Deuteronomy 32:36

32:36 The Lord will judge his people,

and will change his plans concerning ¹  his servants;

when he sees that their power has disappeared,

and that no one is left, whether confined or set free.

Psalms 22:4-5

22:4 In you our ancestors ²  trusted;

they trusted in you ³  and you rescued them.

22:5 To you they cried out, and they were saved;

in you they trusted and they were not disappointed. ⁴ 

Daniel 3:17-25

3:17 If ⁵  our God whom we are serving exists, ⁶  he is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he will rescue us, O king, from your power as well. 3:18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we don’t serve your gods, and we will not pay homage to the golden statue that you have erected.”

3:19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage, and his disposition changed ⁷  toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He gave orders ⁸  to heat the furnace seven times hotter than it was normally heated. 3:20 He ordered strong ⁹  soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. 3:21 So those men were tied up while still wearing their cloaks, trousers, turbans, and other clothes, ¹⁰  and were thrown into the furnace ¹¹  of blazing fire. 3:22 But since the king’s command was so urgent, and the furnace was so excessively hot, the men who escorted ¹²  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were killed ¹³  by the leaping flames. ¹⁴  3:23 But those three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell into the furnace ¹⁵  of blazing fire while still securely bound. ¹⁶ 

God Delivers His Servants

3:24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was startled and quickly got up. He said to his ministers, “Wasn’t it three men that we tied up and threw ¹⁷  into ¹⁸  the fire?” They replied to the king, “For sure, O king.” 3:25 He answered, “But I see four men, untied and walking around in the midst of the fire! No harm has come to them! And the appearance of the fourth is like that of a god!” ¹⁹ 

Micah 4:10

4:10 Twist and strain, ²⁰  Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor!

For you will leave the city

and live in the open field.

You will go to Babylon,

but there you will be rescued.

There the Lord will deliver ²¹  you

from the power ²²  of your enemies.

John 1:14

1:14 Now ²³  the Word became flesh ²⁴  and took up residence ²⁵  among us. We ²⁶  saw his glory – the glory of the one and only, ²⁷  full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.

John 1:2

1:2 The Word ²⁸  was with God in the beginning.

Colossians 1:8-10

1:8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ²⁹  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ³⁰  to fill ³¹  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 1:10 so that you may live ³²  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ³³  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ³⁴  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 3:16

3:16 Let the word of Christ ³⁵  dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace ³⁶  in your hearts to God.

[32:36]  ¹ tn The translation understands the verb in the sense of “be grieved, relent” (cf. HALOT 689 s.v. נחם hitp 2); cf. KJV, ASV “repent himself”; NLT “will change his mind.” Another option is to translate “will show compassion to” (see BDB 637 s.v. נחם); cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV.

[22:4]  ² tn Heb “fathers.”

[22:4]  ³ tn The words “in you” are supplied in the translation. They are understood by ellipsis (see the preceding line).

[22:5]  ⁴ tn Or “were not ashamed.”

[3:17]  ⁵ tc The ancient versions typically avoid the conditional element of v. 17.

[3:17]  ⁶ tn The Aramaic expression used here is very difficult to interpret. The question concerns the meaning and syntax of אִיתַי (’itay, “is” or “exist”). There are several possibilities. (1) Some interpreters take this word closely with the participle later in the verse יָכִל (yakhil, “able”), understanding the two words to form a periphrastic construction (“if our God is…able”; cf. H. Bauer and P. Leander, Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen, 365, §111b). But the separation of the two elements from one another is not an argument in favor of this understanding. (2) Other interpreters take the first part of v. 17 to mean “If it is so, then our God will deliver us” (cf. KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB). However, the normal sense of ’itay is existence; on this point see F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 45, §95. The present translation maintains the sense of existence for the verb (“If our God…exists”), even though the statement is admittedly difficult to understand in this light. The statement may be an implicit reference back to Nebuchadnezzar’s comment in v. 15, which denies the existence of a god capable of delivering from the king’s power.

[3:19]  ⁷ tn Aram “the appearance of his face was altered”; cf. NLT “his face became distorted with rage”; NAB “[his] face became livid with utter rage.”

[3:19]  ⁸ tn Aram “he answered and said.”

[3:20]  ⁹ tn This is sometimes taken as a comparative: “[some of the] strongest.”

[3:21]  ¹⁰ sn There is a great deal of uncertainty with regard to the specific nature of these items of clothing.

[3:21]  ¹¹ tn Aram “into the midst of the furnace.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.

[3:22]  ¹² tn Aram “caused to go up.”

[3:22]  ¹³ tn The Aramaic verb is active.

[3:22]  ¹⁴ tn Aram “the flame of the fire” (so KJV, ASV, NASB); NRSV “the raging flames.”

[3:23]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “into the midst of the furnace.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.

[3:23]  ¹⁶ sn The deuterocanonical writings known as The Prayer of Azariah and The Song of the Three present at this point a confession and petition for God’s forgiveness and a celebration of God’s grace for the three Jewish youths in the fiery furnace. Though not found in the Hebrew/Aramaic text of Daniel, these compositions do appear in the ancient Greek versions.

[3:24]  ¹⁷ tn Aram “we threw…bound.”

[3:24]  ¹⁸ tn Aram “into the midst of.”

[3:25]  ¹⁹ sn The phrase like that of a god is in Aramaic “like that of a son of the gods.” Many patristic writers understood this phrase in a christological sense (i.e., “the Son of God”). But it should be remembered that these are words spoken by a pagan who is seeking to explain things from his own polytheistic frame of reference; for him the phrase “like a son of the gods” is equivalent to “like a divine being.”

[4:10]  ²⁰ tn Or perhaps “scream”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “groan.”

[4:10]  ²¹ tn Or “redeem” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[4:10]  ²² tn Heb “hand.” The Hebrew idiom is a metonymy for power or control.

[1:14]  ²³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic, the incarnation of the Word. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style generally does not.

[1:14]  ²⁴ tn This looks at the Word incarnate in humility and weakness; the word σάρξ (sarx) does not carry overtones of sinfulness here as it frequently does in Pauline usage. See also John 3:6.

[1:14]  ²⁵ tn Grk “and tabernacled.”

[1:14]  ²⁶ tn Grk “and we saw.”

[1:14]  ²⁷ tn Or “of the unique one.” Although this word is often translated “only begotten,” such a translation is misleading, since in English it appears to express a metaphysical relationship. The word in Greek was used of an only child (a son [Luke 7:12, 9:38] or a daughter [Luke 8:42]). It was also used of something unique (only one of its kind) such as the mythological Phoenix (1 Clem. 25:2). From here it passes easily to a description of Isaac (Heb 11:17 and Josephus, Ant., 1.13.1 [1.222]) who was not Abraham’s only son, but was one-of-a-kind because he was the child of the promise. Thus the word means “one-of-a-kind” and is reserved for Jesus in the Johannine literature of the NT. While all Christians are children of God, Jesus is God’s Son in a unique, one-of-a-kind sense. The word is used in this way in all its uses in the Gospel of John (1:14, 1:18, 3:16, and 3:18).

[1:2]  ²⁸ tn Grk “He”; the referent (the Word) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ 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]  ³¹ 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]  ³² 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]  ³³ 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.”

[1:1]  ³⁴ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[3:16]  ³⁵ 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]  ³⁶ tn Grk “with grace”; “all” is supplied as it is implicitly related to all the previous instructions in the verse.