Genesis 46:1-34

The Family of Jacob goes to Egypt

46:1 So Israel began his journey, taking with him all that he had. ¹  When he came to Beer Sheba ²  he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 46:2 God spoke to Israel in a vision during the night ³  and said, “Jacob, Jacob!” He replied, “Here I am!” 46:3 He said, “I am God, ⁴  the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. 46:4 I will go down with you to Egypt and I myself will certainly bring you back from there. ⁵  Joseph will close your eyes.” ⁶ 

46:5 Then Jacob started out ⁷  from Beer Sheba, and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little children, and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent along to transport him. 46:6 Jacob and all his descendants took their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and they went to Egypt. ⁸  46:7 He brought with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons, ⁹  his daughters and granddaughters – all his descendants.

46:8 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt – Jacob and his sons:

Reuben, the firstborn of Jacob.

46:9 The sons of Reuben:

Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

46:10 The sons of Simeon:

Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar,

and Shaul (the son of a Canaanite woman).

46:11 The sons of Levi:

Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

46:12 The sons of Judah:

Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah

(but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan).

The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.

46:13 The sons of Issachar:

Tola, Puah, ¹⁰  Jashub, ¹¹  and Shimron.

46:14 The sons of Zebulun:

Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.

46:15 These were the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, along with Dinah his daughter. His sons and daughters numbered thirty-three in all. ¹² 

46:16 The sons of Gad:

Zephon, ¹³  Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.

46:17 The sons of Asher:

Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and Serah their sister.

The sons of Beriah were Heber and Malkiel.

46:18 These were the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter. She bore these to Jacob, sixteen in all.

46:19 The sons of Rachel the wife of Jacob:

Joseph and Benjamin.

46:20 Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt. Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, ¹⁴  bore them to him.

46:21 The sons of Benjamin: ¹⁵ 

Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim and Ard.

46:22 These were the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob, fourteen in all.

46:23 The son of Dan: Hushim. ¹⁶ 

46:24 The sons of Naphtali:

Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.

46:25 These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter. She bore these to Jacob, seven in all.

46:26 All the direct descendants of Jacob who went to Egypt with him were sixty-six in number. (This number does not include the wives of Jacob’s sons.) ¹⁷  46:27 Counting the two sons ¹⁸  of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt, all the people of the household of Jacob who were in Egypt numbered seventy. ¹⁹ 

46:28 Jacob ²⁰  sent Judah before him to Joseph to accompany him to Goshen. ²¹  So they came to the land of Goshen. 46:29 Joseph harnessed his chariot and went up to meet his father Israel in Goshen. When he met him, ²²  he hugged his neck and wept on his neck for quite some time.

46:30 Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive.” ²³  46:31 Then Joseph said to his brothers and his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh, ²⁴  ‘My brothers and my father’s household who were in the land of Canaan have come to me. 46:32 The men are shepherds; ²⁵  they take care of livestock. ²⁶  They have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.’ 46:33 Pharaoh will summon you and say, ‘What is your occupation?’ 46:34 Tell him, ‘Your servants have taken care of cattle ²⁷  from our youth until now, both we and our fathers,’ so that you may live in the land of Goshen, ²⁸  for everyone who takes care of sheep is disgusting ²⁹  to the Egyptians.”

Genesis 11:4

11:4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens ³⁰  so that ³¹  we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise ³²  we will be scattered ³³  across the face of the entire earth.”

Genesis 11:1

The Dispersion of the Nations at Babel

11:1 The whole earth ³⁴  had a common language and a common vocabulary. ³⁵ 

Genesis 4:10

4:10 But the Lord said, “What have you done? ³⁶  The voice ³⁷  of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!

Psalms 17:5

17:5 I carefully obey your commands; ³⁸ 

I do not deviate from them. ³⁹ 

Psalms 19:13

19:13 Moreover, keep me from committing flagrant ⁴⁰  sins;

do not allow such sins to control me. ⁴¹ 

Then I will be blameless,

and innocent of blatant ⁴²  rebellion.

Psalms 119:116-117

119:116 Sustain me as you promised, ⁴³  so that I will live. ⁴⁴ 

Do not disappoint me! ⁴⁵ 

119:117 Support me, so that I will be delivered.

Then I will focus ⁴⁶  on your statutes continually.

Psalms 119:133

119:133 Direct my steps by your word! ⁴⁷ 

Do not let any sin dominate me!

Proverbs 30:8-9

30:8 Remove falsehood and lies ⁴⁸  far from me;

do not give me poverty or riches,

feed me with my allotted portion ⁴⁹  of bread, ⁵⁰ 

30:9 lest I become satisfied and act deceptively ⁵¹ 

and say, “Who is the Lord?”

Or lest I become poor and steal

and demean ⁵²  the name of my God.

Matthew 6:13

6:13 And do not lead us into temptation, ⁵³  but deliver us from the evil one. ⁵⁴ 

Matthew 26:41

26:41 Stay awake and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Mark 14:38

14:38 Stay awake and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Mark 14:2

14:2 For they said, “Not during the feast, so there won’t be a riot among the people.” ⁵⁵ 

Colossians 1:7-10

1:7 You learned the gospel ⁵⁶  from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave ⁵⁷  – a ⁵⁸  faithful minister of Christ on our ⁵⁹  behalf – 1:8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ⁶⁰  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ⁶¹  to fill ⁶²  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 1:10 so that you may live ⁶³  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ⁶⁴  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

Ephesians 6:18-19

6:18 With every prayer and petition, pray ⁶⁵  at all times in the Spirit, and to this end ⁶⁶  be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints. 6:19 Pray ⁶⁷  for me also, that I may be given the message when I begin to speak ⁶⁸  – that I may confidently make known ⁶⁹  the mystery of the gospel,

Ephesians 6:1

6:1 Children, ⁷⁰  obey your parents in the Lord ⁷¹  for this is right.

Ephesians 4:7

4:7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Ephesians 5:8-9

5:8 for you were at one time darkness, but now you are ⁷²  light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light – 5:9 for the fruit of the light ⁷³  consists in ⁷⁴  all goodness, righteousness, and truth –

Revelation 3:10

3:10 Because you have kept ⁷⁵  my admonition ⁷⁶  to endure steadfastly, ⁷⁷  I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is about to come on the whole world to test those who live on the earth.

[46:1]  ¹ tn Heb “and Israel journeyed, and all that was his.”

[46:1]  ² sn Beer Sheba. See Gen 21:31; 28:10.

[46:2]  ³ tn Heb “in visions of the night.” The plural form has the singular meaning, probably as a plural of intensity.

[46:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “the God.”

[46:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “and I, I will bring you up, also bringing up.” The independent personal pronoun before the first person imperfect verbal form draws attention to the speaker/subject, while the infinitive absolute after the imperfect strongly emphasizes the statement: “I myself will certainly bring you up.”

[46:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “and Joseph will put his hand upon your eyes.” This is a promise of peaceful death in Egypt with Joseph present to close his eyes.

[46:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “arose.”

[46:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “and they took their livestock and their possessions which they had acquired in the land of Canaan and they went to Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him.” The order of the clauses has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[46:7]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text adds “with him” here. This is omitted in the translation because it is redundant in English style (note the same phrase earlier in the verse).

[46:13]  ¹⁰ tc The MT reads “Puvah” (cf. Num 26:23); the Samaritan Pentateuch and Syriac read “Puah” (cf. 1 Chr 7:1).

[46:13]  ¹¹ tc The MT reads “Iob,” but the Samaritan Pentateuch and some LXX mss read “Jashub” (see Num 26:24; 1 Chr 7:1).

[46:15]  ¹² tn Heb “all the lives of his sons and his daughters, thirty-three.”

[46:16]  ¹³ tc The MT reads “Ziphion,” but see Num 26:15, the Samaritan Pentateuch and the LXX, all of which read “Zephon.”

[46:20]  ¹⁴ sn On is another name for the city of Heliopolis.

[46:21]  ¹⁵ sn The sons of Benjamin. It is questionable whether youthful Benjamin had ten sons by the time he went into Egypt, but it is not impossible. If Benjamin was born when Joseph was six or seven, he was ten when Joseph was sold into Egypt, and would have been thirty-two at this point. Some suggest that the list originally served another purpose and included the names of all who were in the immediate family of the sons, whether born in Canaan or later in Egypt.

[46:23]  ¹⁶ tn This name appears as “Shuham” in Num 26:42. The LXX reads “Hashum” here.

[46:26]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “All the people who went with Jacob to Egypt, the ones who came out of his body, apart from the wives of the sons of Jacob, all the people were sixty-six.”

[46:27]  ¹⁸ tn The LXX reads “nine sons,” probably counting the grandsons of Joseph born to Ephraim and Manasseh (cf. 1 Chr 7:14-20).

[46:27]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two people; all the people belonging to the house of Jacob who came to Egypt were seventy.”

[46:28]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[46:28]  ²¹ tn Heb “to direct before him to Goshen.”

[46:29]  ²² tn Heb “and he appeared to him.”

[46:30]  ²³ tn Heb “after my seeing your face that you are still alive.”

[46:31]  ²⁴ tn Heb “tell Pharaoh and say to him.”

[46:32]  ²⁵ tn Heb “feeders of sheep.”

[46:32]  ²⁶ tn Heb “for men of livestock they are.”

[46:34]  ²⁷ tn Heb “your servants are men of cattle.”

[46:34]  ²⁸ sn So that you may live in the land of Goshen. Joseph is apparently trying to stress to Pharaoh that his family is self-sufficient, that they will not be a drain on the economy of Egypt. But they will need land for their animals and so Goshen, located on the edge of Egypt, would be a suitable place for them to live. The settled Egyptians were uneasy with nomadic people, but if Jacob and his family settled in Goshen they would represent no threat.

[46:34]  ²⁹ tn Heb “is an abomination.” The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “abomination”) describes something that is loathsome or off-limits. For other practices the Egyptians considered disgusting, see Gen 43:32 and Exod 8:22.

[11:4]  ³⁰ tn A translation of “heavens” for שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) fits this context because the Babylonian ziggurats had temples at the top, suggesting they reached to the heavens, the dwelling place of the gods.

[11:4]  ³¹ tn The form וְנַעֲשֶׂה (vÿna’aseh, from the verb עשׂה, “do, make”) could be either the imperfect or the cohortative with a vav (ו) conjunction (“and let us make…”). Coming after the previous cohortative, this form expresses purpose.

[11:4]  ³² tn The Hebrew particle פֶּן (pen) expresses a negative purpose; it means “that we be not scattered.”

[11:4]  ³³ sn The Hebrew verb פָּוָץ (pavats, translated “scatter”) is a key term in this passage. The focal point of the account is the dispersion (“scattering”) of the nations rather than the Tower of Babel. But the passage also forms a polemic against Babylon, the pride of the east and a cosmopolitan center with a huge ziggurat. To the Hebrews it was a monument to the judgment of God on pride.

[11:1]  ³⁴ sn The whole earth. Here “earth” is a metonymy of subject, referring to the people who lived in the earth. Genesis 11 begins with everyone speaking a common language, but chap. 10 has the nations arranged by languages. It is part of the narrative art of Genesis to give the explanation of the event after the narration of the event. On this passage see A. P. Ross, “The Dispersion of the Nations in Genesis 11:1-9,” BSac 138 (1981): 119-38.

[11:1]  ³⁵ tn Heb “one lip and one [set of] words.” The term “lip” is a metonymy of cause, putting the instrument for the intended effect. They had one language. The term “words” refers to the content of their speech. They had the same vocabulary.

[4:10]  ³⁶ sn What have you done? Again the Lord’s question is rhetorical (see Gen 3:13), condemning Cain for his sin.

[4:10]  ³⁷ tn The word “voice” is a personification; the evidence of Abel’s shed blood condemns Cain, just as a human eyewitness would testify in court. For helpful insights, see G. von Rad, Biblical Interpretations in Preaching; and L. Morris, “The Biblical Use of the Term ‘Blood,’” JTS 6 (1955/56): 77-82.

[17:5]  ³⁸ tn Heb “my steps stay firm in your tracks.” The infinitive absolute functions here as a finite verb (see GKC 347 §113.gg). God’s “tracks” are his commands, i.e., the moral pathways he has prescribed for the psalmist.

[17:5]  ³⁹ tn Heb “my footsteps do not stagger.”

[19:13]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “presumptuous.”

[19:13]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “let them not rule over me.”

[19:13]  ⁴² tn Heb “great.”

[119:116]  ⁴³ tn Heb “according to your word.”

[119:116]  ⁴⁴ tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

[119:116]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “do not make me ashamed of my hope.” After the Hebrew verb בּוֹשׁ (bosh, “to be ashamed”) the preposition מִן (min, “from”) often introduces the reason for shame.

[119:117]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “and that I might focus.” The two cohortatives with vav (ו) conjunctive indicate purpose/result after the imperative at the beginning of the verse.

[119:133]  ⁴⁷ tn God’s “word” refers here to his law (see v. 11).

[30:8]  ⁴⁸ tn The two words might form a hendiadys: “falsehood and lies” being equivalent to “complete deception.” The word שָׁוְא means “false; empty; vain; to a false purpose.” The second word means “word of lying,” thus “a lying word.” Taken separately they might refer to false intentions and false words.

[30:8]  ⁴⁹ tn The word חֹק (khoq) means “statute”; it is also used of a definite assignment in labor (Exod 5:14; Prov 31:15), or of a set portion of food (Gen 47:22). Here it refers to food that is the proper proportion for the speaker.

[30:8]  ⁵⁰ sn Agur requested an honest life (not deceitful) and a balanced life (not self-sufficient). The second request about his provision is clarified in v. 9.

[30:9]  ⁵¹ tn The verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) means “to be disappointing; to deceive; to fail; to grow lean.” In the Piel stem it means “to deceive; to act deceptively; to cringe; to disappoint.” The idea of acting deceptively is illustrated in Hos 9:2 where it has the connotation of “disowning” or “refusing to acknowledge” (a meaning very close to its meaning here).

[30:9]  ⁵² tn The Hebrew verb literally means “to take hold of; to seize”; this produces the idea of doing violence to the reputation of God.

[6:13]  ⁵³ tn Or “into a time of testing.”

[6:13]  ⁵⁴ tc Most mss (L W Θ 0233 ˹³ 33 Ï sy sa Didache) read (though some with slight variation) ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, ἀμήν (“for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen”) here. The reading without this sentence, though, is attested by generally better witnesses (א B D Z 0170 ˹ pc lat mae Or). The phrase was probably composed for the liturgy of the early church and most likely was based on 1 Chr 29:11-13; a scribe probably added the phrase at this point in the text for use in public scripture reading (see TCGNT 13-14). Both external and internal evidence argue for the shorter reading.

[14:2]  ⁵⁵ sn The suggestion here is that Jesus was too popular to openly arrest him. The verb were trying is imperfect. It suggests, in this context, that they were always considering the opportunities.

[1:7]  ⁵⁶ tn Or “learned it.” The Greek text simply has “you learned” without the reference to “the gospel,” but “the gospel” is supplied to clarify the sense of the clause. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[1:7]  ⁵⁷ tn The Greek word translated “fellow slave” is σύνδουλος (sundoulo"); the σύν- prefix here denotes association. Though δοῦλος 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.

[1:7]  ⁵⁸ tn The Greek text has “who (ὅς, Jos) is a faithful minister.” The above translation conveys the antecedent of the relative pronoun quite well and avoids the redundancy with the following substantival participle of v. 8, namely, “who told” (ὁ δηλώσας, Jo dhlwsa").

[1:7]  ⁵⁹ tc ‡ Judging by the superior witnesses for the first person pronoun ἡμῶν (Jhmwn, “us”; Ì⁴⁶ א* A B D* F G 326* 1505 al) vs. the second person pronoun ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “you”; found in א² C D¹ Ψ 075 33 1739 1881 Ï lat sy co), ἡμῶν should be regarded as original. Although it is possible that ἡμῶν was an early alteration of ὑμῶν (either unintentionally, as dittography, since it comes seventeen letters after the previous ἡμῶν; or intentionally, to conform to the surrounding first person pronouns), this supposition is difficult to maintain in light of the varied and valuable witnesses for this reading. Further, the second person is both embedded in the verb ἐμάθετε (emaqete) and is explicit in v. 8 (ὑμῶν). Hence, the motivation to change to the first person pronoun is counterbalanced by such evidence. The second person pronoun may have been introduced unintentionally via homoioarcton with the ὑπέρ (Juper) that immediately precedes it. As well, the second person reading is somewhat harder for it seems to address Epaphras’ role only in relation to Paul and his colleagues, rather than in relation to the Colossians. Nevertheless, the decision must be based ultimately on external evidence (because the internal evidence can be variously interpreted), and this strongly supports ἡμῶν.

[1:9]  ⁶⁰ 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]  ⁶¹ 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]  ⁶² 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]  ⁶³ 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]  ⁶⁴ 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.”

[6:18]  ⁶⁵ tn Both “pray” and “be alert” are participles in the Greek text (“praying…being alert”). Both are probably instrumental, loosely connected with all of the preceding instructions. As such, they are not additional commands to do but instead are the means through which the prior instructions are accomplished.

[6:18]  ⁶⁶ tn Grk “and toward it.”

[6:19]  ⁶⁷ tn To avoid a lengthy, convoluted sentence in English, the Greek sentence was broken up at this point and the verb “pray” was inserted in the English translation to pick up the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseuxomenoi, “praying”) in v. 18.

[6:19]  ⁶⁸ tn Grk “that a word may be given to me in the opening of my mouth.” Here “word” (λόγος, logo") is used in the sense of “message.”

[6:19]  ⁶⁹ tn The infinitive γνωρίσαι (gnwrisai, “to make known”) is functioning epexegetically to further explain what the author means by the preceding phrase “that I may be given the message when I begin to speak.”

[6:1]  ⁷⁰ tn The use of the article τά (ta) with τέκνα (tekna) functions in a generic way to distinguish this group from husbands, wives, fathers and slaves and is left, therefore, untranslated. The generic article is used with γύναῖκες (gunaikes) in 5:22, ἄνδρες (andres) in 5:25, δοῦλοι (douloi) in 6:5, and κύριοι (kurioi) in 6:9.

[6:1]  ⁷¹ tc B D* F G as well as a few versional and patristic representatives lack “in the Lord” (ἐν κυρίῳ, en kuriw), while the phrase is well represented in Ì⁴⁶ א A D¹ I^vid Ψ 0278 0285 33 1739 1881 Ï sy co. Scribes may have thought that the phrase could be regarded a qualifier on the kind of parents a child should obey (viz., only Christian parents), and would thus be tempted to delete the phrase to counter such an interpretation. It is unlikely that the phrase would have been added, since the form used to express such sentiment in this Haustafel is ὡς τῷ κυρίῳ/Χριστῷ (Jw" tw kuriw/Cristw, “as to the Lord/Christ”; see 5:22; 6:5). Even though the witnesses for the omission are impressive, it is more likely that the phrase was deleted than added by scribal activity.

[5:8]  ⁷² tn The verb “you are” is implied in the Greek text, but is supplied in the English translation to make it clear.

[5:9]  ⁷³ tc Several mss (Ì⁴⁶ D² Ψ Ï) have πνεύματος (pneumatos, “Spirit”) instead of φωτός (fwtos, “light”). Although most today regard φωτός as obviously original (UBS⁴ gives it an “A” rating), a case could be made that πνεύματος is what the author wrote. First, although this is largely a Byzantine reading (D² often, if not normally, assimilates to the Byzantine text), Ì⁴⁶ gives the reading much greater credibility. Internally, the φωτός at the end of v. 8 could have lined up above the πνεύματος in v. 9 in a scribe’s exemplar, thus occasioning dittography. (It is interesting to note that in both Ì⁴⁹ and א the two instances of φωτός line up.) However, written in a contracted form, as a nomen sacrum (pMnMs) – a practice found even in the earliest mss – πνεύματος would not have been easily confused with fwtos (there being only the last letter to occasion homoioteleuton rather than the last three). Further, the external evidence for φωτός is quite compelling (Ì⁴⁹ א A B D* F G P 33 81 1739 1881 2464 pc latt co); it is rather doubtful that the early and widespread witnesses all mistook πνεύματος for φωτός. In addition, πνεύματος can be readily explained as harking back to Gal 5:22 (“the fruit of the Spirit”). Thus, on balance, φωτός appears to be original, giving rise to the reading πνεύματος.

[5:9]  ⁷⁴ tn Grk “in.” The idea is that the fruit of the light is “expressed in” or “consists of.”

[3:10]  ⁷⁵ tn Or “obey.” For the translation of τηρέω (threw) as “obey” see L&N 36.19. In the Greek there is a wordplay: “because you have kept my word…I will keep you,” though the meaning of τηρέω is different each time.

[3:10]  ⁷⁶ tn The Greek term λόγον (logon) is understood here in the sense of admonition or encouragement.

[3:10]  ⁷⁷ tn Or “to persevere.” Here ὑπομονῆς (Jupomonhs) has been translated as a genitive of reference/respect related to τὸν λόγον (ton logon).