1 Peter 5:8

5:8 Be sober and alert. Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, ¹  is on the prowl looking for someone ²  to devour.

Proverbs 11:31

11:31 If the righteous are recompensed on earth, ³ 

how much more ⁴  the wicked sinner! ⁵ 

Jeremiah 25:29

25:29 For take note, I am already beginning to bring disaster on the city that I call my own. ⁶  So how can you possibly avoid being punished? ⁷  You will not go unpunished! For I am proclaiming war against all who live on the earth. I, the Lord who rules over all, ⁸  affirm it!’ ⁹ 

Ezekiel 18:24

18:24 “But if a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and practices wrongdoing according to all the abominable practices the wicked carry out, will he live? All his righteous acts will not be remembered; because of the unfaithful acts he has done and the sin he has committed, he will die. ¹⁰ 

Zechariah 13:9

13:9 Then I will bring the remaining third into the fire;

I will refine them like silver is refined

and will test them like gold is tested.

They will call on my name and I will answer;

I will say, ‘These are my people,’

and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’” ¹¹ 

Matthew 24:22-24

24:22 And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 24:23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ ¹²  or ‘There he is!’ do not believe him. 24:24 For false messiahs ¹³  and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

Mark 13:20-22

13:20 And if the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would be saved. But because of the elect, whom he chose, he has cut them ¹⁴  short. 13:21 Then ¹⁵  if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ ¹⁶  or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe him. 13:22 For false messiahs ¹⁷  and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, the elect.

Luke 23:31

23:31 For if such things are done ¹⁸  when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” ¹⁹ 

Acts 14:22

14:22 They strengthened ²⁰  the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue ²¹  in the faith, saying, “We must enter the kingdom ²²  of God through many persecutions.” ²³ 

Acts 27:24

27:24 and said, ²⁴  ‘Do not be afraid, Paul! You must stand before ²⁵  Caesar, ²⁶  and God has graciously granted you the safety ²⁷  of all who are sailing with you.’

Acts 27:31

27:31 Paul said to the centurion ²⁸  and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you ²⁹  cannot be saved.”

Acts 27:42-44

27:42 Now the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners ³⁰  so that none of them would escape by swimming away. ³¹  27:43 But the centurion, ³²  wanting to save Paul’s life, ³³  prevented them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land, ³⁴  27:44 and the rest were to follow, ³⁵  some on planks ³⁶  and some on pieces of the ship. ³⁷  And in this way ³⁸  all were brought safely to land.

Acts 27:1

Paul and Company Sail for Rome

27:1 When it was decided we ³⁹  would sail to Italy, ⁴⁰  they handed over Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion ⁴¹  of the Augustan Cohort ⁴²  named Julius.

Colossians 1:12

1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share ⁴³  in the saints’ ⁴⁴  inheritance in the light.

Hebrews 4:1

God’s Promised Rest

4:1 Therefore we must be wary ⁴⁵  that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it.

Hebrews 10:38-39

10:38 But my righteous one will live by faith, and if he shrinks back, I ⁴⁶  take no pleasure in him. ⁴⁷  10:39 But we are not among those who shrink back and thus perish, but are among those who have faith and preserve their souls. ⁴⁸ 

[5:8]  ¹ sn This phrase may be an allusion to Ps 22:13.

[5:8]  ² tc A few mss (B Ψ 0206^vid pc) lack the pronoun τινα (tina), while others have it. Those that have it either put the acute accent over the penult, making this an interrogative pronoun (“whom”; L P 322 323 614 630 945 1243 1739 2298 al), or leave off any accent, making this an indefinite pronoun (“someone”; Ï), or are too early to employ accents but nevertheless have the pronoun τινα (Ì⁷² א A). Generally speaking, the shorter and harder reading is to be preferred. In this instance, the omission of the pronoun would obviously be accommodated for by scribes, since both ζητέω (zhtew, “look, seek”) and καταπίνω (katapinw, “devour”) are transitive verbs. However, if the omission were original, one might expect the position of the pronoun to float in the mss – both before and after the infinitive καταπιεῖν (katapiein, “to devour”). Further, other terms might be expected as well, such as ἕνα ἐξ ὑμῶν ({ena ex Jumwn, “one of you”) or τινα ἐξ ὑμῶν (tina ex Jumwn, “a certain one/someone of you”). The uniformity of both the word and its location suggests that the shorter reading (found in but a few Greek mss) in this instance was a scribal mistake. As to whether the pronoun is interrogative or indefinite, since accents were not a part of the earliest mss, such Greek witnesses are of no help to us in this kind of problem. There would be little difference in meaning between the two in this context.

[11:31]  ³ tc The LXX introduces a new idea: “If the righteous be scarcely saved” (reflected in 1 Pet 4:18). The Greek translation “scarcely” could have come from a Vorlage of בַּצָּרָה (batsarah, “deficiency” or “want”) or בָּצַּר (batsar, “to cut off; to shorten”) perhaps arising from confusion over the letters. The verb “receive due” could only be translated “saved” by an indirect interpretation. See J. Barr, “בארץ ~ ΜΟΛΙΣ: Prov. XI.31, I Pet. IV.18,” JSS 20 (1975): 149-64.

[11:31]  ⁴ tn This construction is one of the “how much more” arguments – if this be true, how much more this (arguing from the lesser to the greater). The point is that if the righteous suffer for their sins, certainly the wicked will as well.

[11:31]  ⁵ tn Heb “the wicked and the sinner.” The two terms may form a hendiadys with the first functioning adjectivally: “the wicked sinner.”

[25:29]  ⁶ tn Heb “which is called by my name.” See translator’s note on 7:10 for support.

[25:29]  ⁷ tn This is an example of a question without the formal introductory particle following a conjunctive vav introducing an opposition. (See Joüon 2:609 §161.a.) It is also an example of the use of the infinitive before the finite verb in a rhetorical question involving doubt or denial. (See Joüon 2:422-23 §123.f, and compare usage in Gen 37:8.)

[25:29]  ⁸ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[25:29]  ⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of Yahweh of armies.”

[18:24]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “because of them he will die.”

[13:9]  ¹¹ sn The expression I will say ‘It is my people,’ and they will say ‘the Lord is my God’ is reminiscent of the restoration of Israel predicted by Hosea, who said that those who had been rejected as God’s people would be reclaimed and once more become his sons and daughters (Hos 2:23).

[24:23]  ¹² tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[24:24]  ¹³ tn Or “false christs”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[13:20]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “the days.”

[13:21]  ¹⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[13:21]  ¹⁶ tn Or “the Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[13:22]  ¹⁷ tn Or “false christs”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[23:31]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “if they do such things.” The plural subject here is indefinite, so the active voice has been translated as a passive (see ExSyn 402).

[23:31]  ¹⁹ sn The figure of the green wood and the dry has been variously understood. Most likely the picture compares the judgment on Jesus as the green (living) wood to the worse judgment that will surely come for the dry (dead) wood of the nation.

[14:22]  ²⁰ tn Grk “to Antioch, strengthening.” Due to the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences, a new sentence was started here. This participle (ἐπιστηρίζοντες, episthrizonte") and the following one (παρακαλοῦντες, parakalounte") have been translated as finite verbs connected by the coordinating conjunction “and.”

[14:22]  ²¹ sn And encouraged them to continue. The exhortations are like those noted in Acts 11:23; 13:43. An example of such a speech is found in Acts 20:18-35. Christianity is now characterized as “the faith.”

[14:22]  ²² sn This reference to the kingdom of God clearly refers to its future arrival.

[14:22]  ²³ tn Or “sufferings.”

[27:24]  ²⁴ tn Grk “came to me saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[27:24]  ²⁵ tn BDAG 778 s.v. παρίστημι/παριστάνω 2.a.α states, “Also as a t.t. of legal usage appear before, come before…Καίσαρι σε δεῖ παραστῆναι you must stand before the Emperor (as judge) Ac 27:24.” See Acts 23:11. Luke uses the verb δεῖ (dei) to describe what must occur.

[27:24]  ²⁶ tn Or “before the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

[27:24]  ²⁷ tn Grk “God has graciously granted you all who are sailing with you.” The words “the safety of” have been supplied to clarify the meaning of the verb κεχάρισται (kecaristai) in this context.

[27:31]  ²⁸ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[27:31]  ²⁹ sn The pronoun you is plural in Greek.

[27:42]  ³⁰ sn The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners. The issue here was not cruelty, but that the soldiers would be legally responsible if any prisoners escaped and would suffer punishment themselves. So they were planning to do this as an act of self-preservation. See Acts 16:27 for a similar incident.

[27:42]  ³¹ tn The participle ἐκκολυμβήσας (ekkolumbhsa") has been taken instrumentally.

[27:43]  ³² sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[27:43]  ³³ tn Or “wanting to rescue Paul.”

[27:43]  ³⁴ tn BDAG 347 s.v. I. ἔξειμι has “ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν get to land Ac 27:43.”

[27:44]  ³⁵ tn The words “were to follow” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. They must be supplied to clarify the sense in contemporary English.

[27:44]  ³⁶ tn Or “boards” according to BDAG 913 s.v. σανίς.

[27:44]  ³⁷ tn Grk “on pieces from the ship”; that is, pieces of wreckage from the ship.

[27:44]  ³⁸ tn Grk “And in this way it happened that.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[27:1]  ³⁹ sn The last “we” section in Acts begins here and extends to 28:16 (the previous one ended at 21:18).

[27:1]  ⁴⁰ sn Sail to Italy. This voyage with its difficulty serves to show how God protected Paul on his long journey to Rome. From the perspective of someone in Palestine, this may well picture “the end of the earth” quite literally (cf. Acts 1:8).

[27:1]  ⁴¹ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[27:1]  ⁴² tn According to BDAG 917 s.v. σεβαστός, “In σπεῖρα Σεβαστή 27:1 (cp. OGI 421) Σεβαστή is likew. an exact transl. of Lat. Augusta, an honorary title freq. given to auxiliary troops (Ptolem. renders it Σεβαστή in connection w. three legions that bore it: 2, 3, 30; 2, 9, 18; 4, 3, 30) imperial cohort.” According to W. Foerster (TDNT 7:175), “In Ac. 27:1 the σπεῖρα Σεβαστή is an expression also found elsewhere for ‘auxiliary troops.’” In no case would this refer to a special imperial bodyguard, and to translate “imperial regiment” or “imperial cohort” might give this impression. There is some archaeological evidence for a Cohors Augusta I stationed in Syria during the time of Augustus, but whether this is the same unit is very debatable.

[1:12]  ⁴³ tn BDAG 473 s.v. ἱκανόω states, “τινὰ εἴς τι someone for someth. Col 1:12.” The point of the text is that God has qualified the saints for a “share” or “portion” in the inheritance of the saints.

[1:12]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “the inheritance of the saints.” The genitive noun τῶν ἁγίων (twn Jagiwn) is a possessive genitive: “the saints’ inheritance.”

[4:1]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “let us fear.”

[10:38]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “my soul.”

[10:38]  ⁴⁷ sn A quotation from Hab 2:4.

[10:39]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “not…of shrinking back to perdition but of faith to the preservation of the soul.”