Ecclesiastes 8:17

8:17 then I discerned all that God has done: ¹ 

No one really comprehends what happens ²  on earth. ³ 

Despite all human ⁴  efforts to discover it, no one can ever grasp ⁵  it. ⁶ 

Even if ⁷  a wise person claimed ⁸  that he understood,

he would not really comprehend ⁹  it. ¹⁰ 

Ecclesiastes 11:5

11:5 Just as you do not know the path ¹¹  of the wind,

or how the bones form ¹²  in the womb of a pregnant woman, ¹³ 

so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

John 3:7-8

3:7 Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all ¹⁴  be born from above.’ ¹⁵  3:8 The wind ¹⁶  blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” ¹⁷ 

John 3:1

Conversation with Nicodemus

3:1 Now a certain man, a Pharisee ¹⁸  named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council, ¹⁹ 

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²⁰  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 1:1-3

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²¹  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 1:2 to the saints, the faithful ²²  brothers and sisters ²³  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ²⁴  from God our Father! ²⁵ 

Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Church

1:3 We always ²⁶  give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ²⁷  brothers and sisters ²⁸  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ²⁹  from God our Father! ³⁰ 

Colossians 3:18

Exhortation to Households

3:18 Wives, submit to your ³¹  husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

[8:17]  ¹ tn Heb “all the work of God.”

[8:17]  ² tn Heb “the work that is done.”

[8:17]  ³ tn Heb “under the sun.”

[8:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “his”; the referent (man, in a generic sense) has been specified in the translation as the adjective “human” for clarity.

[8:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “find.”

[8:17]  ⁶ tn The term “it” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

[8:17]  ⁷ tn The particle אִם (’im, “even if”) introduces the protasis in a real conditional clause (“If a wise man …”); see IBHS 636-37 §38.2d; R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 74, §453.

[8:17]  ⁸ tn The imperfect tense verb יֹאמַר (yo’mar, “to say”) functions in a modal sense, denoting possibility (see IBHS 508 §31.4e; R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 31, §169).

[8:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “he cannot find”; or “he does not find.”

[8:17]  ¹⁰ tn The term “it” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is an implied direct object and has been supplied in the translation for smoothness and stylistic reasons.

[11:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “what is the way of the wind.” Some take these words with what follows: “how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a pregnant woman.” There is debate whether הָרוּחַ מַה־דֶּרֶךְ (mah-derekh haruakh) refers to the wind (“the path of the wind”) or the human spirit of a child in the mother’s womb (“how the spirit comes”). The LXX understood it as the wind: “the way of the wind” (ἡ ὁδὸς τοῦ πνεύματος, Jh Jodos tou pneumatos); however, the Targum and Vulgate take it as the human spirit. The English versions are divided: (1) spirit: “the way of the spirit” (KJV, YLT, Douay); “the breath of life” (NAB); “how a pregnant woman comes to have…a living spirit in her womb” (NEB); “how the lifebreath passes into the limbs within the womb of the pregnant woman” (NJPS); “how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child” (RSV); “how the breath comes to the bones in the mother’s womb” (NRSV); and (2) wind: “the way of the wind” (ASV, RSV margin); “the path of the wind” (NASB, NIV); and “how the wind blows” (MLB, Moffatt).

[11:5]  ¹² tn The term “form” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.

[11:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “the one who is full.” The feminine adjective מְלֵאָה (mÿle’ah, from מָלֵא, male’, “full”) is used as a substantive referring to a pregnant woman whose womb is filled with her infant (HALOT 584 s.v. מָלֵא 2; BDB 571 s.v. מָלֵא). This term is used in reference to a pregnant woman in later Hebrew (HALOT 584 s.v. מָלֵא). The LXX understood the term in this sense: κυοφορούσης (kuoforoushs, “pregnant woman”).

[3:7]  ¹⁴ tn “All” has been supplied to indicate the plural pronoun in the Greek text.

[3:7]  ¹⁵ tn Or “born again.” The same Greek word with the same double meaning occurs in v. 3.

[3:8]  ¹⁶ tn The same Greek word, πνεύματος (pneumatos), may be translated “wind” or “spirit.”

[3:8]  ¹⁷ sn Again, the physical illustrates the spiritual, although the force is heightened by the word-play here on wind-spirit (see the note on wind at the beginning of this verse). By the end of the verse, however, the final usage of πνεύματος (pneumatos) refers to the Holy Spirit.

[3:1]  ¹⁸ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[3:1]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “a ruler of the Jews” (denoting a member of the Sanhedrin, the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews).

[1:1]  ²⁰ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:2]  ²² tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ²³ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ²⁴ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ²⁵ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

[1:3]  ²⁶ tn The adverb πάντοτε (pantote) is understood to modify the indicative εὐχαριστοῦμεν (eucaristoumen) because it precedes περὶ ὑμῶν (peri Jumwn) which probably modifies the indicative and not the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi). But see 1:9 where the same expression occurs and περὶ ὑμῶν modifies the participle “praying” (προσευχόμενοι).

[1:2]  ²⁷ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ²⁸ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ²⁹ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ³⁰ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

[3:18]  ³¹ tn The article τοῖς (tois) with ἀνδράσιν (andrasin, “husbands”) has been translated as a possessive pronoun (“your”); see ExSyn 215.