2 Samuel 23:5

23:5 My dynasty is approved by God, ¹ 

for he has made a perpetual covenant with me,

arranged in all its particulars and secured.

He always delivers me,

and brings all I desire to fruition. ² 

Psalms 119:142

119:142 Your justice endures, ³ 

and your law is reliable. ⁴ 

Psalms 139:24

139:24 See if there is any idolatrous tendency ⁵  in me,

and lead me in the reliable ancient path! ⁶ 

Psalms 145:13

145:13 Your kingdom is an eternal kingdom, ⁷ 

and your dominion endures through all generations.

Isaiah 40:8

40:8 The grass dries up,

the flowers wither,

but the decree of our God is forever reliable.” ⁸ 

Isaiah 45:17

45:17 Israel will be delivered once and for all by the Lord; ⁹ 

you will never again be ashamed or humiliated. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 51:6

51:6 Look up at the sky!

Look at the earth below!

For the sky will dissipate ¹¹  like smoke,

and the earth will wear out like clothes;

its residents will die like gnats.

But the deliverance I give ¹²  is permanent;

the vindication I provide ¹³  will not disappear. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 51:8

51:8 For a moth will eat away at them like clothes;

a clothes moth will devour them like wool.

But the vindication I provide ¹⁵  will be permanent;

the deliverance I give will last.”

Ephesians 3:9-11

3:9 and to enlighten ¹⁶  everyone about God’s secret plan ¹⁷  – a secret that has been hidden for ages ¹⁸  in God ¹⁹  who has created all things. 3:10 The purpose of this enlightenment is that ²⁰  through the church the multifaceted wisdom ²¹  of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms. 3:11 This was according to ²²  the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,

Ephesians 3:2

3:2 if indeed ²³  you have heard of the stewardship ²⁴  of God’s grace that was given to me for you,

Ephesians 2:16

2:16 and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed. ²⁵ 

Titus 1:1-3

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²⁶  a slave ²⁷  of God and apostle of Jesus Christ, to further the faith ²⁸  of God’s chosen ones and the knowledge of the truth that is in keeping with godliness, 1:2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the ages began. ²⁹  1:3 But now in his own time ³⁰  he has made his message evident through the preaching I was entrusted with according to the command of God our Savior.

Hebrews 13:20

Benediction and Conclusion

13:20 Now may the God of peace who by the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ,

[23:5]  ¹ tn Heb “For not thus [is] my house with God?”

[23:5]  ² tn Heb “for all my deliverance and every desire, surely does he not make [it] grow?”

[119:142]  ³ tn Heb “your justice [is] justice forever.”

[119:142]  ⁴ tn Or “truth.”

[139:24]  ⁵ tn Many understand the Hebrew term עֹצֶב (’otsev) as a noun meaning “pain,” and translate the phrase דֶּרֶךְ עֹצֶב (derekh ’otsev) as “of pain,” but this makes little sense here. (Some interpret it to refer to actions which bring pain to others.) It is preferable to take עֹצֶב as “idol” (see HALOT 865 s.v. I עֹצֶב) and understand “way of an idol” to refer to idolatrous actions or tendency. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 253.

[139:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the path of antiquity.” This probably refers to the moral path prescribed by the Lord at the beginning of Israel’s history. See Jer 6:16; 18:15, as well as L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 253.

[145:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “a kingdom of all ages.”

[40:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “but the word of our God stands forever.” In this context the divine “word” specifically refers to his decreed promise assuring Jerusalem that her suffering is over and his glorious return imminent (vv. 1-5).

[45:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “Israel will be delivered by the Lord [with] a permanent deliverance.”

[45:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you will not be ashamed and you will not be humiliated for ages of future time.”

[51:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “will be torn in pieces.” The perfect indicates the certitude of the event, from the Lord’s rhetorical perspective.

[51:6]  ¹² tn Heb “my deliverance.” The same Hebrew word can also be translated “salvation” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); cf. CEV “victory.”

[51:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “my righteousness [or “vindication”].”

[51:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “will not be shattered [or “dismayed”].”

[51:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “my vindication”; many English versions “my righteousness”; NRSV, TEV “my deliverance”; CEV “my victory.”

[3:9]  ¹⁶ tn There is a possible causative nuance in the Greek verb, but this is difficult to convey in the translation.

[3:9]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “what is the plan of the divine secret.” Earlier the author had used οἰκονομία (oikonomia; here “plan”) to refer to his own “stewardship” (v. 2). But now he is speaking about the content of this secret, not his own activity in relation to it.

[3:9]  ¹⁸ tn Or “for eternity,” or perhaps “from the Aeons.” Cf. 2:2, 7.

[3:9]  ¹⁹ tn Or “by God.” It is possible that ἐν (en) plus the dative here indicates agency, that is, that God has performed the action of hiding the secret. However, this usage of the preposition ἐν is quite rare in the NT, and even though here it does follow a perfect passive verb as in the Classical idiom, it is more likely that a different nuance is intended.

[3:10]  ²⁰ tn Grk “that.” Verse 10 is a subordinate clause to the verb “enlighten” in v. 9.

[3:10]  ²¹ tn Or “manifold wisdom,” “wisdom in its rich variety.”

[3:11]  ²² tn Grk “according to.” The verse is a prepositional phrase subordinate to v. 10.

[3:2]  ²³ sn If indeed. The author is not doubting whether his audience has heard, but is rather using provocative language (if indeed) to engage his audience in thinking about the magnificence of God’s grace. However, in English translation, the apodosis (“then”-clause) does not come until v. 13, leaving the protasis (“if”-clause) dangling. Eph 3:2-7 constitute one sentence in Greek.

[3:2]  ²⁴ tn Or “administration,” “dispensation,” “commission.”

[2:16]  ²⁵ tn Grk “by killing the hostility in himself.”

[1:1]  ²⁶ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ²⁷ tn Traditionally, “servant” or “bondservant.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  ²⁸ tn Grk “for the faith,” possibly, “in accordance with the faith.”

[1:2]  ²⁹ tn Grk “before eternal ages.”

[1:3]  ³⁰ tn The Greek text emphasizes the contrast between vv. 2b and 3a: God promised this long ago but now has revealed it in his own time.