Genesis 9:16

9:16 When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will notice it and remember ¹  the perpetual covenant between God and all living creatures of all kinds that are on the earth.”

Exodus 12:14

12:14 This day will become ²  a memorial ³  for you, and you will celebrate it as a festival ⁴  to the Lord – you will celebrate it perpetually as a lasting ordinance. ⁵ 

Exodus 13:9

13:9 ⁶  It ⁷  will be a sign ⁸  for you on your hand and a memorial ⁹  on your forehead, ¹⁰  so that the law of the Lord may be ¹¹  in your mouth, ¹²  for ¹³  with a mighty hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt.

Exodus 17:14

17:14 The Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the ¹⁴  book, and rehearse ¹⁵  it in Joshua’s hearing; ¹⁶  for I will surely wipe out ¹⁷  the remembrance ¹⁸  of Amalek from under heaven.

Acts 10:4

10:4 Staring at him and becoming greatly afraid, Cornelius ¹⁹  replied, ²⁰  “What is it, Lord?” The angel ²¹  said to him, “Your prayers and your acts of charity ²²  have gone up as a memorial ²³  before God.

Acts 10:31

10:31 and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your acts of charity ²⁴  have been remembered before God. ²⁵ 

Acts 10:1

Peter Visits Cornelius

10:1 Now there was a man in Caesarea ²⁶  named Cornelius, a centurion ²⁷  of what was known as the Italian Cohort. ²⁸ 

Colossians 1:23-25

1:23 if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, ²⁹  without shifting ³⁰  from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant.

1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body – for the sake of his body, the church – what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. 1:25 I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship ³¹  from God – given to me for you – in order to complete ³²  the word of God,

[9:16]  ¹ tn The translation assumes that the infinitive לִזְכֹּר (lizkor, “to remember”) here expresses the result of seeing the rainbow. Another option is to understand it as indicating purpose, in which case it could be translated, “I will look at it so that I may remember.”

[12:14]  ² tn Heb “and this day will be.”

[12:14]  ³ tn The expression “will be for a memorial” means “will become a memorial.”

[12:14]  ⁴ tn The verb וְחַגֹּתֶם (vÿkhaggotem), a perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive to continue the instruction, is followed by the cognate accusative חַג (khag), for emphasis. As the wording implies and the later legislation required, this would involve a pilgrimage to the sanctuary of Yahweh.

[12:14]  ⁵ tn Two expressions show that this celebration was to be kept perpetually: the line has “for your generations, [as] a statute forever.” “Generations” means successive generations (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 94). עוֹלָם (’olam) means “ever, forever, perpetual” – no end in sight.

[13:9]  ⁶ sn This passage has, of course, been taken literally by many devout Jews, and portions of the text have been encased in phylacteries and bound on the arm and forehead. B. Jacob (Exodus, 368), weighing the pros and cons of the literal or the figurative meaning, says that those who took it literally should not be looked down on for their symbolic work. In many cases, he continues, it is the spirit that kills and the letter makes alive – because people who argue against a literal usage do so to excuse lack of action. This is a rather interesting twist in the discussion. The point of the teaching was obviously meant to keep the Law of Yahweh in the minds of the people, to remind them of their duties.

[13:9]  ⁷ tn That is, this ceremony.

[13:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “for a sign.”

[13:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “for a memorial.”

[13:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “between your eyes” (KJV and ASV both similar); the same expression occurs in v. 16.

[13:9]  ¹¹ tn The purpose of using this ceremony as a sign and a memorial is that the Law might be in their mouth. The imperfect tense, then, receives the classification of final imperfect in the purpose clause.

[13:9]  ¹² sn “Mouth” is a metonymy of cause; the point is that they should be ever talking about the Law as their guide as they go about their duties (see Deut 6:7; 11:19; Josh 1:8).

[13:9]  ¹³ tn This causal clause gives the reason for what has just been instructed. Because Yahweh delivered them from bondage, he has the strongest claims on their life.

[17:14]  ¹⁴ tn The presence of the article does not mean that he was to write this in a book that was existing now, but in one dedicated to this purpose (book, meaning scroll). See GKC 408 §126.s.

[17:14]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew word is “place,” meaning that the events were to be impressed on Joshua.

[17:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in the ears of Joshua.” The account should be read to Joshua.

[17:14]  ¹⁷ tn The construction uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense to stress the resolution of Yahweh to destroy Amalek. The verb מָחָה (makhah) is often translated “blot out” – but that is not a very satisfactory image, since it would not remove completely what is the object. “Efface, erase, scrape off” (as in a palimpsest, a manuscript that is scraped clean so it can be reused) is a more accurate image.

[17:14]  ¹⁸ sn This would seem to be defeated by the preceding statement that the events would be written in a book for a memorial. If this war is recorded, then the Amalekites would be remembered. But here God was going to wipe out the memory of them. But the idea of removing the memory of a people is an idiom for destroying them – they will have no posterity and no lasting heritage.

[10:4]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Cornelius) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:4]  ²⁰ tn Grk “said,” but in response to the angel’s address, “replied” is better English style.

[10:4]  ²¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:4]  ²² tn Or “your gifts to the needy.”

[10:4]  ²³ sn The language used in the expression gone up as a memorial before God parallels what one would say of acceptable sacrifices (Ps 141:2; Sir 35:6; 50:16).

[10:31]  ²⁴ tn Or “your gifts to the needy.”

[10:31]  ²⁵ sn This statement is a paraphrase rather than an exact quotation of Acts 10:4.

[10:1]  ²⁶ sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi). It was known as “Caesarea by the sea” (BDAG 499 s.v. Καισάρεια 2). Largely Gentile, it was a center of Roman administration and the location of many of Herod the Great’s building projects (Josephus, Ant. 15.9.6 [15.331-341]).

[10:1]  ²⁷ sn A centurion was a noncommissioned officer in the Roman army or one of the auxiliary territorial armies, commanding a centuria of (nominally) 100 men. The responsibilities of centurions were broadly similar to modern junior officers, but there was a wide gap in social status between them and officers, and relatively few were promoted beyond the rank of senior centurion. The Roman troops stationed in Judea were auxiliaries, who would normally be rewarded with Roman citizenship after 25 years of service. Some of the centurions may have served originally in the Roman legions (regular army) and thus gained their citizenship at enlistment. Others may have inherited it, like Paul.

[10:1]  ²⁸ sn A cohort was a Roman military unit of about 600 soldiers, one-tenth of a legion (BDAG 936 s.v. σπεῖρα). The Italian Cohort has been identified as cohors II Italica which is known to have been stationed in Syria in a.d. 88.

[1:23]  ²⁹ tn BDAG 276 s.v. ἑδραῖος suggests “firm, steadfast.”

[1:23]  ³⁰ tn BDAG 639 s.v. μετακινέω suggests “without shifting from the hope” here.

[1:25]  ³¹ tn BDAG 697 s.v. οἰκονομία 1.b renders the term here as “divine office.”

[1:25]  ³² tn See BDAG 828 s.v. πληρόω 3. The idea here seems to be that the apostle wants to “complete the word of God” in that he wants to preach it to every person in the known world (cf. Rom 15:19). See P. T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (WBC), 82.