2 Kings 4:3-7

4:3 He said, “Go and ask all your neighbors for empty containers. ¹  Get as many as you can. ²  4:4 Go and close the door behind you and your sons. Pour the olive oil into all the containers; ³  set aside each one when you have filled it.” 4:5 So she left him and closed the door behind her and her sons. As they were bringing the containers to her, she was pouring the olive oil. 4:6 When the containers were full, she said to one of her sons, ⁴  “Bring me another container.” But he answered her, “There are no more.” Then the olive oil stopped flowing. 4:7 She went and told the prophet. ⁵  He said, “Go, sell the olive oil. Repay your creditor, and then you and your sons can live off the rest of the profit.”

Ecclesiastes 11:6

11:6 Sow your seed in the morning,

and do not stop working ⁶  until the evening; ⁷ 

for you do not know which activity ⁸  will succeed ⁹  –

whether this one or that one, or whether both will prosper equally. ¹⁰ 

John 21:6-11

21:6 He told them, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” ¹¹  So they threw the net, ¹²  and were not able to pull it in because of the large number of fish.

21:7 Then the disciple whom ¹³  Jesus loved ¹⁴  said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” So Simon Peter, when he heard that it was the Lord, tucked in his outer garment (for he had nothing on underneath it), ¹⁵  and plunged ¹⁶  into the sea. 21:8 Meanwhile the other disciples came with the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from land, only about a hundred yards. ¹⁷ 

21:9 When they got out on the beach, ¹⁸  they saw a charcoal fire ready ¹⁹  with a fish placed on it, and bread. 21:10 Jesus said, ²⁰  “Bring some of the fish you have just now caught.” 21:11 So Simon Peter went aboard and pulled the net to shore. It was ²¹  full of large fish, one hundred fifty-three, ²²  but although there were so many, the net was not torn.

Acts 2:41

2:41 So those who accepted ²³  his message ²⁴  were baptized, and that day about three thousand people ²⁵  were added. ²⁶ 

Acts 4:4

4:4 But many of those who had listened to ²⁷  the message ²⁸  believed, and the number of the men ²⁹  came to about five thousand.

Acts 4:1

The Arrest and Trial of Peter and John

4:1 While Peter and John ³⁰  were speaking to the people, the priests and the commander ³¹  of the temple guard ³²  and the Sadducees ³³  came up ³⁴  to them,

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ³⁵  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Galatians 6:9

6:9 So we must not grow weary ³⁶  in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not give up. ³⁷ 

[4:3]  ¹ tn Heb “Go, ask for containers from outside, from all your neighbors, empty containers.”

[4:3]  ² tn Heb “Do not borrow just a few.”

[4:4]  ³ tn Heb “all these vessels.”

[4:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “to her son.”

[4:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “man of God” (also in vv. 16, 22, 25, 27 [twice]).

[11:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “do not let your hand rest.” The Hebrew phrase “do not let your hand rest” is an idiom that means “do not stop working” or “do not be idle” (e.g., Eccl 7:18); cf. BDB 628 s.v. נוּחַ B.1. Several English versions capture the sense of the idiom well: “do not stop working” (NEB); “do not be idle” (MLB); “let not your hand be idle” (NAB); “let not your hands be idle” (NIV); “stay not your hand” (Moffatt). The term “hand” is a synecdoche of part (i.e., do not let your hand rest) for the whole person (i.e., do not allow yourself to stop working).

[11:6]  ⁷ tn The terms “morning” (בֹּקֶר, boqer) and “evening” (עֶרֶב, ’erev) form a merism (a figure of speech using two polar extremes to include everything in between) that connotes “from morning until evening.” The point is not that the farmer should plant at two times in the day (morning and evening), but that he should plant all day long (from morning until evening). This merism is reflected in several translations: “in the morning…until evening” (NEB, Moffatt).

[11:6]  ⁸ tn The term “activity” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.

[11:6]  ⁹ tn The verb כָּשֵׁר (kasher, “to prosper”) is used metonymically to denote “will succeed.” In 11:10, it means “skill in work.”

[11:6]  ¹⁰ tn Or “together.”

[21:6]  ¹¹ tn The word “some” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[21:6]  ¹² tn The words “the net” are not in the Greek text but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[21:7]  ¹³ tn Grk “the disciple, that one whom.”

[21:7]  ¹⁴ sn On the disciple whom Jesus loved see 13:23-26.

[21:7]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “for he was naked.” Peter’s behavior here has been puzzling to many interpreters. It is usually understood that the Greek word γυμνός (gumnos, usually translated “naked”) does not refer to complete nudity (as it could), since this would have been offensive to Jewish sensibilities in this historical context. It is thus commonly understood to mean “stripped for work” here (cf. NASB, NLT), that is, with one’s outer clothing removed, and Peter was wearing either a loincloth or a loose-fitting tunic (a long shirt-like garment worn under a cloak, cf. NAB, “for he was lightly clad”). Believing himself inadequately dressed to greet the Lord, Peter threw his outer garment around himself and dived into the sea. C. K. Barrett (St. John, 580-81) offered the explanation that a greeting was a religious act and thus could not be performed unless one was clothed. This still leaves the improbable picture of a person with much experience around the water putting on his outer garment before diving in. R. E. Brown’s suggestion (John [AB], 2:1072) seems much more probable here: The Greek verb used (διαζώννυμι, diazwnnumi) does not necessarily mean putting clothing on, but rather tying the clothing around oneself (the same verb is used in 13:4-5 of Jesus tying the towel around himself). The statement that Peter was “naked” could just as well mean that he was naked underneath the outer garment, and thus could not take it off before jumping into the water. But he did pause to tuck it up and tie it with the girdle before jumping in, to allow himself more freedom of movement. Thus the clause that states Peter was naked is explanatory (note the use of for), explaining why Peter girded up his outer garment rather than taking it off – he had nothing on underneath it and so could not remove it.

[21:7]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “threw himself.”

[21:8]  ¹⁷ tn Or “about a hundred meters”; Grk “about two hundred cubits.” According to BDAG 812 s.v., a πῆχυς (phcu") was about 18 inches or .462 meters, so two hundred πηχῶν (phcwn) would be about 100 yards (92.4 meters).

[21:9]  ¹⁸ tn The words “on the beach” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

[21:9]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “placed,” “laid.”

[21:10]  ²⁰ tn Grk “said to them.”

[21:11]  ²¹ tn The words “It was” are not in the Greek text. Here a new sentence was begun in the translation in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences. For this reason the words “It was” had to be supplied.

[21:11]  ²² sn Here the author makes two further points about the catch of fish: (1) there were one hundred fifty-three large fish in the net, and (2) even with so many, the net was not torn. Many symbolic interpretations have been proposed for both points (unity, especially, in the case of the second), but the reader is given no explicit clarification in the text itself. It seems better not to speculate here, but to see these details as indicative of an eyewitness account. Both are the sort of thing that would remain in the mind of a person who had witnessed them firsthand. For a summary of the symbolic interpretations proposed for the number of fish in the net, see R. E. Brown (John [AB], 2:1074-75), where a number are discussed at length. Perhaps the reader is simply to understand this as the abundance which results from obedience to Jesus, much as with the amount of wine generated in the water jars in Cana at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry (2:6).

[2:41]  ²³ tn Or “who acknowledged the truth of.”

[2:41]  ²⁴ tn Grk “word.”

[2:41]  ²⁵ tn Grk “souls” (here an idiom for the whole person).

[2:41]  ²⁶ tn Or “were won over.”

[4:4]  ²⁷ tn Or “had heard.”

[4:4]  ²⁸ tn Or “word.”

[4:4]  ²⁹ tn In the historical setting it is likely that only men are referred to here. The Greek term ἀνήρ (anhr) usually refers to males or husbands rather than people in general. Thus to translate “of the people” would give a false impression of the number, since any women and children were apparently not included in the count.

[4:1]  ³⁰ tn Grk “While they”; the referents (Peter and John) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:1]  ³¹ tn Or “captain.”

[4:1]  ³² tn Grk “the official of the temple,” a title for the commander of the Jewish soldiers guarding the temple (thus the translation, “the commander of the temple guard”). See L&N 37.91.

[4:1]  ³³ sn The Sadducees controlled the official political structures of Judaism at this time, being the majority members of the Sanhedrin. They were known as extremely strict on law and order issues (Josephus, J. W. 2.8.2 [2.119], 2.8.14 [2.164-166]; Ant. 13.5.9 [13.171-173], 13.10.6 [13.293-298], 18.1.2 [18.11], 18.1.4 [18.16-17], 20.9.1 [20.199]; Life 2 [10-11]). See also Matt 3:7; 16:1-12; 22:23-34; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-38; Acts 5:17; 23:6-8.

[4:1]  ³⁴ tn Or “approached.” This verb often denotes a sudden appearing (BDAG 418 s.v. ἐφίστημι 1).

[1:1]  ³⁵ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[6:9]  ³⁶ tn Or “not become discouraged,” “not lose heart” (L&N 25.288).

[6:9]  ³⁷ tn Or “if we do not become extremely weary,” “if we do not give out,” “if we do not faint from exhaustion” (L&N 23.79).