Isaiah 51:7-13

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

you people who are aware of my law! ¹ 

Don’t be afraid of the insults of men;

don’t be discouraged because of their abuse!

51:8 For a moth will eat away at them like clothes;

a clothes moth will devour them like wool.

But the vindication I provide ²  will be permanent;

the deliverance I give will last.”

51:9 Wake up! Wake up!

Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the Lord! ³ 

Wake up as in former times, as in antiquity!

Did you not smash ⁴  the Proud One? ⁵ 

Did you not ⁶  wound the sea monster? ⁷ 

51:10 Did you not dry up the sea,

the waters of the great deep?

Did you not make ⁸  a path through the depths of the sea,

so those delivered from bondage ⁹  could cross over?

51:11 Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return;

they will enter Zion with a happy shout.

Unending joy will crown them, ¹⁰ 

happiness and joy will overwhelm ¹¹  them;

grief and suffering will disappear. ¹² 

51:12 “I, I am the one who consoles you. ¹³ 

Why are you afraid of mortal men,

of mere human beings who are as short-lived as grass? ¹⁴ 

51:13 Why do you forget ¹⁵  the Lord, who made you,

who stretched out the sky ¹⁶ 

and founded the earth?

Why do you constantly tremble all day long ¹⁷ 

at the anger of the oppressor,

when he makes plans to destroy?

Where is the anger of the oppressor? ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 1:8

1:8 Do not be afraid of those to whom I send you, ¹⁹  for I will be with you to protect ²⁰  you,” says the Lord.

Jeremiah 1:17

1:17 “But you, Jeremiah, ²¹  get yourself ready! ²²  Go and tell these people everything I instruct you to say. Do not be terrified of them, or I will give you good reason to be terrified of them. ²³ 

Jeremiah 26:14-15

26:14 As to my case, I am in your power. ²⁴  Do to me what you deem fair and proper. 26:15 But you should take careful note of this: If you put me to death, you will bring on yourselves and this city and those who live in it the guilt of murdering an innocent man. For the Lord has sent me to speak all this where you can hear it. That is the truth!” ²⁵ 

Ezekiel 2:6

2:6 But you, son of man, do not fear them, and do not fear their words – even though briers ²⁶  and thorns ²⁷  surround you and you live among scorpions – do not fear their words and do not be terrified of the looks they give you, ²⁸  for they are a rebellious house!

Daniel 3:16-17

3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to King Nebuchadnezzar, ²⁹  “We do not need to give you a reply ³⁰  concerning this. 3:17 If ³¹  our God whom we are serving exists, ³²  he is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he will rescue us, O king, from your power as well.

Matthew 10:28

10:28 Do ³³  not be afraid of those who kill the body ³⁴  but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. ³⁵ 

Acts 4:13

4:13 When they saw the boldness ³⁶  of Peter and John, and discovered ³⁷  that they were uneducated ³⁸  and ordinary ³⁹  men, they were amazed and recognized these men had been with Jesus.

Acts 20:24

20:24 But I do not consider my life ⁴⁰  worth anything ⁴¹  to myself, so that ⁴²  I may finish my task ⁴³  and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news ⁴⁴  of God’s grace.

Philippians 1:28

1:28 and by not being intimidated in any way by your opponents. This is ⁴⁵  a sign of their ⁴⁶  destruction, but of your salvation – a sign which ⁴⁷  is from God.

Philippians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul ⁴⁸  and Timothy, slaves ⁴⁹  of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, ⁵⁰  with the overseers ⁵¹  and deacons.

Philippians 3:14

3:14 with this goal in mind, ⁵²  I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God ⁵³  in Christ Jesus.

Revelation 2:10

2:10 Do not be afraid of the things you are about to suffer. The devil is about to have some of you thrown ⁵⁴  into prison so you may be tested, ⁵⁵  and you will experience suffering ⁵⁶  for ten days. Remain faithful even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown that is life itself. ⁵⁷ 

[51:7]  ¹ tn Heb “people (who have) my law in their heart.”

[51:8]  ² tn Heb “my vindication”; many English versions “my righteousness”; NRSV, TEV “my deliverance”; CEV “my victory.”

[51:9]  ³ tn The arm of the Lord is a symbol of divine military power. Here it is personified and told to arouse itself from sleep and prepare for action.

[51:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “Are you not the one who smashed?” The feminine singular forms agree grammatically with the feminine noun “arm.” The Hebrew text has ַהמַּחְצֶבֶת (hammakhtsevet), from the verbal root חָצַב (khatsav, “hew, chop”). The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has, probably correctly, המחצת, from the verbal root מָחַץ (makhats, “smash”) which is used in Job 26:12 to describe God’s victory over “the Proud One.”

[51:9]  ⁵ tn This title (רַהַב, rahav, “proud one”) is sometimes translated as a proper name: “Rahab” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). It is used here of a symbolic sea monster, known elsewhere in the Bible and in Ugaritic myth as Leviathan. This sea creature symbolizes the forces of chaos that seek to destroy the created order. In the Bible “the Proud One” opposes God’s creative work, but is defeated (see Job 26:12; Ps 89:10). Here the title refers to Pharaoh’s Egyptian army that opposed Israel at the Red Sea (see v. 10, and note also Isa 30:7 and Ps 87:4, where the title is used of Egypt).

[51:9]  ⁶ tn The words “did you not” are understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line). The rhetorical questions here and in v. 10 expect the answer, “Yes, you certainly did!”

[51:9]  ⁷ tn Hebrew תַּנִּין (tannin) is another name for the symbolic sea monster. See the note at 27:1. In this context the sea creature represents Egypt. See the note on the title “Proud One” earlier in this verse.

[51:10]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “Are you not the one who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made…?”

[51:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “the redeemed” (so ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); KJV “the ransomed.”

[51:11]  ¹⁰ 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.

[51:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “overtake” (so NIV); NASB “they will obtain.”

[51:11]  ¹² tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee.”

[51:12]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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.

[51:13]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and that you forget.”

[51:13]  ¹⁶ tn Or “the heavens” (also in v. 16). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[51:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and that you tremble constantly all the day.”

[51:13]  ¹⁸ tn The question anticipates the answer, “Ready to disappear!” See v. 14.

[1:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “be afraid of them.” The antecedent is the “whomever” in v. 7.

[1:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “rescue.”

[1:17]  ²¹ tn The name “Jeremiah” is not in the text. The use of the personal pronoun followed by the proper name is an attempt to reflect the correlative emphasis between Jeremiah’s responsibility noted here and the Lord’s promise noted in the next verse. The emphasis in the Hebrew text is marked by the presence of the subject pronouns at the beginning of each of the two verses.

[1:17]  ²² tn Heb “gird up your loins.” For the literal use of this idiom to refer to preparation for action see 2 Kgs 4:29; 9:1. For the idiomatic use to refer to spiritual and emotional preparation as here, see Job 38:3, 40:7, and 1 Pet 1:13 in the NT.

[1:17]  ²³ tn Heb “I will make you terrified in front of them.” There is a play on words here involving two different forms of the same Hebrew verb and two different but related prepositional phrases, “from before/of,” a preposition introducing the object of a verb of fearing, and “before, in front of,” a preposition introducing a spatial location.

[26:14]  ²⁴ tn Heb “And I, behold I am in your hand.” Hand is quite commonly used for “power” or “control” in biblical contexts.

[26:15]  ²⁵ tn Heb “For in truth the Lord has sent me to you to speak in your ears all these words/things.”

[2:6]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew term occurs only here in the OT.

[2:6]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew term is found elsewhere in the OT only in Ezek 28:24.

[2:6]  ²⁸ tn Heb “of their faces.”

[3:16]  ²⁹ tc In the MT this word is understood to begin the following address (“answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar’”). However, it seems unlikely that Nebuchadnezzar’s subordinates would address the king in such a familiar way, particularly in light of the danger that they now found themselves in. The present translation implies moving the atnach from “king” to “Nebuchadnezzar.”

[3:16]  ³⁰ tn Aram “to return a word to you.”

[3:17]  ³¹ tc The ancient versions typically avoid the conditional element of v. 17.

[3:17]  ³² tn The Aramaic expression used here is very difficult to interpret. The question concerns the meaning and syntax of אִיתַי (’itay, “is” or “exist”). There are several possibilities. (1) Some interpreters take this word closely with the participle later in the verse יָכִל (yakhil, “able”), understanding the two words to form a periphrastic construction (“if our God is…able”; cf. H. Bauer and P. Leander, Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen, 365, §111b). But the separation of the two elements from one another is not an argument in favor of this understanding. (2) Other interpreters take the first part of v. 17 to mean “If it is so, then our God will deliver us” (cf. KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB). However, the normal sense of ’itay is existence; on this point see F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 45, §95. The present translation maintains the sense of existence for the verb (“If our God…exists”), even though the statement is admittedly difficult to understand in this light. The statement may be an implicit reference back to Nebuchadnezzar’s comment in v. 15, which denies the existence of a god capable of delivering from the king’s power.

[10:28]  ³³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[10:28]  ³⁴ sn Judaism had a similar exhortation in 4 Macc 13:14-15.

[10:28]  ³⁵ sn See the note on the word hell in 5:22.

[4:13]  ³⁶ tn Or “courage.”

[4:13]  ³⁷ tn Or “and found out.”

[4:13]  ³⁸ 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]  ³⁹ tn For the translation of ἰδιῶται (idiwtai) as “ordinary men” see L&N 27.26.

[20:24]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “soul.”

[20:24]  ⁴¹ tn Or “I do not consider my life worth a single word.” According to BDAG 599 s.v. λόγος 1.a.α, “In the textually uncertain pass. Ac 20:24 the text as it stands in N., οὐδενὸς λόγου (v.l. λόγον) ποιοῦμαι τὴν ψυχὴν τιμίαν, may well mean: I do not consider my life worth a single word (cp. λόγου ἄξιον [ἄξιος 1a] and our ‘worth mention’).”

[20:24]  ⁴² tn BDAG 1106 s.v. ὡς 9 describes this use as “a final particle, expressing intention/purpose, with a view to, in order to.”

[20:24]  ⁴³ tn Grk “course.” See L&N 42.26, “(a figurative extension of meaning of δρόμος ‘race’) a task or function involving continuity, serious, effort, and possibly obligation – ‘task, mission’…Ac 20:24.” On this Pauline theme see also Phil 1:19-26; Col 1:24; 2 Tim 4:6-7.

[20:24]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “to the gospel.”

[1:28]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “which is,” continuing the sentence begun in v. 27.

[1:28]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “to them.”

[1:28]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “this.” The pronoun refers back to “a sign”; thus these words have been repeated for clarity.

[1:1]  ⁴⁸ 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]  ⁴⁹ 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]  ⁵⁰ map For location see JP1 C1; JP2 C1; JP3 C1; JP4 C1.

[1:1]  ⁵¹ 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]  ⁵² tn Grk “according to the goal.”

[3:14]  ⁵³ tn Grk “prize, namely, the heavenly calling of God.”

[2:10]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “is about to throw some of you,” but the force is causative in context.

[2:10]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “tempted.”

[2:10]  ⁵⁶ tn Or “experience persecution,” “will be in distress” (see L&N 22.2).

[2:10]  ⁵⁷ tn Grk “crown of life,” with the genitive “of life” (τῆς ζωῆς, th" zwh") functioning in apposition to “crown” (στέφανον, stefanon): “the crown that consists of life.”