68:11 The Lord speaks; 1
many, many women spread the good news. 2
68:18 You ascend on high, 3
you have taken many captives. 4
You receive tribute 5 from 6 men,
including even sinful rebels.
Indeed the Lord God lives there! 7
5:7 Those survivors from 10 Jacob will live 11
in the midst of many nations. 12
They will be like the dew the Lord sends,
like the rain on the grass,
that does not hope for men to come
or wait around for humans to arrive. 13
10:1 After this 14 the Lord appointed seventy-two 15 others and sent them on ahead of him two by two into every town 16 and place where he himself was about to go. 10:2 He 17 said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest 18 to send out 19 workers into his harvest.
8:4 Now those who had been forced to scatter went around proclaiming the good news of the word.
Now on that day a great 21 persecution began 22 against the church in Jerusalem, 23 and all 24 except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions 25 of Judea and Samaria.
1 tn Heb “gives a word.” Perhaps this refers to a divine royal decree or battle cry.
2 tn Heb “the ones spreading the good news [are] a large army.” The participle translated “the ones spreading the good news” is a feminine plural form. Apparently the good news here is the announcement that enemy kings have been defeated (see v. 12).
3 tn Heb “to the elevated place”; or “on high.” This probably refers to the Lord’s throne on Mount Zion.
4 tn Heb “you have taken captives captive.”
5 tn Or “gifts.”
6 tn Or “among.”
7 tn Heb “so that the
8 tn Heb “shepherds.”
9 tn Heb “after/according to my [own] heart.”
10 tn Heb “the remnant of” (also in v. 8).
11 tn Heb “will be.”
12 tn This could mean “(scattered) among the nations” (cf. CEV, NLT) or “surrounded by many nations” (cf. NRSV).
13 tn Heb “that does not hope for man, and does not wait for the sons of men.”
14 tn Grk “And after these things.” Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
15 tc There is a difficult textual problem here and in v. 17, where the number is either “seventy” (א A C L W Θ Ξ Ψ Ë1,13 Ï and several church fathers and early versions) or “seventy-two” (Ì75 B D 0181 pc lat as well as other versions and fathers). The more difficult reading is “seventy-two,” since scribes would be prone to assimilate this passage to several OT passages that refer to groups of seventy people (Num 11:13-17; Deut 10:22; Judg 8:30; 2 Kgs 10:1 et al.); this reading also has slightly better ms support. “Seventy” could be the preferred reading if scribes drew from the tradition of the number of translators of the LXX, which the Letter of Aristeas puts at seventy-two (TCGNT 127), although this is far less likely. All things considered, “seventy-two” is a much more difficult reading and accounts for the rise of the other. Only Luke notes a second larger mission like the one in 9:1-6.
16 tn Or “city.”
17 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
18 sn The phrase Lord of the harvest recognizes God’s sovereignty over the harvest process.
19 tn Grk “to thrust out.”
20 tn The term ἀναίρεσις (anairesi") can refer to murder (BDAG 64 s.v.; 2 Macc 5:13; Josephus, Ant. 5.2.12 [5.165]).
21 tn Or “severe.”
22 tn Grk “Now there happened on that day a great persecution.” It is less awkward to say in English “Now on that day a great persecution began.”
23 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
24 sn All. Given that the Jerusalem church is still active after this and that the Hellenists are the focus of Acts 6-8, it is possible to argue that only the Hellenistic Christians were forced to scatter.
25 tn Or “countryside.”
26 tn Or “admonishing,” or “warning.” BDAG 679 s.v. νουθετέω states, “to counsel about avoidance or cessation of an improper course of conduct,, admonish, warn, instruct.” After the participle νουθετοῦντες (nouqetounte", “instructing”) the words πάντα ἄνθρωπον (panta anqrwpon, “all men”) occur in the Greek text, but since the same phrase appears again after διδάσκοντες (didaskontes) it was omitted in translation to avoid redundancy in English.
27 tn The two participles “instructing” (νουθετοῦντες, nouqetounte") and “teaching” (διδάσκοντες, didaskonte") are translated as participles of means (“by”) related to the finite verb “we proclaim” (καταγγέλλομεν, katangellomen).
28 tn Here ἄνθρωπον (anqrwpon) is twice translated as a generic (“people” and “person”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.
29 tn Since Paul’s focus is on the present experience of the Colossians, “mature” is a better translation of τέλειον (teleion) than “perfect,” since the latter implies a future, eschatological focus.