Isaiah 21:10

21:10 O my downtrodden people, crushed like stalks on the threshing floor, ¹ 

what I have heard

from the Lord who commands armies,

the God of Israel,

I have reported to you.

Amos 9:9

9:9 “For look, I am giving a command

and I will shake the family of Israel together with all the nations.

It will resemble a sieve being shaken,

when not even a pebble falls to the ground. ² 

Matthew 3:12

3:12 His winnowing fork ³  is in his hand, and he will clean out his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the storehouse, ⁴  but the chaff he will burn up with inextinguishable fire.” ⁵ 

Matthew 13:37-43

13:37 He ⁶  answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 13:38 The field is the world and the good seed are the people ⁷  of the kingdom. The weeds are the people ⁸  of the evil one, 13:39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 13:40 As ⁹  the weeds are collected and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 13:41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom everything that causes sin as well as all lawbreakers. ¹⁰  13:42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, ¹¹  where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 13:43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. ¹²  The one who has ears had better listen! ¹³ 

Luke 22:31-32

22:31 “Simon, ¹⁴  Simon, pay attention! ¹⁵  Satan has demanded to have you all, ¹⁶  to sift you like wheat, ¹⁷  22:32 but I have prayed for you, Simon, ¹⁸  that your faith may not fail. ¹⁹  When ²⁰  you have turned back, ²¹  strengthen ²²  your brothers.”

John 12:24

12:24 I tell you the solemn truth, ²³  unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself alone. ²⁴  But if it dies, it produces ²⁵  much grain. ²⁶ 

John 12:1

Jesus’ Anointing

12:1 Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom he ²⁷  had raised from the dead.

Colossians 3:9

3:9 Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with its practices

Colossians 3:1

Exhortations to Seek the Things Above

3:1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Colossians 1:9-10

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ²⁸  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ²⁹  to fill ³⁰  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 1:10 so that you may live ³¹  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ³²  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

[21:10]  ¹ tn Heb “My trampled one, and the son of the threshing floor.”

[9:9]  ² tn Heb “like being shaken with a sieve, and a pebble does not fall to the ground.” The meaning of the Hebrew word צְרוֹר (tsÿror), translated “pebble,” is unclear here. In 2 Sam 17:13 it appears to refer to a stone. If it means “pebble,” then the sieve described in v. 6 allows the grain to fall into a basket while retaining the debris and pebbles. However, if one interprets צְרוֹר as a “kernel of grain” (cf. NASB, NIV, NKJV, NLT) then the sieve is constructed to retain the grain and allow the refuse and pebbles to fall to the ground. In either case, the simile supports the last statement in v. 8 by making it clear that God will distinguish between the righteous (the grain) and the wicked (the pebbles) when he judges, and will thereby preserve a remnant in Israel. Only the sinners will be destroyed (v. 10).

[3:12]  ³ sn A winnowing fork was a pitchfork-like tool used to toss threshed grain in the air so that the wind blew away the chaff, leaving the grain to fall to the ground. The note of purging is highlighted by the use of imagery involving sifting though threshed grain for the useful kernels.

[3:12]  ⁴ tn Or “granary,” “barn” (referring to a building used to store a farm’s produce rather than a building to house livestock).

[3:12]  ⁵ sn The image of fire that cannot be extinguished is from the OT: Job 20:26; Isa 34:8-10; 66:24.

[13:37]  ⁶ tn Grk “And answering, he said.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[13:38]  ⁷ tn Grk “the sons of the kingdom.” This idiom refers to people who should properly be, or were traditionally regarded as, a part of God’s kingdom. L&N 11.13 translates the phrase: “people of God’s kingdom, God’s people.”

[13:38]  ⁸ tn Grk “the sons of the evil one.” See the preceding note on the phrase “people of the kingdom” earlier in this verse, which is the opposite of this phrase. See also L&N 9.4; 11.13; 11.14.

[13:40]  ⁹ tn Grk “Therefore as.” Here οὖν (oun) has not been translated.

[13:41]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the ones who practice lawlessness.”

[13:42]  ¹¹ sn A quotation from Dan 3:6.

[13:43]  ¹² sn An allusion to Dan 12:3.

[13:43]  ¹³ tn The translation “had better listen!” captures the force of the third person imperative more effectively than the traditional “let him hear,” which sounds more like a permissive than an imperative to the modern English reader. This was Jesus’ common expression to listen and heed carefully (cf. Matt 11:15, 13:9; Mark 4:9, 23; Luke 8:8, 14:35).

[22:31]  ¹⁴ tc The majority of mss (א A D W Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 Ï as well as several versional witnesses) begin this verse with an introductory comment, “and the Lord said,” indicating a change in the subject of discussion. But this is apparently a reading motivated by the need for clarity. Some of the best witnesses, along with a few others (Ì⁷⁵ B L T 1241 2542^c sy^s co), do not contain these words. The abrupt shift is the more difficult reading and thus more likely to be original.

[22:31]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “behold” (for “pay attention” see L&N 91.13).

[22:31]  ¹⁶ sn This pronoun is plural in the Greek text, so it refers to all the disciples of which Peter is the representative.

[22:31]  ¹⁷ sn Satan has demanded permission to put them to the test. The idiom “sift (someone) like wheat” is similar to the English idiom “to pick (someone) apart.” The pronoun you is implied.

[22:32]  ¹⁸ sn Here and in the remainder of the verse the second person pronouns are singular, so only Peter is in view. The name “Simon” has been supplied as a form of direct address to make this clear in English.

[22:32]  ¹⁹ sn That your faith may not fail. Note that Peter’s denials are pictured here as lapses, not as a total absence of faith.

[22:32]  ²⁰ tn Grk “And when.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[22:32]  ²¹ tn Or “turned around.”

[22:32]  ²² sn Strengthen your brothers refers to Peter helping to strengthen their faith. Jesus quite graciously restores Peter “in advance,” even with the knowledge of his approaching denials.

[12:24]  ²³ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[12:24]  ²⁴ tn Or “it remains only a single kernel.”

[12:24]  ²⁵ tn Or “bears.”

[12:24]  ²⁶ tn Grk “much fruit.”

[12:1]  ²⁷ tn Grk “whom Jesus,” but a repetition of the proper name (Jesus) here would be redundant in the English clause structure, so the pronoun (“he”) is substituted in the translation.

[1:9]  ²⁸ tn Or “heard about it”; Grk “heard.” There is no direct object stated in the Greek (direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context). A direct object is expected by an English reader, however, so most translations supply one. Here, however, it is not entirely clear what the author “heard”: a number of translations supply “it” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV; NAB “this”), but this could refer back either to (1) “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8, or (2) “your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints” (v. 4). In light of this uncertainty, other translations supply “about you” (TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). This is preferred by the present translation since, while it does not resolve the ambiguity entirely, it does make it less easy for the English reader to limit the reference only to “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8.

[1:9]  ²⁹ tn The term “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but the following reference to “the knowledge of his will” makes it clear that “God” is in view as the object of the “praying and asking,” and should therefore be included in the English translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ³⁰ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as substantival, indicating the content of the prayer and asking. The idea of purpose may also be present in this clause.

[1:10]  ³¹ 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]  ³² 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.”