Psalms 22:30

22:30 A whole generation¹ will serve him;

they will tell the next generation about the sovereign Lord.²

Isaiah 4:3

4:3 Those remaining in Zion,³ those left in Jerusalem,⁴

will be called “holy,”⁵

all in Jerusalem who are destined to live.⁶

Ezekiel 9:4

9:4 The Lord said to him, “Go through the city of Jerusalem⁷ and put a mark⁸ on the foreheads of the people who moan and groan over all the abominations practiced in it.”

Ezekiel 13:9

13:9 My hand will be against the prophets who see delusion and announce lying omens. They will not be included in the council⁹ of my people, nor be written in the registry¹⁰ of the house of Israel, nor enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the sovereign Lord.

Luke 10:20

10:20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice that¹¹ the spirits submit to you, but rejoice¹² that your names stand written¹³ in heaven.”

Philippians 4:3

4:3 Yes, I say also to you, true companion,¹⁴ help them. They have struggled together in the gospel ministry¹⁵ along with me and Clement and my other coworkers, whose names are in the book of life.

Revelation 13:8

13:8 and all those who live on the earth will worship the beast,¹⁶ everyone whose name has not been written since the foundation of the world¹⁷ in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was killed.¹⁸

¹tn Heb “offspring.”

²tn Heb “it will be told concerning the Lord to the generation.” The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

³tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

⁴map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁵tn Or “set apart,” cf. CEV “special.”

⁶tn Heb “all who are written down for life in Jerusalem.” A city register is envisioned; everyone whose name appears on the roll will be spared. This group comprises the remnant of the city referred to earlier in the verse.

⁷tn Heb “through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem.”

⁸tn The word translated “mark” is in Hebrew the letter ת (tav). Outside this context the only other occurrence of the word is in Job 31:35. In ancient Hebrew script this letter was written like the letter X.

⁹tn The Hebrew term may refer to the secret council of the Lord (Jer 23:18; Job 15:8), but here it more likely refers to a human council comprised of civic leaders (Gen 49:6; Jer 6:11; 15:17 Ps 64:3; 111:1).

¹⁰tn The reference here is probably to a civil list (as in Ezra 2:16; Neh 7:64) rather than to a “book of life” (Exod 32:32; Isa 4:3; Ps 69:29; Dan 12:1). This registry may have been established at the making of David’s census (2 Sam 24:2, 9).

¹¹tn Grk “do not rejoice in this, that.” This is awkward in contemporary English and has been simplified to “do not rejoice that.”

¹²tn The verb here is a present imperative, so the call is to an attitude of rejoicing.

¹³tn The verb here, a perfect tense, stresses a present reality of that which was a completed action, that is, their names were etched in the heavenly stone, as it were.

¹⁴tn Or “faithful fellow worker.” This is more likely a descriptive noun, although some scholars interpret the word σύζυγος (suzugos) here as a proper name (“Syzygos”), L&N 42.45.

¹⁵tn Grk “in the gospel,” a metonymy in which the gospel itself is substituted for the ministry of making the gospel known.

¹⁶tn Grk “it”; the referent (the beast) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁷tn The prepositional phrase “since the foundation of the world” is traditionally translated as a modifier of the immediately preceding phrase in the Greek text, “the Lamb who was killed” (so also G. B. Caird, Revelation [HNTC], 168), but it is more likely that the phrase “since the foundation of the world” modifies the verb “written” (as translated above). Confirmation of this can be found in Rev 17:8 where the phrase “written in the book of life since the foundation of the world” occurs with no ambiguity.

¹⁸tn Or “slaughtered”; traditionally, “slain.”