Ezekiel 3:17-21

3:17 “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman ¹  for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must give them a warning from me. 3:18 When I say to the wicked, “You will certainly die,” ²  and you do not warn him – you do not speak out to warn the wicked to turn from his wicked deed and wicked lifestyle so that he may live – that wicked person will die for his iniquity, ³  but I will hold you accountable for his death. ⁴  3:19 But as for you, if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wicked deed and from his wicked lifestyle, he will die for his iniquity but you will have saved your own life. ⁵ 

3:20 “When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I set an obstacle ⁶  before him, he will die. If you have not warned him, he will die for his sin. The righteous deeds he performed will not be considered, but I will hold you accountable for his death. 3:21 However, if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he ⁷  does not sin, he will certainly live because he was warned, and you will have saved your own life.”

Ezekiel 33:2

33:2 “Son of man, speak to your people, ⁸  and say to them, ‘Suppose I bring a sword against the land, and the people of the land take one man from their borders and make him their watchman.

Ezekiel 33:7-9

33:7 “As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman ⁹  for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must warn them on my behalf. 33:8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you must certainly die,’ ¹⁰  and you do not warn ¹¹  the wicked about his behavior, ¹²  the wicked man will die for his iniquity, but I will hold you accountable for his death. ¹³  33:9 But if you warn the wicked man to change his behavior, ¹⁴  and he refuses to change, ¹⁵  he will die for his iniquity, but you have saved your own life.

Acts 20:24-26

20:24 But I do not consider my life ¹⁶  worth anything ¹⁷  to myself, so that ¹⁸  I may finish my task ¹⁹  and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news ²⁰  of God’s grace.

20:25 “And now ²¹  I know that none ²²  of you among whom I went around proclaiming the kingdom ²³  will see me ²⁴  again. 20:26 Therefore I declare ²⁵  to you today that I am innocent ²⁶  of the blood of you all. ²⁷ 

Acts 20:28

20:28 Watch out for ²⁸  yourselves and for all the flock of which ²⁹  the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, ³⁰  to shepherd the church of God ³¹  that he obtained ³²  with the blood of his own Son. ³³ 

Acts 20:1

Paul Travels Through Macedonia and Greece

20:1 After the disturbance had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging ³⁴  them and saying farewell, ³⁵  he left to go to Macedonia. ³⁶ 

Colossians 4:1-2

4:1 Masters, treat your slaves with justice and fairness, because you know that you also have a master in heaven.

Exhortation to Pray for the Success of Paul’s Mission

4:2 Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.

Colossians 4:1

4:1 Masters, treat your slaves with justice and fairness, because you know that you also have a master in heaven.

Colossians 1:2-3

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ³⁷  brothers and sisters ³⁸  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ³⁹  from God our Father! ⁴⁰ 

Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Church

1:3 We always ⁴¹  give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

[3:17]  ¹ tn The literal role of a watchman is described in 2 Sam 18:24; 2 Kgs 9:17.

[3:18]  ² sn Even though the infinitive absolute is used to emphasize the warning, the warning is still implicitly conditional, as the following context makes clear.

[3:18]  ³ tn Or “in his punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and v. 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 18: 17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 33:6, 8, 9; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment for iniquity.”

[3:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “his blood I will seek from your hand.” The expression “seek blood from the hand” is equivalent to requiring the death penalty (2 Sam 4:11-12).

[3:19]  ³ tn Verses 17-19 are repeated in Ezek 33:7-9.

[3:20]  ⁴ tn Or “stumbling block.” The Hebrew term refers to an obstacle in the road in Lev 19:14.

[3:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “the righteous man.”

[33:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “sons of your people.”

[33:7]  ⁷ sn Jeremiah (Jer 6:17) and Habakkuk (Hab 2:1) also served in the role of a watchman.

[33:8]  ⁸ tn The same expression occurs in Gen 2:17.

[33:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “and you do not speak to warn.”

[33:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “way.”

[33:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and his blood from your hand I will seek.”

[33:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “from his way to turn from it.”

[33:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and he does not turn from his way.”

[20:24]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “soul.”

[20:24]  ¹¹ tn Or “I do not consider my life worth a single word.” According to BDAG 599 s.v. λόγος 1.a.α, “In the textually uncertain pass. Ac 20:24 the text as it stands in N., οὐδενὸς λόγου (v.l. λόγον) ποιοῦμαι τὴν ψυχὴν τιμίαν, may well mean: I do not consider my life worth a single word (cp. λόγου ἄξιον [ἄξιος 1a] and our ‘worth mention’).”

[20:24]  ¹² tn BDAG 1106 s.v. ὡς 9 describes this use as “a final particle, expressing intention/purpose, with a view to, in order to.”

[20:24]  ¹³ tn Grk “course.” See L&N 42.26, “(a figurative extension of meaning of δρόμος ‘race’) a task or function involving continuity, serious, effort, and possibly obligation – ‘task, mission’…Ac 20:24.” On this Pauline theme see also Phil 1:19-26; Col 1:24; 2 Tim 4:6-7.

[20:24]  ¹⁴ tn Or “to the gospel.”

[20:25]  ¹¹ tn Grk “And now, behold.” Here ἰδού (idou) has not been translated.

[20:25]  ¹² tn Grk “all of you…will not see.” Greek handles its negation somewhat differently from English, and the translation follows English grammatical conventions.

[20:25]  ¹³ sn Note how Paul’s usage of the expression proclaiming the kingdom is associated with (and intertwined with) his testifying to the good news of God’s grace in v. 24. For Paul the two concepts were interrelated.

[20:25]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “will see my face” (an idiom for seeing someone in person).

[20:26]  ¹² tn Or “testify.”

[20:26]  ¹³ tn Grk “clean, pure,” thus “guiltless” (BDAG 489 s.v. καθαρός 3.a).

[20:26]  ¹⁴ tn That is, “that if any of you should be lost, I am not responsible” (an idiom). According to L&N 33.223, the meaning of the phrase “that I am innocent of the blood of all of you” is “that if any of you should be lost, I am not responsible.” However, due to the length of this phrase and its familiarity to many modern English readers, the translation was kept closer to formal equivalence in this case. The word “you” is not in the Greek text, but is implied; Paul is addressing the Ephesian congregation (in the person of its elders) in both v. 25 and 27.

[20:28]  ¹³ tn Or “Be on your guard for” (cf. v. 29). Paul completed his responsibility to the Ephesians with this warning.

[20:28]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “in which.”

[20:28]  ¹⁵ tn Or “guardians.” BDAG 379-80 s.v. ἐπίσκοπος 2 states, “The term was taken over in Christian communities in ref. to one who served as overseer or supervisor, with special interest in guarding the apostolic tradition…Ac 20:28.” This functional term describes the role of the elders (see v. 17). They were to guard and shepherd the congregation.

[20:28]  ¹⁶ tc The reading “of God” (τοῦ θεοῦ, tou qeou) is found in א B 614 1175 1505 al vg sy; other witnesses have “of the Lord” (τοῦ κυρίου, tou kuriou) here (so Ì⁷⁴ A C* D E Ψ 33 1739 al co), while the majority of the later minuscule mss conflate these two into “of the Lord and God” (τοῦ κυρίου καὶ [τοῦ] θεοῦ, tou kuriou kai [tou] qeou). Although the evidence is evenly balanced between the first two readings, τοῦ θεοῦ is decidedly superior on internal grounds. The final prepositional phrase of this verse, διὰ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ ἰδίου (dia tou {aimato" tou idiou), could be rendered “through his own blood” or “through the blood of his own.” In the latter translation, the object that “own” modifies must be supplied (see tn below for discussion). But this would not be entirely clear to scribes; those who supposed that ἰδίου modified αἵματος would be prone to alter “God” to “Lord” to avoid the inference that God had blood. In a similar way, later scribes would be prone to conflate the two titles, thereby affirming the deity (with the construction τοῦ κυρίου καὶ θεοῦ following the Granville Sharp rule and referring to a single person [see ExSyn 272, 276-77, 290]) and substitutionary atonement of Christ. For these reasons, τοῦ θεοῦ best explains the rise of the other readings and should be considered authentic.

[20:28]  ¹⁷ tn Or “acquired.”

[20:28]  ¹⁸ tn Or “with his own blood”; Grk “with the blood of his own.” The genitive construction could be taken in two ways: (1) as an attributive genitive (second attributive position) meaning “his own blood”; or (2) as a possessive genitive, “with the blood of his own.” In this case the referent is the Son, and the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. See further C. F. DeVine, “The Blood of God,” CBQ 9 (1947): 381-408.

[20:1]  ¹⁴ tn Or “exhorting.”

[20:1]  ¹⁵ tn Or “and taking leave of them.”

[20:1]  ¹⁶ sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.

[1:2]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁶ 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).