Acts 5:41

5:41 So they left the council rejoicing because they had been considered worthy ¹  to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name. ² 

Psalms 34:1

Psalm 34 ³ 

Written by David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, causing the king to send him away. ⁴ 

34:1 I will praise ⁵  the Lord at all times;

my mouth will continually praise him. ⁶ 

Matthew 5:10-11

5:10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.

5:11 “Blessed are you when people ⁷  insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things about you falsely ⁸  on account of me.

Luke 6:22-23

6:22 “Blessed are you when people ⁹  hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject you as evil ¹⁰  on account of the Son of Man! 6:23 Rejoice in that day, and jump for joy, because ¹¹  your reward is great in heaven. For their ancestors ¹²  did the same things to the prophets. ¹³ 

Romans 5:3

5:3 Not ¹⁴  only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

Romans 12:12

12:12 Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer.

Romans 12:2

12:2 Do not be conformed ¹⁵  to this present world, ¹⁶  but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve ¹⁷  what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

Colossians 4:8-9

4:8 I sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are doing ¹⁸  and that he may encourage your hearts. 4:9 I sent him ¹⁹  with Onesimus, the faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. ²⁰  They will tell ²¹  you about everything here.

Colossians 4:16

4:16 And after ²²  you have read this letter, have it read ²³  to the church of Laodicea. In turn, read the letter from Laodicea ²⁴  as well.

Colossians 4:2

Exhortation to Pray for the Success of Paul’s Mission

4:2 Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.

Colossians 4:17

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

Colossians 1:10

1:10 so that you may live ²⁵  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ²⁶  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

Philippians 2:17

2:17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice together with all of you.

Philippians 4:4-7

4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice! 4:5 Let everyone see your gentleness. ²⁷  The Lord is near! 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. 4:7 And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds ²⁸  in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 1:24

1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body – for the sake of his body, the church – what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.

Colossians 3:15-17

3:15 Let the peace of Christ be in control in your heart (for you were in fact called as one body ²⁹  to this peace), and be thankful. 3:16 Let the word of Christ ³⁰  dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace ³¹  in your hearts to God. 3:17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:1

Exhortations to Seek the Things Above

3:1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Colossians 1:16-18

1:16 for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, ³²  whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him.

1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together ³³  in him.

1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn ³⁴  from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. ³⁵ 

James 1:2

Joy in Trials

1:2 My brothers and sisters, ³⁶  consider it nothing but joy ³⁷  when you fall into all sorts of trials,

James 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From James, ³⁸  a slave ³⁹  of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes dispersed abroad. ⁴⁰  Greetings!

James 1:6-8

1:6 But he must ask in faith without doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed around by the wind. 1:7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, 1:8 since he is a double-minded individual, ⁴¹  unstable in all his ways.

James 4:14

4:14 You ⁴²  do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? ⁴³  For you are a puff of smoke ⁴⁴  that appears for a short time and then vanishes.

[5:41]  ¹ sn That is, considered worthy by God. They “gloried in their shame” of honoring Jesus with their testimony (Luke 6:22-23; 2 Macc 6:30).

[5:41]  ² sn The name refers to the name of Jesus (cf. 3 John 7).

[34:1]  ³ sn Psalm 34. In this song of thanksgiving the psalmist praises God for delivering him from distress. He encourages others to be loyal to the Lord, tells them how to please God, and assures them that the Lord protects his servants. The psalm is an acrostic; vv. 1-21 begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. (Verse 6 begins with the letter he (ה) and v. 7 with the letter zayin (ז). The letter vav (ו), which comes between ה and ז, seems to be omitted, although it does appear at the beginning of v. 6b. The final verse of the psalm, which begins with the letter pe (פ), is outside the acrostic scheme.

[34:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “By David, when he changed his sense before Abimelech and he drove him away and he went.”

[34:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “bless.”

[34:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “continually [will] his praise [be] in my mouth.”

[5:11]  ⁷ tn Grk “when they insult you.” The third person pronoun (here implied in the verb ὀνειδίσωσιν [ojneidiswsin]) has no specific referent, but refers to people in general.

[5:11]  ⁸ tc Although ψευδόμενοι (yeudomenoi, “bearing witness falsely”) could be a motivated reading, clarifying that the disciples are unjustly persecuted, its lack in only D it sy^s Tert does not help its case. Since the Western text is known for numerous free alterations, without corroborative evidence the shorter reading must be judged as secondary.

[6:22]  ⁹ tn This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), referring to both males and females.

[6:22]  ¹⁰ tn Or “disdain you”; Grk “cast out your name as evil.” The word “name” is used here as a figure of speech to refer to the person as a whole.

[6:23]  ¹¹ tn Grk “because behold.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) at the beginning of this clause has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[6:23]  ¹² tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[6:23]  ¹³ sn Mistreatment of the prophets is something Luke often notes (Luke 11:47-51; Acts 7:51-52).

[5:3]  ¹⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[12:2]  ¹⁵ tn Although συσχηματίζεσθε (suschmatizesqe) could be either a passive or middle, the passive is more likely since it would otherwise have to be a direct middle (“conform yourselves”) and, as such, would be quite rare for NT Greek. It is very telling that being “conformed” to the present world is viewed as a passive notion, for it may suggest that it happens, in part, subconsciously. At the same time, the passive could well be a “permissive passive,” suggesting that there may be some consciousness of the conformity taking place. Most likely, it is a combination of both.

[12:2]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “to this age.”

[12:2]  ¹⁷ sn The verb translated test and approve (δοκιμάζω, dokimazw) carries the sense of “test with a positive outcome,” “test so as to approve.”

[4:8]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “the things concerning us.”

[4:9]  ¹⁹ tn The Greek sentence continues v. 9 with the phrase “with Onesimus,” but this is awkward in English, so the verb “I sent” was inserted and a new sentence started at the beginning of v. 9 in the translation.

[4:9]  ²⁰ tn Grk “is of you.”

[4:9]  ²¹ tn Grk “will make known to you.” This has been simplified in the translation to “will tell.”

[4:16]  ²² tn Grk “when.”

[4:16]  ²³ tn The construction beginning with the imperative ποιήσατε ἵνα…ἀναγνωσθῇ (poihsate Jina…anagnwsqh) should be translated as “have it read” where the conjunction ἵνα functions to mark off its clause as the direct object of the imperative ποιήσατε. The content of the clause (“reading the letter”) is what Paul commands with the imperative ποιήσατε. Thus the translation “have it read” has been used here.

[4:16]  ²⁴ sn This letter is otherwise unknown, but some have suggested that it is the letter known today as Ephesians.

[1:10]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ 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.”

[4:5]  ²⁷ tn Grk “let your gentleness be seen by all.” The passive voice construction has been converted to active voice in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[4:7]  ²⁸ tn Grk “will guard the hearts of you and the minds of you.” To improve the English style, the second occurrence of ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “of you”) has not been translated, since it is somewhat redundant in English.

[3:15]  ²⁹ tn Grk “in one body.” This phrase emphasizes the manner in which the believers were called, not the goal of their calling, and focuses upon their unity.

[3:16]  ³⁰ tc Since “the word of Christ” occurs nowhere else in the NT, two predictable variants arose: “word of God” and “word of the Lord.” Even though some of the witnesses for these variants are impressive (κυρίου [kuriou, “of the Lord”] in א* I 1175 pc bo; θεοῦ [qeou, “of God”] in A C* 33 104 323 945 al), the reading Χριστοῦ (Cristou, “of Christ”) is read by an excellent cross-section of witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א² B C² D F G Ψ 075 1739 1881 Ï lat sa). On both internal and external grounds, Χριστοῦ is strongly preferred.

[3:16]  ³¹ tn Grk “with grace”; “all” is supplied as it is implicitly related to all the previous instructions in the verse.

[1:16]  ³² tn BDAG 579 s.v. κυριότης 3 suggests “bearers of the ruling powers, dominions” here.

[1:17]  ³³ tn BDAG 973 s.v. συνίστημι B.3 suggests “continue, endure, exist, hold together” here.

[1:18]  ³⁴ tn See the note on the term “firstborn” in 1:15. Here the reference to Jesus as the “firstborn from among the dead” seems to be arguing for a chronological priority, i.e., Jesus was the first to rise from the dead.

[1:18]  ³⁵ tn Grk “in order that he may become in all things, himself, first.”

[1:2]  ³⁶ 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). Where the plural term is used in direct address, as here, “brothers and sisters” is used; where the term is singular and not direct address (as in v. 9), “believer” is preferred.

[1:2]  ³⁷ tn Grk “all joy,” “full joy,” or “greatest joy.”

[1:1]  ³⁸ tn Grk “James.” The word “From” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ³⁹ 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]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “to the twelve tribes in the Diaspora.” The Greek term διασπορά (diaspora, “dispersion”) refers to Jews not living in Palestine but “dispersed” or scattered among the Gentiles.

[1:8]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “a man of two minds,” continuing the description of the person in v. 7, giving the reason that he cannot expect to receive anything. The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But it sometimes is used generically to mean “anyone,” “a person,” as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 2).

[4:14]  ⁴² tn Grk “who” (continuing the description of the people of v. 13). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:14]  ⁴³ tn Or “you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.”

[4:14]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “a vapor.” The Greek word ἀτμίς (atmis) denotes a swirl of smoke arising from a fire (cf. Gen 19:28; Lev 16:13; Joel 2:30 [Acts 2:19]; Ezek 8:11).