Joshua 24:14

24:14 Now obey the Lord and worship him with integrity and loyalty. Put aside the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt and worship the Lord.

Psalms 32:2

32:2 How blessed is the one whose wrongdoing the Lord does not punish,

in whose spirit there is no deceit. 10 

John 1:47

1:47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and exclaimed, 11  “Look, a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit! 12 

John 1:2

1:2 The Word 13  was with God in the beginning.

Colossians 1:12

1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share 14  in the saints’ 15  inheritance in the light.

Colossians 1:8

1:8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

Ephesians 6:24

6:24 Grace be 16  with all of those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. 17 

Ephesians 6:1

6:1 Children, 18  obey your parents in the Lord 19  for this is right.

Ephesians 3:18-21

3:18 you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 20  3:19 and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to 21  all the fullness of God.

3:20 Now to him who by the power that is working within us 22  is able to do far beyond 23  all that we ask or think, 3:21 to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.


sn Joshua quotes the Lord’s words in vv. 2b-13 (note that the Lord speaks in the first person in these verses); in vv. 14-15 Joshua himself exhorts the people (note the third person references to the Lord).

tn Heb “fear.”

tn Or “and serve.”

tn Heb “your fathers.”

tn Or “served.”

tn Heb “the river,” referring to the Euphrates. This has been specified in the translation for clarity; see v. 3.

tn Or “and serve.”

tn Heb “man.” The word choice reflects the perspective of the psalmist, who is male. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, the gender and age specific “man” has been translated with the more neutral “one.”

tn Heb “blessed [is] the man to whom the Lord does not impute wrongdoing.”

10 sn In whose spirit there is no deceit. The point is not that the individual is sinless and pure. In this context, which focuses on confession and forgiveness of sin, the psalmist refers to one who refuses to deny or hide his sin, but instead honestly confesses it to God.

11 tn Grk “said about him.”

12 tn Or “treachery.”

13 tn Grk “He”; the referent (the Word) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

14 tn BDAG 473 s.v. ἱκανόω states, “τινὰ εἴς τι someone for someth. Col 1:12.” The point of the text is that God has qualified the saints for a “share” or “portion” in the inheritance of the saints.

15 tn Grk “the inheritance of the saints.” The genitive noun τῶν ἁγίων (twn Jagiwn) is a possessive genitive: “the saints’ inheritance.”

16 tn Or “is.”

17 tc Most witnesses (א2 D Ψ Ï it sy) have ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”) at the end of the letter. Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. The earliest and best witnesses (Ì46 א* A B F G 0278 6 33 81 1175 1241 1739* 1881 sa) lack the particle, giving firm evidence that Ephesians did not originally conclude with ἀμήν.

18 tn The use of the article τά (ta) with τέκνα (tekna) functions in a generic way to distinguish this group from husbands, wives, fathers and slaves and is left, therefore, untranslated. The generic article is used with γύναῖκες (gunaikes) in 5:22, ἄνδρες (andres) in 5:25, δοῦλοι (douloi) in 6:5, and κύριοι (kurioi) in 6:9.

19 tc B D* F G as well as a few versional and patristic representatives lack “in the Lord” (ἐν κυρίῳ, en kuriw), while the phrase is well represented in Ì46 א A D1 Ivid Ψ 0278 0285 33 1739 1881 Ï sy co. Scribes may have thought that the phrase could be regarded a qualifier on the kind of parents a child should obey (viz., only Christian parents), and would thus be tempted to delete the phrase to counter such an interpretation. It is unlikely that the phrase would have been added, since the form used to express such sentiment in this Haustafel is ὡς τῷ κυρίῳ/Χριστῷ (Jw" tw kuriw/Cristw, “as to the Lord/Christ”; see 5:22; 6:5). Even though the witnesses for the omission are impressive, it is more likely that the phrase was deleted than added by scribal activity.

20 sn The object of these dimensions is not stated in the text. Interpreters have suggested a variety of referents for this unstated object, including the cross of Christ, the heavenly Jerusalem (which is then sometimes linked to the Church), God’s power, the fullness of salvation given in Christ, the Wisdom of God, and the love of Christ. Of these interpretations, the last two are the most plausible. Associations from Wisdom literature favor the Wisdom of God, but the immediate context favors the love of Christ. For detailed discussion of these interpretive options, see A. T. Lincoln, Ephesians (WBC), 207-13, who ultimately favors the love of Christ.

21 tn Or “with.”

22 sn On the power that is working within us see 1:19-20.

23 tn Or “infinitely beyond,” “far more abundantly than.”