Deuteronomy 7:6

7:6 For you are a people holy ¹  to the Lord your God. He ²  has chosen you to be his people, prized ³  above all others on the face of the earth.

Deuteronomy 7:1

The Dispossession of Nonvassals

7:1 When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you – Hittites, ⁴  Girgashites, ⁵  Amorites, ⁶  Canaanites, ⁷  Perizzites, ⁸  Hivites, ⁹  and Jebusites, ¹⁰  seven ¹¹  nations more numerous and powerful than you –

Deuteronomy 2:9

2:9 Then the Lord said to me, “Do not harass Moab and provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as your territory. This is because I have given Ar ¹²  to the descendants of Lot ¹³  as their possession.

Psalms 31:15

31:15 You determine my destiny! ¹⁴ 

Rescue me from the power of my enemies and those who chase me.

Psalms 50:5

50:5 He says: ¹⁵ 

“Assemble my covenant people before me, ¹⁶ 

those who ratified a covenant with me by sacrifice!” ¹⁷ 

Jeremiah 32:40

32:40 I will make a lasting covenant ¹⁸  with them that I will never stop doing good to them. ¹⁹  I will fill their hearts and minds with respect for me so that ²⁰  they will never again turn ²¹  away from me.

John 10:28-29

10:28 I give ²²  them eternal life, and they will never perish; ²³  no one will snatch ²⁴  them from my hand. 10:29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, ²⁵  and no one can snatch ²⁶  them from my Father’s hand.

John 17:11-15

17:11 I ²⁷  am no longer in the world, but ²⁸  they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them safe ²⁹  in your name ³⁰  that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. ³¹  17:12 When I was with them I kept them safe ³²  and watched over them ³³  in your name ³⁴  that you have given me. Not one ³⁵  of them was lost except the one destined for destruction, ³⁶  so that the scripture could be fulfilled. ³⁷  17:13 But now I am coming to you, and I am saying these things in the world, so they may experience ³⁸  my joy completed ³⁹  in themselves. 17:14 I have given them your word, ⁴⁰  and the world has hated them, because they do not belong to the world, ⁴¹  just as I do not belong to the world. ⁴²  17:15 I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them safe ⁴³  from the evil one. ⁴⁴ 

Romans 8:35-39

8:35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ⁴⁵  8:36 As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” ⁴⁶  8:37 No, in all these things we have complete victory ⁴⁷  through him ⁴⁸  who loved us! 8:38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, ⁴⁹  nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Colossians 3:3-4

3:3 for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 3:4 When Christ (who is your ⁵⁰  life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him.

Colossians 3:1

Exhortations to Seek the Things Above

3:1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Colossians 1:5

1:5 Your faith and love have arisen ⁵¹  from the hope laid up ⁵²  for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel ⁵³ 

[7:6]  ¹ tn That is, “set apart.”

[7:6]  ² tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[7:6]  ³ tn Or “treasured” (so NIV, NRSV); NLT “his own special treasure.” The Hebrew term סְגֻלָּה (sÿgullah) describes Israel as God’s choice people, those whom he elected and who are most precious to him (cf. Exod 19:4-6; Deut 14:2; 26:18; 1 Chr 29:3; Ps 135:4; Eccl 2:8 Mal 3:17). See E. Carpenter, NIDOTTE 3:224.

[7:1]  ⁴ sn Hittites. The center of Hittite power was in Anatolia (central modern Turkey). In the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200 b.c.) they were at their zenith, establishing outposts and colonies near and far. Some elements were obviously in Canaan at the time of the Conquest (1400-1350 b.c.).

[7:1]  ⁵ sn Girgashites. These cannot be ethnically identified and are unknown outside the OT. They usually appear in such lists only when the intention is to have seven groups in all (see also the note on the word “seven” later in this verse).

[7:1]  ⁶ sn Amorites. Originally from the upper Euphrates region (Amurru), the Amorites appear to have migrated into Canaan beginning in 2200 b.c. or thereabouts.

[7:1]  ⁷ sn Canaanites. These were the indigenous peoples of the land, going back to the beginning of recorded history (ca. 3000 b.c.). The OT identifies them as descendants of Ham (Gen 10:6), the only Hamites to have settled north and east of Egypt.

[7:1]  ⁸ sn Perizzites. This is probably a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30).

[7:1]  ⁹ sn Hivites. These are usually thought to be the same as the Hurrians, a people well-known in ancient Near Eastern texts. They are likely identical to the Horites (see note on the term “Horites” in Deut 2:12).

[7:1]  ¹⁰ sn Jebusites. These inhabited the hill country, particularly in and about Jerusalem (cf. Num 13:29; Josh 15:8; 2 Sam 5:6; 24:16).

[7:1]  ¹¹ sn Seven. This is an ideal number in the OT, one symbolizing fullness or completeness. Therefore, the intent of the text here is not to be precise and list all of Israel’s enemies but simply to state that Israel will have a full complement of foes to deal with. For other lists of Canaanites, some with fewer than seven peoples, see Exod 3:8; 13:5; 23:23, 28; 33:2; 34:11; Deut 20:17; Josh 3:10; 9:1; 24:11. Moreover, the “Table of Nations” (Gen 10:15-19) suggests that all of these (possibly excepting the Perizzites) were offspring of Canaan and therefore Canaanites.

[2:9]  ¹² sn Ar was a Moabite city on the Arnon River east of the Dead Sea. It is mentioned elsewhere in the “Book of the Wars of Yahweh” (Num 21:15; cf. 21:28; Isa 15:1). Here it is synonymous with the whole land of Moab.

[2:9]  ¹³ sn The descendants of Lot. Following the destruction of the cities of the plain, Sodom and Gomorrah, as God’s judgment, Lot fathered two sons by his two daughters, namely, Moab and Ammon (Gen 19:30-38). Thus, these descendants of Lot in and around Ar were the Moabites.

[31:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in your hand [are] my times.”

[50:5]  ¹⁵ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. God’s summons to the defendant follows.

[50:5]  ¹⁶ tn Or “Gather to me my covenant people.” The Hebrew term חָסִיד (khasid, “covenant people”) elsewhere in the psalms is used in a positive sense of God’s loyal followers (see the note at Ps 4:3), but here, as the following line makes clear, the term has a neutral sense and simply refers to those who have outwardly sworn allegiance to God, not necessarily to those whose loyalty is genuine.

[50:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the cutters of my covenant according to sacrifice.” A sacrifice accompanied the covenant-making ceremony and formally ratified the agreement (see Exod 24:3-8).

[32:40]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “an everlasting covenant.” For the rationale for the rendering “agreement” and the nature of the biblical covenants see the study note on 11:2.

[32:40]  ¹⁹ tn Or “stop being gracious to them” or “stop blessing them with good”; Heb “turn back from them to do good to them.”

[32:40]  ²⁰ tn Or “I will make them want to fear and respect me so much that”; Heb “I will put the fear of me in their hearts.” However, as has been noted several times, “heart” in Hebrew is more the center of the volition (and intellect) than the center of emotions as it is in English. Both translations are intended to reflect the difference in psychology.

[32:40]  ²¹ tn The words “never again” are not in the text but are implicit from the context and are supplied not only by this translation but by a number of others.

[10:28]  ²² tn Grk “And I give.”

[10:28]  ²³ tn Or “will never die” or “will never be lost.”

[10:28]  ²⁴ tn Or “no one will seize.”

[10:29]  ²⁵ tn Or “is superior to all.”

[10:29]  ²⁶ tn Or “no one can seize.”

[17:11]  ²⁷ tn Grk And I.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[17:11]  ²⁸ tn The context indicates that this should be translated as an adversative or contrastive conjunction.

[17:11]  ²⁹ tn Or “protect them”; Grk “keep them.”

[17:11]  ³⁰ tn Or “by your name.”

[17:11]  ³¹ tn The second repetition of “one” is implied, and is supplied here for clarity.

[17:12]  ³² tn Or “I protected them”; Grk “I kept them.”

[17:12]  ³³ tn Grk “and guarded them.”

[17:12]  ³⁴ tn Or “by your name.”

[17:12]  ³⁵ tn Grk And not one.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[17:12]  ³⁶ tn Grk “the son of destruction” (a Semitic idiom for one appointed for destruction; here it is a reference to Judas).

[17:12]  ³⁷ sn A possible allusion to Ps 41:9 or Prov 24:22 LXX. The exact passage is not specified here, but in John 13:18, Ps 41:9 is explicitly quoted by Jesus with reference to the traitor, suggesting that this is the passage to which Jesus refers here. The previous mention of Ps 41:9 in John 13:18 probably explains why the author felt no need for an explanatory parenthetical note here. It is also possible that the passage referred to here is Prov 24:22 LXX, where in the Greek text the phrase “son of destruction” appears.

[17:13]  ³⁸ tn Grk “they may have.”

[17:13]  ³⁹ tn Or “fulfilled.”

[17:14]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “your message.”

[17:14]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “because they are not of the world.”

[17:14]  ⁴² tn Grk “just as I am not of the world.”

[17:15]  ⁴³ tn Or “that you protect them”; Grk “that you keep them.”

[17:15]  ⁴⁴ tn The phrase “the evil one” is a reference to Satan. The genitive noun τοῦ πονηροῦ (tou ponhrou) is ambiguous with regard to gender: It may represent the neuter τὸ πονηρόν (to ponhron), “that which is evil,” or the masculine ὁ πονηρός (Jo ponhro"), “the evil one,” i.e., Satan. In view of the frequent use of the masculine in 1 John 2:13-14, 3:12, and 5:18-19 it seems much more probable that the masculine is to be understood here, and that Jesus is praying for his disciples to be protected from Satan. Cf. BDAG 851 s.v. πονηρός 1.b.β and 1.b.γ.

[8:35]  ⁴⁵ tn Here “sword” is a metonymy that includes both threats of violence and acts of violence, even including death (although death is not necessarily the only thing in view here).

[8:36]  ⁴⁶ sn A quotation from Ps 44:22.

[8:37]  ⁴⁷ tn BDAG 1034 s.v. ὑπερνικάω states, “as a heightened form of νικᾶν prevail completely ὑπερνικῶμεν we are winning a most glorious victory Ro 8:37.”

[8:37]  ⁴⁸ tn Here the referent could be either God or Christ, but in v. 39 it is God’s love that is mentioned.

[8:38]  ⁴⁹ tn BDAG 138 s.v. ἀρχή 6 takes this term as a reference to angelic or transcendent powers (as opposed to merely human rulers). To clarify this, the adjective “heavenly” has been supplied in the translation. Some interpreters see this as a reference to fallen angels or demonic powers, and this view is reflected in some recent translations (NIV, NLT).

[3:4]  ⁵⁰ tc Certain mss (B^[*^] D¹ H 0278 1739 Ï sy sa) read ἡμῶν (Jhmwn, “our”), while others (Ì⁴⁶ א C D* F G P Ψ 075 33 81 1881 al latt bo) read ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “your”). Internally, it is possible that the second person pronoun arose through scribal conformity to the second person pronoun used previously in v. 3 (i.e., ὑμῶν) and following in v. 4 (ὑμεῖς, Jumeis). But in terms of external criteria, the second person pronoun has superior ms support (though there is an Alexandrian split) and ἡμῶν may have arisen through accident (error of sight) or scribal attempt to universalize the statement since all Christians have Jesus as their life. See TCGNT 557.

[1:5]  ⁵¹ tn Col 1:3-8 form one long sentence in the Greek text and have been divided at the end of v. 4 and v. 6 and within v. 6 for clarity, in keeping with the tendency in contemporary English toward shorter sentences. Thus the phrase “Your faith and love have arisen from the hope” is literally “because of the hope.” The perfect tense “have arisen” was chosen in the English to reflect the fact that the recipients of the letter had acquired this hope at conversion in the past, but that it still remains and motivates them to trust in Christ and to love one another.

[1:5]  ⁵² tn BDAG 113 s.v. ἀπόκειμαι 2 renders ἀποκειμένην (apokeimenhn) with the expression “reserved” in this verse.

[1:5]  ⁵³ tn The term “the gospel” (τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, tou euangeliou) is in apposition to “the word of truth” (τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθείας, tw logw th" alhqeia") as indicated in the translation.