Isaiah 11:12

11:12 He will lift a signal flag for the nations;

he will gather Israel’s dispersed people ¹ 

and assemble Judah’s scattered people

from the four corners of the earth.

Isaiah 49:18

49:18 Look all around you! ² 

All of them gather to you.

As surely as I live,” says the Lord,

“you will certainly wear all of them like jewelry;

you will put them on as if you were a bride.

Isaiah 60:4

60:4 Look all around you! ³ 

They all gather and come to you –

your sons come from far away

and your daughters are escorted by guardians.

Zechariah 14:5

14:5 Then you will escape ⁴  through my mountain valley, for the mountains will extend to Azal. ⁵  Indeed, you will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah ⁶  of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come with all his holy ones with him.

Mark 13:27

13:27 Then he will send angels and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. ⁷ 

John 11:52

11:52 and not for the Jewish nation ⁸  only, ⁹  but to gather together ¹⁰  into one the children of God who are scattered.) ¹¹ 

Ephesians 1:10

1:10 toward the administration of the fullness of the times, to head up ¹²  all things in Christ – the things in heaven ¹³  and the things on earth. ¹⁴ 

Ephesians 1:2

1:2 Grace and peace to you ¹⁵  from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Ephesians 2:1

New Life Individually

2:1 And although you were ¹⁶  dead ¹⁷  in your transgressions and sins,

[11:12]  ¹ tn Or “the banished of Israel,” i.e., the exiles.

[49:18]  ² tn Heb “Lift up around your eyes and see.”

[60:4]  ³ tn Heb “Lift up around your eyes and see!”

[14:5]  ⁴ tc For the MT reading נַסְתֶּם (nastem, “you will escape”) the LXX presupposes נִסְתַּם (nistam, “will be stopped up”; this reading is followed by NAB). This appears to derive from a perceived need to eliminate the unexpected “you” as subject. This not only is unnecessary to Hebrew discourse (see “you” in the next clause), but it contradicts the statement in the previous verse that the mountain will be split open, not stopped up.

[14:5]  ⁵ sn Azal is a place otherwise unknown.

[14:5]  ⁶ sn The earthquake in the days of King Uzziah, also mentioned in Amos 1:1, is apparently the one attested to at Hazor in 760 b.c.

[13:27]  ⁷ tn Or “of the sky”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context.

[11:52]  ⁸ tn See the note on the word “nation” in the previous verse.

[11:52]  ⁹ sn The author in his comment expands the prophecy to include the Gentiles (not for the Jewish nation only), a confirmation that the Fourth Gospel was directed, at least partly, to a Gentile audience. There are echoes of Pauline concepts here (particularly Eph 2:11-22) in the stress on the unity of Jew and Gentile.

[11:52]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “that he might gather together.”

[11:52]  ¹¹ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[1:10]  ¹² tn The precise meaning of the infinitive ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι (anakefalaiwsasqai) in v. 10 is difficult to determine since it was used relatively infrequently in Greek literature and only twice in the NT (here and Rom 13:9). While there have been several suggestions, three deserve mention: (1) “To sum up.” In Rom 13:9, using the same term, the author there says that the law may be “summarized in one command, to love your neighbor as yourself.” The idea then in Eph 1:10 would be that all things in heaven and on earth can be summed up and made sense out of in relation to Christ. (2) “To renew.” If this is the nuance of the verb then all things in heaven and earth, after their plunge into sin and ruin, are renewed by the coming of Christ and his redemption. (3) “To head up.” In this translation the idea is that Christ, in the fullness of the times, has been exalted so as to be appointed as the ruler (i.e., “head”) over all things in heaven and earth (including the church). That this is perhaps the best understanding of the verb is evidenced by the repeated theme of Christ’s exaltation and reign in Ephesians and by the connection to the κεφαλή- (kefalh-) language of 1:22 (cf. Schlier, TDNT 3:682; L&N 63.8; M. Barth, Ephesians [AB 34], 1:89-92; contra A. T. Lincoln, Ephesians [WBC], 32-33).

[1:10]  ¹³ tn Grk “the heavens.”

[1:10]  ¹⁴ sn And the things on earth. Verse 10 ends with “in him.” The redundancy keeps the focus on Christ at the expense of good Greek style. Verse 11 repeats the reference with a relative pronoun (“in whom”) – again, at the expense of good Greek style. Although the syntax is awkward, the theology is rich. This is not the first time that a NT writer was so overcome with awe for his Lord that he seems to have lost control of his pen. Indeed, it happened frequently enough that some have labeled their christologically motivated solecisms an “apostolic disease.”

[1:2]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”

[2:1]  ¹⁶ tn The adverbial participle “being” (ὄντας, ontas) is taken concessively.

[2:1]  ¹⁷ sn Chapter 2 starts off with a participle, although you were dead, that is left dangling. The syntax in Greek for vv. 1-3 constitutes one incomplete sentence, though it seems to have been done intentionally. The dangling participle leaves the readers in suspense while they wait for the solution (in v. 4) to their spiritual dilemma.