Deuteronomy 13:13

13:13 some evil people ¹  have departed from among you to entice the inhabitants of their cities, ²  saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods” (whom you have not known before). ³ 

Psalms 41:9

41:9 Even my close friend ⁴  whom I trusted,

he who shared meals with me, has turned against me. ⁵ 

Matthew 13:20-21

13:20 The ⁶  seed sown on rocky ground ⁷  is the person who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. 13:21 But he has no root in himself and does not endure; ⁸  when ⁹  trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away.

Mark 4:5-6

4:5 Other seed fell on rocky ground ¹⁰  where it did not have much soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep. ¹¹  4:6 When the sun came up it was scorched, and because it did not have sufficient root, ¹²  it withered.

Mark 4:16-17

4:16 These are the ones sown on rocky ground: As soon as they hear the word, they receive it with joy. 4:17 But ¹³  they have no root in themselves and do not endure. ¹⁴  Then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away.

Luke 8:13

8:13 Those ¹⁵  on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, ¹⁶  but ¹⁷  in a time of testing ¹⁸  fall away. ¹⁹ 

John 15:2

15:2 He takes away ²⁰  every branch that does not bear ²¹  fruit in me. He ²²  prunes ²³  every branch that bears ²⁴  fruit so that it will bear more fruit.

Acts 15:24

15:24 Since we have heard that some have gone out from among us with no orders from us and have confused ²⁵  you, upsetting ²⁶  your minds ²⁷  by what they said, ²⁸ 

Acts 20:30

20:30 Even from among your own group ²⁹  men ³⁰  will arise, teaching perversions of the truth ³¹  to draw the disciples away after them.

Acts 20:2

20:2 After he had gone through those regions ³²  and spoken many words of encouragement ³³  to the believers there, ³⁴  he came to Greece, ³⁵ 

Acts 2:20-21

2:20 The sun will be changed to darkness

and the moon to blood

before the great and glorious ³⁶  day of the Lord comes.

2:21 And then ³⁷  everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ ³⁸ 

Jude 1:19

1:19 These people are divisive, ³⁹  worldly, ⁴⁰  devoid of the Spirit. ⁴¹ 

[13:13]  ¹ tn Heb “men, sons of Belial.” The Hebrew term בְּלִיַּעַל (bÿliyya’al) has the idea of worthlessness, without morals or scruples (HALOT 133-34 s.v.). Cf. NAB, NRSV “scoundrels”; TEV, CEV “worthless people”; NLT “worthless rabble.”

[13:13]  ² tc The LXX and Tg read “your” for the MT’s “their.”

[13:13]  ³ tn The translation understands the relative clause as a statement by Moses, not as part of the quotation from the evildoers. See also v. 2.

[41:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “man of my peace.” The phrase here refers to one’s trusted friend (see Jer 38:22; Obad 7).

[41:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “has made a heel great against me.” The precise meaning of this phrase, which appears only here, is uncertain.

[13:20]  ⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[13:20]  ⁷ tn Grk “The one sown on rocky ground, this is the one.” The next two statements like this one have this same syntactical structure.

[13:21]  ⁸ tn Grk “is temporary.”

[13:21]  ⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[4:5]  ¹⁰ sn The rocky ground in Palestine would be a limestone base lying right under the soil.

[4:5]  ¹¹ tn Grk “it did not have enough depth of earth.”

[4:6]  ¹² tn Grk “it did not have root.”

[4:17]  ¹³ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[4:17]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “are temporary.”

[8:13]  ¹⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[8:13]  ¹⁶ sn This time of temporary faith represented by the description believe for a while is presented rather tragically in the passage. The seed does not get a chance to do all it can.

[8:13]  ¹⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[8:13]  ¹⁸ tn Traditionally, “temptation.” Such a translation puts the emphasis on temptation to sin rather than testing of faith, which is what the context seems to indicate.

[8:13]  ¹⁹ sn Fall away. On the idea of falling away and the warnings against it, see 2 Tim 3:1; Heb 3:12; Jer 3:14; Dan 9:9.

[15:2]  ²⁰ tn Or “He cuts off.”

[15:2]  ²¹ tn Or “does not yield.”

[15:2]  ²² tn Grk “And he”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been omitted in the translation in keeping with the tendency in contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[15:2]  ²³ tn Or “trims”; Grk “cleanses” (a wordplay with “clean” in v. 3). Καθαίρει (kaqairei) is not the word one would have expected here, but it provides the transition from the vine imagery to the disciples – there is a wordplay (not reproducible in English) between αἴρει (airei) and καθαίρει in this verse. While the purpose of the Father in cleansing his people is clear, the precise means by which he does so is not immediately obvious. This will become clearer, however, in the following verse.

[15:2]  ²⁴ tn Or “that yields.”

[15:24]  ²⁵ tn Here BDAG 990-91 s.v. ταράσσω 2 states, “Of mental confusion caused by false teachings ταρ. τινά Ac 15:24 (w. λόγοις foll.).”

[15:24]  ²⁶ tn BDAG 71 s.v. ἀνασκευάζω describes this verb with a figurative meaning: “to cause inward distress, upset, unsettle.”

[15:24]  ²⁷ tn Grk “souls.”

[15:24]  ²⁸ tn Grk “by words”; L&N 25.231 translates the phrase “they troubled and upset you by what they said.”

[20:30]  ²⁹ tn Grk “from among yourselves.”

[20:30]  ³⁰ tn The Greek term here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which only rarely is used in a generic sense to refer to both males and females. Since Paul is speaking to the Ephesian elders at this point and there is nothing in the context to suggest women were included in that group (“from among your own group”), it is most likely Paul was not predicting that these false teachers would include women.

[20:30]  ³¹ tn Grk “speaking crooked things”; BDAG 237 s.v. διαστρέφω 2 has “λαλεῖν διεστραμμένα teach perversions (of the truth) Ac 20:30.”

[20:2]  ³² tn BDAG 633 s.v. μέρος 1.b.γ gives the meanings “the parts (of a geographical area), region, district,” but the use of “district” in this context probably implies too much specificity.

[20:2]  ³³ tn Grk “and encouraging them with many words.” The participle παρακαλέσας (parakalesa", “encouraging”) has been translated by the phrase “spoken…words of encouragement” because the formal equivalent is awkward in contemporary English.

[20:2]  ³⁴ tn Grk “[to] them”; the referent (the believers there) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:2]  ³⁵ tn In popular usage the term translated “Greece” here could also refer to the Roman province officially known as Achaia (BDAG 318 s.v. ῾Ελλάς).

[2:20]  ³⁶ tn Or “and wonderful.”

[2:21]  ³⁷ tn Grk “And it will be that.”

[2:21]  ³⁸ sn A quotation from Joel 2:28-32.

[1:19]  ³⁹ tn Grk “these are the ones who cause divisions.”

[1:19]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “natural,” that is, living on the level of instincts, not on a spiritual level (the same word occurs in 1 Cor 2:14 as a description of nonbelievers).

[1:19]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “not having [the] Spirit.”