Deuteronomy 9:10

9:10 The Lord gave me the two stone tablets, written by the very finger ¹  of God, and on them was everything ²  he ³  said to you at the mountain from the midst of the fire at the time of that assembly.

Deuteronomy 21:9

21:9 In this manner you will purge out the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right before ⁴  the Lord.

Acts 20:27

20:27 For I did not hold back from ⁵  announcing ⁶  to you the whole purpose ⁷  of God.

Acts 20:1

Paul Travels Through Macedonia and Greece

20:1 After the disturbance had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging ⁸  them and saying farewell, ⁹  he left to go to Macedonia. ¹⁰ 

Colossians 1:3

Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Church

1:3 We always ¹¹  give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

Galatians 2:5

2:5 But ¹²  we did not surrender to them ¹³  even for a moment, ¹⁴  in order that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. ¹⁵ 

Galatians 2:2

2:2 I went there ¹⁶  because of ¹⁷  a revelation and presented ¹⁸  to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so ¹⁹  only in a private meeting with the influential people, ²⁰  to make sure that I was not running – or had not run ²¹  – in vain.

Galatians 3:2

3:2 The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law ²²  or by believing what you heard? ²³ 

[9:10]  ¹ sn The very finger of God. This is a double figure of speech (1) in which God is ascribed human features (anthropomorphism) and (2) in which a part stands for the whole (synecdoche). That is, God, as Spirit, has no literal finger nor, if he had, would he write with his finger. Rather, the sense is that God himself – not Moses in any way – was responsible for the composition of the Ten Commandments (cf. Exod 31:18; 32:16; 34:1).

[9:10]  ² tn Heb “according to all the words.”

[9:10]  ³ tn Heb “the Lord” (likewise at the beginning of vv. 12, 13). See note on “he” in 9:3.

[21:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “in the eyes of” (so ASV, NASB, NIV).

[20:27]  ⁵ tn Or “did not avoid.” BDAG 1041 s.v. ὑποστέλλω 2.b has “shrink from, avoid implying fear…οὐ γὰρ ὑπεστειλάμην τοῦ μὴ ἀναγγεῖλαι I did not shrink from proclaiming Ac 20:27”; L&N 13.160 has “to hold oneself back from doing something, with the implication of some fearful concern – ‘to hold back from, to shrink from, to avoid’…‘for I have not held back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God’ Ac 20:27.”

[20:27]  ⁶ tn Or “proclaiming,” “declaring.”

[20:27]  ⁷ tn Or “plan.”

[20:1]  ⁸ tn Or “exhorting.”

[20:1]  ⁹ tn Or “and taking leave of them.”

[20:1]  ¹⁰ sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.

[1:3]  ¹¹ 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).

[2:5]  ¹² tn Grk “slaves, nor did we…” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, οὐδέ (oude) was translated as “But…even” and a new sentence started in the translation at the beginning of v. 5.

[2:5]  ¹³ tn Or “we did not cave in to their demands.”

[2:5]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “even for an hour” (an idiom for a very short period of time).

[2:5]  ¹⁵ sn In order that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. Paul evidently viewed the demands of the so-called “false brothers” as a departure from the truth contained in the gospel he preached. This was a very serious charge (see Gal 1:8).

[2:2]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “I went up”; one always spoke idiomatically of going “up” to Jerusalem.

[2:2]  ¹⁷ tn Or “in accordance with.” According to BDAG 512 s.v. κατά B.5.a.δ, “Oft. the norm is at the same time the reason, so that in accordance with and because of are merged…Instead of ‘in accordance w.’ κ. can mean simply because of, as a result of, on the basis of…κ. ἀποκάλυψιν Gal 2:2.”

[2:2]  ¹⁸ tn Or “set before them.”

[2:2]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “Gentiles, but only privately…to make sure.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started with “But” and the words “I did so,” an implied repetition from the previous clause, were supplied to make a complete English sentence.

[2:2]  ²⁰ tn L&N 87.42 has “important persons, influential persons, prominent persons” for οἱ δοκοῦντες and translates this phrase in Gal 2:2 as “in a private meeting with the prominent persons.” The “prominent people” referred to here are the leaders of the Jerusalem church.

[2:2]  ²¹ tn Here the first verb (τρέχω, trecw, “was not running”) is present subjunctive, while the second (ἔδραμον, edramon, “had not run”) is aorist indicative.

[3:2]  ²² tn Grk “by [the] works of [the] law,” a reference to observing the Mosaic law.

[3:2]  ²³ tn Grk “by [the] hearing of faith.”