Genesis 39:20

39:20 Joseph’s master took him and threw him into the prison, ¹  the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. So he was there in the prison. ² 

Genesis 39:2

39:2 The Lord was with Joseph. He was successful ³  and lived ⁴  in the household of his Egyptian master.

Genesis 16:10

16:10 I will greatly multiply your descendants,” the Lord’s angel added, ⁵  “so that they will be too numerous to count.” ⁶ 

Genesis 18:26

18:26 So the Lord replied, “If I find in the city of Sodom fifty godly people, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

Acts 5:18

5:18 They ⁷  laid hands on ⁸  the apostles and put them in a public jail.

Acts 12:4-6

12:4 When he had seized him, he put him in prison, handing him over to four squads ⁹  of soldiers to guard him. Herod ¹⁰  planned ¹¹  to bring him out for public trial ¹²  after the Passover. 12:5 So Peter was kept in prison, but those in the church were earnestly ¹³  praying to God for him. ¹⁴  12:6 On that very night before Herod was going to bring him out for trial, ¹⁵  Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, while ¹⁶  guards in front of the door were keeping watch ¹⁷  over the prison.

Revelation 2:10

2:10 Do not be afraid of the things you are about to suffer. The devil is about to have some of you thrown ¹⁸  into prison so you may be tested, ¹⁹  and you will experience suffering ²⁰  for ten days. Remain faithful even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown that is life itself. ²¹ 

[39:20]  ¹ tn Heb “the house of roundness,” suggesting that the prison might have been a fortress or citadel.

[39:20]  ² sn The story of Joseph is filled with cycles and repetition: He has two dreams (chap. 37), he interprets two dreams in prison (chap. 40) and the two dreams of Pharaoh (chap. 41), his brothers make two trips to see him (chaps. 42-43), and here, for the second time (see 37:24), he is imprisoned for no good reason, with only his coat being used as evidence. For further discussion see H. Jacobsen, “A Legal Note on Potiphar’s Wife,” HTR 69 (1976): 177.

[39:2]  ³ tn Heb “and he was a prosperous man.” This does not mean that Joseph became wealthy, but that he was successful in what he was doing, or making progress in his situation (see 24:21).

[39:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he was.”

[16:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “The Lord’s angel said, ‘I will greatly multiply your descendants….” The order of the clauses has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[16:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “cannot be numbered because of abundance.”

[5:18]  ⁷ tn Grk “jealousy, and they.” In the Greek text this is a continuation of the previous sentence, but a new sentence has been started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[5:18]  ⁸ tn Or “they arrested.”

[12:4]  ⁹ sn Four squads of soldiers. Each squad was a detachment of four soldiers.

[12:4]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “guard him, planning to bring him out.” The Greek construction continues with a participle (βουλόμενος, boulomeno") and an infinitive (ἀναγαγεῖν, anagagein), but this creates an awkward and lengthy sentence in English. Thus a reference to Herod was introduced as subject and the participle translated as a finite verb (“Herod planned”).

[12:4]  ¹¹ tn Or “intended”; Grk “wanted.”

[12:4]  ¹² tn Grk “to bring him out to the people,” but in this context a public trial (with certain condemnation as the result) is doubtless what Herod planned. L&N 15.176 translates this phrase “planning to bring him up for a public trial after the Passover.”

[12:5]  ¹³ tn Or “constantly.” This term also appears in Luke 22:14 and Acts 26:7.

[12:5]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “but earnest prayer was being made by the church to God for him.” The order of the clauses has been rearranged to follow English style, and the somewhat awkward passive “prayer was being made” has been changed to the simpler active verb “were praying.” Luke portrays what follows as an answer to prayer.

[12:6]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “was going to bring him out,” but the upcoming trial is implied. See Acts 12:4.

[12:6]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “two chains, and.” Logically it makes better sense to translate this as a temporal clause, although technically it is a coordinate clause in Greek.

[12:6]  ¹⁷ tn Or “were guarding.”

[2:10]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “is about to throw some of you,” but the force is causative in context.

[2:10]  ¹⁹ tn Or “tempted.”

[2:10]  ²⁰ tn Or “experience persecution,” “will be in distress” (see L&N 22.2).

[2:10]  ²¹ tn Grk “crown of life,” with the genitive “of life” (τῆς ζωῆς, th" zwh") functioning in apposition to “crown” (στέφανον, stefanon): “the crown that consists of life.”