Deuteronomy 4:4

4:4 But you who remained faithful to the Lord your God are still alive to this very day, every one of you.

Deuteronomy 10:20

10:20 Revere the Lord your God, serve him, be loyal to him and take oaths only in his name.

Proverbs 17:17

17:17 A friend ¹  loves at all times,

and a relative ²  is born to help in adversity. ³ 

Proverbs 18:24

18:24 A person who has friends ⁴  may be harmed by them, ⁵ 

but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Isaiah 14:1

14:1 The Lord will certainly have compassion on Jacob; ⁶  he will again choose Israel as his special people ⁷  and restore ⁸  them to their land. Resident foreigners will join them and unite with the family ⁹  of Jacob.

Zechariah 8:23

8:23 The Lord who rules over all says, ‘In those days ten people from all languages and nations will grasp hold of – indeed, grab – the robe of one Jew and say, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’” ¹⁰ 

Matthew 16:24

16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ¹¹  he must deny ¹²  himself, take up his cross, ¹³  and follow me.

John 6:66-69

Peter’s Confession

6:66 After this many of his disciples quit following him ¹⁴  and did not accompany him ¹⁵  any longer. 6:67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “You don’t want to go away too, do you?” ¹⁶  6:68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. 6:69 We ¹⁷  have come to believe and to know ¹⁸  that you are the Holy One of God!” ¹⁹ 

Acts 17:34

17:34 But some people ²⁰  joined him ²¹  and believed. Among them ²²  were Dionysius, who was a member of the Areopagus, ²³  a woman ²⁴  named Damaris, and others with them.

Hebrews 10:39

10:39 But we are not among those who shrink back and thus perish, but are among those who have faith and preserve their souls. ²⁵ 

[17:17]  ¹ sn The verse uses synonymous parallelism, so “friend” and “relative” are equated. Others, however, will take the verse with antithetical parallelism: W. G. Plaut argues that friendship is a spiritual relationship whereas a brother’s ties are based on a blood relationship – often adversity is the only thing that brings brothers together (Proverbs, 189).

[17:17]  ² tn Heb “a brother.”

[17:17]  ³ tn Heb “is born for adversity.” This is not referring to sibling rivalry but to the loyalty a brother shows during times of calamity. This is not to say that a brother only shows loyalty when there is trouble, nor that he always does in these times (e.g., 18:19, 24; 19:7; 27:10). The true friend is the same as a brotherly relation – in times of greatest need the loyal love is displayed.

[18:24]  ⁴ tc The construction is “a man of friends” (cf. NASB) meaning a man who has friends (a genitive of the thing possessed). C. H. Toy, however, suggests reading יֵשׁ (yesh) instead of אִישׁ (’ish), along with some of the Greek mss, the Syriac, and Tg. Prov 18:24. It would then say “there are friends” who are unreliable (Proverbs [ICC], 366); cf. NLT. However, the MT should be retained here.

[18:24]  ⁵ tn The text simply has לְהִתְרֹעֵעַ (lÿhitro’ea’), which means “for being crushed” or “to be shattered” (but not “to show oneself friendly” as in the KJV). What can be made of the sentence is that “a man who has [many] friends [may have them] for being crushed” – the infinitive giving the result (i.e., “with the result that he may be crushed by them”).

[14:1]  ⁶ tn The sentence begins with כִּי (ki), which is understood as asseverative (“certainly”) in the translation. Another option is to translate, “For the Lord will have compassion.” In this case one of the reasons for Babylon’s coming demise (13:22b) is the Lord’s desire to restore his people.

[14:1]  ⁷ tn The words “as his special people” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[14:1]  ⁸ tn Or “settle” (NASB, NIV, NCV, NLT).

[14:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “house.”

[8:23]  ¹⁰ sn This scene of universal and overwhelming attraction of the nations to Israel’s God finds initial fulfillment in the establishment of the church (Acts 2:5-11) but ultimate completion in the messianic age (Isa 45:14, 24; 60:14; Zech 14:16-21).

[16:24]  ¹¹ tn Grk “to come after me.”

[16:24]  ¹² tn This translation better expresses the force of the Greek third person imperative than the traditional “let him deny,” which could be understood as merely permissive.

[16:24]  ¹³ sn To bear the cross means to accept the rejection of the world for turning to Jesus and following him. Discipleship involves a death that is like a crucifixion; see Gal 6:14.

[6:66]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “many of his disciples went back to what lay behind.”

[6:66]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “were not walking with him.”

[6:67]  ¹⁶ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here it is “do you?”).

[6:69]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “And we.”

[6:69]  ¹⁸ sn See 1 John 4:16.

[6:69]  ¹⁹ tc The witnesses display a bewildering array of variants here. Instead of “the Holy One of God” (ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ, Jo {agio" tou qeou), Tertullian has ὁ Χριστός (Jo Cristo", “the Christ”); C³ Θ* ˹ 33 565 lat read ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ (Jo Cristo" Jo Juio" tou qeou, “the Christ, the Son of God”); two versional witnesses (b sy^c) have ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ (“the Son of God”); the Byzantine text as well as many others (Ψ 0250 ˹³ 33 Ï) read ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος (Jo Cristo" Jo Juio" tou qeou tou zwnto", “the Christ, the Son of the living God”); and Ì⁶⁶ as well as a few versions have ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ (“the Christ, the Holy One of God”). The reading ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ is, however, well supported by Ì⁷⁵ א B C* D L W as well as versional witnesses. It appears that Peter’s confession in the Synoptic Gospels (especially Matt 16:16) supplied the motivation for the variations. Although the witnesses in Matt 16:16; Mark 8:29; and Luke 9:20 vary considerably, the readings are all intra-synoptic, that is, they do not pull in “the Holy One of God” but reflect various permutations of “Christ”/“Christ of God”/“Christ, the Son of God”/“Christ, the Son of the living God.” The wording “the Holy One of God” (without “Christ”) in important witnesses here is thus unique among Peter’s confessions, and best explains the rise of the other readings.

[17:34]  ²⁰ tn Although the Greek word here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which normally refers to males, husbands, etc., in this particular context it must have a generic force similar to that of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), since “a woman named Damaris” is mentioned specifically as being part of this group (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. ἀνήρ 1.a).

[17:34]  ²¹ tn Grk “joining him, believed.” The participle κολληθέντες (kollhqente") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. On the use of this verb in Acts, see 5:13; 8:29; 9:26; 10:28.

[17:34]  ²² tn Grk “among whom.” Due to the length of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“whom”) has been translated as a third person plural pronoun (“them”) and a new sentence begun in the translation.

[17:34]  ²³ tn Grk “the Areopagite” (a member of the council of the Areopagus). The noun “Areopagite” is not in common usage today in English. It is clearer to use a descriptive phrase “a member of the Areopagus” (L&N 11.82). However, this phrase alone can be misleading in English: “Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, and a woman named Damaris” could be understood to refer to three people (Dionysius, an unnamed member of the Areopagus, and Damaris) rather than only two. Converting the descriptive phrase to a relative clause in English (“who was a member of the Areopagus”) removes the ambiguity.

[17:34]  ²⁴ tn Grk “and a woman”; but this καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[10:39]  ²⁵ tn Grk “not…of shrinking back to perdition but of faith to the preservation of the soul.”