Psalms 36:8

36:8 They are filled with food from your house,

and you allow them to drink from the river of your delicacies.

Psalms 104:24

104:24 How many living things you have made, O Lord! ¹ 

You have exhibited great skill in making all of them; ² 

the earth is full of the living things you have made.

Psalms 130:7

130:7 O Israel, hope in the Lord,

for the Lord exhibits loyal love, ³ 

and is more than willing to deliver. ⁴ 

Romans 9:23

9:23 And what if he is willing to make known the wealth of his glory on the objects ⁵  of mercy that he has prepared beforehand for glory –

Romans 11:33

11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how fathomless his ways!

Ephesians 1:7

1:7 In him ⁶  we have redemption through his blood, ⁷  the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace

Ephesians 1:18

1:18 – since the eyes of your ⁸  heart have been enlightened ⁹  – so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, ¹⁰  what is the wealth of his glorious ¹¹  inheritance in the saints,

Ephesians 2:7

2:7 to demonstrate in the coming ages ¹²  the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward ¹³  us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 3:8

3:8 To me – less than the least of all the saints ¹⁴  – this grace was given, ¹⁵  to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ

Ephesians 3:16

3:16 I pray that ¹⁶  according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person,

Colossians 1:27

1:27 God wanted to make known to them the glorious ¹⁷  riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Colossians 3:16

3:16 Let the word of Christ ¹⁸  dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace ¹⁹  in your hearts to God.

Colossians 3:1

Exhortations to Seek the Things Above

3:1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Colossians 1:17

1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together ²⁰  in him.

¹ tn Heb “How many [are] your works, O Lord.” In this case the Lord’s “works” are the creatures he has made, as the preceding and following contexts make clear.

² tn Heb “all of them with wisdom you have made.”

³ tn Heb “for with the Lord [is] loyal love.”

⁴ tn Heb “and abundantly with him [is] redemption.”

⁵ tn Grk “vessels.” This is the same Greek word used in v. 21.

⁶ tn Grk “in whom” (the relative clause of v. 7 is subordinate to v. 6). The “him” refers to Christ.

⁷ sn In this context his blood, the blood of Jesus Christ, refers to the price paid for believers’ redemption, which is the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross.

⁸ tc ‡ Most witnesses, especially of the Byzantine and Western texttypes, though with a few important Alexandrian witnesses (א A D F G Ψ 0278 Ï latt sy), add ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “your”) after καρδίας (kardias, “heart”), though it is clearly implied in the shorter (Alexandrian) reading (found in Ì⁴⁶ B 6 33 1175 1739 1881 pc). The longer reading thus looks to be a clarifying gloss, as is frequently found in the Byzantine and Western traditions. The translation above also uses “your” because of English requirements, not because of textual basis.

⁹ tn The perfect participle πεφωτισμένους (pefwtismenou") may either be part of the prayer (“that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened”) or part of the basis of the prayer (“since the eyes of your heart have been enlightened”). Although the participle follows the ἵνα (Jina) of v. 17, it is awkward grammatically in the clause. Further, perfect adverbial participles are usually causal in NT Greek. Finally, the context both here and throughout Ephesians seems to emphasize the motif of light as a property belonging to believers. Thus, it seems that the author is saying, “I know that you are saved, that you have had the blinders of the devil removed; because of this, I can now pray that you will fully understand and see the light of God’s glorious revelation.” Hence, the translation takes the participle to form a part of the basis for the prayer.

¹⁰ tn Or “the hope to which he has called you.”

¹¹ tn Grk “of the glory of his inheritance.” Here “inheritance” is taken as an attributed genitive and the head noun, “glory,” is thus translated as an adjective, “glorious inheritance.”

¹² tn Or possibly “to the Aeons who are about to come.”

¹³ tn Or “upon.”

¹⁴ sn In Pauline writings saints means any true believer. Thus for Paul to view himself as less than the least of all the saints is to view himself as the most unworthy object of Christ’s redemption.

¹⁵ sn The parallel phrases to proclaim and to enlighten which follow indicate why God’s grace was manifested to Paul. Grace was not something just to be received, but to be shared with others (cf. Acts 13:47).

¹⁶ tn Grk “that.” In Greek v. 16 is a subordinate clause to vv. 14-15.

¹⁷ tn The genitive noun τῆς δόξης (ths doxhs) is an attributive genitive and has therefore been translated as “glorious riches.”

¹⁸ tc Since “the word of Christ” occurs nowhere else in the NT, two predictable variants arose: “word of God” and “word of the Lord.” Even though some of the witnesses for these variants are impressive (κυρίου [kuriou, “of the Lord”] in א* I 1175 pc bo; θεοῦ [qeou, “of God”] in A C* 33 104 323 945 al), the reading Χριστοῦ (Cristou, “of Christ”) is read by an excellent cross-section of witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א² B C² D F G Ψ 075 1739 1881 Ï lat sa). On both internal and external grounds, Χριστοῦ is strongly preferred.

¹⁹ tn Grk “with grace”; “all” is supplied as it is implicitly related to all the previous instructions in the verse.

²⁰ tn BDAG 973 s.v. συνίστημι B.3 suggests “continue, endure, exist, hold together” here.