Genesis 19:20-21

Context
19:20 Look, this town¹ over here is close enough to escape to, and it’s just a little one.² Let me go there.³ It’s just a little place, isn’t it?⁴ Then I’ll survive.”⁵

19:21 “Very well,” he replied,⁶ “I will grant this request too⁷ and will not overthrow⁸ the town you mentioned.

Psalms 124:7

Context

124:7 We escaped with our lives,⁹ like a bird from a hunter’s snare.

The snare broke, and we escaped.

Jeremiah 29:11

Context
29:11 For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord.¹⁰ ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you¹¹ a future filled with hope.¹²

Luke 16:26

Context
16:26 Besides all this,¹³ a great chasm¹⁴ has been fixed between us,¹⁵ so that those who want to cross over from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’

Acts 27:44

Context
27:44 and the rest were to follow,¹⁶ some on planks¹⁷ and some on pieces of the ship.¹⁸ And in this way¹⁹ all were brought safely to land.

James 5:11

Context
5:11 Think of how we regard²⁰ as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and you have seen the Lord’s purpose, that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.²¹

[19:20] ¹tn The Hebrew word עִיר (’ir) can refer to either a city or a town, depending on the size of the place. Given that this place was described by Lot later in this verse as a “little place,” the translation uses “town.”

[19:20] ²tn Heb “Look, this town is near to flee to there. And it is little.”

[19:20] ³tn Heb “Let me escape to there.” The cohortative here expresses Lot’s request.

[19:20] ⁴tn Heb “Is it not little?”

[19:20] ⁵tn Heb “my soul will live.” After the cohortative the jussive with vav conjunctive here indicates purpose/result.

[19:21] ⁶tn Heb “And he said, ‘Look, I will grant.’” The order of the clauses has been rearranged for stylistic reasons. The referent of the speaker (“he”) is somewhat ambiguous: It could be taken as the angel to whom Lot has been speaking (so NLT; note the singular references in vv. 18-19), or it could be that Lot is speaking directly to the Lord here. Most English translations leave the referent of the pronoun unspecified and maintain the ambiguity.

[19:21] ⁷tn Heb “I have lifted up your face [i.e., shown you favor] also concerning this matter.”

[19:21] ⁸tn The negated infinitive construct indicates either the consequence of God’s granting the request (“I have granted this request, so that I will not”) or the manner in which he will grant it (“I have granted your request by not destroying”).

[124:7] ⁹tn Heb “our life escaped.”

[29:11] ¹⁰tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[29:11] ¹¹tn Heb “I know the plans that I am planning for you, oracle of the Lord, plans of well-being and not for harm to give to you….”

[29:11] ¹²tn Or “the future you hope for”; Heb “a future and a hope.” This is a good example of hendiadys where two formally coordinated nouns (adjectives, verbs) convey a single idea where one of the terms functions as a qualifier of the other. For this figure see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 658-72. This example is discussed on p. 661.

[16:26] ¹³tn Grk “And in all these things.” There is no way Lazarus could carry out this request even if divine justice were not involved.

[16:26] ¹⁴sn The great chasm between heaven and hell is impassable forever. The rich man’s former status meant nothing now.

[16:26] ¹⁵tn Grk “between us and you.”

[27:44] ¹⁶tn The words “were to follow” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. They must be supplied to clarify the sense in contemporary English.

[27:44] ¹⁷tn Or “boards” according to BDAG 913 s.v. σανίς.

[27:44] ¹⁸tn Grk “on pieces from the ship”; that is, pieces of wreckage from the ship.

[27:44] ¹⁹tn Grk “And in this way it happened that.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[5:11] ²⁰tn Grk “Behold! We regard…”

[5:11] ²¹sn An allusion to Exod 34:6; Neh 9:17; Ps 86:15; 102:13; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2.