Psalms 71:7

71:7 Many are appalled when they see me, ¹ 

but you are my secure shelter.

Isaiah 8:18

8:18 Look, I and the sons whom the Lord has given me ²  are reminders and object lessons ³  in Israel, sent from the Lord who commands armies, who lives on Mount Zion.

Zechariah 3:8

3:8 Listen now, Joshua the high priest, both you and your colleagues who are sitting before you, all of you ⁴  are a symbol that I am about to introduce my servant, the Branch. ⁵ 

Matthew 27:14

27:14 But he did not answer even one accusation, so that the governor was quite amazed.

Matthew 27:1

Jesus Brought Before Pilate

27:1 When ⁶  it was early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people plotted against Jesus to execute him.

Colossians 4:9

4:9 I sent him ⁷  with Onesimus, the faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. ⁸  They will tell ⁹  you about everything here.

¹ tn Heb “like a sign [i.e., portent or bad omen] I am to many.”

² sn This refers to Shear-jashub (7:3) and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (8:1, 3).

³ tn Or “signs and portents” (NAB, NRSV). The names of all three individuals has symbolic value. Isaiah’s name (which meant “the Lord delivers”) was a reminder that the Lord was the nation’s only source of protection; Shear-jashub’s name was meant, at least originally, to encourage Ahaz (see the note at 7:3), and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz’s name was a guarantee that God would defeat Israel and Syria (see the note at 8:4). The word מוֹפֶת (mofet, “portent”) can often refer to some miraculous event, but in 20:3 it is used, along with its synonym אוֹת (’ot, “sign”) of Isaiah’s walking around half-naked as an object lesson of what would soon happen to the Egyptians.

⁴ tn Heb “these men.” The cleansing of Joshua and his elevation to enhanced leadership as a priest signify the coming of the messianic age.

⁵ sn The collocation of servant and branch gives double significance to the messianic meaning of the passage (cf. Isa 41:8, 9; 42:1, 19; 43:10; 44:1, 2, 21; Ps 132:17; Jer 23:5; 33:15).

⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁷ tn The Greek sentence continues v. 9 with the phrase “with Onesimus,” but this is awkward in English, so the verb “I sent” was inserted and a new sentence started at the beginning of v. 9 in the translation.

⁸ tn Grk “is of you.”

⁹ tn Grk “will make known to you.” This has been simplified in the translation to “will tell.”