Genesis 14:20

14:20 Worthy of praise is ¹  the Most High God,

who delivered ²  your enemies into your hand.”

Abram gave Melchizedek ³  a tenth of everything.

Genesis 14:1

The Blessing of Victory for God’s People

14:1 At that time ⁴  Amraphel king of Shinar, ⁵  Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations ⁶ 

Genesis 29:20

29:20 So Jacob worked for seven years to acquire Rachel. ⁷  But they seemed like only a few days to him ⁸  because his love for her was so great. ⁹ 

Nehemiah 9:5

9:5 The Levites – Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah – said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God!”

“May you be blessed, O LORD our God, from age to age. ¹⁰  May your glorious name ¹¹  be blessed; may it be lifted up above all blessing and praise.

Psalms 72:19

72:19 His glorious name deserves praise ¹²  forevermore!

May his majestic splendor ¹³  fill the whole earth!

We agree! We agree! ¹⁴ 

Daniel 4:34

4:34 But at the end of the appointed time ¹⁵  I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up ¹⁶  toward heaven, and my sanity returned to me.

I extolled the Most High,

and I praised and glorified the one who lives forever.

For his authority is an everlasting authority,

and his kingdom extends from one generation to the next.

Luke 2:28

2:28 Simeon ¹⁷  took him in his arms and blessed God, saying, ¹⁸ 

Luke 2:2

2:2 This was the first registration, taken when Quirinius was governor ¹⁹  of Syria.

Colossians 1:3

Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Church

1:3 We always ²⁰  give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²¹  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 1:3

Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Church

1:3 We always ²²  give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

Revelation 4:9-11

4:9 And whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, ²³  and thanks to the one who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 4:10 the twenty-four elders throw themselves to the ground ²⁴  before the one who sits on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever, and they offer their crowns ²⁵  before his ²⁶  throne, saying:

4:11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

since you created all things,

and because of your will they existed and were created!” ²⁷ 

Revelation 5:9-14

5:9 They were singing a new song: ²⁸ 

“You are worthy to take the scroll

and to open its seals

because you were killed, ²⁹ 

and at the cost of your own blood ³⁰  you have purchased ³¹  for God

persons ³²  from every tribe, language, ³³  people, and nation.

5:10 You have appointed ³⁴  them ³⁵  as a kingdom and priests ³⁶  to serve ³⁷  our God, and they will reign ³⁸  on the earth.”

5:11 Then ³⁹  I looked and heard the voice of many angels in a circle around the throne, as well as the living creatures and the elders. Their ⁴⁰  number was ten thousand times ten thousand ⁴¹  – thousands times thousands – 5:12 all of whom ⁴²  were singing ⁴³  in a loud voice:

“Worthy is the lamb who was killed ⁴⁴ 

to receive power and wealth

and wisdom and might

and honor and glory and praise!”

5:13 Then ⁴⁵  I heard every creature – in heaven, on earth, under the earth, in the sea, and all that is in them – singing: ⁴⁶ 

“To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb

be praise, honor, glory, and ruling power ⁴⁷  forever and ever!”

5:14 And the four living creatures were saying “Amen,” and the elders threw themselves to the ground ⁴⁸  and worshiped.

[14:20]  ¹ tn Heb “blessed be.” For God to be “blessed” means that is praised. His reputation is enriched in the world as his name is praised.

[14:20]  ² sn Who delivered. The Hebrew verb מִגֵּן (miggen, “delivered”) foreshadows the statement by God to Abram in Gen 15:1, “I am your shield” (מָגֵן, magen). Melchizedek provided a theological interpretation of Abram’s military victory.

[14:20]  ³ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Melchizedek) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:1]  ⁴ tn The sentence begins with the temporal indicator וַיְהִי (vayÿhi) followed by “in the days of.”

[14:1]  ⁵ sn Shinar (also in v. 9) is the region of Babylonia.

[14:1]  ⁶ tn Or “king of Goyim.” The Hebrew term גּוֹיִם (goyim) means “nations,” but a number of modern translations merely transliterate the Hebrew (cf. NEB “Goyim”; NIV, NRSV “Goiim”).

[29:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “in exchange for Rachel.”

[29:20]  ⁸ sn But they seemed like only a few days to him. This need not mean that the time passed quickly. More likely it means that the price seemed insignificant when compared to what he was getting in the bargain.

[29:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “because of his love for her.” The words “was so great” are supplied for stylistic reasons.

[9:5]  ¹⁰ tc The MT reads here only “from age to age,” without the preceding words “May you be blessed, O LORD our God” which are included in the present translation. But apparently something has dropped out of the text. This phrase occurs elsewhere in the OT as a description of the Lord (see Ps 41:13; 106:48), and it seems best to understand it here in that light. The LXX adds “And Ezra said” at the beginning of v. 6 as a transition: “And Ezra said, ‘You alone are the LORD.” Without this addition (which is not included by most modern English translations) the speakers of vv. 9:5b-10:1 continue to be the Levites of v. 5a.

[9:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the name of your glory.”

[72:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “[be] blessed.”

[72:19]  ¹⁴ tn Or “glory.”

[72:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “surely and surely” (אָמֵן וְאָמֵן [’amen vÿ’amen], i.e., “Amen and amen”). This is probably a congregational response of agreement to the immediately preceding statement about the propriety of praising God.

[4:34]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “days.”

[4:34]  ¹⁷ tn Aram “lifted up my eyes.”

[2:28]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Simeon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:28]  ²⁰ tn Grk “and said.” The finite verb in Greek has been replaced with a participle in English to improve the smoothness of the translation.

[2:2]  ²² tn Or “was a minister of Syria.” This term could simply refer to an administrative role Quirinius held as opposed to being governor (Josephus, Ant. 18.4.2 [18.88]). See also Luke 2:1.

[1:3]  ²⁵ 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).

[1:1]  ²⁸ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:3]  ³¹ 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).

[4:9]  ³⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[4:10]  ³⁷ tn Grk “the twenty-four elders fall down.” BDAG 815 s.v. πίπτω 1.b.α.ב. has “fall down, throw oneself to the ground as a sign of devotion or humility, before high-ranking persons or divine beings.”

[4:10]  ³⁸ sn See the note on the word crown in Rev 3:11.

[4:10]  ³⁹ tn The pronoun “his” is understood from the demonstrative force of the article τοῦ (tou) before θρόνου (qronou).

[4:11]  ⁴⁰ tc The past tense of “they existed” (ἦσαν, hsan) and the order of the expression “they existed and were created” seems backwards both logically and chronologically. The text as it stands is the more difficult reading and seems to have given rise to codex A omitting the final “they were created,” 2329 replacing “they existed” (ἦσαν) with “have come into being” (ἐγένοντο, egeneto), and 046 adding οὐκ (ouk, “not”) before ἦσαν (“they did not exist, [but were created]”). Several mss (1854 2050 Ï^A sa) also attempt to alleviate the problem by replacing ἦσαν with “they are” (εἰσιν, eisin).

[5:9]  ⁴³ tn The redundant participle λέγοντες (legontes) has not been translated here.

[5:9]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “slaughtered”; traditionally, “slain.”

[5:9]  ⁴⁵ tn The preposition ἐν (en) is taken to indicate price here, like the Hebrew preposition ב (bet) does at times. BDAG 329 s.v. ἐν 5.b states, “The ἐν which takes the place of the gen. of price is also instrumental ἠγόρασας ἐν τῷ αἵματί σου Rv 5:9 (cp. 1 Ch 21:24 ἀγοράζω ἐν ἀργυρίῳ).”

[5:9]  ⁴⁶ tc The Greek text as it stands above (i.e., the reading τῷ θεῷ [tw qew] alone) is found in codex A. א 2050 2344 Ï sy add the term “us” (ἡμᾶς, Jhmas), either before or after τῷ θεῷ, as an attempt to clarify the object of “purchased” (ἠγόρασας, hgorasa"). A few mss (1 vg^ms) delete the reference to God altogether and simply replace it with “us” (ἡμᾶς). This too is an attempt to remove ambiguity in the phrase and provide an object for “purchased.” The shorter reading, supported by the best witness for Revelation, best accounts for the other readings.

[5:9]  ⁴⁷ tn The word “persons” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[5:9]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “and language,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[5:10]  ⁴⁶ tn The verb ἐποίησας (epoihsas) is understood to mean “appointed” here. For an example of this use, see Mark 3:14.

[5:10]  ⁴⁷ tc The vast majority of witnesses have αὐτούς (autous, “them”) here, while the Textus Receptus reads ἡμᾶς (Jhmas, “us”) with insignificant support (pc gig vg^cl sa Prim Bea). There is no question that the original text read αὐτούς here.

[5:10]  ⁴⁸ tn The reference to “kingdom and priests” may be a hendiadys: “priestly kingdom.”

[5:10]  ⁴⁹ tn The words “to serve” are not in the Greek text, but are implied by the word “priests.”

[5:10]  ⁵⁰ tc The textual problem here between the present tense βασιλεύουσιν (basileuousin, “they are reigning”; so A 1006 1611 Ï^K pc) and the future βασιλεύσουσιν (basileusousin, “they will reign”; so א 1854 2053 Ï^A pc lat co) is a difficult one. Both readings have excellent support. On the one hand, the present tense seems to be the harder reading in this context. On the other hand, codex A elsewhere mistakes the future for the present (20:6). Further, the lunar sigma in uncial script could have been overlooked by some scribes, resulting in the present tense. All things considered, there is a slight preference for the future.

[5:11]  ⁴⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[5:11]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “elders, and the number of them was.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[5:11]  ⁵¹ tn Or “myriads of myriads.” Although μυριάς (murias) literally means “10,000,” the point of the combination here may simply be to indicate an incalculably huge number. See L&N 60.9.

[5:12]  ⁵² tn The words “all of whom” are not in the Greek text, but have been supplied to indicate the resumption of the phrase “the voice of many angels” at the beginning of the verse.

[5:12]  ⁵³ tn Grk “saying.”

[5:12]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “slaughtered”; traditionally, “slain.”

[5:13]  ⁵⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[5:13]  ⁵⁶ tn Grk “saying.”

[5:13]  ⁵⁷ tn Or “dominion.”

[5:14]  ⁵⁸ tn Grk “fell down.” BDAG 815 s.v. πίπτω 1.b.α.ב. has “fall down, throw oneself to the ground as a sign of devotion or humility, before high-ranking persons or divine beings.”