Job 22:21

22:21 “Reconcile yourself ¹  with God, ² 

and be at peace ³  with him;

in this way your prosperity will be good.

Psalms 32:6

32:6 For this reason every one of your faithful followers ⁴  should pray to you

while there is a window of opportunity. ⁵ 

Certainly ⁶  when the surging water ⁷  rises,

it will not reach them. ⁸ 

Isaiah 55:6-7

55:6 Seek the Lord while he makes himself available; ⁹ 

call to him while he is nearby!

55:7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle ¹⁰ 

and sinful people their plans. ¹¹ 

They should return ¹²  to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, ¹³ 

and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. ¹⁴ 

Luke 13:24-25

13:24 “Exert every effort ¹⁵  to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 13:25 Once ¹⁶  the head of the house ¹⁷  gets up ¹⁸  and shuts the door, then you will stand outside and start to knock on the door and beg him, ‘Lord, ¹⁹  let us in!’ ²⁰  But he will answer you, ²¹  ‘I don’t know where you come from.’ ²² 

Luke 13:2

13:2 He ²³  answered them, “Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners ²⁴  than all the other Galileans, because they suffered these things?

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ²⁵  brothers and sisters ²⁶  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ²⁷  from God our Father! ²⁸ 

Hebrews 3:7

Exposition of Psalm 95: Hearing God’s Word in Faith

3:7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, ²⁹ 

“Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks! ³⁰ 

Hebrews 3:13

3:13 But exhort one another each day, as long as it is called “Today,” that none of you may become hardened by sin’s deception.

Hebrews 12:17

12:17 For you know that ³¹  later when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no opportunity for repentance, although he sought the blessing ³²  with tears.

[22:21]  ¹ tn The verb סָכַן (sakhan) meant “to be useful; to be profitable” in v. 2. Now, in the Hiphil it means “to be accustomed to” or “to have experience with.” Joined by the preposition “with” it means “to be reconciled with him.” W. B. Bishai cites Arabic and Ugaritic words to support a meaning “acquiesce” (“Notes on hskn in Job 22:21,” JNES 20 [1961]: 258-59).

[22:21]  ² tn Heb “him”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:21]  ³ tn The two imperatives in this verse imply a relationship of succession and not consequence.

[32:6]  ⁴ tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 18:25; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).

[32:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “at a time of finding.” This may mean, “while there is time to ‘find’ [the Lord]” and seek his forgiveness (cf. NIV). Some emend the text by combining מְצֹא (mÿtso’, “finding”) with the following term רַק (raq, “only, surely”) and read either ר[וֹ]מָצ (matsor, “distress”; see Ps 31:22) or ק[וֹ]מָצ (matsoq, “hardship”; see Ps 119:143). In this case, one may translate “in a time of distress/hardship” (cf. NEB, NRSV).

[32:6]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term רַק (raq) occasionally has an asseverative force.

[32:6]  ⁷ sn The surging water is here a metaphor for trouble that endangers one’s life.

[32:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “him.” The translation uses the plural “them” to agree with the plural “every one of your faithful followers” in the first line of v. 6.

[55:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “while he allows himself to be found.” The Niphal form has a tolerative force here.

[55:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Let the wicked one abandon his way.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and the man of evil his thoughts.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ¹² tn Heb “let him return.” The singular is collective, meaning “let them.”

[55:7]  ¹³ tn The imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive after the jussive indicates purpose/result.

[55:7]  ¹⁴ 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.

[13:24]  ¹⁵ tn Or “Make every effort” (L&N 68.74; cf. NIV); “Do your best” (TEV); “Work hard” (NLT); Grk “Struggle.” The idea is to exert one’s maximum effort (cf. BDAG 17 s.v. ἀγωνίζομαι 2.b, “strain every nerve to enter”) because of the supreme importance of attaining entry into the kingdom of God.

[13:25]  ¹⁶ tn The syntactical relationship between vv. 24-25 is disputed. The question turns on whether v. 25 is connected to v. 24 or not. A lack of a clear connective makes an independent idea more likely. However, one must then determine what the beginning of the sentence connects to. Though it makes for slightly awkward English, the translation has opted to connect it to “he will answer” so that this functions, in effect, as an apodosis. One could end the sentence after “us” and begin a new sentence with “He will answer” to make simpler sentences, although the connection between the two sentences is thereby less clear. The point of the passage, however, is clear. Once the door is shut, because one failed to come in through the narrow way, it is closed permanently. The moral: Do not be too late in deciding to respond.

[13:25]  ¹⁷ tn Or “the master of the household.”

[13:25]  ¹⁸ tn Or “rises,” or “stands up.”

[13:25]  ¹⁹ tn Or “Sir.”

[13:25]  ²⁰ tn Grk “Open to us.”

[13:25]  ²¹ tn Grk “and answering, he will say to you.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “he will answer you.”

[13:25]  ²² sn For the imagery behind the statement “I do not know where you come from,” see Ps 138:6; Isa 63:16; Jer 1:5; Hos 5:3.

[13:2]  ²³ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[13:2]  ²⁴ sn Jesus did not want his hearers to think that tragedy was necessarily a judgment on these people because they were worse sinners.

[1:2]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ²⁸ 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.

[3:7]  ²⁹ sn The following quotation is from Ps 95:7b-11.

[3:7]  ³⁰ tn Grk “today if you hear his voice.”

[12:17]  ³¹ tn Or a command: “for understand that.”

[12:17]  ³² tn Grk “it,” referring either to the repentance or the blessing. But the account in Gen 27:34-41 (which the author appeals to here) makes it clear that the blessing is what Esau sought. Thus in the translation the referent (the blessing) is specified for clarity.