Titus 2:4

2:4 In this way ¹  they will train ²  the younger women to love their husbands, to love their children,

Hebrews 5:12

5:12 For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, ³  you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God’s utterances. ⁴  You have gone back to needing ⁵  milk, not ⁶  solid food.

Revelation 2:20

2:20 But I have this against you: You tolerate that ⁷  woman ⁸  Jezebel, ⁹  who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives ¹⁰  my servants ¹¹  to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. ¹² 

¹ tn Grk “that they may train” (continuing the sentence of 2:3).

² tn This verb, σωφρονίζω (swfronizw), denotes teaching in the sense of bringing people to their senses, showing what sound thinking is.

³ tn Grk “because of the time.”

⁴ tn Grk “the elements of the beginning of the oracles of God.”

⁵ tn Grk “you have come to have a need for.”

⁶ tc ‡ Most texts, including some early and important ones (א² A B* D Ψ 0122 0278 1881 Ï sy Cl), have καί (kai, “and”) immediately preceding οὐ (ou, “not”), but other equally significant witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א* B² C 33 81 1739 lat Or Did) lack the conjunction. As it was a natural tendency for scribes to add a coordinating conjunction, the καί appears to be a motivated reading. On balance, it is probably best to regard the shorter reading as authentic. NA²⁷ has καί in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

⁷ tn The Greek article has been translated here with demonstrative force.

⁸ tc The ms evidence for γυναῖκα (gunaika, “woman”) alone includes {א C P 1611 2053 pc lat}. The ms evidence for the addition of “your” (σου, sou) includes A 1006 2351 Ï^K pc sy. With the pronoun, the text reads “your wife, Jezebel” instead of “that woman, Jezebel.” In Revelation, A C are the most important mss, along with א Ì⁴⁷ (which only reads in portions of chapters 9-17) 1006 1611 2053; in this instance, the external evidence slightly favors the shorter reading. But internally, it gains strength. The longer reading implies the idea that the angel in 2:18 is the bishop or leader of the church in Thyatira. The pronoun “your” (σου) is used four times in vv. 19-20 and may have been the cause for the scribe copying it again. Further, once the monarchical episcopate was in vogue (beginning in the 2nd century) scribes might have been prone to add “your” here.

⁹ sn Jezebel was the name of King Ahab’s idolatrous and wicked queen in 1 Kgs 16:31; 18:1-5; 19:1-3; 21:5-24. It is probable that the individual named here was analogous to her prototype in idolatry and immoral behavior, since those are the items singled out for mention.

¹⁰ tn Grk “teaches and deceives” (διδάσκει καὶ πλανᾷ, didaskei kai plana), a construction in which the first verb appears to specify the means by which the second is accomplished: “by her teaching, deceives…”

¹¹ tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

¹² sn To commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. Note the conclusions of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15:29, which specifically prohibits Gentile Christians from engaging in these activities.