Isaiah 35:3-4

35:3 Strengthen the hands that have gone limp,

steady the knees that shake! ¹ 

35:4 Tell those who panic, ² 

“Be strong! Do not fear!

Look, your God comes to avenge!

With divine retribution he comes to deliver you.” ³ 

Isaiah 51:7

51:7 Listen to me, you who know what is right,

you people who are aware of my law! ⁴ 

Don’t be afraid of the insults of men;

don’t be discouraged because of their abuse!

Isaiah 51:12

51:12 “I, I am the one who consoles you. ⁵ 

Why are you afraid of mortal men,

of mere human beings who are as short-lived as grass? ⁶ 

Acts 4:13

4:13 When they saw the boldness ⁷  of Peter and John, and discovered ⁸  that they were uneducated ⁹  and ordinary ¹⁰  men, they were amazed and recognized these men had been with Jesus.

Acts 4:29

4:29 And now, Lord, pay attention to ¹¹  their threats, and grant ¹²  to your servants ¹³  to speak your message ¹⁴  with great courage, ¹⁵ 

Acts 5:41-42

5:41 So they left the council rejoicing because they had been considered worthy ¹⁶  to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name. ¹⁷  5:42 And every day both in the temple courts ¹⁸  and from house to house, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the good news ¹⁹  that Jesus was the Christ. ²⁰ 

Ephesians 6:19

6:19 Pray ²¹  for me also, that I may be given the message when I begin to speak ²²  – that I may confidently make known ²³  the mystery of the gospel,

Philippians 1:28-29

1:28 and by not being intimidated in any way by your opponents. This is ²⁴  a sign of their ²⁵  destruction, but of your salvation – a sign which ²⁶  is from God. 1:29 For it has been granted to you ²⁷  not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for him,

Philippians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul ²⁸  and Timothy, slaves ²⁹  of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, ³⁰  with the overseers ³¹  and deacons.

Philippians 3:14

3:14 with this goal in mind, ³²  I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God ³³  in Christ Jesus.

[35:3]  ¹ tn Heb “staggering knees”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “feeble knees”; NIV “knees that give way.”

[35:4]  ² tn Heb “Say to the hasty of heart,” i.e., those whose hearts beat quickly from fear.

[35:4]  ³ tn The jussive form וְיֹשַׁעֲכֶם (vÿyosha’akhem), which is subordinated to the preceding imperfect with vav conjunctive, indicates purpose.

[51:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “people (who have) my law in their heart.”

[51:12]  ⁵ tc The plural suffix should probably be emended to the second masculine singular (which is used in v. 13). The final mem (ם) is probably dittographic; note the mem at the beginning of the next word.

[51:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, and of the son of man who [as] grass is given up?” The feminine singular forms should probably be emended to the masculine singular (see v. 13). They have probably been influenced by the construction אַתְּ־הִיא (’at-hi’) in vv. 9-10.

[4:13]  ⁷ tn Or “courage.”

[4:13]  ⁸ tn Or “and found out.”

[4:13]  ⁹ sn Uneducated does not mean “illiterate,” that is, unable to read or write. Among Jews in NT times there was almost universal literacy, especially as the result of widespread synagogue schools. The term refers to the fact that Peter and John had no formal rabbinic training and thus, in the view of their accusers, were not qualified to expound the law or teach publicly. The objection is like Acts 2:7.

[4:13]  ¹⁰ tn For the translation of ἰδιῶται (idiwtai) as “ordinary men” see L&N 27.26.

[4:29]  ¹¹ tn Or “Lord, take notice of.”

[4:29]  ¹² sn Grant to your servants to speak your message with great courage. The request is not for a stop to persecution or revenge on the opponents, but for boldness (great courage) to carry out the mission of proclaiming the message of what God is doing through Jesus.

[4:29]  ¹³ tn Grk “slaves.” See the note on the word “servants” in 2:18.

[4:29]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “word.”

[4:29]  ¹⁵ tn Or “with all boldness.”

[5:41]  ¹⁶ sn That is, considered worthy by God. They “gloried in their shame” of honoring Jesus with their testimony (Luke 6:22-23; 2 Macc 6:30).

[5:41]  ¹⁷ sn The name refers to the name of Jesus (cf. 3 John 7).

[5:42]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “temple.” This is actually a reference to the courts surrounding the temple proper and has been translated accordingly.

[5:42]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “teaching and evangelizing.” They were still obeying God, not men (see 4:18-20; 5:29).

[5:42]  ²⁰ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[6:19]  ²¹ tn To avoid a lengthy, convoluted sentence in English, the Greek sentence was broken up at this point and the verb “pray” was inserted in the English translation to pick up the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseuxomenoi, “praying”) in v. 18.

[6:19]  ²² tn Grk “that a word may be given to me in the opening of my mouth.” Here “word” (λόγος, logo") is used in the sense of “message.”

[6:19]  ²³ tn The infinitive γνωρίσαι (gnwrisai, “to make known”) is functioning epexegetically to further explain what the author means by the preceding phrase “that I may be given the message when I begin to speak.”

[1:28]  ²⁴ tn Grk “which is,” continuing the sentence begun in v. 27.

[1:28]  ²⁵ tn Grk “to them.”

[1:28]  ²⁶ tn Grk “this.” The pronoun refers back to “a sign”; thus these words have been repeated for clarity.

[1:29]  ²⁷ tn Grk “For that which is on behalf of Christ has been granted to you – namely, not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him.” The infinitive phrases are epexegetical to the subject, τὸ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ (to Juper Cristou), which has the force of “the on-behalf-of-Christ thing,” or “the thing on behalf of Christ.” To translate this in English requires a different idiom.

[1:1]  ²⁸ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ²⁹ tn Traditionally, “servants” or “bondservants.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  ³⁰ map For location see JP1 C1; JP2 C1; JP3 C1; JP4 C1.

[1:1]  ³¹ sn The overseers (or “church leaders,” L&N 53.71) is another term for the same official position of leadership as the “elder.” This is seen in the interchange of the two terms in Titus 1:6-7 and in Acts 20:17, 28, as well as in the parallels between Titus 1:6-7 and 1 Tim 3:1-7.

[3:14]  ³² tn Grk “according to the goal.”

[3:14]  ³³ tn Grk “prize, namely, the heavenly calling of God.”