Luke 18:1

Prayer and the Parable of the Persistent Widow

18:1 Then ¹  Jesus ²  told them a parable to show them they should always ³  pray and not lose heart. ⁴ 

Job 27:10

27:10 Will he find delight ⁵  in the Almighty?

Will he call out to God at all times?

Acts 10:2

10:2 He ⁶  was a devout, God-fearing man, ⁷  as was all his household; he did many acts of charity for the people ⁸  and prayed to God regularly.

Ephesians 6:18-19

6:18 With every prayer and petition, pray ⁹  at all times in the Spirit, and to this end ¹⁰  be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints. 6:19 Pray ¹¹  for me also, that I may be given the message when I begin to speak ¹²  – that I may confidently make known ¹³  the mystery of the gospel,

Colossians 4:2

Exhortation to Pray for the Success of Paul’s Mission

4:2 Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.

Colossians 4:1

4:1 Masters, treat your slaves with justice and fairness, because you know that you also have a master in heaven.

Colossians 1:17

1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together ¹⁴  in him.

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Or “should pray at all times” (L&N 67.88).

⁴ sn This is one of the few parables that comes with an explanation at the start: …they should always pray and not lose heart. It is part of Luke’s goal in encouraging Theophilus (1:4).

⁵ tn See the note on 22:26 where the same verb is employed.

⁶ tn In the Greek text this represents a continuation of the previous sentence. Because of the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences, a new sentence was begun here in the translation.

⁷ sn The description of Cornelius as a devout, God-fearing man probably means that he belonged to the category called “God-fearers,” Gentiles who worshiped the God of Israel and in many cases kept the Mosaic law, but did not take the final step of circumcision necessary to become a proselyte to Judaism. See further K. G. Kuhn, TDNT 6:732-34, 43-44, and Sir 11:17; 27:11; 39:27.

⁸ tn Or “gave many gifts to the poor.” This was known as “giving alms,” or acts of mercy (Sir 7:10; BDAG 315-16 s.v. ἐλεημοσύνη).

⁹ tn Both “pray” and “be alert” are participles in the Greek text (“praying…being alert”). Both are probably instrumental, loosely connected with all of the preceding instructions. As such, they are not additional commands to do but instead are the means through which the prior instructions are accomplished.

¹⁰ tn Grk “and toward it.”

¹¹ tn To avoid a lengthy, convoluted sentence in English, the Greek sentence was broken up at this point and the verb “pray” was inserted in the English translation to pick up the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseuxomenoi, “praying”) in v. 18.

¹² tn Grk “that a word may be given to me in the opening of my mouth.” Here “word” (λόγος, logo") is used in the sense of “message.”

¹³ tn The infinitive γνωρίσαι (gnwrisai, “to make known”) is functioning epexegetically to further explain what the author means by the preceding phrase “that I may be given the message when I begin to speak.”

¹⁴ tn BDAG 973 s.v. συνίστημι B.3 suggests “continue, endure, exist, hold together” here.