Genesis 4:9

4:9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” ¹  And he replied, “I don’t know! Am I my brother’s guardian?” ² 

Genesis 27:41

27:41 So Esau hated ³  Jacob because of the blessing his father had given to his brother. ⁴  Esau said privately, ⁵  “The time ⁶  of mourning for my father is near; then I will kill ⁷  my brother Jacob!”

Jude 1:23

1:23 save ⁸  others by snatching them out of the fire; have mercy ⁹  on others, coupled with a fear of God, ¹⁰  hating even the clothes stained ¹¹  by the flesh. ¹² 

Proverbs 16:7

16:7 When a person’s ¹³  ways are pleasing to the Lord, ¹⁴ 

he ¹⁵  even reconciles his enemies to himself. ¹⁶ 

Acts 9:17

9:17 So Ananias departed and entered the house, placed ¹⁷  his hands on Saul ¹⁸  and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came here, ¹⁹  has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ²⁰ 

Acts 21:20

21:20 When they heard this, they praised ²¹  God. Then they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews ²²  there are who have believed, and they are all ardent observers ²³  of the law. ²⁴ 

Philemon 1:7

1:7 I ²⁵  have had great joy and encouragement because ²⁶  of your love, for the hearts ²⁷  of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.

Philemon 1:16

1:16 no longer as a slave, ²⁸  but more than a slave, as a dear brother. He is especially so to me, and even more so to you now, both humanly speaking ²⁹  and in the Lord.

[4:9]  ¹ sn Where is Abel your brother? Again the Lord confronts a guilty sinner with a rhetorical question (see Gen 3:9-13), asking for an explanation of what has happened.

[4:9]  ² tn Heb “The one guarding my brother [am] I?”

[27:41]  ³ tn Or “bore a grudge against” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV). The Hebrew verb שָׂטַם (satam) describes persistent hatred.

[27:41]  ⁴ tn Heb “because of the blessing which his father blessed him.”

[27:41]  ⁵ tn Heb “said in his heart.” The expression may mean “said to himself.” Even if this is the case, v. 42 makes it clear that he must have shared his intentions with someone, because the news reached Rebekah.

[27:41]  ⁶ tn Heb “days.”

[27:41]  ⁷ tn The cohortative here expresses Esau’s determined resolve to kill Jacob.

[1:23]  ⁸ tn Grk “and save.”

[1:23]  ⁹ tn Grk “and have mercy.”

[1:23]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “with fear.” But as this contrasts with ἀφόβως (afobw") in v. 12 (without reverence), the posture of the false teachers, it most likely refers to reverence for God.

[1:23]  ¹¹ sn The imagery here suggests that the things close to the sinners are contaminated by them, presumably during the process of sinning.

[1:23]  ¹² tn Grk “hating even the tunic spotted by the flesh.” The “flesh” in this instance could refer to the body or to the sin nature. It makes little difference in one sense: Jude is thinking primarily of sexual sins, which are borne of the sin nature and manifest themselves in inappropriate deeds done with the body. At the same time, he is not saying that the body is intrinsically bad, a view held by the opponents of Christianity. Hence, it is best to see “flesh” as referring to the sin nature here and the language as metaphorical.

[16:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “ways of a man.”

[16:7]  ¹⁴ tn The first line uses an infinitive in a temporal clause, followed by its subject in the genitive case: “in the taking pleasure of the Lord” = “when the Lord is pleased with.” So the condition set down for the second colon is a lifestyle that is pleasing to God.

[16:7]  ¹⁵ tn The referent of the verb in the second colon is unclear. The straightforward answer is that it refers to the person whose ways please the Lord – it is his lifestyle that disarms his enemies. W. McKane comments that the righteous have the power to mend relationships (Proverbs [OTL], 491); see, e.g., 10:13; 14:9; 15:1; 25:21-22). The life that is pleasing to God will be above reproach and find favor with others. Some would interpret this to mean that God makes his enemies to be at peace with him (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NLT). This is workable, but in this passage it would seem God would do this through the pleasing life of the believer (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV).

[16:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “even his enemies he makes to be at peace with him.”

[9:17]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “and placing his hands on Saul, he said.” The participle ἐπιθείς (epiqei") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. For the same reason καί (kai) has not been translated before the participle.

[9:17]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “on him”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:17]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “on the road in which you came,” but the relative clause makes for awkward English style, so it was translated as a temporal clause (“as you came here”).

[9:17]  ²⁰ sn Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Here someone who is not an apostle (Ananias) commissions another person with the Spirit.

[21:20]  ²¹ tn Or “glorified.”

[21:20]  ²² tn Grk “how many thousands there are among the Jews.”

[21:20]  ²³ tn Or “are all zealous for the law.” BDAG 427 s.v. ζηλωτής 1.a.β has “of thing…τοῦ νόμου an ardent observer of the law Ac 21:20.”

[21:20]  ²⁴ sn That is, the law of Moses. These Jewish Christians had remained close to their Jewish practices after becoming believers (1 Cor 7:18-19; Acts 16:3).

[1:7]  ²⁵ tn Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and contemporary English style.

[1:7]  ²⁶ tn The Greek preposition ἐπί (epi) is understood here in a causal sense, i.e., “because.”

[1:7]  ²⁷ tn The word translated “hearts” here is σπλάγχνα (splancna). Literally the term refers to one’s “inward parts,” but it is commonly used figuratively for “heart” as the seat of the emotions. See BDAG 938 s.v. σπλάγχνον 2 (cf. Col 3:12, Phil 2:1).

[1:16]  ²⁸ tn Although the Greek word δοῦλος (doulos) is sometimes translated “servant” here (so KJV), the word “slave” is a much more candid and realistic picture of the relationship between Philemon and Onesimus. In the Greco-Roman world of the 1st century the slave was considered a “living tool” of the master. The slave was “property” in every sense of the word. This understanding heightens the tense scenario that is in view here. It is likely that Onesimus may have even feared for his life upon returning to Colossae. Undoubtedly Paul has asked this runaway slave to return to what could amount to a potentially severe and life-endangering situation.

[1:16]  ²⁹ tn Grk “in the flesh.”