Acts 2:24-32

2:24 But God raised him up, ¹  having released ²  him from the pains ³  of death, because it was not possible for him to be held in its power. ⁴  2:25 For David says about him,

‘I saw the Lord always in front of me, ⁵ 

for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken.

2:26 Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced;

my body ⁶  also will live in hope,

2:27 because you will not leave my soul in Hades, ⁷ 

nor permit your Holy One to experience ⁸  decay.

2:28 You have made known to me the paths of life;

you will make me full of joy with your presence.’ ⁹ 

2:29 “Brothers, ¹⁰  I can speak confidently ¹¹  to you about our forefather ¹²  David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 2:30 So then, because ¹³  he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants ¹⁴  on his throne, ¹⁵  2:31 David by foreseeing this ¹⁶  spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, ¹⁷  that he was neither abandoned to Hades, ¹⁸  nor did his body ¹⁹  experience ²⁰  decay. ²¹  2:32 This Jesus God raised up, and we are all witnesses of it. ²² 

Acts 3:15

3:15 You killed ²³  the Originator ²⁴  of life, whom God raised ²⁵  from the dead. To this fact we are witnesses! ²⁶ 

Romans 4:24-25

4:24 but also for our sake, to whom it will be credited, those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 4:25 He ²⁷  was given over ²⁸  because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of ²⁹  our justification. ³⁰ 

Romans 10:9

10:9 because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord ³¹  and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Romans 14:9

14:9 For this reason Christ died and returned to life, so that he may be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

Ephesians 1:19-20

1:19 and what is the incomparable ³²  greatness of his power toward ³³  us who believe, as displayed in ³⁴  the exercise of his immense strength. ³⁵  1:20 This power ³⁶  he exercised ³⁷  in Christ when he raised him ³⁸  from the dead and seated him ³⁹  at his right hand in the heavenly realms ⁴⁰ 

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,

Hebrews 13:1

Final Exhortations

13:1 Brotherly love must continue.

Hebrews 1:1

Introduction: God Has Spoken Fully and Finally in His Son

1:1 After God spoke long ago ⁴¹  in various portions ⁴²  and in various ways ⁴³  to our ancestors ⁴⁴  through the prophets,

Revelation 1:5

1:5 and from Jesus Christ – the faithful ⁴⁵  witness, ⁴⁶  the firstborn from among the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and has set us free ⁴⁷  from our sins at the cost of ⁴⁸  his own blood

Revelation 1:18

1:18 and the one who lives! I ⁴⁹  was dead, but look, now I am alive – forever and ever – and I hold the keys of death and of Hades! ⁵⁰ 

Revelation 2:8

To the Church in Smyrna

2:8 “To ⁵¹  the angel of the church in Smyrna write the following: ⁵² 

“This is the solemn pronouncement of ⁵³  the one who is the first and the last, the one who was dead, but ⁵⁴  came to life:

[2:24]  ¹ tn Grk “Whom God raised up.”

[2:24]  ² tn Or “having freed.”

[2:24]  ³ sn The term translated pains is frequently used to describe pains associated with giving birth (see Rev 12:2). So there is irony here in the mixed metaphor.

[2:24]  ⁴ tn Or “for him to be held by it” (in either case, “it” refers to death’s power).

[2:25]  ⁵ tn Or “always before me.”

[2:26]  ⁶ tn Grk “my flesh.”

[2:27]  ⁷ tn Or “will not abandon my soul to Hades.” Often “Hades” is the equivalent of the Hebrew term Sheol, the place of the dead.

[2:27]  ⁸ tn Grk “to see,” but the literal translation of the phrase “to see decay” could be misunderstood to mean simply “to look at decay,” while here “see decay” is really figurative for “experience decay.”

[2:28]  ⁹ sn A quotation from Ps 16:8-11.

[2:29]  ¹⁰ tn Since this represents a continuation of the address beginning in v.14 and continued in v. 22, “brothers” has been used here rather than a generic expression like “brothers and sisters.”

[2:29]  ¹¹ sn Peter’s certainty is based on well-known facts.

[2:29]  ¹² tn Or “about our noted ancestor,” “about the patriarch.”

[2:30]  ¹³ tn The participles ὑπάρχων (Juparcwn) and εἰδώς (eidw") are translated as causal adverbial participles.

[2:30]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “one from the fruit of his loins.” “Loins” is the traditional translation of ὀσφῦς (osfu"), referring to the male genital organs. A literal rendering like “one who came from his genital organs” would be regarded as too specific and perhaps even vulgar by many contemporary readers. Most modern translations thus render the phrase “one of his descendants.”

[2:30]  ¹⁵ sn An allusion to Ps 132:11 and 2 Sam 7:12-13, the promise in the Davidic covenant.

[2:31]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “David foreseeing spoke.” The participle προϊδών (proidwn) is taken as indicating means. It could also be translated as a participle of attendant circumstance: “David foresaw [this] and spoke.” The word “this” is supplied in either case as an understood direct object (direct objects in Greek were often omitted, but must be supplied for the modern English reader).

[2:31]  ¹⁷ tn Or “the Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[2:31]  ¹⁸ tn Or “abandoned in the world of the dead.” The translation “world of the dead” for Hades is suggested by L&N 1.19. The phrase is an allusion to Ps 16:10.

[2:31]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “flesh.” See vv. 26b-27. The reference to “body” in this verse picks up the reference to “body” in v. 26. The Greek term σάρξ (sarx) in both verses literally means “flesh”; however, the translation “body” stresses the lack of decay of his physical body. The point of the verse is not merely the lack of decay of his flesh alone, but the resurrection of his entire person, as indicated by the previous parallel line “he was not abandoned to Hades.”

[2:31]  ²⁰ tn Grk “see,” but the literal translation of the phrase “see decay” could be misunderstood to mean simply “look at decay,” while here “see decay” is really figurative for “experience decay.”

[2:31]  ²¹ sn An allusion to Ps 16:10.

[2:32]  ²² tn Or “of him”; Grk “of which [or whom] we are all witnesses” (Acts 1:8).

[3:15]  ²³ tn Or “You put to death.”

[3:15]  ²⁴ tn Or “Founder,” “founding Leader.”

[3:15]  ²⁵ sn Whom God raised. God is the main actor here, as he testifies to Jesus and vindicates him.

[3:15]  ²⁶ tn Grk “whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.” The two consecutive relative clauses make for awkward English style, so the second was begun as a new sentence with the words “to this fact” supplied in place of the Greek relative pronoun to make a complete sentence in English.

[4:25]  ²⁷ tn Grk “who,” referring to Jesus. The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:25]  ²⁸ tn Or “handed over.”

[4:25]  ²⁹ tn Grk “because of.” However, in light of the unsatisfactory sense that a causal nuance would here suggest, it has been argued that the second διά (dia) is prospective rather than retrospective (D. Moo, Romans [NICNT], 288-89). The difficulty of this interpretation is the structural balance that both διά phrases provide (“given over because of our transgressions…raised because of our justification”). However the poetic structure of this verse strengthens the likelihood that the clauses each have a different force.

[4:25]  ³⁰ sn Many scholars regard Rom 4:25 to be poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage.

[10:9]  ³¹ tn Or “the Lord.” The Greek construction, along with the quotation from Joel 2:32 in v. 13 (in which the same “Lord” seems to be in view) suggests that κύριον (kurion) is to be taken as “the Lord,” that is, Yahweh. Cf. D. B. Wallace, “The Semantics and Exegetical Significance of the Object-Complement Construction in the New Testament,” GTJ 6 (1985): 91-112.

[1:19]  ³² tn Or “immeasurable, surpassing”

[1:19]  ³³ tn Or “for, to”

[1:19]  ³⁴ tn Grk “according to.”

[1:19]  ³⁵ tn Grk “according to the exercise of the might of his strength.”

[1:20]  ³⁶ tn Grk “which” (v. 20 is a subordinate clause to v. 19).

[1:20]  ³⁷ tn The verb “exercised” (the aorist of ἐνεργέω, energew) has its nominal cognate in “exercise” in v. 19 (ἐνέργεια, energeia).

[1:20]  ³⁸ tn Or “This power he exercised in Christ by raising him”; Grk “raising him.” The adverbial participle ἐγείρας (egeiras) could be understood as temporal (“when he raised [him]”), which would be contemporaneous to the action of the finite verb “he exercised” earlier in the verse, or as means (“by raising [him]”). The participle has been translated here with the temporal nuance to allow for means to also be a possible interpretation. If the translation focused instead upon means, the temporal nuance would be lost as the time frame for the action of the participle would become indistinct.

[1:20]  ³⁹ tc The majority of mss, especially the Western and Byzantine mss (D F G Ψ Ï b r Ambst), have the indicative ἐκάθισεν (ekaqisen, “he seated”) for καθίσας (kaqisa", “when he seated, by seating”). The indicative is thus coordinate with ἐνήργησεν (enhrghsen, “he exercised”) and provides an additional statement to “he exercised his power.” The participle (found in Ì^92vid א A B 0278 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 2464 al), on the other hand, is coordinate with ἐγείρας (egeiras) and as such provides evidence of God’s power: He exercised his power by raising Christ from the dead and by seating him at his right hand. As intriguing as the indicative reading is, it is most likely an intentional alteration of the original wording, accomplished by an early “Western” scribe, which made its way in the Byzantine text.

[1:20]  ⁴⁰ sn Eph 1:19-20. The point made in these verses is that the power required to live a life pleasing to God is the same power that raised Christ from the dead. For a similar thought, cf. John 15:1-11.

[1:1]  ⁴¹ tn Or “spoke formerly.”

[1:1]  ⁴² tn Or “parts.” The idea is that God’s previous revelation came in many parts and was therefore fragmentary or partial (L&N 63.19), in comparison with the final and complete revelation contained in God’s Son. However, some interpret πολυμερῶς (polumerw") in Heb 1:1 to mean “on many different occasions” and would thus translate “many times” (L&N 67.11). This is the option followed by the NIV: “at many times and in various ways.” Finally, this word is also understood to refer to the different manners in which something may be done, and would then be translated “in many different ways” (L&N 89.81). In this last case, the two words πολυμερῶς and πολυτρόπως (polutropw") mutually reinforce one another (“in many and various ways,” NRSV).

[1:1]  ⁴³ tn These two phrases are emphasized in Greek by being placed at the beginning of the sentence and by alliteration.

[1:1]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “to the fathers.”

[1:5]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “Jesus Christ – the faithful one, the witness…” Some take ὁ πιστός (Jo pistos) as a second substantive in relation to ὁ μάρτυς (Jo martus). In the present translation, however, ὁ πιστός was taken as an adjective in attributive position to ὁ μάρτυς. The idea of martyrdom and faithfulness are intimately connected. See BDAG 820 s.v. πιστός 1.a.α: “ὁ μάρτυς μου ὁ πιστός μου Rv 2:13 (μάρτυς 3); in this ‘book of martyrs’ Christ is ὁ μάρτυς ὁ πιστὸς (καὶ ὁ ἀληθινός) 1:5; 3:14; cp. 19:11 (the combination of ἀληθινός and πιστός in the last two passages is like 3 Macc 2:11). Cp. Rv 17:14.”

[1:5]  ⁴⁶ sn The Greek term translated witness can mean both “witness” and “martyr.”

[1:5]  ⁴⁷ tc The reading “set free” (λύσαντι, lusanti) has better ms support (̹⁸ א A C 1611 2050 2329 2351 Ï^A sy) than its rival, λούσαντι (lousanti, “washed”; found in P 1006 1841 1854 2053 2062 Ï^K lat bo). Internally, it seems that the reading “washed” could have arisen in at least one of three ways: (1) as an error of hearing (both “released” and “washed” are pronounced similarly in Greek); (2) an error of sight (both “released” and “washed” look very similar – a difference of only one letter – which could have resulted in a simple error during the copying of a ms); (3) through scribal inability to appreciate that the Hebrew preposition ב can be used with a noun to indicate the price paid for something. Since the author of Revelation is influenced significantly by a Semitic form of Greek (e.g., 13:10), and since the Hebrew preposition “in” (ב) can indicate the price paid for something, and is often translated with the preposition “in” (ἐν, en) in the LXX, the author may have tried to communicate by the use of ἐν the idea of a price paid for something. That is, John was trying to say that Christ delivered us at the price of his own blood. This whole process, however, may have been lost on a later scribe, who being unfamiliar with Hebrew, found the expression “delivered in his blood” too difficult, and noticing the obvious similarities between λύσαντι and λούσαντι, assumed an error and then proceeded to change the text to “washed in his blood” – a thought more tolerable in his mind. Both readings, of course, are true to scripture; the current question is what the author wrote in this verse.

[1:5]  ⁴⁸ tn The style here is somewhat Semitic, with the use of the ἐν (en) + the dative to mean “at the price of.” The addition of “own” in the English is stylistic and is an attempt to bring out the personal nature of the statement and the sacrificial aspect of Jesus’ death – a frequent refrain in the Apocalypse.

[1:18]  ⁴⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[1:18]  ⁵⁰ tn Concerning “Hades” BDAG 19 s.v. ᾅδης 1 and 2 states: “Orig. proper noun, god of the nether world, ‘Hades’, then the nether world, Hades as place of the dead, Ac 2:27, 31 (Ps 15:10; Eccl 9:10; PGM 1, 179; 16, 8; Philo, Mos. 1, 195; Jos., Bell. 1, 596, Ant. 6, 332). Of Jonah’s fish ἐκ τοῦ κατωτάτου ᾅδου. In the depths, contrasted w. heaven ἕως (τοῦ) ᾅδου Mt 11:23; Lk 10:15 (PsSol 15:10; cp.; Is 14:11, 15); ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ 16:23; ἐν ῝Αιδου ApcPt Rainer. Accessible by gates (but the pl. is also used [e.g. Hom., X., Ael. Aristid. 47, 20 K.=23 p. 450 D.] when only one gate is meant), hence πύλαι ᾅδου (Il. 5, 646; Is 38:10; Wsd 16:13; 3 Macc 5:51; Pss. Sol. 16:2. – Lucian, Menipp. 6 the magicians can open τοῦ ῝Αιδου τὰς πύλας and conduct people in and out safely) Mt 16:18…locked ἔχω τὰς κλεῖς τοῦ θανάτου καὶ τοῦ ᾅδου Rv 1:18 (the genitives are either obj. [Ps.-Apollod. 3, 12, 6, 10 Aeacus, the son of Zeus holds the κλεῖς τοῦ ῝Αιδου; SEG VIII, 574, 3 (III ad) τῷ τὰς κλεῖδας ἔχοντι τῶν καθ᾿ ῝Αιδου (restored)] or possess.; in the latter case death and Hades are personif.; s. 2)…Hades personif.…w. θάνατος (cp. Is 28:15; Job 38:17…) Rv 6:8; 20:13f.”

[2:8]  ⁵¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated due to differences between Greek and English style.

[2:8]  ⁵² tn The phrase “the following” after “write” is supplied to clarify that what follows is the content of what is to be written.

[2:8]  ⁵³ tn Grk “These things says [the One]…” See the note on the phrase “this is the solemn pronouncement of” in 2:1.

[2:8]  ⁵⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present between these two phrases.