James 4:11

4:11 Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters. ¹  He who speaks against a fellow believer ²  or judges a fellow believer speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but its judge. ³ 

Leviticus 19:18

19:18 You must not take vengeance or bear a grudge ⁴  against the children of your people, but you must love your neighbor as yourself. ⁵  I am the Lord.

Psalms 59:15

59:15 They wander around looking for something to eat;

they refuse to sleep until they are full. ⁶ 

Mark 6:19

6:19 So Herodias nursed a grudge against him and wanted to kill him. But ⁷  she could not

Mark 6:2

6:2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue. ⁸  Many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did he get these ideas? ⁹  And what is this wisdom that has been given to him? What are these miracles that are done through his hands?

Colossians 1:7

1:7 You learned the gospel ¹⁰  from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave ¹¹  – a ¹²  faithful minister of Christ on our ¹³  behalf –

Galatians 5:14

5:14 For the whole law can be summed up in a single commandment, ¹⁴  namely, “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁵ 

Galatians 5:26

5:26 Let us not become conceited, ¹⁶  provoking ¹⁷  one another, being jealous ¹⁸  of one another.

Galatians 5:1

Freedom of the Believer

5:1 For freedom ¹⁹  Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke ²⁰  of slavery.

Galatians 4:9

4:9 But now that you have come to know God (or rather to be known by God), how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless ²¹  basic forces? ²²  Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again? ²³ 

[4:11]  ¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[4:11]  ² tn See note on the word “believer” in 1:9.

[4:11]  ³ tn Grk “a judge.”

[19:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “and you shall not retain [anger?].” This line seems to refer to the retaining or maintaining of some vengeful feelings toward someone. Compare the combination of the same terms for taking vengeance and maintaining wrath against enemies in Nahum 1:2 (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 305).

[19:18]  ⁵ sn Some scholars make a distinction between the verb אָהַב (’ahav, “to love”) with the direct object and the more unusual construction with the preposition לְ (lamed) as it is here and in Lev 19:34 and 2 Chr 19:2 only. If there is a distinction, the construction here probably calls for direct and helpful action toward one’s neighbor (see the discussion in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 305, and esp. 317-18). Such love stands in contrast to taking vengeance or bearing a grudge against someone and, in NT terms, amounts to fulfilling the so-called “golden rule” (Matt 7:12).

[59:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “if they are not full, they stay through the night.”

[6:19]  ⁷ tn Grk “and.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[6:2]  ⁸ sn See the note on synagogue in 1:21. Jesus undoubtedly took the opportunity on this occasion to speak about his person and mission, and the relation of both to OT fulfillment.

[6:2]  ⁹ tn Or “this teaching”; Grk “these things.” The response of the people centers upon the content of Jesus’ teaching, so the phrase “these ideas” was supplied in the text to make this clear.

[1:7]  ¹⁰ tn Or “learned it.” The Greek text simply has “you learned” without the reference to “the gospel,” but “the gospel” is supplied to clarify the sense of the clause. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[1:7]  ¹¹ tn The Greek word translated “fellow slave” is σύνδουλος (sundoulo"); the σύν- prefix here denotes association. Though δοῦλος 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.

[1:7]  ¹² tn The Greek text has “who (ὅς, Jos) is a faithful minister.” The above translation conveys the antecedent of the relative pronoun quite well and avoids the redundancy with the following substantival participle of v. 8, namely, “who told” (ὁ δηλώσας, Jo dhlwsa").

[1:7]  ¹³ tc ‡ Judging by the superior witnesses for the first person pronoun ἡμῶν (Jhmwn, “us”; Ì⁴⁶ א* A B D* F G 326* 1505 al) vs. the second person pronoun ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “you”; found in א² C D¹ Ψ 075 33 1739 1881 Ï lat sy co), ἡμῶν should be regarded as original. Although it is possible that ἡμῶν was an early alteration of ὑμῶν (either unintentionally, as dittography, since it comes seventeen letters after the previous ἡμῶν; or intentionally, to conform to the surrounding first person pronouns), this supposition is difficult to maintain in light of the varied and valuable witnesses for this reading. Further, the second person is both embedded in the verb ἐμάθετε (emaqete) and is explicit in v. 8 (ὑμῶν). Hence, the motivation to change to the first person pronoun is counterbalanced by such evidence. The second person pronoun may have been introduced unintentionally via homoioarcton with the ὑπέρ (Juper) that immediately precedes it. As well, the second person reading is somewhat harder for it seems to address Epaphras’ role only in relation to Paul and his colleagues, rather than in relation to the Colossians. Nevertheless, the decision must be based ultimately on external evidence (because the internal evidence can be variously interpreted), and this strongly supports ἡμῶν.

[5:14]  ¹⁴ tn Or “can be fulfilled in one commandment.”

[5:14]  ¹⁵ sn A quotation from Lev 19:18.

[5:26]  ¹⁶ tn Or “falsely proud.”

[5:26]  ¹⁷ tn Or “irritating.” BDAG 871 s.v. προκαλέω has “provoke, challenge τινά someone.”

[5:26]  ¹⁸ tn Or “another, envying one another.”

[5:1]  ¹⁹ tn Translating the dative as “For freedom” shows the purpose for Christ setting us free; however, it is also possible to take the phrase in the sense of means or instrument (“with [or by] freedom”), referring to the freedom mentioned in 4:31 and implied throughout the letter.

[5:1]  ²⁰ sn Here the yoke figuratively represents the burdensome nature of slavery.

[4:9]  ²¹ tn Or “useless.” See L&N 65.16.

[4:9]  ²² tn See the note on the phrase “basic forces” in 4:3.

[4:9]  ²³ tn Grk “basic forces, to which you want to be enslaved…” Verse 9 is a single sentence in the Greek text, but has been divided into two in the translation because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence.