1 Peter 1:6

1:6 This brings you great joy, ¹  although you may have to suffer ²  for a short time in various trials.

Habakkuk 3:17-18

3:17 When ³  the fig tree does not bud,

and there are no grapes on the vines;

when the olive trees do not produce, ⁴ 

and the fields yield no crops; ⁵ 

when the sheep disappear ⁶  from the pen,

and there are no cattle in the stalls,

3:18 I will rejoice because of ⁷  the Lord;

I will be happy because of the God who delivers me!

Acts 16:34

16:34 The jailer ⁸  brought them into his house and set food ⁹  before them, and he rejoiced greatly ¹⁰  that he had come to believe ¹¹  in God, together with his entire household. ¹² 

Romans 14:17

14:17 For the kingdom of God does not consist of food and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in him, ¹³  so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Philippians 1:25

1:25 And since I am sure of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for the sake of your progress ¹⁴  and joy in the faith, ¹⁵ 

Philippians 3:3

3:3 For we are the circumcision, ¹⁶  the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, ¹⁷  exult in Christ Jesus, and do not rely on human credentials ¹⁸ 

Philippians 4:4

4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice!

[1:6]  ¹ tn Grk “in which you exult.”

[1:6]  ² tc ‡ The oldest and best witnesses lack the verb (א* B, along with 1505 pc), but most mss (Ì⁷² א² A C P Ψ 048 33 1739 Ï) have ἐστίν here (estin, “[if] it is [necessary]”). The verb looks to be an explanatory gloss. But if no verb is present, this opens up the time frame in the author’s mind even more, since the conditional particle for both the first class condition and the fourth class condition is εἰ (ei). That may well be what was on the author’s mind, as evidenced by some of his other allusions to suffering in this little letter (3:14, 17). NA²⁷ has the verb in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[3:17]  ³ tn Or “though.”

[3:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “the produce of the olive disappoints.”

[3:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “food.”

[3:17]  ⁶ tn Or “are cut off.”

[3:18]  ⁷ tn Or “in.”

[16:34]  ⁸ tn Grk “He”; the referent (the jailer) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:34]  ⁹ tn Grk “placed [food] on the table” (a figurative expression). Since the actual word for food is not specified, it would also be possible to translate “set a meal before them,” but since this is taking place in the middle of the night, the preparations necessary for a full meal would probably not have been made. More likely Paul and Silas were given whatever was on hand that needed little or no preparation.

[16:34]  ¹⁰ tn Or “he was overjoyed.”

[16:34]  ¹¹ tn The translation “come to believe” reflects more of the resultative nuance of the perfect tense here.

[16:34]  ¹² tn The phrase “together with his entire household” is placed at the end of the English sentence so that it refers to both the rejoicing and the belief. A formal equivalence translation would have “and he rejoiced greatly with his entire household that he had come to believe in God,” but the reference to the entire household being baptized in v. 33 presumes that all in the household believed.

[15:13]  ¹³ tn Grk “in the believing” or “as [you] believe,” with the object “him” supplied from the context. The referent could be God (15:13a) or Christ (15:12).

[1:25]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “for your progress.”

[1:25]  ¹⁵ sn Paul’s confidence in his release from prison (I know that I will remain and continue with all of you) implies that this Roman imprisonment did not end in his death. Hence, there is the likelihood that he experienced a second Roman imprisonment later on (since the belief of the early church was that Paul died under Nero in Rome). If so, then the pastoral letters (1-2 Tim, Titus) could well fit into a life of Paul that goes beyond any descriptions in the book of Acts (which ends with Paul’s first Roman imprisonment). Some have argued that the pastorals cannot be genuine because they cannot fit into the history of Acts. But this view presupposes that Paul’s first Roman imprisonment was also his last.

[3:3]  ¹⁶ tn There is a significant wordplay here in the Greek text. In v. 2 a rare, strong word is used to describe those who were pro-circumcision (κατατομή, katatomh, “mutilation”; see BDAG 528 s.v.), while in v. 3 the normal word for circumcision is used (περιτομή, peritomh; see BDAG 807 s.v.). Both have τομή (the feminine form of the adjective τομός [tomo"], meaning “cutting, sharp”) as their root; the direction of the action of the former is down or off (from κατά, kata), hence the implication of mutilation or emasculation, while the direction of the action of the latter is around (from περί, peri). The similarity in sound yet wide divergence of meaning between the two words highlights in no uncertain terms the differences between Paul and his opponents.

[3:3]  ¹⁷ tc The verb λατρεύω (latreuw; here the participial form, λατρεύοντες [latreuonte"]) either takes a dative direct object or no object at all, bearing virtually a technical nuance of “worshiping God” (see BDAG 587 s.v.). In this text, πνεύματι (pneumati) takes an instrumental force (“by the Spirit”) rather than functioning as object of λατρεύοντες. However, the word after πνεύματι is in question, no doubt because of the collocation with λατρεύοντες. Most witnesses, including some of the earliest and best representatives of the Alexandrian, Western, and Byzantine texts (א* A B C D² F G 0278^vid 33 1739 1881 Ï co Ambr), read θεοῦ (qeou; thus, “worship by the Spirit of God”). But several other important witnesses (א² D* P Ψ 075 365 1175 lat sy Chr) have the dative θεῷ (qew) here (“worship God by the Spirit”). Ì⁴⁶ is virtually alone in its omission of the divine name, probably due to an unintentional oversight. The dative θεῷ was most likely a scribal emendation intended to give the participle its proper object, and thus avoid confusion about the force of πνεύματι. Although the Church came to embrace the full deity of the Spirit, the NT does not seem to speak of worshiping the Spirit explicitly. The reading θεῷ thus appears to be a clarifying reading. On external and internal grounds, then, θεοῦ is the preferred reading.

[3:3]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “have no confidence in the flesh.”