Job 36:15

36:15 He delivers the afflicted by ¹  their ²  afflictions,

he reveals himself to them ³  by their suffering.

Psalms 18:48

18:48 He delivers me ⁴  from my enemies;

you snatch me away ⁵  from those who attack me; ⁶ 

you rescue me from violent men.

Psalms 18:50

18:50 He ⁷  gives his chosen king magnificent victories; ⁸ 

he is faithful ⁹  to his chosen ruler, ¹⁰ 

to David and his descendants ¹¹  forever.” ¹² 

Psalms 32:7

32:7 You are my hiding place;

you protect me from distress.

You surround me with shouts of joy from those celebrating deliverance. ¹³  (Selah)

Psalms 35:17

35:17 O Lord, how long are you going to just stand there and watch this? ¹⁴ 

Rescue ¹⁵  me ¹⁶  from their destructive attacks;

guard my life ¹⁷  from the young lions!

Psalms 97:10

97:10 You who love the Lord, hate evil!

He protects ¹⁸  the lives of his faithful followers;

he delivers them from the power ¹⁹  of the wicked.

Luke 1:74-75

1:74 that we, being rescued from the hand of our ²⁰  enemies,

may serve him without fear, ²¹ 

1:75 in holiness and righteousness ²²  before him for as long as we live. ²³ 

Luke 1:2

1:2 like the accounts ²⁴  passed on ²⁵  to us by those who were eyewitnesses and servants of the word ²⁶  from the beginning. ²⁷ 

Colossians 1:8-10

1:8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ²⁸  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ²⁹  to fill ³⁰  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 1:10 so that you may live ³¹  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ³²  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ³³  brothers and sisters ³⁴  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ³⁵  from God our Father! ³⁶ 

Colossians 4:17-18

4:17 And tell Archippus, “See to it that you complete the ministry you received in the Lord.”

4:18 I, Paul, write this greeting by my own hand. ³⁷  Remember my chains. ³⁸  Grace be with you. ³⁹ 

[36:15]  ¹ tn The preposition בּ (bet) in these two lines is not location but instrument, not “in” but “by means of.” The affliction and the oppression serve as a warning for sin, and therefore a means of salvation.

[36:15]  ² tn Heb “his.”

[36:15]  ³ tn Heb “he uncovers their ear.”

[18:48]  ⁴ tn Heb “[the one who] delivers me.” 2 Sam 22:49 reads “and [the one who] brings me out.”

[18:48]  ⁵ tn Heb “lifts me up.” In light of the preceding and following references to deliverance, the verb רום probably here refers to being rescued from danger (see Ps 9:13). However, it could mean “exalt, elevate” here, indicating that the Lord has given the psalmist victory over his enemies and forced them to acknowledge the psalmist’s superiority (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[18:48]  ⁶ tn Heb “from those who rise against me.”

[18:50]  ⁷ tn Or “the one who.”

[18:50]  ⁸ tn Heb “magnifies the victories of his king.” “His king” refers to the psalmist, the Davidic king whom God has chosen to rule Israel.

[18:50]  ⁹ tn Heb “[the one who] does loyalty.”

[18:50]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “his anointed [one],” i.e., the psalmist/Davidic king. See Ps 2:2.

[18:50]  ¹¹ tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[18:50]  ¹² sn If David is the author of the psalm (see the superscription), then he here anticipates that God will continue to demonstrate loyalty to his descendants who succeed him. If the author is a later Davidic king, then he views the divine favor he has experienced as the outworking of God’s faithful promises to David his ancestor.

[32:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “[with] shouts of joy of deliverance you surround me.”

[35:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “O Lord, how long will you see?”

[35:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “bring back, restore.”

[35:17]  ¹⁶ tn Or “my life.”

[35:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “my only one.” The psalmist may mean that his life is precious, or that he feels isolated and alone (see Ps 22:20). The verb “guard” is supplied in the translation, because the verb “rescue” is understood by ellipsis (see the previous line).

[97:10]  ¹⁸ tn The participle may be verbal, though it might also be understood as substantival and appositional to “the Lord.” In this case one could translate, “Hate evil, you who love the Lord, the one who protects the lives…and delivers them.”

[97:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “hand.”

[1:74]  ²⁰ tc Many important early mss (א B L W [0130] Ë^1,13 565 892 pc) lack “our,” while most (A C D [K] Θ Ψ 0177 33 Ï pc) supply it. Although the addition is most likely not authentic, “our” has been included in the translation due to English stylistic requirements.

[1:74]  ²¹ tn This phrase in Greek is actually thrown forward to the front of the verse to give it emphasis.

[1:75]  ²² sn The phrases that we…might serve him…in holiness and righteousness from Luke 1:74-75 well summarize a basic goal for a believer in the eyes of Luke. Salvation frees us up to serve God without fear through a life full of ethical integrity.

[1:75]  ²³ tn Grk “all our days.”

[1:2]  ²⁴ tn Grk “even as”; this compares the recorded tradition of 1:1 with the original eyewitness tradition of 1:2.

[1:2]  ²⁵ tn Or “delivered.”

[1:2]  ²⁶ sn The phrase eyewitnesses and servants of the word refers to a single group of people who faithfully passed on the accounts about Jesus. The language about delivery (passed on) points to accounts faithfully passed on to the early church.

[1:2]  ²⁷ tn Grk “like the accounts those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word passed on to us.” The location of “in the beginning” in the Greek shows that the tradition is rooted in those who were with Jesus from the start.

[1:9]  ²⁸ tn Or “heard about it”; Grk “heard.” There is no direct object stated in the Greek (direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context). A direct object is expected by an English reader, however, so most translations supply one. Here, however, it is not entirely clear what the author “heard”: a number of translations supply “it” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV; NAB “this”), but this could refer back either to (1) “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8, or (2) “your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints” (v. 4). In light of this uncertainty, other translations supply “about you” (TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). This is preferred by the present translation since, while it does not resolve the ambiguity entirely, it does make it less easy for the English reader to limit the reference only to “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8.

[1:9]  ²⁹ tn The term “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but the following reference to “the knowledge of his will” makes it clear that “God” is in view as the object of the “praying and asking,” and should therefore be included in the English translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ³⁰ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as substantival, indicating the content of the prayer and asking. The idea of purpose may also be present in this clause.

[1:10]  ³¹ 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]  ³² 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]  ³³ 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]  ³⁴ 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]  ³⁵ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ³⁶ 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.

[4:18]  ³⁷ tn Grk “the greeting by my hand, of Paul.”

[4:18]  ³⁸ tn Or “my imprisonment.”

[4:18]  ³⁹ tc Most witnesses, including a few important ones (א² D Ψ 075 0278 Ï lat sy), conclude this letter with ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”). Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, the external evidence for the omission is quite compelling (א* A B C F G 048 6 33 81 1739* 1881 sa). The strongly preferred reading is therefore the omission of ἀμήν.