Deuteronomy 4:9

Reminder of the Horeb Covenant

4:9 Again, however, pay very careful attention, ¹  lest you forget the things you have seen and disregard them for the rest of your life; instead teach them to your children and grandchildren.

Deuteronomy 4:15

The Nature of Israel’s God

4:15 Be very careful, ²  then, because you saw no form at the time the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the middle of the fire.

Deuteronomy 4:23

4:23 Be on guard so that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he has made with you, and that you do not make an image of any kind, just as he ³  has forbidden ⁴  you.

Deuteronomy 11:16

Exhortation to Instruction and Obedience

11:16 Make sure you do not turn away to serve and worship other gods! ⁵ 

Joshua 23:11

23:11 Watch yourselves carefully! Love the Lord your God! ⁶ 

Proverbs 4:23

4:23 Guard your heart with all vigilance, ⁷ 

for from it are the sources ⁸  of life.

Mark 4:24

4:24 And he said to them, “Take care about what you hear. The measure you use will be the measure you receive, ⁹  and more will be added to you.

Luke 8:18

8:18 So listen carefully, ¹⁰  for whoever has will be given more, but ¹¹  whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has ¹²  will be taken from him.”

Acts 20:28

20:28 Watch out for ¹³  yourselves and for all the flock of which ¹⁴  the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, ¹⁵  to shepherd the church of God ¹⁶  that he obtained ¹⁷  with the blood of his own Son. ¹⁸ 

Hebrews 2:1-3

Warning Against Drifting Away

2:1 Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2:2 For if the message spoken through angels ¹⁹  proved to be so firm that every violation ²⁰  or disobedience received its just penalty, 2:3 how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him,

Hebrews 12:15-16

12:15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no one be like a bitter root springing up ²¹  and causing trouble, and through him many become defiled. 12:16 And see to it that no one becomes ²²  an immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. ²³ 

[4:9]  ¹ tn Heb “watch yourself and watch your soul carefully.”

[4:15]  ² tn Heb “give great care to your souls.”

[4:23]  ³ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 4:3.

[4:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “commanded.”

[11:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “Watch yourselves lest your heart turns and you turn aside and serve other gods and bow down to them.”

[23:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “Watch carefully yourselves so as to love the Lord your God.”

[4:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “more than all guarding.” This idiom means “with all vigilance.” The construction uses the preposition מִן (min) to express “above; beyond,” the word “all” and the noun “prison; guard; act of guarding.” The latter is the use here (BDB 1038 s.v. מִשְׁמָר).

[4:23]  ⁸ sn The word תּוֹצְאוֹת (tots’ot, from יָצָא, yatsa’) means “outgoings; extremities; sources.” It is used here for starting points, like a fountainhead, and so the translation “sources” works well.

[4:24]  ⁹ tn Grk “by [the measure] with which you measure it will be measured to you.”

[8:18]  ¹⁰ tn Or “Therefore pay close attention”; Grk “Take heed therefore how you hear.”

[8:18]  ¹¹ tn Grk “and.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[8:18]  ¹² sn The phrase what he thinks he has is important, because it is not what a person thinks he has that is important but whether he actually has something or not. Jesus describes the person who does not heed his word as having nothing. The person who has nothing loses even that which he thought was something but was not. In other words, he has absolutely nothing at all. Jesus’ teaching must be taken seriously.

[20:28]  ¹³ tn Or “Be on your guard for” (cf. v. 29). Paul completed his responsibility to the Ephesians with this warning.

[20:28]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “in which.”

[20:28]  ¹⁵ tn Or “guardians.” BDAG 379-80 s.v. ἐπίσκοπος 2 states, “The term was taken over in Christian communities in ref. to one who served as overseer or supervisor, with special interest in guarding the apostolic tradition…Ac 20:28.” This functional term describes the role of the elders (see v. 17). They were to guard and shepherd the congregation.

[20:28]  ¹⁶ tc The reading “of God” (τοῦ θεοῦ, tou qeou) is found in א B 614 1175 1505 al vg sy; other witnesses have “of the Lord” (τοῦ κυρίου, tou kuriou) here (so Ì⁷⁴ A C* D E Ψ 33 1739 al co), while the majority of the later minuscule mss conflate these two into “of the Lord and God” (τοῦ κυρίου καὶ [τοῦ] θεοῦ, tou kuriou kai [tou] qeou). Although the evidence is evenly balanced between the first two readings, τοῦ θεοῦ is decidedly superior on internal grounds. The final prepositional phrase of this verse, διὰ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ ἰδίου (dia tou {aimato" tou idiou), could be rendered “through his own blood” or “through the blood of his own.” In the latter translation, the object that “own” modifies must be supplied (see tn below for discussion). But this would not be entirely clear to scribes; those who supposed that ἰδίου modified αἵματος would be prone to alter “God” to “Lord” to avoid the inference that God had blood. In a similar way, later scribes would be prone to conflate the two titles, thereby affirming the deity (with the construction τοῦ κυρίου καὶ θεοῦ following the Granville Sharp rule and referring to a single person [see ExSyn 272, 276-77, 290]) and substitutionary atonement of Christ. For these reasons, τοῦ θεοῦ best explains the rise of the other readings and should be considered authentic.

[20:28]  ¹⁷ tn Or “acquired.”

[20:28]  ¹⁸ tn Or “with his own blood”; Grk “with the blood of his own.” The genitive construction could be taken in two ways: (1) as an attributive genitive (second attributive position) meaning “his own blood”; or (2) as a possessive genitive, “with the blood of his own.” In this case the referent is the Son, and the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. See further C. F. DeVine, “The Blood of God,” CBQ 9 (1947): 381-408.

[2:2]  ¹⁹ sn The message spoken through angels refers to the OT law, which according to Jewish tradition was mediated to Moses through angels (cf. Deut 33:2; Ps 68:17-18; Acts 7:38, 53; Gal 3:19; and Jub. 1:27, 29; Josephus, Ant. 15.5.3 [15.136]).

[2:2]  ²⁰ tn Grk “through angels became valid and every violation.”

[12:15]  ²¹ tn Grk “that there not be any root of bitterness,” but referring figuratively to a person who causes trouble (as in Deut 29:17 [LXX] from which this is quoted).

[12:16]  ²² tn Grk “that there not be any,” continuing from v. 15.

[12:16]  ²³ sn An allusion to Gen 27:34-41.