Isaiah 21:8

21:8 Then the guard ¹  cries out:

“On the watchtower, O sovereign master, ² 

I stand all day long;

at my post

I am stationed every night.

Ezekiel 3:17-21

3:17 “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman ³  for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must give them a warning from me. 3:18 When I say to the wicked, “You will certainly die,” ⁴  and you do not warn him – you do not speak out to warn the wicked to turn from his wicked deed and wicked lifestyle so that he may live – that wicked person will die for his iniquity, ⁵  but I will hold you accountable for his death. ⁶  3:19 But as for you, if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wicked deed and from his wicked lifestyle, he will die for his iniquity but you will have saved your own life. ⁷ 

3:20 “When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I set an obstacle ⁸  before him, he will die. If you have not warned him, he will die for his sin. The righteous deeds he performed will not be considered, but I will hold you accountable for his death. 3:21 However, if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he ⁹  does not sin, he will certainly live because he was warned, and you will have saved your own life.”

Ezekiel 33:7-9

33:7 “As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman ¹⁰  for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must warn them on my behalf. 33:8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you must certainly die,’ ¹¹  and you do not warn ¹²  the wicked about his behavior, ¹³  the wicked man will die for his iniquity, but I will hold you accountable for his death. ¹⁴  33:9 But if you warn the wicked man to change his behavior, ¹⁵  and he refuses to change, ¹⁶  he will die for his iniquity, but you have saved your own life.

Matthew 24:45-47

The Faithful and Wise Slave

24:45 “Who then is the faithful and wise slave, ¹⁷  whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves ¹⁸  their food at the proper time? 24:46 Blessed is that slave whom the master finds at work ¹⁹  when he comes. 24:47 I tell you the truth, ²⁰  the master ²¹  will put him in charge of all his possessions.

Luke 12:42-44

12:42 The Lord replied, ²²  “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, ²³  whom the master puts in charge of his household servants, ²⁴  to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? 12:43 Blessed is that slave ²⁵  whom his master finds at work ²⁶  when he returns. 12:44 I tell you the truth, ²⁷  the master ²⁸  will put him in charge of all his possessions.

Acts 20:20

20:20 You know that I did not hold back from proclaiming ²⁹  to you anything that would be helpful, ³⁰  and from teaching you publicly ³¹  and from house to house,

Acts 20:28

20:28 Watch out for ³²  yourselves and for all the flock of which ³³  the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, ³⁴  to shepherd the church of God ³⁵  that he obtained ³⁶  with the blood of his own Son. ³⁷ 

Colossians 4:17

4:17 And tell Archippus, “See to it that you complete the ministry you received in the Lord.”

Colossians 4:1

4:1 Masters, treat your slaves with justice and fairness, because you know that you also have a master in heaven.

Colossians 4:16

4:16 And after ³⁸  you have read this letter, have it read ³⁹  to the church of Laodicea. In turn, read the letter from Laodicea ⁴⁰  as well.

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 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 4:1

4:1 Masters, treat your slaves with justice and fairness, because you know that you also have a master in heaven.

Colossians 1:1-4

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ⁴¹  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 1:2 to the saints, the faithful ⁴²  brothers and sisters ⁴³  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ⁴⁴  from God our Father! ⁴⁵ 

Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Church

1:3 We always ⁴⁶  give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 1:4 since ⁴⁷  we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints.

[21:8]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text has, “the lion,” but this makes little sense here. אַרְיֵה (’aryeh, “lion”) is probably a corruption of an original הָרֹאֶה (haro’eh, “the one who sees”), i.e., the guard mentioned previously in v. 6.

[21:8]  ² tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay). Some translations take this to refer to the Lord (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV), while others take it to refer to the guard’s human master (“my lord”; cf. NIV, NLT).

[3:17]  ³ tn The literal role of a watchman is described in 2 Sam 18:24; 2 Kgs 9:17.

[3:18]  ⁴ sn Even though the infinitive absolute is used to emphasize the warning, the warning is still implicitly conditional, as the following context makes clear.

[3:18]  ⁵ tn Or “in his punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and v. 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 18: 17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 33:6, 8, 9; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment for iniquity.”

[3:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “his blood I will seek from your hand.” The expression “seek blood from the hand” is equivalent to requiring the death penalty (2 Sam 4:11-12).

[3:19]  ⁷ tn Verses 17-19 are repeated in Ezek 33:7-9.

[3:20]  ⁸ tn Or “stumbling block.” The Hebrew term refers to an obstacle in the road in Lev 19:14.

[3:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “the righteous man.”

[33:7]  ¹⁰ sn Jeremiah (Jer 6:17) and Habakkuk (Hab 2:1) also served in the role of a watchman.

[33:8]  ¹¹ tn The same expression occurs in Gen 2:17.

[33:8]  ¹² tn Heb “and you do not speak to warn.”

[33:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “way.”

[33:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and his blood from your hand I will seek.”

[33:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “from his way to turn from it.”

[33:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and he does not turn from his way.”

[24:45]  ¹⁷ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 8:9.

[24:45]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “give them.”

[24:46]  ¹⁹ tn That is, doing his job, doing what he is supposed to be doing.

[24:47]  ²⁰ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[24:47]  ²¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the master) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:42]  ²² tn Grk “And the Lord said.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[12:42]  ²³ tn Or “administrator,” “steward” (L&N 37.39).

[12:42]  ²⁴ tn This term, θεραπεία (qerapeia), describes the group of servants working in a particular household (L&N 46.6).

[12:43]  ²⁵ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 7:2.

[12:43]  ²⁶ tn That is, doing his job, doing what he is supposed to be doing.

[12:44]  ²⁷ tn Grk “Truly (ἀληθῶς, alhqw"), I say to you.”

[12:44]  ²⁸ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the master) has been specified in the translation for clarity. See also Luke 19:11-27.

[20:20]  ²⁹ tn Or “declaring.”

[20:20]  ³⁰ tn Or “profitable.” BDAG 960 s.v. συμφέρω 2.b.α has “τὰ συμφέροντα what advances your best interests or what is good for you Ac 20:20,” but the broader meaning (s.v. 2, “to be advantageous, help, confer a benefit, be profitable/useful”) is equally possible in this context.

[20:20]  ³¹ tn Or “openly.”

[20:28]  ³² tn Or “Be on your guard for” (cf. v. 29). Paul completed his responsibility to the Ephesians with this warning.

[20:28]  ³³ tn Grk “in which.”

[20:28]  ³⁴ tn Or “guardians.” BDAG 379-80 s.v. ἐπίσκοπος 2 states, “The term was taken over in Christian communities in ref. to one who served as overseer or supervisor, with special interest in guarding the apostolic tradition…Ac 20:28.” This functional term describes the role of the elders (see v. 17). They were to guard and shepherd the congregation.

[20:28]  ³⁵ tc The reading “of God” (τοῦ θεοῦ, tou qeou) is found in א B 614 1175 1505 al vg sy; other witnesses have “of the Lord” (τοῦ κυρίου, tou kuriou) here (so Ì⁷⁴ A C* D E Ψ 33 1739 al co), while the majority of the later minuscule mss conflate these two into “of the Lord and God” (τοῦ κυρίου καὶ [τοῦ] θεοῦ, tou kuriou kai [tou] qeou). Although the evidence is evenly balanced between the first two readings, τοῦ θεοῦ is decidedly superior on internal grounds. The final prepositional phrase of this verse, διὰ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ ἰδίου (dia tou {aimato" tou idiou), could be rendered “through his own blood” or “through the blood of his own.” In the latter translation, the object that “own” modifies must be supplied (see tn below for discussion). But this would not be entirely clear to scribes; those who supposed that ἰδίου modified αἵματος would be prone to alter “God” to “Lord” to avoid the inference that God had blood. In a similar way, later scribes would be prone to conflate the two titles, thereby affirming the deity (with the construction τοῦ κυρίου καὶ θεοῦ following the Granville Sharp rule and referring to a single person [see ExSyn 272, 276-77, 290]) and substitutionary atonement of Christ. For these reasons, τοῦ θεοῦ best explains the rise of the other readings and should be considered authentic.

[20:28]  ³⁶ tn Or “acquired.”

[20:28]  ³⁷ tn Or “with his own blood”; Grk “with the blood of his own.” The genitive construction could be taken in two ways: (1) as an attributive genitive (second attributive position) meaning “his own blood”; or (2) as a possessive genitive, “with the blood of his own.” In this case the referent is the Son, and the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. See further C. F. DeVine, “The Blood of God,” CBQ 9 (1947): 381-408.

[4:16]  ³⁸ tn Grk “when.”

[4:16]  ³⁹ 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]  ⁴⁰ sn This letter is otherwise unknown, but some have suggested that it is the letter known today as Ephesians.

[1:1]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:2]  ⁴² tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ⁴³ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ⁴⁵ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

[1:3]  ⁴⁶ tn The adverb πάντοτε (pantote) is understood to modify the indicative εὐχαριστοῦμεν (eucaristoumen) because it precedes περὶ ὑμῶν (peri Jumwn) which probably modifies the indicative and not the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi). But see 1:9 where the same expression occurs and περὶ ὑμῶν modifies the participle “praying” (προσευχόμενοι).

[1:4]  ⁴⁷ tn The adverbial participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") is understood to be temporal and translated with “since.” A causal idea may also be in the apostle’s mind, but the context emphasizes temporal ideas, e.g., “from the day” (v. 6).