Isaiah 11:16

11:16 There will be a highway leading out of Assyria

for the remnant of his people, ¹ 

just as there was for Israel,

when ²  they went up from the land of Egypt.

Isaiah 35:8-10

35:8 A thoroughfare will be there –

it will be called the Way of Holiness. ³ 

The unclean will not travel on it;

it is reserved for those authorized to use it ⁴  –

fools ⁵  will not stray into it.

35:9 No lions will be there,

no ferocious wild animals will be on it ⁶  –

they will not be found there.

Those delivered from bondage will travel on it,

35:10 those whom the Lord has ransomed will return that way. ⁷ 

They will enter Zion with a happy shout.

Unending joy will crown them, ⁸ 

happiness and joy will overwhelm ⁹  them;

grief and suffering will disappear. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 40:3-5

40:3 A voice cries out,

“In the wilderness clear a way for the Lord;

construct in the desert a road for our God.

40:4 Every valley must be elevated,

and every mountain and hill leveled.

The rough terrain will become a level plain,

the rugged landscape a wide valley.

40:5 The splendor ¹¹  of the Lord will be revealed,

and all people ¹²  will see it at the same time.

For ¹³  the Lord has decreed it.” ¹⁴ 

Ephesians 2:18-22

2:18 so that ¹⁵  through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 2:19 So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, 2:20 because you have been built ¹⁶  on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, ¹⁷  with Christ Jesus himself as ¹⁸  the cornerstone. ¹⁹  2:21 In him ²⁰  the whole building, ²¹  being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 2:22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Ephesians 3:6-8

3:6 namely, that through the gospel ²²  the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members ²³  of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. 3:7 I became a servant of this gospel ²⁴  according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by ²⁵  the exercise of his power. ²⁶  3:8 To me – less than the least of all the saints ²⁷  – this grace was given, ²⁸  to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ

[11:16]  ¹ tn Heb “and there will be a highway for the remnant of his people who remain, from Assyria.”

[11:16]  ² tn Heb “in the day” (so KJV).

[35:8]  ³ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and there will be there a road and a way, and the Way of Holiness it will be called.” וְדֶרֶךְ (vÿderekh, “and a/the way”) is accidentally duplicated; the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a does not reflect the repetition of the phrase.

[35:8]  ⁴ tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The text reads literally “and it is for them, the one who walks [on the] way.” In this context those authorized to use the Way of Holiness would be morally upright people who are the recipients of God’s deliverance, in contrast to the morally impure and foolish who are excluded from the new covenant community.

[35:8]  ⁵ tn In this context “fools” are those who are morally corrupt, not those with limited intellectual capacity.

[35:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “will go up on it”; TEV “will pass that way.”

[35:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the redeemed will walk, the ransomed of the Lord will return.”

[35:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “[will be] on their head[s].” “Joy” may be likened here to a crown (cf. 2 Sam 1:10). The statement may also be an ironic twist on the idiom “earth/dust on the head” (cf. 2 Sam 1:2; 13:19; 15:32; Job 2:12), referring to a mourning practice.

[35:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “will overtake” (NIV); NLT “they will be overcome with.”

[35:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee”; KJV “sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

[40:5]  ¹¹ tn Or “glory.” The Lord’s “glory” is his theophanic radiance and royal splendor (see Isa 6:3; 24:23; 35:2; 60:1; 66:18-19).

[40:5]  ¹² tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, ASV, NASB); NAB, NIV “mankind”; TEV “the whole human race.”

[40:5]  ¹³ tn Or “indeed.”

[40:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord has spoken” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[2:18]  ¹⁵ tn Or “for.” BDAG gives the consecutive ὅτι (Joti) as a possible category of NT usage (BDAG 732 s.v. 5.c).

[2:20]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “having been built.”

[2:20]  ¹⁷ sn Apostles and prophets. Because the prophets appear after the mention of the apostles and because they are linked together in 3:5 as recipients of revelation about the church, they are to be regarded not as Old Testament prophets, but as New Testament prophets.

[2:20]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “while Christ Jesus himself is” or “Christ Jesus himself being.”

[2:20]  ¹⁹ tn Or perhaps “capstone” (NAB). The meaning of ἀκρογωνιαῖος (akrogwniaio") is greatly debated. The meaning “capstone” is proposed by J. Jeremias (TDNT 1:792), but the most important text for this meaning (T. Sol. 22:7-23:4) is late and possibly not even an appropriate parallel. The only place ἀκρογωνιαῖος is used in the LXX is Isa 28:16, and there it clearly refers to a cornerstone that is part of a foundation. Furthermore, the imagery in this context has the building growing off the cornerstone upward, whereas if Christ were the capstone, he would not assume his position until the building was finished, which vv. 21-22 argue against.

[2:21]  ²⁰ tn Grk “in whom” (v. 21 is a relative clause, subordinate to v. 20).

[2:21]  ²¹ tc Although several important witnesses (א¹ A C P 6 81 326 1739^c 1881) have πᾶσα ἡ οἰκοδομή (pasa Jh oikodomh), instead of πᾶσα οἰκοδομή (the reading of א* B D F G Ψ 33 1739* Ï), the article is almost surely a scribal addition intended to clarify the meaning of the text, for with the article the meaning is unambiguously “the whole building.”

[3:6]  ²² sn The phrase through the gospel is placed last in the sentence in Greek for emphasis. It has been moved forward for clarity.

[3:6]  ²³ tn Grk “and fellow members.”

[3:7]  ²⁴ tn Grk “of which I was made a minister,” “of which I became a servant.”

[3:7]  ²⁵ tn Grk “according to.”

[3:7]  ²⁶ sn On the exercise of his power see 1:19-20.

[3:8]  ²⁷ sn In Pauline writings saints means any true believer. Thus for Paul to view himself as less than the least of all the saints is to view himself as the most unworthy object of Christ’s redemption.

[3:8]  ²⁸ sn The parallel phrases to proclaim and to enlighten which follow indicate why God’s grace was manifested to Paul. Grace was not something just to be received, but to be shared with others (cf. Acts 13:47).