Galatians 3:16

3:16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. ¹  Scripture ²  does not say, “and to the descendants,” ³  referring to many, but “and to your descendant,” ⁴  referring to one, who is Christ.

Genesis 22:18

22:18 Because you have obeyed me, ⁵  all the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another ⁶  using the name of your descendants.’”

Isaiah 49:6

49:6 he says, “Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant,

to reestablish the tribes of Jacob,

and restore the remnant ⁷  of Israel? ⁸ 

I will make you a light to the nations, ⁹ 

so you can bring ¹⁰  my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”

Isaiah 52:10

52:10 The Lord reveals ¹¹  his royal power ¹² 

in the sight of all the nations;

the entire ¹³  earth sees

our God deliver. ¹⁴ 

Luke 2:10-11

2:10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! Listen carefully, ¹⁵  for I proclaim to you good news ¹⁶  that brings great joy to all the people: 2:11 Today ¹⁷  your Savior is born in the city ¹⁸  of David. ¹⁹  He is Christ ²⁰  the Lord.

Acts 2:39

2:39 For the promise ²¹  is for you and your children, and for all who are far away, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”

Acts 3:25-26

3:25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, ²²  saying to Abraham, ‘And in your descendants ²³  all the nations ²⁴  of the earth will be blessed.’ ²⁵  3:26 God raised up ²⁶  his servant and sent him first to you, to bless you by turning ²⁷  each one of you from your iniquities.” ²⁸ 

Acts 4:12

4:12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people ²⁹  by which we must ³⁰  be saved.”

Romans 10:9-15

10:9 because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord ³¹  and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10:10 For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness ³²  and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation. ³³  10:11 For the scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” ³⁴  10:12 For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him. 10:13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. ³⁵ 

10:14 How are they to call on one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them ³⁶ ? 10:15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How timely ³⁷  is the arrival ³⁸  of those who proclaim the good news.” ³⁹ 

Romans 10:1

10:1 Brothers and sisters, ⁴⁰  my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of my fellow Israelites ⁴¹  is for their salvation.

Romans 2:4-6

2:4 Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know ⁴²  that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? 2:5 But because of your stubbornness ⁴³  and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed! ⁴⁴  2:6 He ⁴⁵  will reward ⁴⁶  each one according to his works: ⁴⁷ 

[3:16]  ¹ tn Grk “his seed,” a figurative extension of the meaning of σπέρμα (sperma) to refer to descendants (L&N 10.29).

[3:16]  ² tn Grk “It”; the referent (the scripture) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The understood subject of the verb λέγει (legei) could also be “He” (referring to God) as the one who spoke the promise to Abraham.

[3:16]  ³ tn Grk “to seeds.” See the note on “descendant” earlier in this verse. Here the term is plural; the use of the singular in the OT text cited later in this verse is crucial to Paul’s argument.

[3:16]  ⁴ tn See the note on “descendant” earlier in this verse.

[22:18]  ⁵ tn In the Hebrew text this causal clause comes at the end of the sentence. The translation alters the word order for stylistic reasons.

[22:18]  ⁶ tn Traditionally the verb is taken as passive (“will be blessed”) here, as if Abraham’s descendants were going to be a channel or source of blessing to the nations. But the Hitpael is better understood here as reflexive/reciprocal, “will bless [i.e., pronounce blessings on] themselves/one another” (see also Gen 26:4). Elsewhere the Hitpael of the verb “to bless” is used with a reflexive/reciprocal sense in Deut 29:18; Ps 72:17; Isa 65:16; Jer 4:2. Gen 12:2 predicts that Abram will be held up as a paradigm of divine blessing and that people will use his name in their blessing formulae. For examples of blessing formulae utilizing an individual as an example of blessing see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11. Earlier formulations of this promise (see Gen 12:2; 18:18) use the Niphal stem. (See also Gen 28:14.)

[49:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “the protected [or “preserved”] ones.”

[49:6]  ⁸ sn The question is purely rhetorical; it does not imply that the servant was dissatisfied with his commission or that he minimized the restoration of Israel.

[49:6]  ⁹ tn See the note at 42:6.

[49:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “be” (so KJV, ASV); CEV “you must take.”

[52:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “lays bare”; NLT “will demonstrate.”

[52:10]  ¹² tn Heb “his holy arm.” This is a metonymy for his power.

[52:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “the remote regions,” which here stand for the extremities and everything in between.

[52:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the deliverance of our God.” “God” is a subjective genitive here.

[2:10]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “behold.”

[2:10]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “I evangelize to you great joy.”

[2:11]  ¹⁷ sn The Greek word for today (σήμερον, shmeron) occurs eleven times in the Gospel of Luke (2:11; 4:21; 5:26; 12:28; 13:32-33; 19:5, 9; 22:34, 61; 23:43) and nine times in Acts. Its use, especially in passages such as 2:11, 4:21, 5:26; 19:5, 9, signifies the dawning of the era of messianic salvation and the fulfillment of the plan of God. Not only does it underscore the idea of present fulfillment in Jesus’ ministry, but it also indicates salvific fulfillment present in the church (cf. Acts 1:6; 3:18; D. L. Bock, Luke [BECNT], 1:412; I. H. Marshall, Luke, [NIGTC], 873).

[2:11]  ¹⁸ tn Or “town.” See the note on “city” in v. 4.

[2:11]  ¹⁹ tn This is another indication of a royal, messianic connection.

[2:11]  ²⁰ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[2:39]  ²¹ sn The promise refers to the promise of the Holy Spirit that Jesus received from the Father in 2:33 and which he now pours out on others. The promise consists of the Holy Spirit (see note in 2:33). Jesus is the active mediator of God’s blessing.

[3:25]  ²² tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[3:25]  ²³ tn Or “in your offspring”; Grk “in your seed.”

[3:25]  ²⁴ tn Or “families.” The Greek word πατριά (patria) can indicate persons of succeeding generations who are related by birth (“lineage,” “family”) but it can also indicate a relatively large unit of people who make up a sociopolitical group and who share a presumed biological descent. In many contexts πατριά is very similar to ἔθνος (eqnos) and λαός (laos). In light of the context of the OT quotation, it is better to translate πατριά as “nations” here.

[3:25]  ²⁵ sn A quotation from Gen 22:18.

[3:26]  ²⁶ tn Grk “God raising up his servant, sent him.” The participle ἀναστήσας (anasthsa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. Some translations (e.g., NIV, NRSV) render this participle as temporal (“when God raised up his servant”).

[3:26]  ²⁷ sn The picture of turning is again seen as the appropriate response to the message. See v. 19 above. In v. 19 it was “turning to,” here it is “turning away from.” The direction of the two metaphors is important.

[3:26]  ²⁸ tn For the translation of plural πονηρία (ponhria) as “iniquities,” see G. Harder, TDNT 6:565. The plural is important, since for Luke turning to Jesus means turning away from sins, not just the sin of rejecting Jesus.

[4:12]  ²⁹ tn Here ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") has been translated as a generic noun (“people”).

[4:12]  ³⁰ sn Must be saved. The term used here (δεῖ, dei, “it is necessary”) reflects the necessity set up by God’s directive plan.

[10:9]  ³¹ tn Or “the Lord.” The Greek construction, along with the quotation from Joel 2:32 in v. 13 (in which the same “Lord” seems to be in view) suggests that κύριον (kurion) is to be taken as “the Lord,” that is, Yahweh. Cf. D. B. Wallace, “The Semantics and Exegetical Significance of the Object-Complement Construction in the New Testament,” GTJ 6 (1985): 91-112.

[10:10]  ³² tn Grk “believes to righteousness.”

[10:10]  ³³ tn Grk “confesses to salvation.”

[10:11]  ³⁴ sn A quotation from Isa 28:16.

[10:13]  ³⁵ sn A quotation from Joel 2:32.

[10:14]  ³⁶ tn Grk “preaching”; the words “to them” are supplied for clarification.

[10:15]  ³⁷ tn The word in this context seems to mean “coming at the right or opportune time” (see BDAG 1103 s.v. ὡραῖος 1); it may also mean “beautiful, attractive, welcome.”

[10:15]  ³⁸ tn Grk “the feet.” The metaphorical nuance of “beautiful feet” is that such represent timely news.

[10:15]  ³⁹ sn A quotation from Isa 52:7; Nah 1:15.

[10:1]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[10:1]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “on behalf of them”; the referent (Paul’s fellow Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:4]  ⁴² tn Grk “being unaware.”

[2:5]  ⁴³ tn Grk “hardness.” Concerning this imagery, see Jer 4:4; Ezek 3:7; 1 En. 16:3.

[2:5]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”

[2:6]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[2:6]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “will render,” “will recompense.” In this context Paul is setting up a hypothetical situation, not stating that salvation is by works.

[2:6]  ⁴⁷ sn A quotation from Ps 62:12; Prov 24:12; a close approximation to Matt 16:27.