1 Samuel 7:12

7:12 Samuel took a stone and placed it between Mizpah and Shen. ¹  He named it Ebenezer, ²  saying, “Up to here the Lord has helped us.”

Psalms 11:1

Psalm 11 ³ 

For the music director; by David.

11:1 In the Lord I have taken shelter. ⁴ 

How can you say to me, ⁵ 

“Flee to a mountain like a bird! ⁶ 

Psalms 18:16-17

18:16 He reached down ⁷  from above and took hold of me;

he pulled me from the surging water. ⁸ 

18:17 He rescued me from my strong enemy, ⁹ 

from those who hate me,

for they were too strong for me.

Psalms 63:7

63:7 For you are my deliverer; ¹⁰ 

under your wings ¹¹  I rejoice.

Psalms 77:11

77:11 I will remember the works of the Lord.

Yes, I will remember the amazing things you did long ago! ¹² 

Psalms 138:3

138:3 When ¹³  I cried out for help, you answered me.

You made me bold and energized me. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 138:7-8

138:7 Even when I must walk in the midst of danger, ¹⁵  you revive me.

You oppose my angry enemies, ¹⁶ 

and your right hand delivers me.

138:8 The Lord avenges me. ¹⁷ 

O Lord, your loyal love endures.

Do not abandon those whom you have made! ¹⁸ 

Psalms 138:2

138:2 I will bow down toward your holy temple,

and give thanks to your name,

because of your loyal love and faithfulness,

for you have exalted your promise above the entire sky. ¹⁹ 

Colossians 1:9-10

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ²⁰  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ²¹  to fill ²²  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 1:10 so that you may live ²³  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ²⁴  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ²⁵  brothers and sisters ²⁶  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ²⁷  from God our Father! ²⁸ 

Colossians 4:17-18

4:17 And tell Archippus, “See to it that you complete the ministry you received in the Lord.”

4:18 I, Paul, write this greeting by my own hand. ²⁹  Remember my chains. ³⁰  Grace be with you. ³¹ 

[7:12]  ¹ tn Cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT “Jeshanah.”

[7:12]  ² sn The name Ebenezer (אֶבֶן הָעָזֶר) means “stone of help” in Hebrew (cf. TEV); NLT adds the meaning parenthetically after the name.

[11:1]  ³ sn Psalm 11. The psalmist rejects the advice to flee from his dangerous enemies. Instead he affirms his confidence in God’s just character and calls down judgment on evildoers.

[11:1]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew perfect verbal form probably refers here to a completed action with continuing results.

[11:1]  ⁵ tn The pronominal suffix attached to נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is equivalent to a personal pronoun. See Ps 6:3.

[11:1]  ⁶ tc The MT is corrupt here. The Kethib (consonantal text) reads: “flee [masculine plural!] to your [masculine plural!] mountain, bird.” The Qere (marginal reading) has “flee” in a feminine singular form, agreeing grammatically with the addressee, the feminine noun “bird.” Rather than being a second masculine plural pronominal suffix, the ending כֶם- (-khem) attached to “mountain” is better interpreted as a second feminine singular pronominal suffix followed by an enclitic mem (ם). “Bird” may be taken as vocative (“O bird”) or as an adverbial accusative of manner (“like a bird”). Either way, the psalmist’s advisers compare him to a helpless bird whose only option in the face of danger is to fly away to an inaccessible place.

[18:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “stretched.” Perhaps “his hand” should be supplied by ellipsis (see Ps 144:7). In this poetic narrative context the three prefixed verbal forms in this verse are best understood as preterites indicating past tense, not imperfects.

[18:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “mighty waters.” The waters of the sea symbolize the psalmist’s powerful enemies, as well as the realm of death they represent (see v. 4 and Ps 144:7).

[18:17]  ⁹ tn The singular refers either to personified death or collectively to the psalmist’s enemies. The following line, which refers to “those [plural] who hate me,” favors the latter.

[63:7]  ¹⁰ tn Or “[source of] help.”

[63:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in the shadow of your wings.”

[77:11]  ¹² tn Heb “yes, I will remember from old your wonders.”

[138:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “in the day.”

[138:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “you made me bold in my soul [with] strength.”

[138:7]  ¹⁵ tn Or “distress.”

[138:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “against the anger of my enemies you extend your hand.”

[138:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “avenges on my behalf.” For the meaning “to avenge” for the verb גָּמַר (gamar), see HALOT 197-98 s.v. גמר.

[138:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the works of your hands.” Many medieval Hebrew mss read the singular, “work of your hands.”

[138:2]  ¹⁹ tc The MT reads, “for you have made great over all your name your word.” If retained, this must mean that God's mighty intervention, in fulfillment of his word of promise, surpassed anything he had done prior to this. However, the statement is odd and several emendations have been proposed. Some read, “for you have exalted over everything your name and your word,” while others suggest, “for you have exalted over all the heavens your name and your word.” The translation assumes an emendation of “your name” to “your heavens” (a construction that appears in Pss 8:3 and 144:5). The point is that God has been faithful to his promise and the reliability of that promise is apparent to all. For a fuller discussion of these options, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 244.

[1:9]  ²⁰ tn Or “heard about it”; Grk “heard.” There is no direct object stated in the Greek (direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context). A direct object is expected by an English reader, however, so most translations supply one. Here, however, it is not entirely clear what the author “heard”: a number of translations supply “it” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV; NAB “this”), but this could refer back either to (1) “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8, or (2) “your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints” (v. 4). In light of this uncertainty, other translations supply “about you” (TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). This is preferred by the present translation since, while it does not resolve the ambiguity entirely, it does make it less easy for the English reader to limit the reference only to “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8.

[1:9]  ²¹ tn The term “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but the following reference to “the knowledge of his will” makes it clear that “God” is in view as the object of the “praying and asking,” and should therefore be included in the English translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ²² tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as substantival, indicating the content of the prayer and asking. The idea of purpose may also be present in this clause.

[1:10]  ²³ tn The infinitive περιπατῆσαι (peripathsai, “to walk, to live, to live one’s life”) is best taken as an infinitive of purpose related to “praying” (προσευχόμενοι, proseucomenoi) and “asking” (αἰτούμενοι, aitoumenoi) in v. 9 and is thus translated as “that you may live.”

[1:10]  ²⁴ tn BDAG 129 s.v. ἀρεσκεία states that ἀρεσκείαν (areskeian) refers to a “desire to please εἰς πᾶσαν ἀ. to please (the Lord) in all respects Col 1:10.”

[1:2]  ²⁵ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ²⁶ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ²⁷ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ²⁸ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

[4:18]  ²⁹ tn Grk “the greeting by my hand, of Paul.”

[4:18]  ³⁰ tn Or “my imprisonment.”

[4:18]  ³¹ tc Most witnesses, including a few important ones (א² D Ψ 075 0278 Ï lat sy), conclude this letter with ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”). Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, the external evidence for the omission is quite compelling (א* A B C F G 048 6 33 81 1739* 1881 sa). The strongly preferred reading is therefore the omission of ἀμήν.