Isaiah 55:6-7

55:6 Seek the Lord while he makes himself available; ¹ 

call to him while he is nearby!

55:7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle ² 

and sinful people their plans. ³ 

They should return ⁴  to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, ⁵ 

and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. ⁶ 

Ezekiel 18:30-32

18:30 “Therefore I will judge each person according to his conduct, ⁷  O house of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord. Repent ⁸  and turn from all your wickedness; then it will not be an obstacle leading to iniquity. ⁹  18:31 Throw away all your sins you have committed and fashion yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! ¹⁰  Why should you die, O house of Israel? 18:32 For I take no delight in the death of anyone, ¹¹  declares the sovereign Lord. Repent and live!

Zechariah 12:10

12:10 “I will pour out on the kingship ¹²  of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, ¹³  the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn. ¹⁴ 

Matthew 3:2

3:2 “Repent, ¹⁵  for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

Matthew 4:17

4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach this message: ¹⁶  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

Matthew 21:29

21:29 The boy answered, ¹⁷  ‘I will not.’ But later he had a change of heart ¹⁸  and went.

Matthew 21:32

21:32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe. Although ¹⁹  you saw this, you did not later change your minds ²⁰  and believe him.

Mark 6:12

6:12 So ²¹  they went out and preached that all should repent.

Acts 2:38

2:38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each one of you be baptized ²²  in the name of Jesus Christ ²³  for ²⁴  the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ²⁵ 

Acts 3:19

3:19 Therefore repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped out,

Acts 11:18

11:18 When they heard this, ²⁶  they ceased their objections ²⁷  and praised ²⁸  God, saying, “So then, God has granted the repentance ²⁹  that leads to life even to the Gentiles.” ³⁰ 

Acts 17:30

17:30 Therefore, although God has overlooked ³¹  such times of ignorance, ³²  he now commands all people ³³  everywhere to repent, ³⁴ 

Acts 20:21

20:21 testifying ³⁵  to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus. ³⁶ 

Acts 26:20

26:20 but I declared to those in Damascus first, and then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, ³⁷  and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, ³⁸  performing deeds consistent with ³⁹  repentance.

Acts 26:2

26:2 “Regarding all the things I have been accused of by the Jews, King Agrippa, ⁴⁰  I consider myself fortunate that I am about to make my defense before you today,

Colossians 1:10

1:10 so that you may live ⁴¹  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ⁴²  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ⁴³  brothers and sisters ⁴⁴  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ⁴⁵  from God our Father! ⁴⁶ 

Colossians 2:1

2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, ⁴⁷  and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face. ⁴⁸ 

Colossians 2:1

2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, ⁴⁹  and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face. ⁵⁰ 

[55:6]  ¹ tn Heb “while he allows himself to be found.” The Niphal form has a tolerative force here.

[55:7]  ² tn Heb “Let the wicked one abandon his way.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ³ tn Heb “and the man of evil his thoughts.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “let him return.” The singular is collective, meaning “let them.”

[55:7]  ⁵ tn The imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive after the jussive indicates purpose/result.

[55:7]  ⁶ sn The appeal and promise of vv. 6-7 echoes the language of Deut 4:25-31; 30:1-10; and 1 Kgs 8:46-53, all of which anticipate the exile and speak of the prerequisites for restoration.

[18:30]  ⁷ tn Heb “ways.”

[18:30]  ⁸ tn The verbs and persons in this verse are plural whereas the individual has been the subject of the chapter.

[18:30]  ⁹ tn Or “leading to punishment.”

[18:31]  ¹⁰ sn In Ezek 11:19, 36:26 the new heart and new spirit are promised as future blessings.

[18:32]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the death of the one dying.”

[12:10]  ¹² tn Or “dynasty”; Heb “house.”

[12:10]  ¹³ tc Because of the difficulty of the concept of the mortal piercing of God, the subject of this clause, and the shift of pronoun from “me” to “him” in the next, many mss read אַלֵי אֵת אֲשֶׁר (’ale ’et ’asher, “to the one whom,” a reading followed by NAB, NRSV) rather than the MT’s אֵלַי אֵת אֲשֶׁר (’ela ’et ’asher, “to me whom”). The reasons for such alternatives, however, are clear – they are motivated by scribes who found such statements theologically objectionable – and they should be rejected in favor of the more difficult reading (lectio difficilior) of the MT.

[12:10]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew term בְּכוֹר (bÿkhor, “firstborn”), translated usually in the LXX by πρωτότοκος (prwtotokos), has unmistakable messianic overtones as the use of the Greek term in the NT to describe Jesus makes clear (cf. Col 1:15, 18). Thus, the idea of God being pierced sets the stage for the fatal wounding of Jesus, the Messiah and the Son of God (cf. John 19:37; Rev 1:7). Note that some English translations supply “son” from the context (e.g., NIV, TEV, NLT).

[3:2]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “and saying, ‘Repent.’” The participle λέγων (legwn) at the beginning of v. 2 is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[4:17]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “and to say.”

[21:29]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “And answering, he said.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation. Here the referent (“the boy”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:29]  ¹⁸ tn The Greek text reads here μεταμέλομαι (metamelomai): “to change one’s mind about something, with the probable implication of regret” (L&N 31.59); cf. also BDAG 639 s.v. The idea in this context involves more than just a change of mind, for the son regrets his initial response. The same verb is used in v. 32.

[21:32]  ¹⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[21:32]  ²⁰ sn The word translated change your minds is the same verb used in v. 29 (there translated had a change of heart). Jesus is making an obvious comparison here, in which the religious leaders are viewed as the disobedient son.

[6:12]  ²¹ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.

[2:38]  ²² tn The verb is a third person imperative, but the common translation “let each of you be baptized” obscures the imperative force in English, since it sounds more like a permissive (“each of you may be baptized”) to the average English reader.

[2:38]  ²³ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[2:38]  ²⁴ tn There is debate over the meaning of εἰς in the prepositional phrase εἰς ἄφεσιν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ὑμῶν (eis afesin twn Jamartiwn Jumwn, “for/because of/with reference to the forgiveness of your sins”). Although a causal sense has been argued, it is difficult to maintain here. ExSyn 369-71 discusses at least four other ways of dealing with the passage: (1) The baptism referred to here is physical only, and εἰς has the meaning of “for” or “unto.” Such a view suggests that salvation is based on works – an idea that runs counter to the theology of Acts, namely: (a) repentance often precedes baptism (cf. Acts 3:19; 26:20), and (b) salvation is entirely a gift of God, not procured via water baptism (Acts 10:43 [cf. v. 47]; 13:38-39, 48; 15:11; 16:30-31; 20:21; 26:18); (2) The baptism referred to here is spiritual only. Although such a view fits well with the theology of Acts, it does not fit well with the obvious meaning of “baptism” in Acts – especially in this text (cf. 2:41); (3) The text should be repunctuated in light of the shift from second person plural to third person singular back to second person plural again. The idea then would be, “Repent for/with reference to your sins, and let each one of you be baptized…” Such a view is an acceptable way of handling εἰς, but its subtlety and awkwardness count against it; (4) Finally, it is possible that to a first-century Jewish audience (as well as to Peter), the idea of baptism might incorporate both the spiritual reality and the physical symbol. That Peter connects both closely in his thinking is clear from other passages such as Acts 10:47 and 11:15-16. If this interpretation is correct, then Acts 2:38 is saying very little about the specific theological relationship between the symbol and the reality, only that historically they were viewed together. One must look in other places for a theological analysis. For further discussion see R. N. Longenecker, “Acts,” EBC 9:283-85; B. Witherington, Acts, 154-55; F. F. Bruce, The Acts of the Apostles: The Greek Text with Introduction and Commentary, 129-30; BDAG 290 s.v. εἰς 4.f.

[2:38]  ²⁵ tn Here the genitive τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος (tou Jagiou pneumato") is a genitive of apposition; the gift consists of the Holy Spirit.

[11:18]  ²⁶ tn Grk “these things.”

[11:18]  ²⁷ tn Or “became silent,” but this would create an apparent contradiction with the subsequent action of praising God. The point, in context, is that they ceased objecting to what Peter had done.

[11:18]  ²⁸ tn Or “glorified.”

[11:18]  ²⁹ sn Here the summary phrase for responding to the gospel is the repentance that leads to life. Note how the presence of life is tied to the presence of the Spirit (cf. John 4:7-42; 7:37-39).

[11:18]  ³⁰ sn In the Greek text the phrase even to the Gentiles is in an emphatic position.

[17:30]  ³¹ tn Or “has deliberately paid no attention to.”

[17:30]  ³² tn Or “times when people did not know.”

[17:30]  ³³ tn Here ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") has been translated as a generic noun (“people”).

[17:30]  ³⁴ sn He now commands all people everywhere to repent. God was now asking all mankind to turn to him. No nation or race was excluded.

[20:21]  ³⁵ tn BDAG 233 s.v. διαμαρτύρομαι 1 has “testify of, bear witness to (orig. under oath)…of repentance to Judeans and Hellenes Ac 20:21.”

[20:21]  ³⁶ tc Several mss, including some of the more important ones (Ì⁷⁴ א Α C [D] E 33 36 323 945 1175 1241 1505 1739 pm and a number of versions), read Χριστόν (Criston, “Christ”) at the end of this verse. This word is lacking in B H L P Ψ 614 pm. Although the inclusion is supported by many earlier and better mss, internal evidence is on the side of the omission: In Acts, both “Lord Jesus” and “Lord Jesus Christ” occur, though between 16:31 and the end of the book “Lord Jesus Christ” appears only in 28:31, perhaps as a kind of climactic assertion. Thus, the shorter reading is to be preferred.

[26:20]  ³⁷ tn BDAG 1093-94 s.v. χώρα 2.b states, “of the provincial name (1 Macc 8:3) ἡ χώρα τῆς ᾿Ιουδαίας Ac 26:20.”

[26:20]  ³⁸ sn That they should repent and turn to God. This is the shortest summary of Paul’s message that he preached.

[26:20]  ³⁹ tn BDAG 93 s.v. ἄξιος 1.b, “καρποὶ ἄ. τῆς μετανοίας fruits in keeping with your repentance…Lk 3:8; Mt 3:8. For this ἄ. τῆς μετανοίας ἔργα Ac 26:20.” Note how Paul preached the gospel offer and the issue of response together, side by side.

[26:2]  ⁴⁰ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

[1:10]  ⁴¹ 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]  ⁴² 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.”

[1:2]  ⁴³ 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]  ⁴⁴ 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]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ⁴⁶ 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.

[2:1]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “I want you to know how hard I am working for you…”

[2:1]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.”

[2:1]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “I want you to know how hard I am working for you…”

[2:1]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.”