Hebrews 12:1-3

The Lord’s Discipline

12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, ¹  we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us, 12:2 keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. ²  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.

Zechariah 13:9

13:9 Then I will bring the remaining third into the fire;

I will refine them like silver is refined

and will test them like gold is tested.

They will call on my name and I will answer;

I will say, ‘These are my people,’

and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’” ³ 

Matthew 8:20

8:20 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens, and the birds in the sky ⁴  have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” ⁵ 

Matthew 8:1

Cleansing a Leper

8:1 After he came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him.

Colossians 4:9-13

4:9 I sent him ⁶  with Onesimus, the faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. ⁷  They will tell ⁸  you about everything here.

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, ⁹  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 ¹⁰  of Christ, ¹¹  greets you. He is always struggling in prayer on your behalf, so that you may stand mature and fully assured ¹²  in all the will of God. 4:13 For I can testify that he has worked hard ¹³  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 1:23-27

1:23 if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, ¹⁴  without shifting ¹⁵  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 ¹⁶  from God – given to me for you – in order to complete ¹⁷  the word of God, 1:26 that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints. 1:27 God wanted to make known to them the glorious ¹⁸  riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Colossians 1:10

1:10 so that you may live ¹⁹  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ²⁰  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

James 5:10-11

5:10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers and sisters, ²¹  take the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name. 5:11 Think of how we regard ²²  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. ²³ 

[12:1]  ¹ tn Grk “having such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us.”

[12:2]  ² sn An allusion to Ps 110:1.

[13:9]  ³ sn The expression I will say ‘It is my people,’ and they will say ‘the Lord is my God’ is reminiscent of the restoration of Israel predicted by Hosea, who said that those who had been rejected as God’s people would be reclaimed and once more become his sons and daughters (Hos 2:23).

[8:20]  ⁴ tn Grk “the birds of the sky” or “the birds of the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated either “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).

[8:20]  ⁵ sn Jesus’ reply is simply this: Does the man understand the rejection he will be facing? Jesus has no home in the world (the Son of Man has no place to lay his head).

[4:9]  ⁶ tn The Greek sentence continues v. 9 with the phrase “with Onesimus,” but this is awkward in English, so the verb “I sent” was inserted and a new sentence started at the beginning of v. 9 in the translation.

[4:9]  ⁷ tn Grk “is of you.”

[4:9]  ⁸ tn Grk “will make known to you.” This has been simplified in the translation to “will tell.”

[4:11]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn See the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.

[4:12]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² tn Or “filled.”

[4:13]  ¹³ 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.

[1:23]  ¹⁴ tn BDAG 276 s.v. ἑδραῖος suggests “firm, steadfast.”

[1:23]  ¹⁵ tn BDAG 639 s.v. μετακινέω suggests “without shifting from the hope” here.

[1:25]  ¹⁶ tn BDAG 697 s.v. οἰκονομία 1.b renders the term here as “divine office.”

[1:25]  ¹⁷ 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.

[1:27]  ¹⁸ tn The genitive noun τῆς δόξης (ths doxhs) is an attributive genitive and has therefore been translated as “glorious riches.”

[1:10]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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.”

[5:10]  ²¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[5:11]  ²² tn Grk “Behold! We regard…”

[5:11]  ²³ sn An allusion to Exod 34:6; Neh 9:17; Ps 86:15; 102:13; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2.