Deuteronomy 31:23

31:23 and the Lord ¹  commissioned Joshua son of Nun, “Be strong and courageous, for you will take the Israelites to the land I have promised them, and I will be with you.” ² 

Joshua 1:6-7

1:6 Be strong and brave! You must lead these people in the conquest of this land that I solemnly promised their ancestors I would hand over to them. ³  1:7 Make sure you are ⁴  very strong and brave! Carefully obey ⁵  all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep! ⁶  Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful ⁷  in all you do. ⁸ 

Psalms 138:3

138:3 When ⁹  I cried out for help, you answered me.

You made me bold and energized me. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 40:31

40:31 But those who wait for the Lord’s help ¹¹  find renewed strength;

they rise up as if they had eagles’ wings, ¹² 

they run without growing weary,

they walk without getting tired.

Daniel 10:19

10:19 He said to me, “Don’t be afraid, you who are valued. ¹³  Peace be to you! Be strong! Be really strong!” When he spoke to me, I was strengthened. I said, “Sir, you may speak now, ¹⁴  for you have given me strength.”

Daniel 10:2

10:2 In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three whole weeks. ¹⁵ 

Colossians 1:9-10

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ¹⁶  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ¹⁷  to fill ¹⁸  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 1:10 so that you may live ¹⁹  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ²⁰  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

Ephesians 3:16

3:16 I pray that ²¹  according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person,

Ephesians 6:10

Exhortations for Spiritual Warfare

6:10 Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power.

Philippians 4:13

4:13 I am able to do all things ²²  through the one ²³  who strengthens me.

Colossians 1:11

1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of ²⁴  all patience and steadfastness, joyfully

[31:23]  ¹ tn Heb “he.” Since the pronoun could be taken to refer to Moses, the referent has been specified as “the Lord” in the translation for clarity. See also the note on the word “you” later in this verse.

[31:23]  ² tc The LXX reads, “as the Lord promised them, and he will be with you.” This relieves the problem of Moses apparently promising to be with Joshua as the MT reads on the surface (“I will be with you”). However, the reading of the LXX is clearly an attempt to clarify an existing obscurity and therefore is unlikely to reflect the original.

[1:6]  ³ tn Heb “For you will cause these people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give to them.” The pronoun “them” at the end of the verse refers to either the people or to the fathers.

[1:7]  ⁴ tn Or “Only be.”

[1:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “so you can be careful to do.” The use of the infinitive לִשְׁמֹר (lishmor, “to keep”) after the imperatives suggests that strength and bravery will be necessary for obedience. Another option is to take the form לִשְׁמֹר as a vocative lamed (ל) with imperative (see Isa 38:20 for an example of this construction), which could be translated, “Indeed, be careful!”

[1:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “commanded you.”

[1:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “be wise,” but the word can mean “be successful” by metonymy.

[1:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “in all which you go.”

[138:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “in the day.”

[138:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you made me bold in my soul [with] strength.”

[40:31]  ¹¹ tn The words “for the Lord’s help” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[40:31]  ¹² tn Heb “they rise up [on] wings like eagles” (TEV similar).

[10:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “treasured man.”

[10:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “my lord may speak.”

[10:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “three weeks of days.” The inclusion of “days” here and in v. 3 is perhaps intended to call attention to the fact that these weeks are very different in nature from those of chap. 9, which are “weeks of years.”

[1:9]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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.”

[3:16]  ²¹ tn Grk “that.” In Greek v. 16 is a subordinate clause to vv. 14-15.

[4:13]  ²² tn The Greek word translated “all things” is in emphatic position at the beginning of the Greek sentence.

[4:13]  ²³ tc Although some excellent witnesses lack explicit reference to the one strengthening Paul (so א* A B D* I 33 1739 lat co Cl), the majority of witnesses (א² D² [F G] Ψ 075 1881 Ï sy) add Χριστῷ (Cristw) here (thus, “through Christ who strengthens me”). But this kind of reading is patently secondary, and is a predictable variant. Further, the shorter reading is much harder, for it leaves the agent unspecified.

[1:11]  ²⁴ tn The expression “for the display of” is an attempt to convey in English the force of the Greek preposition εἰς (eis) in this context.