Joshua 24:15

24:15 If you have no desire ¹  to worship ²  the Lord, choose today whom you will worship, ³  whether it be the gods whom your ancestors ⁴  worshiped ⁵  beyond the Euphrates, ⁶  or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But I and my family ⁷  will worship ⁸  the Lord!”

Psalms 119:46

119:46 I will speak ⁹  about your regulations before kings

and not be ashamed.

Daniel 3:26

3:26 Then Nebuchadnezzar approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire. He called out, ¹⁰  “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the most high God, come out! Come here!”

Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego emerged from the fire. ¹¹ 

Jonah 1:9

1:9 He said to them, “I am a Hebrew! And I worship ¹²  the Lord, ¹³  the God of heaven, ¹⁴  who made the sea and the dry land.”

Matthew 10:32

10:32 “Whoever, then, acknowledges ¹⁵  me before people, I will acknowledge ¹⁶  before my Father in heaven.

Luke 12:8

12:8 “I ¹⁷  tell you, whoever acknowledges ¹⁸  me before men, ¹⁹  the Son of Man will also acknowledge ²⁰  before God’s angels.

Acts 27:23

27:23 For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong ²¹  and whom I serve ²²  came to me ²³ 

Romans 1:16

The Power of the Gospel

1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ²⁴ 

Romans 6:16

6:16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves ²⁵  as obedient slaves, ²⁶  you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness? ²⁷ 

Galatians 6:14

6:14 But may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which ²⁸  the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

¹ tn Heb “if it is bad in your eyes.”

² tn Or “to serve.”

³ tn Or “will serve.”

⁴ tn Heb “your fathers.”

⁵ tn Or “served.”

⁶ tn Heb “the river,” referring to the Euphrates. This has been specified in the translation for clarity; see v. 3.

⁷ tn Heb “house.”

⁸ tn Or “will serve.”

⁹ tn The series of four cohortatives with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive in vv. 46-48 list further consequences of the anticipated positive divine response to the request made in v. 43.

¹⁷ tn Aram “answered and said.”

¹⁸ tn Aram “from the midst of the fire.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.

²⁵ tn Or “fear.” The verb יָרֵא (yare’) has a broad range of meanings, including “to fear, to worship, to revere, to respect” (BDB 431 s.v.). When God is the object, it normally means “to fear” (leading to obedience; BDB 431 s.v. 1) or “to worship” (= to stand in awe of; BDB 431 s.v. 2). Because the fear of God leads to wisdom and obedience, that is probably not the sense here. Instead Jonah professes to be a loyal Yahwist – in contrast to the pagan Phoenician sailors who worshiped false gods, he worshiped the one true God. Unfortunately his worship of the Lord lacked the necessary moral prerequisite.

²⁶ tn Heb “The Lord, the God of heaven, I fear.” The Hebrew word order is unusual. Normally the verb appears first, but here the direct object “the Lord, the God of heaven” precedes the verb. Jonah emphasizes the object of his worship. In contrast to the Phoenician sailors who worship pagan polytheistic gods, Jonah took pride in his theological orthodoxy. Ironically, his “fear” of the Lord in this case was limited to this profession of theological orthodoxy because his actions betrayed his refusal to truly “fear” God by obeying him.

²⁷ tn Heb “the God of the heavens.” The noun שָׁמַיִם (shamayim, “heavens”) always appears in the dual form. Although the dual form sometimes refers to things that exist in pairs, the dual is often used to refer to geographical locations, e.g., יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (yÿrushalayim, “Jerusalem”), אֶפְרַיִם (’efrayim, “Ephraim”), and מִצְרַיִם (mitsrayim, “Egypt,” but see IBHS 118 §7.3d). The dual form of שָׁמַיִם does not refer to two different kinds of heavens or to two levels of heaven; it simply refers to “heaven” as a location – the dwelling place of God. Jonah’s point is that he worships the High God of heaven – the one enthroned over all creation.

³³ tn Or “confesses.”

³⁴ tn Grk “I will acknowledge him also.”

⁴¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁴² tn Or “confesses.”

⁴³ tn Although this is a generic reference and includes both males and females, in this context “men” has been retained because of the wordplay with the Son of Man and the contrast with the angels. The same is true of the occurrence of “men” in v. 9.

⁴⁴ sn This acknowledgment will take place at the judgment. Of course, the Son of Man is a reference to Jesus as it has been throughout the Gospel. On Jesus and judgment, see 22:69; Acts 10:42-43; 17:31.

⁴⁹ tn Grk “of whom I am.” The relative clause with its possessive was translated following L&N 15.86 s.v. παρίσταμαι.

⁵⁰ tn Or “worship.”

⁵¹ tn Or “stood by me.” BDAG 778 s.v. παρίστημι/παριστάνω 2.a.α states, “approach, come τινί (to) someone…Ac 9:39; 27:23.”

⁵⁷ sn Here the Greek refers to anyone who is not Jewish.

⁶⁵ tn Grk “to whom you present yourselves.”

⁶⁶ tn Grk “as slaves for obedience.” See the note on the word “slave” in 1:1.

⁶⁷ tn Grk “either of sin unto death, or obedience unto righteousness.”

⁷³ tn Or perhaps, “through whom,” referring to the Lord Jesus Christ rather than the cross.