Daniel 10:21

10:21 However, I will first tell you what is written in a dependable book. ¹  (There is no one who strengthens me against these princes, ²  except Michael your ³  prince.

Matthew 22:29

22:29 Jesus ⁴  answered them, “You are deceived, ⁵  because you don’t know the scriptures or the power of God.

Luke 24:27

24:27 Then ⁶  beginning with Moses and all the prophets, ⁷  he interpreted to them the things written about ⁸  himself in all the scriptures.

Luke 24:32

24:32 They ⁹  said to each other, “Didn’t ¹⁰  our hearts ¹¹  burn within us ¹²  while he was speaking with us on the road, while he was explaining ¹³  the scriptures to us?”

Luke 24:45

24:45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures, ¹⁴ 

Acts 17:2

17:2 Paul went to the Jews in the synagogue, ¹⁵  as he customarily did, and on three Sabbath days he addressed ¹⁶  them from the scriptures,

Romans 1:2

1:2 This gospel ¹⁷  he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures,

Romans 16:26

16:26 but now is disclosed, and through the prophetic scriptures has been made known to all the nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith –

Romans 16:1

Personal Greetings

16:1 Now I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant ¹⁸  of the church in Cenchrea,

Colossians 1:3-4

Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Church

1:3 We always ¹⁹  give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 1:4 since ²⁰  we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints.

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ²¹  brothers and sisters ²²  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ²³  from God our Father! ²⁴ 

Colossians 1:20-21

1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, ²⁵  whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Paul’s Goal in Ministry

1:21 And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your ²⁶  minds ²⁷  as expressed through ²⁸  your evil deeds,

Colossians 3:16

3:16 Let the word of Christ ²⁹  dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace ³⁰  in your hearts to God.

[10:21]  ¹ tn Heb “a book of truth.” Several English versions treat this as a title of some sort (cf. NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT), although the NAB’s rendering “the truthful book” regards “truth” as an attributive adjective, as does the present translation.

[10:21]  ² tn The word “princes” is supplied for clarity.

[10:21]  ³ tn The pronoun is plural in Hebrew, suggesting that Michael is the angelic prince of Daniel and his people.

[22:29]  ⁴ tn Grk “And answering, Jesus said to them.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation.

[22:29]  ⁵ tn Or “mistaken” (cf. BDAG 822 s.v. πλανάω 2.c.γ).

[24:27]  ⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[24:27]  ⁷ sn The reference to Moses and all the prophets is a way to say the promise of Messiah runs throughout OT scripture from first to last.

[24:27]  ⁸ tn Or “regarding,” “concerning.” “Written” is implied by the mention of the scriptures in context; “said” could also be used here, referring to the original utterances, but by now these things had been committed to writing.

[24:32]  ⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[24:32]  ¹⁰ tn This question uses a Greek particle (οὐχί, ouci) that expects a positive reply.

[24:32]  ¹¹ tn This is a collective singular use of the term καρδία (kardia), so each of their hearts were burning, a reference itself to the intense emotion of their response.

[24:32]  ¹² tc ‡ Most mss have the phrase ἐν ἡμῖν (en Jhmin, “within us”) after οὐχὶ ἡ καρδία ἡμῶν καιομένη ἦν (ouci Jh kardia Jhmwn kaiomenh hn, “Didn’t our hearts burn”). The phrase “within us” is lacking in some early mss (Ì⁷⁵ B D c e sy^s,c). These early witnesses could have overlooked the words, since there are several occurrences of ἡμῖν in the context. But it seems likely that other scribes wanted to clarify the abrupt expression “Didn’t our hearts burn,” even as the translation has done here. NA²⁷ includes the words in brackets, indicating doubts as to their authenticity.

[24:32]  ¹³ tn Grk “opening” (cf. Acts 17:3).

[24:45]  ¹⁴ sn Luke does not mention specific texts here, but it is likely that many of the scriptures he mentioned elsewhere in Luke-Acts would have been among those he had in mind.

[17:2]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “he went in to them”; the referent (the Jews in the synagogue) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:2]  ¹⁶ tn Although the word διελέξατο (dielexato; from διαλέγομαι, dialegomai) is frequently translated “reasoned,” “disputed,” or “argued,” this sense comes from its classical meaning where it was used of philosophical disputation, including the Socratic method of questions and answers. However, there does not seem to be contextual evidence for this kind of debate in Acts 17:2. As G. Schrenk (TDNT 2:94-95) points out, “What is at issue is the address which any qualified member of a synagogue might give.” Other examples of this may be found in the NT in Matt 4:23 and Mark 1:21.

[1:2]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “the gospel of God, which he promised.” Because of the length and complexity of this sentence in Greek, it was divided into shorter English sentences in keeping with contemporary English style. To indicate the referent of the relative pronoun (“which”), the word “gospel” was repeated at the beginning of v. 2.

[16:1]  ¹⁸ tn Or “deaconess.” It is debated whether διάκονος (diakonos) here refers to a specific office within the church. One contextual argument used to support this view is that Phoebe is associated with a particular church, Cenchrea, and as such would therefore be a deacon of that church. In the NT some who are called διάκονος are related to a particular church, yet the scholarly consensus is that such individuals are not deacons, but “servants” or “ministers” (other viable translations for διάκονος). For example, Epaphras is associated with the church in Colossians and is called a διάκονος in Col 1:7, but no contemporary translation regards him as a deacon. In 1 Tim 4:6 Paul calls Timothy a διάκονος; Timothy was associated with the church in Ephesus, but he obviously was not a deacon. In addition, the lexical evidence leans away from this view: Within the NT, the διακον- word group rarely functions with a technical nuance. In any case, the evidence is not compelling either way. The view accepted in the translation above is that Phoebe was a servant of the church, not a deaconess, although this conclusion should be regarded as tentative.

[1:3]  ¹⁹ tn The adverb πάντοτε (pantote) is understood to modify the indicative εὐχαριστοῦμεν (eucaristoumen) because it precedes περὶ ὑμῶν (peri Jumwn) which probably modifies the indicative and not the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi). But see 1:9 where the same expression occurs and περὶ ὑμῶν modifies the participle “praying” (προσευχόμενοι).

[1:4]  ²⁰ tn The adverbial participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") is understood to be temporal and translated with “since.” A causal idea may also be in the apostle’s mind, but the context emphasizes temporal ideas, e.g., “from the day” (v. 6).

[1:2]  ²¹ 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]  ²² 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]  ²³ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ²⁴ 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.

[1:20]  ²⁵ tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì⁴⁶ א A C D¹ Ψ 048^vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.

[1:21]  ²⁶ tn The article τῇ (th) has been translated as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[1:21]  ²⁷ tn Although διανοία (dianoia) is singular in Greek, the previous plural noun ἐχθρούς (ecqrous) indicates that all those from Colossae are in view here.

[1:21]  ²⁸ tn The dative ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς (en toi" ergoi" toi" ponhroi") is taken as means, indicating the avenue through which hostility in the mind is revealed and made known.

[3:16]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ tn Grk “with grace”; “all” is supplied as it is implicitly related to all the previous instructions in the verse.