Exodus 32:32

32:32 But now, if you will forgive their sin…, ¹  but if not, wipe me out ²  from your book that you have written.” ³ 

Psalms 69:28

69:28 May their names be deleted from the scroll of the living! ⁴ 

Do not let their names be listed with the godly! ⁵ 

Luke 10:20

10:20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice that ⁶  the spirits submit to you, but rejoice ⁷  that your names stand written ⁸  in heaven.”

Philippians 4:3

4:3 Yes, I say also to you, true companion, ⁹  help them. They have struggled together in the gospel ministry ¹⁰  along with me and Clement and my other coworkers, whose names are in the book of life.

Revelation 13:8

13:8 and all those who live on the earth will worship the beast, ¹¹  everyone whose name has not been written since the foundation of the world ¹²  in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was killed. ¹³ 

Revelation 20:15

20:15 If ¹⁴  anyone’s name ¹⁵  was not found written in the book of life, that person ¹⁶  was thrown into the lake of fire.

[32:32]  ¹ tn The apodosis is not expressed; it would be understood as “good.” It is not stated because of the intensity of the expression (the figure is aposiopesis, a sudden silence). It is also possible to take this first clause as a desire and not a conditional clause, rendering it “Oh that you would forgive!”

[32:32]  ² tn The word “wipe” is a figure of speech indicating “remove me” (meaning he wants to die). The translation “blot” is traditional, but not very satisfactory, since it does not convey complete removal.

[32:32]  ³ sn The book that is referred to here should not be interpreted as the NT “book of life” which is portrayed (figuratively) as a register of all the names of the saints who are redeemed and will inherit eternal life. Here it refers to the names of those who are living and serving in this life, whose names, it was imagined, were on the roster in the heavenly courts as belonging to the chosen. Moses would rather die than live if these people are not forgiven (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 356).

[69:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “let them be wiped out of the scroll of the living.”

[69:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “and with the godly let them not be written.”

[10:20]  ⁶ tn Grk “do not rejoice in this, that.” This is awkward in contemporary English and has been simplified to “do not rejoice that.”

[10:20]  ⁷ tn The verb here is a present imperative, so the call is to an attitude of rejoicing.

[10:20]  ⁸ tn The verb here, a perfect tense, stresses a present reality of that which was a completed action, that is, their names were etched in the heavenly stone, as it were.

[4:3]  ⁹ tn Or “faithful fellow worker.” This is more likely a descriptive noun, although some scholars interpret the word σύζυγος (suzugos) here as a proper name (“Syzygos”), L&N 42.45.

[4:3]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “in the gospel,” a metonymy in which the gospel itself is substituted for the ministry of making the gospel known.

[13:8]  ¹¹ tn Grk “it”; the referent (the beast) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:8]  ¹² tn The prepositional phrase “since the foundation of the world” is traditionally translated as a modifier of the immediately preceding phrase in the Greek text, “the Lamb who was killed” (so also G. B. Caird, Revelation [HNTC], 168), but it is more likely that the phrase “since the foundation of the world” modifies the verb “written” (as translated above). Confirmation of this can be found in Rev 17:8 where the phrase “written in the book of life since the foundation of the world” occurs with no ambiguity.

[13:8]  ¹³ tn Or “slaughtered”; traditionally, “slain.”

[20:15]  ¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[20:15]  ¹⁵ tn The word “name” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[20:15]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “he”; the pronoun has been intensified by translating as “that person.”