Luke 10:42

10:42 but one thing ¹  is needed. Mary has chosen the best ²  part; it will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 18:22

18:22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have ³  and give the money ⁴  to the poor, ⁵  and you will have treasure ⁶  in heaven. Then ⁷  come, follow me.”

James 2:10

2:10 For the one who obeys the whole law but fails ⁸  in one point has become guilty of all of it. ⁹ 

Revelation 2:4

2:4 But I have this against you: You have departed ¹⁰  from your first love!

Revelation 2:14

2:14 But I have a few things against you: You have some people there who follow the teaching of Balaam, ¹¹  who instructed Balak to put a stumbling block ¹²  before the people ¹³  of Israel so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. ¹⁴ 

Revelation 2:20

2:20 But I have this against you: You tolerate that ¹⁵  woman ¹⁶  Jezebel, ¹⁷  who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives ¹⁸  my servants ¹⁹  to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. ²⁰ 

¹ tc Or, with some mss (̳ [א] B C² L 070^vid ˹ 33 [579] pc), “few things are needed – or only one” (as well as other variants). The textual problem here is a difficult one to decide. The shorter reading is normally preferred, but it is not altogether clear how the variants would arise from it. However, the reading followed in the translation has good support (with some internal variations) from a number of witnesses (Ì^45,75 A C* W Θ Ψ Ë¹³ Ï lat sa).

² tn Or “better”; Grk “good.” This is an instance of the positive adjective used in place of the superlative adjective. According to ExSyn 298, this could also be treated as a positive for comparative (“better”).

³ sn See Luke 14:33.

⁴ tn The words “the money” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

⁵ sn See Luke 1:50-53; 6:20-23; 14:12-14.

⁶ sn The call for sacrifice comes with a promise of eternal reward: …you will have treasure in heaven. Jesus’ call is a test to see how responsive the man is to God’s direction through him. Will he walk the path God’s agent calls him to walk? For a rich person who got it right, see Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10.

⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the conversation.

⁸ tn Or “stumbles.”

⁹ tn Grk “guilty of all.”

¹⁰ tn The Greek word translated “departed from” (ἀφίημι, afihmi; L&N 15.48) can actually be used of divorce (L&N 34.78), so the imagery here is very strong.

¹¹ sn See Num 22-24; 31:16.

¹² tn That is, a cause for sinning. An alternate translation is “who instructed Balak to cause the people of Israel to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols…”

¹³ tn Grk “sons,” but the expression υἱοὶ ᾿Ισραήλ (Juioi Israhl) is an idiom for the people of Israel as an ethnic entity (see L&N 11.58).

¹⁴ tn Due to the actual events in the OT (Num 22-24; 31:16), πορνεῦσαι (porneusai) is taken to mean “sexual immorality.” BDAG 854 s.v. πορνεύω 1 states, “engage in illicit sex, to fornicate, to whore…W. φαγεῖν εἰδωλόθυτα ‘eat meat offered to idols’ Rv 2:14, 20.”

¹⁵ tn The Greek article has been translated here with demonstrative force.

¹⁶ tc The ms evidence for γυναῖκα (gunaika, “woman”) alone includes {א C P 1611 2053 pc lat}. The ms evidence for the addition of “your” (σου, sou) includes A 1006 2351 Ï^K pc sy. With the pronoun, the text reads “your wife, Jezebel” instead of “that woman, Jezebel.” In Revelation, A C are the most important mss, along with א Ì⁴⁷ (which only reads in portions of chapters 9-17) 1006 1611 2053; in this instance, the external evidence slightly favors the shorter reading. But internally, it gains strength. The longer reading implies the idea that the angel in 2:18 is the bishop or leader of the church in Thyatira. The pronoun “your” (σου) is used four times in vv. 19-20 and may have been the cause for the scribe copying it again. Further, once the monarchical episcopate was in vogue (beginning in the 2nd century) scribes might have been prone to add “your” here.

¹⁷ sn Jezebel was the name of King Ahab’s idolatrous and wicked queen in 1 Kgs 16:31; 18:1-5; 19:1-3; 21:5-24. It is probable that the individual named here was analogous to her prototype in idolatry and immoral behavior, since those are the items singled out for mention.

¹⁸ tn Grk “teaches and deceives” (διδάσκει καὶ πλανᾷ, didaskei kai plana), a construction in which the first verb appears to specify the means by which the second is accomplished: “by her teaching, deceives…”

¹⁹ tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

²⁰ sn To commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. Note the conclusions of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15:29, which specifically prohibits Gentile Christians from engaging in these activities.