1 Kings 20:18

20:18 He ordered, “Whether they come in peace or to do battle, take them alive.” ¹ 

1 Kings 20:2

20:2 He sent messengers to King Ahab of Israel, who was in the city. ² 

1 Kings 18:23-24

18:23 Let them bring us two bulls. Let them choose one of the bulls for themselves, cut it up into pieces, and place it on the wood. But they must not set it on fire. I will do the same to the other bull and place it on the wood. But I will not set it on fire. 18:24 Then you ³  will invoke the name of your god, and I will invoke the name of the Lord. The god who responds with fire will demonstrate that he is the true God.” ⁴  All the people responded, “This will be a fair test.” ⁵ 

Nehemiah 4:2-4

4:2 and in the presence of his colleagues ⁶  and the army of Samaria ⁷  he said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they be left to themselves? ⁸  Will they again offer sacrifice? Will they finish this in a day? Can they bring these burnt stones to life again from piles of dust?”

4:3 Then Tobiah the Ammonite, who was close by, said, “If even a fox were to climb up on what they are building, it would break down their wall of stones!”

4:4 Hear, O our God, for we are despised! Return their reproach on their own head! Reduce them to plunder in a land of exile!

Psalms 123:3-4

123:3 Show us favor, O Lord, show us favor!

For we have had our fill of humiliation, and then some. ⁹ 

123:4 We have had our fill ¹⁰ 

of the taunts of the self-assured,

of the contempt of the proud.

Psalms 123:2

123:2 Look, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,

as the eyes of a female servant look to the hand of her mistress, ¹¹ 

so my eyes will look to the Lord, our God, until he shows us favor.

Colossians 1:27-29

1:27 God wanted to make known to them the glorious ¹²  riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 1:28 We proclaim him by instructing ¹³  and teaching ¹⁴  all people ¹⁵  with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature ¹⁶  in Christ. 1:29 Toward this goal ¹⁷  I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully ¹⁸  works in me.

[20:18]  ¹ tn Heb “if they come in peace, take them alive; if they come for battle, take them alive.”

[20:2]  ² tn Heb “to the city.”

[18:24]  ³ tn Elijah now directly addresses the prophets.

[18:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “the God.”

[18:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “The matter [i.e., proposal] is good [i.e., acceptable].”

[4:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “brothers.”

[4:2]  ⁷ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[4:2]  ⁸ tc The Hebrew text is difficult here. The present translation follows the MT, but the text may be corrupt. H. G. M. Williamson (Ezra, Nehemiah [WBC], 213-14) translates these words as “Will they commit their cause to God?” suggesting that MT לָהֶם (lahem, “to them”) should be emended to לֵאלֹהִים (lelohim, “to God”), a proposal also found in the apparatus of BHS. In his view later scribes altered the phrase out of theological motivations. J. Blenkinsopp’s translation is similar: “Are they going to leave it all to God?” (Ezra–Nehemiah [OTL], 242-44). However, a problem for this view is the absence of external evidence to support the proposed emendation. The sense of the MT reading may be the notion that the workers – if left to their own limited resources – could not possibly see such a demanding and expensive project through to completion. This interpretation understands the collocation עָזַב (’azav, “to leave”) plus לְ (lÿ, “to”) to mean “commit a matter to someone,” with the sense in this verse “Will they leave the building of the fortified walls to themselves?”

[123:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “for greatly we are filled [with] humiliation.”

[123:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “greatly our soul is full to it.”

[123:2]  ¹¹ sn Servants look to their master for food, shelter, and other basic needs.

[1:27]  ¹² tn The genitive noun τῆς δόξης (ths doxhs) is an attributive genitive and has therefore been translated as “glorious riches.”

[1:28]  ¹³ 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.

[1:28]  ¹⁴ 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).

[1:28]  ¹⁵ tn Here ἄνθρωπον (anqrwpon) is twice translated as a generic (“people” and “person”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.

[1:28]  ¹⁶ 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.

[1:29]  ¹⁷ tn The Greek phrase εἴς ὅ (eis Jo, “toward which”) implies “movement toward a goal” and has been rendered by the English phrase “Toward this goal.”

[1:29]  ¹⁸ tn The prepositional phrase ἐν δυνάμει (en dunamei) seems to be functioning adverbially, related to the participle, and has therefore been translated “powerfully.”