Job 34:32

34:32 Teach me what I cannot see. ¹ 

If I have done evil, I will do so no more.’

Psalms 94:12

94:12 How blessed is the one ²  whom you instruct, O Lord,

the one whom you teach from your law,

Isaiah 61:1-3

The Lord Will Rejuvenate His People

61:1 The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me,

because the Lord has chosen ³  me. ⁴ 

He has commissioned ⁵  me to encourage ⁶  the poor,

to help ⁷  the brokenhearted,

to decree the release of captives,

and the freeing of prisoners,

61:2 to announce the year when the Lord will show his favor,

the day when our God will seek vengeance, ⁸ 

to console all who mourn,

61:3 to strengthen those who mourn in Zion,

by giving them a turban, instead of ashes,

oil symbolizing joy, ⁹  instead of mourning,

a garment symbolizing praise, ¹⁰  instead of discouragement. ¹¹ 

They will be called oaks of righteousness, ¹² 

trees planted by the Lord to reveal his splendor. ¹³ 

Acts 8:30

8:30 So Philip ran up ¹⁴  to it ¹⁵  and heard the man ¹⁶  reading Isaiah the prophet. He ¹⁷  asked him, ¹⁸  “Do you understand what you’re reading?”

Acts 8:1

8:1 And Saul agreed completely with killing ¹⁹  him.

Saul Begins to Persecute the Church

Now on that day a great ²⁰  persecution began ²¹  against the church in Jerusalem, ²²  and all ²³  except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions ²⁴  of Judea and Samaria.

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²⁵  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Hebrews 12:5-12

12:5 And have you forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as sons?

“My son, do not scorn ²⁶  the Lord’s discipline

or give up when he corrects ²⁷  you.

12:6 “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son he accepts.” ²⁸ 

12:7 Endure your suffering ²⁹  as discipline; ³⁰  God is treating you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? 12:8 But if you do not experience discipline, ³¹  something all sons ³²  have shared in, then you are illegitimate and are not sons. 12:9 Besides, we have experienced discipline from ³³  our earthly fathers ³⁴  and we respected them; shall we not submit ourselves all the more to the Father of spirits and receive life? ³⁵  12:10 For they disciplined us for a little while as seemed good to them, but he does so for our benefit, that we may share his holiness. 12:11 Now all discipline seems painful at the time, not joyful. ³⁶  But later it produces the fruit of peace and righteousness ³⁷  for those trained by it. 12:12 Therefore, strengthen ³⁸  your listless hands and your weak knees, ³⁹ 

[34:32]  ¹ tn Heb “what I do not see,” more specifically, “apart from [that which] I see.”

[94:12]  ² tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man.” Hebrew wisdom literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender and age specific “man” with the more neutral “one.” The generic masculine pronoun is used in v. 2.

[61:1]  ³ tn Heb “anointed,” i.e., designated to carry out an assigned task.

[61:1]  ⁴ sn The speaker is not identified, but he is distinct from the Lord and from Zion’s suffering people. He possesses the divine spirit, is God’s spokesman, and is sent to release prisoners from bondage. The evidence suggests he is the Lord’s special servant, described earlier in the servant songs (see 42:1-4, 7; 49:2, 9; 50:4; see also 51:16).

[61:1]  ⁵ tn Or “sent” (NAB); NCV “has appointed me.”

[61:1]  ⁶ tn Or “proclaim good news to.”

[61:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “to bind up [the wounds of].”

[61:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “to announce the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of our God’s vengeance.

[61:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “oil of joy” (KJV, ASV); NASB, NIV, NRSV “the oil of gladness.”

[61:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “garment of praise.”

[61:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a faint spirit” (so NRSV); KJV, ASV “the spirit of heaviness”; NASB “a spirit of fainting.”

[61:3]  ¹² tn Rather than referring to the character of the people, צֶדֶק (tsedeq) may carry the nuance “vindication” here, suggesting that God’s restored people are a testimony to his justice. See v. 2, which alludes to the fact that God will take vengeance against the enemies of his people. Cf. NAB “oaks of justice.”

[61:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “a planting of the Lord to reveal splendor.”

[8:30]  ¹⁴ tn The participle προσδραμών (prosdramwn) is regarded as attendant circumstance.

[8:30]  ¹⁵ tn The words “to it” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

[8:30]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “heard him”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:30]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “and he.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.

[8:30]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “he said”; but since what follows is a question, it is better English style to translate the introduction to the question “he asked him.”

[8:1]  ¹⁹ tn The term ἀναίρεσις (anairesi") can refer to murder (BDAG 64 s.v.; 2 Macc 5:13; Josephus, Ant. 5.2.12 [5.165]).

[8:1]  ²⁰ tn Or “severe.”

[8:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “Now there happened on that day a great persecution.” It is less awkward to say in English “Now on that day a great persecution began.”

[8:1]  ²² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[8:1]  ²³ sn All. Given that the Jerusalem church is still active after this and that the Hellenists are the focus of Acts 6-8, it is possible to argue that only the Hellenistic Christians were forced to scatter.

[8:1]  ²⁴ tn Or “countryside.”

[1:1]  ²⁵ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[12:5]  ²⁶ tn Or “disregard,” “think little of.”

[12:5]  ²⁷ tn Or “reproves,” “rebukes.” The Greek verb ἐλέγχω (elencw) implies exposing someone’s sin in order to bring correction.

[12:6]  ²⁸ sn A quotation from Prov 3:11-12.

[12:7]  ²⁹ tn Grk “endure,” with the object (“your suffering”) understood from the context.

[12:7]  ³⁰ tn Or “in order to become disciplined.”

[12:8]  ³¹ tn Grk “you are without discipline.”

[12:8]  ³² tn Grk “all”; “sons” is implied by the context.

[12:9]  ³³ tn Grk “we had our earthly fathers as discipliners.”

[12:9]  ³⁴ tn Grk “the fathers of our flesh.” In Hebrews, “flesh” is a characteristic way of speaking about outward, physical, earthly life (cf. Heb 5:7; 9:10, 13), as opposed to the inward or spiritual dimensions of life.

[12:9]  ³⁵ tn Grk “and live.”

[12:11]  ³⁶ tn Grk “all discipline at the time does not seem to be of joy, but of sorrow.”

[12:11]  ³⁷ tn Grk “the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

[12:12]  ³⁸ tn Or “straighten.”

[12:12]  ³⁹ sn A quotation from Isa 35:3. Strengthen your listless hands and your weak knees refers to the readers’ need for renewed resolve and fresh strength in their struggles (cf. Heb 10:36-39; 12:1-3).