Ezekiel 11:12

11:12 Then you will know that I am the Lord, whose statutes you have not followed and whose regulations you have not carried out. Instead you have behaved according to the regulations of the nations around you!’”

Psalms 105:45

105:45 so that they might keep his commands

and obey ¹  his laws.

Praise the Lord!

Psalms 119:4-5

119:4 You demand that your precepts

be carefully kept. ² 

119:5 If only I were predisposed ³ 

to keep your statutes!

Psalms 119:32

119:32 I run along the path of your commands,

for you enable me to do so. ⁴ 

Luke 1:6

1:6 They ⁵  were both righteous in the sight of God, following ⁶  all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly. ⁷ 

Luke 1:74-75

1:74 that we, being rescued from the hand of our ⁸  enemies,

may serve him without fear, ⁹ 

1:75 in holiness and righteousness ¹⁰  before him for as long as we live. ¹¹ 

Romans 16:26

16:26 but now is disclosed, and through the prophetic scriptures has been made known to all the nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith –

Romans 16:1

Personal Greetings

16:1 Now I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant ¹²  of the church in Cenchrea,

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ¹³  brothers and sisters ¹⁴  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ¹⁵  from God our Father! ¹⁶ 

Titus 2:11-12

2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people. ¹⁷  2:12 It trains us ¹⁸  to reject godless ways ¹⁹  and worldly desires and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

[105:45]  ¹ tn Heb “guard.”

[119:4]  ² tn Heb “you, you commanded your precepts, to keep, very much.”

[119:5]  ³ tn Heb “if only my ways were established.”

[119:32]  ⁴ tn Heb “for you make wide my heart.” The “heart” is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s volition and understanding. The Lord gives the psalmist the desire and moral understanding that are foundational to the willing obedience depicted metaphorically in the preceding line. In Isa 60:5 the expression “your heart will be wide” means “your heart will swell with pride,” but here the nuance appears to be different.

[1:6]  ⁵ tn Grk “And they.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[1:6]  ⁶ tn Grk “walking in” (an idiom for one’s lifestyle).

[1:6]  ⁷ tn The predicate adjective has the effect of an adverb here (BDF §243).

[1:74]  ⁸ tc Many important early mss (א B L W [0130] Ë^1,13 565 892 pc) lack “our,” while most (A C D [K] Θ Ψ 0177 33 Ï pc) supply it. Although the addition is most likely not authentic, “our” has been included in the translation due to English stylistic requirements.

[1:74]  ⁹ tn This phrase in Greek is actually thrown forward to the front of the verse to give it emphasis.

[1:75]  ¹⁰ sn The phrases that we…might serve him…in holiness and righteousness from Luke 1:74-75 well summarize a basic goal for a believer in the eyes of Luke. Salvation frees us up to serve God without fear through a life full of ethical integrity.

[1:75]  ¹¹ tn Grk “all our days.”

[16:1]  ¹² tn Or “deaconess.” It is debated whether διάκονος (diakonos) here refers to a specific office within the church. One contextual argument used to support this view is that Phoebe is associated with a particular church, Cenchrea, and as such would therefore be a deacon of that church. In the NT some who are called διάκονος are related to a particular church, yet the scholarly consensus is that such individuals are not deacons, but “servants” or “ministers” (other viable translations for διάκονος). For example, Epaphras is associated with the church in Colossians and is called a διάκονος in Col 1:7, but no contemporary translation regards him as a deacon. In 1 Tim 4:6 Paul calls Timothy a διάκονος; Timothy was associated with the church in Ephesus, but he obviously was not a deacon. In addition, the lexical evidence leans away from this view: Within the NT, the διακον- word group rarely functions with a technical nuance. In any case, the evidence is not compelling either way. The view accepted in the translation above is that Phoebe was a servant of the church, not a deaconess, although this conclusion should be regarded as tentative.

[1:2]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ¹⁶ 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.

[2:11]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “all men”; but ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpois) is generic here, referring to both men and women.

[2:12]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “training us” (as a continuation of the previous clause). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 12 by translating the participle παιδεύουσα (paideuousa) as a finite verb and supplying the pronoun “it” as subject.

[2:12]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “ungodliness.”