Isaiah 51:4-5

51:4 Pay attention to me, my people!

Listen to me, my people!

For ¹  I will issue a decree, ² 

I will make my justice a light to the nations. ³ 

51:5 I am ready to vindicate, ⁴ 

I am ready to deliver, ⁵ 

I will establish justice among the nations. ⁶ 

The coastlands ⁷  wait patiently for me;

they wait in anticipation for the revelation of my power. ⁸ 

Psalms 110:2

110:2 The Lord ⁹  extends ¹⁰  your dominion ¹¹  from Zion.

Rule in the midst of your enemies!

Luke 24:47

24:47 and repentance ¹²  for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed ¹³  in his name to all nations, ¹⁴  beginning from Jerusalem. ¹⁵ 

Acts 1:8

1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts ¹⁶  of the earth.”

Acts 13:46-48

13:46 Both Paul and Barnabas replied courageously, ¹⁷  “It was necessary to speak the word of God ¹⁸  to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy ¹⁹  of eternal life, we ²⁰  are turning to the Gentiles. ²¹  13:47 For this ²²  is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have appointed ²³  you to be a light ²⁴  for the Gentiles, to bring salvation ²⁵  to the ends of the earth.’” ²⁶  13:48 When the Gentiles heard this, they began to rejoice ²⁷  and praise ²⁸  the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed for eternal life ²⁹  believed.

Romans 10:18

10:18 But I ask, have they ³⁰  not heard? ³¹  Yes, they have: ³²  Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. ³³ 

[51:4]  ¹ tn Or “certainly.”

[51:4]  ² tn Heb “instruction [or “a law”] will go out from me.”

[51:4]  ³ tn Heb “and my justice for a light to the nations I will cause to rest.”

[51:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “my righteousness [or “vindication”] is near.”

[51:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “my deliverance goes forth.”

[51:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “and my arms will judge [on behalf of] nations.”

[51:5]  ⁷ tn Or “islands” (NIV); TEV “Distant lands.”

[51:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “for my arm” (so NIV, NRSV).

[110:2]  ⁹ tn Since the Lord is mentioned in the third person (note the use of the first person in v. 1), it is likely that these are the psalmist’s words to the king, not a continuation of the oracle per se.

[110:2]  ¹⁰ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing, though it could be taken as future.

[110:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “your strong scepter,” symbolic of the king’s royal authority and dominion.

[24:47]  ¹² sn This repentance has its roots in declarations of the Old Testament. It is the Hebrew concept of a turning of direction.

[24:47]  ¹³ tn Or “preached,” “announced.”

[24:47]  ¹⁴ sn To all nations. The same Greek term (τὰ ἔθνη, ta eqnh) may be translated “the Gentiles” or “the nations.” The hope of God in Christ was for all the nations from the beginning.

[24:47]  ¹⁵ sn Beginning from Jerusalem. See Acts 2, which is where it all starts.

[1:8]  ¹⁶ tn Or “to the ends.”

[13:46]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out courageously and said.” The redundancy is removed in the translation and the verb “replied” is used in keeping with the logical sequence of events. The theme of boldness reappears: Acts 4:24-30; 9:27-28.

[13:46]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken.” For smoothness and simplicity of English style, the passive construction has been converted to active voice in the translation.

[13:46]  ¹⁹ tn Or “and consider yourselves unworthy.”

[13:46]  ²⁰ tn Grk “behold, we.” In this context ἰδού (idou) is not easily translated into English.

[13:46]  ²¹ sn This turning to the Gentiles would be a shocking rebuke to 1st century Jews who thought they alone were the recipients of the promise.

[13:47]  ²² tn Here οὕτως (Joutws) is taken to refer to what follows, the content of the quotation, as given for this verse by BDAG 742 s.v. οὕτω/οὕτως 2.

[13:47]  ²³ tn BDAG 1004 s.v. τίθημι 3.a has “τιθέναι τινὰ εἴς τι place/appoint someone to or for (to function as) someth….Ac 13:47.” This is a double accusative construction of object (“you”) and complement (“a light”).

[13:47]  ²⁴ sn Paul alludes here to the language of the Servant in Isaiah, pointing to Isa 42:6; 49:6. He and Barnabas do the work of the Servant in Isaiah.

[13:47]  ²⁵ tn Grk “that you should be for salvation,” but more simply “to bring salvation.”

[13:47]  ²⁶ sn An allusion to Isa 42:6 and 49:6. The expression the ends of the earth recalls Luke 3:6 and Acts 1:8. Paul sees himself and Barnabas as carrying out the commission of Luke 24:27. (See 2 Cor 6:2, where servant imagery also appears concerning Paul’s message.)

[13:48]  ²⁷ tn The imperfect verb ἔχαιρον (ecairon) and the following ἐδόξαζον (edoxazon) are translated as ingressive imperfects.

[13:48]  ²⁸ tn Or “glorify.” Although “honor” is given by BDAG 258 s.v. δοξάζω as a translation, it would be misleading here, because the meaning is “to honor in the sense of attributing worth to something,” while in contemporary English usage one speaks of “honoring” a contract in the sense of keeping its stipulations. It is not a synonym for “obey” in this context (“obey the word of the Lord”), but that is how many English readers would understand it.

[13:48]  ²⁹ sn Note the contrast to v. 46 in regard to eternal life.

[10:18]  ³⁰ tn That is, Israel (see the following verse).

[10:18]  ³¹ tn Grk “they have not ‘not heard,’ have they?” This question is difficult to render in English. The basic question is a negative sentence (“Have they not heard?”), but it is preceded by the particle μή (mh) which expects a negative response. The end result in English is a double negative (“They have not ‘not heard,’ have they?”). This has been changed to a positive question in the translation for clarity. See BDAG 646 s.v. μή 3.a.; D. Moo, Romans (NICNT), 666, fn. 32; and C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans (ICC), 537, for discussion.

[10:18]  ³² tn Here the particle μενοῦνγε (menounge) is correcting the negative response expected by the particle μή (mh) in the preceding question. Since the question has been translated positively, the translation was changed here to reflect that rendering.

[10:18]  ³³ sn A quotation from Ps 19:4.