⁹ tn Grk “they have a zeal for God.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “in accord with knowledge.”

¹¹ tn BDAG 276 s.v. ἑδραῖος suggests “firm, steadfast.”

¹² tn BDAG 639 s.v. μετακινέω suggests “without shifting from the hope” here.

¹³ tn The adverb πάντοτε (pantote) is understood to modify the indicative εὐχαριστοῦμεν (eucaristoumen) because it precedes περὶ ὑμῶν (peri Jumwn) which probably modifies the indicative and not the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi). But see 1:9 where the same expression occurs and περὶ ὑμῶν modifies the participle “praying” (προσευχόμενοι).

¹⁴ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

¹⁵ tn The terms “however” and “but” in this sentence were supplied in order to emphasize the contrast.

¹⁶ tn The articular noun τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (th apekdusei) is a noun which ends in -σις (-sis) and therefore denotes action, i.e., “removal.” Since the head noun is a verbal noun, the following genitive τοῦ σώματος (tou swmatos) is understood as an objective genitive, receiving the action of the head noun.

¹⁷ tn Grk “in the removal of the body of flesh.” The genitive τῆς σαρκός (th" sarko") has been translated as an attributive genitive, “fleshly body.”

¹⁸ tn The second prepositional phrase beginning with ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ (en th peritomh) is parallel to the prepositional phrase ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (en th apekdusei) and gives a further explanation of it. The words “that is” were supplied to bring out this force in the translation.

¹⁹ tn The article with the genitive modifier τῆς πίστεως (th" pistew") is functioning as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

²⁰ tn The genitive τῆς ἐνεργείας (th" energeia") has been translated as an objective genitive, “faith in the power.”