Acts 15:14

15:14 Simeon ¹  has explained ²  how God first concerned himself ³  to select ⁴  from among the Gentiles ⁵  a people for his name.

Acts 15:18

15:18 known ⁶  from long ago. ⁷ 

John 10:16

10:16 I have ⁸  other sheep that do not come from ⁹  this sheepfold. ¹⁰  I must bring them too, and they will listen to my voice, ¹¹  so that ¹²  there will be one flock and ¹³  one shepherd.

John 11:52

11:52 and not for the Jewish nation ¹⁴  only, ¹⁵  but to gather together ¹⁶  into one the children of God who are scattered.) ¹⁷ 

Romans 10:20-21

10:20 And Isaiah is even bold enough to say, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I became well known to those who did not ask for me.” ¹⁸  10:21 But about Israel he says, “All day long I held out my hands to this disobedient and stubborn people!” ¹⁹ 

Romans 10:1

10:1 Brothers and sisters, ²⁰  my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of my fellow Israelites ²¹  is for their salvation.

Colossians 1:9-11

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ²²  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ²³  to fill ²⁴  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 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, 1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of ²⁷  all patience and steadfastness, joyfully

[15:14]  ¹ sn Simeon is a form of the apostle Peter’s Aramaic name. James uses Peter’s “Jewish” name here.

[15:14]  ² tn Or “reported,” “described.”

[15:14]  ³ tn BDAG 378 s.v. ἐπισκέπτομαι 3 translates this phrase in Acts 15:14, “God concerned himself about winning a people fr. among the nations.”

[15:14]  ⁴ tn Grk “to take,” but in the sense of selecting or choosing (accompanied by the preposition ἐκ [ek] plus a genitive specifying the group selected from) see Heb 5:1; also BDAG 584 s.v. λαμβάνω 6.

[15:14]  ⁵ sn In the Greek text the expression “from among the Gentiles” is in emphatic position.

[15:18]  ⁶ sn Who makes these things known. The remark emphasizes how God’s design of these things reaches back to the time he declared them.

[15:18]  ⁷ sn An allusion to Isa 45:21.

[10:16]  ⁸ tn Grk “And I have.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[10:16]  ⁹ tn Or “that do not belong to”; Grk “that are not of.”

[10:16]  ¹⁰ sn The statement I have other sheep that do not come from this sheepfold almost certainly refers to Gentiles. Jesus has sheep in the fold who are Jewish; there are other sheep which, while not of the same fold, belong to him also. This recalls the mission of the Son in 3:16-17, which was to save the world – not just the nation of Israel. Such an emphasis would be particularly appropriate to the author if he were writing to a non-Palestinian and primarily non-Jewish audience.

[10:16]  ¹¹ tn Grk “they will hear my voice.”

[10:16]  ¹² tn Grk “voice, and.”

[10:16]  ¹³ tn The word “and” is not in the Greek text, but must be supplied to conform to English style. In Greek it is an instance of asyndeton (omission of a connective), usually somewhat emphatic.

[11:52]  ¹⁴ tn See the note on the word “nation” in the previous verse.

[11:52]  ¹⁵ sn The author in his comment expands the prophecy to include the Gentiles (not for the Jewish nation only), a confirmation that the Fourth Gospel was directed, at least partly, to a Gentile audience. There are echoes of Pauline concepts here (particularly Eph 2:11-22) in the stress on the unity of Jew and Gentile.

[11:52]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “that he might gather together.”

[11:52]  ¹⁷ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[10:20]  ¹⁸ sn A quotation from Isa 65:1.

[10:21]  ¹⁹ sn A quotation from Isa 65:2.

[10:1]  ²⁰ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[10:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “on behalf of them”; the referent (Paul’s fellow Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ²² 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]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ 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]  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.”

[1:11]  ²⁷ tn The expression “for the display of” is an attempt to convey in English the force of the Greek preposition εἰς (eis) in this context.