Acts 5:39

5:39 but if ¹  it is from God, you will not be able to stop them, or you may even be found ²  fighting against God.” He convinced them, ³ 

Acts 6:7

6:7 The word of God continued to spread, ⁴  the number of disciples in Jerusalem ⁵  increased greatly, and a large group ⁶  of priests became obedient to the faith.

Acts 11:21

11:21 The ⁷  hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed ⁸  turned ⁹  to the Lord.

Acts 19:20

19:20 In this way the word of the Lord ¹⁰  continued to grow in power ¹¹  and to prevail. ¹² 

Proverbs 28:28

28:28 When the wicked gain control, ¹³  people ¹⁴  hide themselves, ¹⁵ 

but when they perish, ¹⁶  the righteous increase.

Isaiah 41:10-13

41:10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you!

Don’t be frightened, for I am your God! ¹⁷ 

I strengthen you –

yes, I help you –

yes, I uphold you with my saving right hand! ¹⁸ 

41:11 Look, all who were angry at you will be ashamed and humiliated;

your adversaries ¹⁹  will be reduced to nothing ²⁰  and perish.

41:12 When you will look for your opponents, ²¹  you will not find them;

your enemies ²²  will be reduced to absolutely nothing.

41:13 For I am the Lord your God,

the one who takes hold of your right hand,

who says to you, ‘Don’t be afraid, I am helping you.’

Isaiah 54:14-17

54:14 You will be reestablished when I vindicate you. ²³ 

You will not experience oppression; ²⁴ 

indeed, you will not be afraid.

You will not be terrified, ²⁵ 

for nothing frightening ²⁶  will come near you.

54:15 If anyone dares to ²⁷  challenge you, it will not be my doing!

Whoever tries to challenge you will be defeated. ²⁸ 

54:16 Look, I create the craftsman,

who fans the coals into a fire

and forges a weapon. ²⁹ 

I create the destroyer so he might devastate.

54:17 No weapon forged to be used against you will succeed;

you will refute everyone who tries to accuse you. ³⁰ 

This is what the Lord will do for his servants –

I will vindicate them,” ³¹ 

says the Lord.

Isaiah 55:10

55:10 ³² The rain and snow fall from the sky

and do not return,

but instead water the earth

and make it produce and yield crops,

and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat.

Daniel 2:24

2:24 Then Daniel went in to see ³³  Arioch (whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon). He came ³⁴  and said to him, “Don’t destroy the wise men of Babylon! Escort me ³⁵  to the king, and I will disclose the interpretation to him!” ³⁶ 

Daniel 2:44

2:44 In the days of those kings the God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will not be destroyed and a kingdom that will not be left to another people. It will break in pieces and bring about the demise of all these kingdoms. But it will stand forever.

Matthew 16:18

16:18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades ³⁷  will not overpower it.

Colossians 1:6

1:6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel ³⁸  is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing ³⁹  among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ⁴⁰  brothers and sisters ⁴¹  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ⁴²  from God our Father! ⁴³ 

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.

[5:39]  ¹ tn This is expressed in a first class condition, in contrast to the condition in v. 38b, which is third class. As such, v. 39 is rhetorically presented as the more likely option.

[5:39]  ² tn According to L&N 39.32, the verb εὑρεθῆτε (Jeureqhte, an aorist passive subjunctive) may also be translated “find yourselves” – “lest you find yourselves fighting against God.” The Jewish leader Gamaliel is shown contemplating the other possible alternative about what is occurring.

[5:39]  ³ tn Grk “They were convinced by him.” This passive construction was converted to an active one (“He convinced them”) in keeping with contemporary English style. The phrase “He convinced them” is traditionally placed in Acts 5:40 by most English translations; the standard Greek critical text (represented by NA²⁷ and UBS⁴) places it at the end of v. 39.

[6:7]  ⁴ tn Grk “kept on spreading”; the verb has been translated as a progressive imperfect.

[6:7]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:7]  ⁶ tn Grk “a great multitude.”

[11:21]  ⁷ tn Grk “And the.” 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.

[11:21]  ⁸ tn The participle πιστεύσας (pisteusa") is articular and thus cannot be adverbial. It is adjectival, modifying ἀριθμός (ariqmo"), but has been translated into English as a relative clause (“who believed”).

[11:21]  ⁹ sn Again, the expression turned is a summary term for responding to the gospel.

[19:20]  ¹⁰ sn The word of the Lord is a technical expression in OT literature, often referring to a divine prophetic utterance (e.g., Gen 15:1, Isa 1:10, Jonah 1:1). In the NT it occurs 15 times: 3 times as ῥῆμα τοῦ κυρίου (rJhma tou kuriou; Luke 22:61, Acts 11:16, 1 Pet 1:25) and 12 times as λόγος τοῦ κυρίου (logo" tou kuriou; here and in Acts 8:25; 13:44, 48, 49; 15:35, 36; 16:32; 19:10; 1 Thess 1:8, 4:15; 2 Thess 3:1). As in the OT, this phrase focuses on the prophetic nature and divine origin of what has been said.

[19:20]  ¹¹ tn The imperfect verb ηὔξανεν (huxanen) has been translated as a progressive imperfect, as has the following verb ἴσχυεν (iscuen).

[19:20]  ¹² sn The word of the Lord…to prevail. Luke portrays the impact of Christianity in terms of the Lord’s transforming power in the lives of individuals.

[28:28]  ¹³ tn Heb “the wicked rise,” referring to an accession to power, as in a government. Cf. TEV “come to power”; NLT “take charge.”

[28:28]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a man” or “mankind” in a generic sense.

[28:28]  ¹⁵ tn The form is the Niphal imperfect of סָתַר (satar, “to hide”); in this stem it can mean “to hide themselves” or “to go into hiding.” In either case the expression would be a hyperbole; the populace would not go into hiding, but they would tread softly and move about cautiously. G. R. Driver suggests the Akkadian sataru instead, which means “to demolish,” and is cognate to the Aramaic “to destroy.” This would produce the idea that people are “destroyed” when the wicked come to power (“Problems in the Hebrew Text of Proverbs,” Bib 32 [1951]: 192-93). That meaning certainly fits the idea, but there is no reason for the change because the MT is perfectly readable as it is and makes good sense.

[28:28]  ¹⁶ tn The two clauses have parallel constructions: They both begin with infinitives construct with prepositions functioning as temporal clauses, followed by subjective genitives (first the wicked, and then the pronoun referring to them). This heightens the antithesis: “when the wicked rise…when they perish.”

[41:10]  ¹⁷ tn According to BDB (1043 s.v. שָׁעָה), the verb תִּשְׁתָּע (tishta’) in the second line of the poetic couplet is a Hitpael form from the root שָׁעָה (sha’ah, “gaze,” with metathesis of the stem prefix and the first root letter). Taking the Hitpael as iterative, one may then translate “do not anxiously look about.” However, the alleged Hitpael form of שָׁעָה (sha’ah) only occurs here and in verse 23. HALOT 1671 s.v. שׁתע proposes that the verb is instead a Qal form from the root שׁתע (“fear”) which is attested in cognate Semitic languages, including Ugaritic (discovered after the publishing of BDB), suggests the existence of this root. The poetic structure of v. 10 also supports the proposal, for the form in question is in synonymous parallelism to יָרֵא (yare’, “fear”).

[41:10]  ¹⁸ tn The “right hand” is a symbol of the Lord’s power to deliver (Exod 15:6, 12) and protect (Ps 63:9 HT [63:8 ET]). Here צֶדֶק (tsedeq) has its well-attested nuance of “vindicated righteousness,” i.e., “victory, deliverance” (see 45:8; 51:5, and BDB 841-42 s.v.).

[41:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the men of your strife”; NASB “those who contend with you.”

[41:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “like nothing”; NAB “come to nought.”

[41:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “the men of your struggle”; NASB “those who quarrel with you.”

[41:12]  ²² tn Heb “the men of your battle”; NAB “who do battle with you.”

[54:14]  ²³ tn Heb “in righteousness [or “vindication”] you will be established.” The precise meaning of צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah) here is uncertain. It could mean “righteousness, justice,” indicating that the city will be a center for justice. But the context focuses on deliverance, suggesting that the term means “deliverance, vindication” here.

[54:14]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Be far from oppression!” The imperative is used here in a rhetorical manner to express certainty and assurance. See GKC 324 §110.c.

[54:14]  ²⁵ tn Heb “from terror.” The rhetorical command, “be far” is understood by ellipsis here. Note the preceding context.

[54:14]  ²⁶ tn Heb “it,” i.e., the “terror” just mentioned.

[54:15]  ²⁷ tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb here for emphasis.

[54:15]  ²⁸ tn Heb “will fall over you.” The expression נָפַל עַל (nafal ’al) can mean “attack,” but here it means “fall over to,” i.e., “surrender to.”

[54:16]  ²⁹ tn Heb “who brings out an implement for his work.”

[54:17]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and every tongue that rises up for judgment with you will prove to be guilty.”

[54:17]  ³¹ tn Heb “this is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication from me.”

[55:10]  ³² tn This verse begins in the Hebrew text with כִּי כַּאֲשֶׁר (ki ka’asher, “for, just as”), which is completed by כֵּן (ken, “so, in the same way”) at the beginning of v. 11. For stylistic reasons, this lengthy sentence is divided up into separate sentences in the translation.

[2:24]  ³³ tc The MT has עַל עַל (’al ’al, “he entered upon”). Several medieval Hebrew MSS lack the verb, although this may be due to haplography.

[2:24]  ³⁴ tc The LXX and Vulgate, along with one medieval Hebrew MS, lack this verb.

[2:24]  ³⁵ tn Aram “cause me to enter.” So also in v. 25.

[2:24]  ³⁶ tn Aram “the king.”

[16:18]  ³⁷ tn Or “and the power of death” (taking the reference to the gates of Hades as a metonymy).

[1:6]  ³⁸ tn Grk “just as in the entire world it is bearing fruit.” The antecedent (“the gospel”) of the implied subject (“it”) of ἐστιν (estin) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:6]  ³⁹ tn Though the participles are periphrastic with the present tense verb ἐστίν (estin), the presence of the temporal indicator “from the day” in the next clause indicates that this is a present tense that reaches into the past and should be translated as “has been bearing fruit and growing.” For a discussion of this use of the present tense, see ExSyn 519-20.

[1:2]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ⁴¹ 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).

[1:2]  ⁴² tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ⁴³ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.