1 Corinthians 15:2

15:2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you – unless you believed in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:17

15:17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless; you are still in your sins.

Psalms 73:13

73:13 I concluded, ¹  “Surely in vain I have kept my motives ²  pure

and maintained a pure lifestyle. ³ 

Isaiah 49:4

49:4 But I thought, ⁴  “I have worked in vain;

I have expended my energy for absolutely nothing.” ⁵ 

But the Lord will vindicate me;

my God will reward me. ⁶ 

Genesis 8:8

8:8 Then Noah ⁷  sent out a dove ⁸  to see if the waters had receded ⁹  from the surface of the ground.

Matthew 15:9

15:9 and they worship me in vain,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” ¹⁰ 

Acts 17:31

17:31 because he has set ¹¹  a day on which he is going to judge the world ¹²  in righteousness, by a man whom he designated, ¹³  having provided proof to everyone by raising ¹⁴  him from the dead.”

Galatians 2:2

2:2 I went there ¹⁵  because of ¹⁶  a revelation and presented ¹⁷  to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so ¹⁸  only in a private meeting with the influential people, ¹⁹  to make sure that I was not running – or had not run ²⁰  – in vain.

James 1:26

1:26 If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile.

James 2:20

2:20 But would you like evidence, ²¹  you empty fellow, ²²  that faith without works is useless? ²³ 

[73:13]  ¹ tn The words “I concluded” are supplied in the translation. It is apparent that vv. 13-14 reflect the psalmist’s thoughts at an earlier time (see vv. 2-3), prior to the spiritual awakening he describes in vv. 17-28.

[73:13]  ² tn Heb “heart,” viewed here as the seat of one’s thoughts and motives.

[73:13]  ³ tn Heb “and washed my hands in innocence.” The psalmist uses an image from cultic ritual to picture his moral lifestyle. The reference to “hands” suggests actions.

[49:4]  ⁴ tn Or “said” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “I replied.”

[49:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “for nothing and emptiness.” Synonyms are combined to emphasize the common idea.

[49:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “But my justice is with the Lord, and my reward [or “wage”] with my God.”

[8:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Noah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:8]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text adds “from him.” This has not been translated for stylistic reasons, because it is redundant in English.

[8:8]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew verb קָלָל (qalal) normally means “to be light, to be slight”; it refers here to the waters receding.

[15:9]  ¹⁰ sn A quotation from Isa 29:13.

[17:31]  ¹¹ tn Or “fixed.”

[17:31]  ¹² sn The world refers to the whole inhabited earth.

[17:31]  ¹³ tn Or “appointed.” BDAG 723 s.v. ὁρίζω 2.b has “of persons appoint, designate, declare: God judges the world ἐν ἀνδρὶ ᾧ ὥρισεν through a man whom he has appointed Ac 17:31.”

[17:31]  ¹⁴ tn The participle ἀναστήσας (anasthsa") indicates means here.

[2:2]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “I went up”; one always spoke idiomatically of going “up” to Jerusalem.

[2:2]  ¹⁶ tn Or “in accordance with.” According to BDAG 512 s.v. κατά B.5.a.δ, “Oft. the norm is at the same time the reason, so that in accordance with and because of are merged…Instead of ‘in accordance w.’ κ. can mean simply because of, as a result of, on the basis of…κ. ἀποκάλυψιν Gal 2:2.”

[2:2]  ¹⁷ tn Or “set before them.”

[2:2]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “Gentiles, but only privately…to make sure.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started with “But” and the words “I did so,” an implied repetition from the previous clause, were supplied to make a complete English sentence.

[2:2]  ¹⁹ tn L&N 87.42 has “important persons, influential persons, prominent persons” for οἱ δοκοῦντες and translates this phrase in Gal 2:2 as “in a private meeting with the prominent persons.” The “prominent people” referred to here are the leaders of the Jerusalem church.

[2:2]  ²⁰ tn Here the first verb (τρέχω, trecw, “was not running”) is present subjunctive, while the second (ἔδραμον, edramon, “had not run”) is aorist indicative.

[2:20]  ²¹ tn Grk “do you want to know.”

[2:20]  ²² tn Grk “O empty man.” Here the singular vocative ἄνθρωπε (anqrwpe, “man”) means “person” or even “fellow.” Cf. BDAG 82 s.v. ἄνθρωπος 8 which views this as an instance of rhetorical address in a letter; the pejorative sense is also discussed under the previous heading (7).

[2:20]  ²³ tc Most witnesses, including several important ones (א A C² P Ψ 33 Ï sy bo), have νεκρά (nekra, “dead”) here, while Ì⁷⁴ reads κενή (kenh, “empty”). Both variants are most likely secondary, derived from ἀργή (argh, “useless”). The reading of the majority is probably an assimilation to the statements in vv. 17 and 26, while Ì⁷⁴’s reading picks up on κενέ (kene) earlier in the verse. The external evidence (B C* 323 945 1739 sa) for ἀργή is sufficient for authenticity; coupled with the strong internal evidence for the reading (if νεκρά were original, how would ἀργή have arisen here and not in vv. 17 or 26?), it is strongly preferred.