Hebrews 11:26

11:26 He regarded abuse suffered for Christ ¹  to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for his eyes were fixed on ²  the reward.

Hebrews 12:3

12:3 Think of him who endured such opposition against himself by sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up.

Matthew 5:11

5:11 “Blessed are you when people ³  insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things about you falsely ⁴  on account of me.

Matthew 10:24-25

10:24 “A disciple is not greater than his teacher, nor a slave ⁵  greater than his master. 10:25 It is enough for the disciple to become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house ‘Beelzebul,’ how much more will they defame the members of his household!

Matthew 16:24

16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ⁶  he must deny ⁷  himself, take up his cross, ⁸  and follow me.

Matthew 27:32

The Crucifixion

27:32 As ⁹  they were going out, they found a man from Cyrene named Simon, whom they forced ¹⁰  to carry his cross. ¹¹ 

Matthew 27:39-44

27:39 Those ¹²  who passed by defamed him, shaking their heads 27:40 and saying, “You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! ¹³  If you are God’s Son, come down ¹⁴  from the cross!” 27:41 In ¹⁵  the same way even the chief priests – together with the experts in the law ¹⁶  and elders ¹⁷  – were mocking him: ¹⁸  27:42 “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! He is the king of Israel! If he comes down ¹⁹  now from the cross, we will believe in him! 27:43 He trusts in God – let God, if he wants to, deliver him now ²⁰  because he said, ‘I am God’s Son’!” 27:44 The ²¹  robbers who were crucified with him also spoke abusively to him. ²² 

Luke 6:22

6:22 “Blessed are you when people ²³  hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject you as evil ²⁴  on account of the Son of Man!

Acts 5:41

5:41 So they left the council rejoicing because they had been considered worthy ²⁵  to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name. ²⁶ 

Acts 5:1

The Judgment on Ananias and Sapphira

5:1 Now a man named Ananias, together with Sapphira his wife, sold a piece of property.

Colossians 4:10-13

4:10 Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you received instructions; if he comes to you, welcome him). 4:11 And Jesus who is called Justus also sends greetings. In terms of Jewish converts, ²⁷  these are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a slave ²⁸  of Christ, ²⁹  greets you. He is always struggling in prayer on your behalf, so that you may stand mature and fully assured ³⁰  in all the will of God. 4:13 For I can testify that he has worked hard ³¹  for you and for those in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

Colossians 4:2

Exhortation to Pray for the Success of Paul’s Mission

4:2 Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.

Colossians 1:10

1:10 so that you may live ³²  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ³³  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ³⁴  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 4:4

4:4 Pray that I may make it known as I should. ³⁵ 

Colossians 4:14-16

4:14 Our dear friend Luke the physician and Demas greet you. 4:15 Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters ³⁶  who are in Laodicea and to Nympha and the church that meets in her ³⁷  house. ³⁸  4:16 And after ³⁹  you have read this letter, have it read ⁴⁰  to the church of Laodicea. In turn, read the letter from Laodicea ⁴¹  as well.

[11:26]  ¹ tn Grk “the abuse [or ‘reproach’] of Christ.”

[11:26]  ² tn Grk “he was looking away to.”

[5:11]  ³ tn Grk “when they insult you.” The third person pronoun (here implied in the verb ὀνειδίσωσιν [ojneidiswsin]) has no specific referent, but refers to people in general.

[5:11]  ⁴ tc Although ψευδόμενοι (yeudomenoi, “bearing witness falsely”) could be a motivated reading, clarifying that the disciples are unjustly persecuted, its lack in only D it sy^s Tert does not help its case. Since the Western text is known for numerous free alterations, without corroborative evidence the shorter reading must be judged as secondary.

[10:24]  ⁵ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 8:9.

[16:24]  ⁶ tn Grk “to come after me.”

[16:24]  ⁷ tn This translation better expresses the force of the Greek third person imperative than the traditional “let him deny,” which could be understood as merely permissive.

[16:24]  ⁸ sn To bear the cross means to accept the rejection of the world for turning to Jesus and following him. Discipleship involves a death that is like a crucifixion; see Gal 6:14.

[27:32]  ⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:32]  ¹⁰ tn Or “conscripted”; or “pressed into service.”

[27:32]  ¹¹ sn Jesus was beaten severely with a whip before this (the prelude to crucifixion, known to the Romans as verberatio, mentioned in Matt 27:26; Mark 15:15; John 19:1), so he would have been weak from trauma and loss of blood. Apparently he was unable to bear the cross himself, so Simon was conscripted to help (in all probability this was only the crossbeam, called in Latin the patibulum, since the upright beam usually remained in the ground at the place of execution). Cyrene was located in North Africa where Tripoli is today. Nothing more is known about this Simon. Mark 15:21 names him as father of two people apparently known to Mark’s audience.

[27:39]  ¹² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:40]  ¹³ sn There is rich irony in the statements of those who were passing by, “save yourself!” and “come down from the cross!” In summary, they wanted Jesus to come down from the cross and save his physical life, but it was indeed his staying on the cross and giving his physical life that led to the fact that they could experience a resurrection from death to life.

[27:40]  ¹⁴ tc ‡ Many important witnesses (א* A D pc it sy^[s],p) read καί (kai, here with the force of “then”) before κατάβηθι (katabhqi, “come down”). The shorter reading may well be due to homoioarcton, but judging by the diverse external evidence (א² B L W Θ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat) it is equally possible that the shorter reading is original (and is so considered for this translation). NA²⁷ puts the καί in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[27:41]  ¹⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[27:41]  ¹⁶ tn Or “with the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[27:41]  ¹⁷ tn Only “chief priests” is in the nominative case; this sentence structure attempts to capture this emphasis.

[27:41]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “Mocking him, the chief priests…said.”

[27:42]  ¹⁹ tn Here the aorist imperative καταβάτω (katabatw) has been translated as a conditional imperative. This fits the pattern of other conditional imperatives (imperative + καί + future indicative) outlined by ExSyn 489.

[27:43]  ²⁰ sn An allusion to Ps 22:8.

[27:44]  ²¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:44]  ²² sn Matthew’s wording suggests that both of the criminals spoke abusively to him. If so, one of them quickly changed his attitude toward Jesus (see Luke 23:40-43).

[6:22]  ²³ tn This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), referring to both males and females.

[6:22]  ²⁴ tn Or “disdain you”; Grk “cast out your name as evil.” The word “name” is used here as a figure of speech to refer to the person as a whole.

[5:41]  ²⁵ sn That is, considered worthy by God. They “gloried in their shame” of honoring Jesus with their testimony (Luke 6:22-23; 2 Macc 6:30).

[5:41]  ²⁶ sn The name refers to the name of Jesus (cf. 3 John 7).

[4:11]  ²⁷ tn Grk “those of the circumcision.” The verse as a whole is difficult to translate because it is unclear whether Paul is saying (1) that the only people working with him are Jewish converts at the time the letter is being written or previously, or (2) that Aristarchus, Mark, and Jesus Justus were the only Jewish Christians who ever worked with him. Verses 12-14 appear to indicate that Luke and Demas, who were Gentiles, were also working currently with Paul. This is the view adopted in the translation. See M. J. Harris, Colossians and Philemon (EGGNT), 207-8.

[4:12]  ²⁸ tn See the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.

[4:12]  ²⁹ tc ‡ Strong Alexandrian testimony, along with some other witnesses, suggests that ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou, “Jesus”) follows Χριστοῦ (Cristou, “Christ”; so א A B C I L 0278 33 81 365 629 1175 2464 al lat), but the evidence for the shorter reading is diverse (Ì⁴⁶ D F G Ψ 075 1739 1881 Ï it sy Hier), cutting across all major texttypes. There can be little motivation for omitting the name of Jesus; hence, the shorter reading is judged to be original. NA²⁷ has ᾿Ιησοῦ in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.

[4:12]  ³⁰ tn Or “filled.”

[4:13]  ³¹ tn Grk “pain.” This word appears only three times in the NT outside of this verse (Rev 16:10, 11; 21:4) where the translation “pain” makes sense. For the present verse it has been translated “worked hard.” See BDAG 852 s.v. πόνος 1.

[1:10]  ³² tn The infinitive περιπατῆσαι (peripathsai, “to walk, to live, to live one’s life”) is best taken as an infinitive of purpose related to “praying” (προσευχόμενοι, proseucomenoi) and “asking” (αἰτούμενοι, aitoumenoi) in v. 9 and is thus translated as “that you may live.”

[1:10]  ³³ tn BDAG 129 s.v. ἀρεσκεία states that ἀρεσκείαν (areskeian) refers to a “desire to please εἰς πᾶσαν ἀ. to please (the Lord) in all respects Col 1:10.”

[1:1]  ³⁴ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[4:4]  ³⁵ tn The phrase begins with the ἵνα (Jina) clause and is subordinate to the imperative προσκαρτερεῖτε (proskartereite) in v. 2. The reference to the idea that Paul must make it known indicates that this clause is probably best viewed as purpose and not content, like the ἵνα of v. 3. It is the second purpose stated in the context; the first is expressed through the infinitive λαλῆσαι (lalhsai) in v. 3. The term “pray” at the beginning of the sentence is intended to pick up the imperative of v. 3.

[4:15]  ³⁶ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[4:15]  ³⁷ tc If the name Nympha is accented with a circumflex on the ultima (Νυμφᾶν, Numfan), then it refers to a man; if it receives an acute accent on the penult (Νύμφαν), the reference is to a woman. Scribes that considered Nympha to be a man’s name had the corresponding masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ here (autou, “his”; so D [F G] Ψ Ï), while those who saw Nympha as a woman read the feminine αὐτῆς here (auth", “her”; B 0278 6 1739^[*^] 1881 sa). Several mss (א A C P 075 33 81 104 326 1175 2464 bo) have αὐτῶν (autwn, “their”), perhaps because of indecisiveness on the gender of Nympha, perhaps because they included ἀδελφούς (adelfou", here translated “brothers and sisters”) as part of the referent. (Perhaps because accents were not part of the original text, scribes were particularly confused here.) The harder reading is certainly αὐτῆς, and thus Nympha should be considered a woman.

[4:15]  ³⁸ tn Grk “the church in her house.” The meaning is that Paul sends greetings to the church that meets at Nympha’s house.

[4:16]  ³⁹ tn Grk “when.”

[4:16]  ⁴⁰ tn The construction beginning with the imperative ποιήσατε ἵνα…ἀναγνωσθῇ (poihsate Jina…anagnwsqh) should be translated as “have it read” where the conjunction ἵνα functions to mark off its clause as the direct object of the imperative ποιήσατε. The content of the clause (“reading the letter”) is what Paul commands with the imperative ποιήσατε. Thus the translation “have it read” has been used here.

[4:16]  ⁴¹ sn This letter is otherwise unknown, but some have suggested that it is the letter known today as Ephesians.