Isaiah 65:16

65:16 Whoever pronounces a blessing in the earth ¹ 

will do so in the name of the faithful God; ² 

whoever makes an oath in the earth

will do so in the name of the faithful God. ³ 

For past problems will be forgotten;

I will no longer think about them. ⁴ 

Isaiah 65:2

65:2 I spread out my hands all day long

to my rebellious people,

who lived in a way that is morally unacceptable,

and who did what they desired. ⁵ 

Colossians 1:20

1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, ⁶  whether things on earth or things in heaven.

[65:16]  ¹ tn Or “in the land” (NIV, NCV, NRSV). The same phrase occurs again later in this verse, with the same options.

[65:16]  ² tn Heb “will pronounce a blessing by the God of truth.”

[65:16]  ³ tn Heb “will take an oath by the God of truth.”

[65:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “for the former distresses will be forgotten, and they will be hidden from my eyes.”

[65:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “who walked [in] the way that is not good, after their thoughts.”

[1:20]  ⁶ tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì⁴⁶ א A C D¹ Ψ 048^vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.