Isaiah 12:1

12:1 At that time ¹  you will say:

“I praise you, O Lord,

for even though you were angry with me,

your anger subsided, and you consoled me.

Isaiah 40:1-2

The Lord Returns to Jerusalem

40:1 “Comfort, comfort my people,”

says your ²  God.

40:2 “Speak kindly to ³  Jerusalem, ⁴  and tell her

that her time of warfare is over, ⁵ 

that her punishment is completed. ⁶ 

For the Lord has made her pay double ⁷  for all her sins.”

Isaiah 51:3

51:3 Certainly the Lord will console Zion;

he will console all her ruins.

He will make her wilderness like Eden,

her desert like the Garden of the Lord.

Happiness and joy will be restored to ⁸  her,

thanksgiving and the sound of music.

Isaiah 61:2-3

61:2 to announce the year when the Lord will show his favor,

the day when our God will seek vengeance, ⁹ 

to console all who mourn,

61:3 to strengthen those who mourn in Zion,

by giving them a turban, instead of ashes,

oil symbolizing joy, ¹⁰  instead of mourning,

a garment symbolizing praise, ¹¹  instead of discouragement. ¹² 

They will be called oaks of righteousness, ¹³ 

trees planted by the Lord to reveal his splendor. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 66:13-14

66:13 As a mother consoles a child, ¹⁵ 

so I will console you,

and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.”

66:14 When you see this, you will be happy, ¹⁶ 

and you will be revived. ¹⁷ 

The Lord will reveal his power to his servants

and his anger to his enemies. ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 31:13

31:13 The Lord says, ¹⁹  “At that time young women will dance and be glad.

Young men and old men will rejoice. ²⁰ 

I will turn their grief into gladness.

I will give them comfort and joy in place of their sorrow.

Jeremiah 31:2

Israel Will Be Restored and Join Judah in Worship

31:2 The Lord says,

“The people of Israel who survived

death at the hands of the enemy ²¹ 

will find favor in the wilderness

as they journey to find rest for themselves.

Colossians 1:6

1:6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel ²²  is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing ²³  among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ²⁴  brothers and sisters ²⁵  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ²⁶  from God our Father! ²⁷ 

Colossians 2:16-17

2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you with respect to food or drink, or in the matter of a feast, new moon, or Sabbath days – 2:17 these are only ²⁸  the shadow of the things to come, but the reality ²⁹  is Christ! ³⁰ 

[12:1]  ¹ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[40:1]  ² tn The pronominal suffix is second masculine plural. The identity of the addressee is uncertain: (1) God’s people may be addressed, or (2) the unidentified heralds commanded to comfort Jerusalem.

[40:2]  ³ tn Heb “speak to the heart of Jerusalem.” Jerusalem is personified as a woman.

[40:2]  ⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[40:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “that she is filled [with] her warfare.” Some understand צָבָא (tsavah, “warfare”) as meaning “hard service” or “compulsory labor” in this context.

[40:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “that her punishment is accepted [as satisfactory].”

[40:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “for she has received from the hand of the Lord double.” The principle of the double portion in punishment is also seen in Jer 16:18; 17:18 and Rev 18:6. For examples of the double portion in Israelite law, see Exod 22:4, 7, 9 (double restitution by a thief) and Deut 21:17 (double inheritance portion for the firstborn).

[51:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “found in” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[61:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “to announce the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of our God’s vengeance.

[61:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “oil of joy” (KJV, ASV); NASB, NIV, NRSV “the oil of gladness.”

[61:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “garment of praise.”

[61:3]  ¹² tn Heb “a faint spirit” (so NRSV); KJV, ASV “the spirit of heaviness”; NASB “a spirit of fainting.”

[61:3]  ¹³ tn Rather than referring to the character of the people, צֶדֶק (tsedeq) may carry the nuance “vindication” here, suggesting that God’s restored people are a testimony to his justice. See v. 2, which alludes to the fact that God will take vengeance against the enemies of his people. Cf. NAB “oaks of justice.”

[61:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a planting of the Lord to reveal splendor.”

[66:13]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “like a man whose mother comforts him.”

[66:14]  ¹⁶ tn “and you will see and your heart will be happy.”

[66:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and your bones like grass will sprout.”

[66:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, and anger to his enemies.”

[31:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.” This phrase has been brought up to the beginning of v. 13 from the end of v. 14 to introduce the transition from third person description by Jeremiah to first person address by the Lord.

[31:13]  ²⁰ tc The translation follows the reading of the LXX (Greek version). The Hebrew reads “will dance and be glad, young men and old men together.” The Greek version presupposes a Qal imperfect of a rare verb (יַחְדּוּ [yakhdu] from the verb חָדָה [khadah]; see BDB 292 s.v. II חָדָה Qal) as opposed to the Hebrew text which reads a common adverb יַחְדָּו (yakhdav). The consonantal text is the same but the vocalization is different. There are no other examples of the syntax of the adverb used this way (i.e., of a compound subject added to a third subject) and the vocalization of the Hebrew text can be explained on the basis of a scribe misvocalizing the text based on his greater familiarity with the adverb.

[31:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “who survived the sword.”

[1:6]  ²² tn Grk “just as in the entire world it is bearing fruit.” The antecedent (“the gospel”) of the implied subject (“it”) of ἐστιν (estin) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:6]  ²³ tn Though the participles are periphrastic with the present tense verb ἐστίν (estin), the presence of the temporal indicator “from the day” in the next clause indicates that this is a present tense that reaches into the past and should be translated as “has been bearing fruit and growing.” For a discussion of this use of the present tense, see ExSyn 519-20.

[1:2]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ²⁷ 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.

[2:17]  ²⁸ tn The word “only,” though not in the Greek text, is supplied in the English translation to bring out the force of the Greek phrase.

[2:17]  ²⁹ tn Grk “but the body of Christ.” The term body here, when used in contrast to shadow (σκιά, skia) indicates the opposite meaning, i.e., the reality or substance itself.

[2:17]  ³⁰ tn The genitive τοῦ Χριστοῦ (tou Cristou) is appositional and translated as such: “the reality is Christ.”