Job 37:16

37:16 Do you know about the balancing ¹  of the clouds,

that wondrous activity of him who is perfect in knowledge?

Luke 1:3

1:3 So ²  it seemed good to me as well, ³  because I have followed ⁴  all things carefully from the beginning, to write an orderly account ⁵  for you, most excellent Theophilus,

Acts 24:22

24:22 Then Felix, ⁶  who understood the facts ⁷  concerning the Way ⁸  more accurately, ⁹  adjourned their hearing, ¹⁰  saying, “When Lysias the commanding officer comes down, I will decide your case.” ¹¹ 

Acts 24:1

The Accusations Against Paul

24:1 After five days the high priest Ananias ¹²  came down with some elders and an attorney ¹³  named ¹⁴  Tertullus, and they ¹⁵  brought formal charges ¹⁶  against Paul to the governor.

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, ¹⁷  whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Colossians 4:12

4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a slave ¹⁸  of Christ, ¹⁹  greets you. He is always struggling in prayer on your behalf, so that you may stand mature and fully assured ²⁰  in all the will of God.

Colossians 4:2

Exhortation to Pray for the Success of Paul’s Mission

4:2 Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.

Colossians 3:16-17

3:16 Let the word of Christ ²¹  dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace ²²  in your hearts to God. 3:17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

[37:16]  ¹ tn As indicated by HALOT 618 s.v. מִפְלָשׂ, the concept of “balancing” probably refers to “floating” or “suspension” (cf. NIV’s “how the clouds hang poised” and J. E. Hartley, Job [NICOT], 481-82, n. 2).

[1:3]  ² tn The conjunction “so” is supplied here to bring out the force of the latter part of this Greek sentence, which the translation divides up because of English style. Luke, in compiling his account, is joining a tradition with good precedent.

[1:3]  ³ sn When Luke says it seemed good to me as well he is not being critical of the earlier accounts, but sees himself stepping into a tradition of reporting about Jesus to which he will add uniquely a second volume on the early church when he writes the Book of Acts.

[1:3]  ⁴ tn Grk “having followed”; the participle παρηκολουθηκότι (parhkolouqhkoti) has been translated causally.

[1:3]  ⁵ sn An orderly account does not necessarily mean that all events are recorded in the exact chronological sequence in which they occurred, but that the account produced is an orderly one. This could include, for example, thematic or topical order rather than strict chronological order.

[24:22]  ⁶ sn See the note on Antonius Felix in 23:24.

[24:22]  ⁷ tn Grk “the things.”

[24:22]  ⁸ tn That is, concerning Christianity.

[24:22]  ⁹ tn BDAG 39 s.v. ἀκριβῶς has “Comp. ἀκριβέστερον more exactly…ἀ. ἐκτίθεσθαι explain more exactly Ac 18:26, cp. 23:15, 20; also more accurately…24:22.” Felix knew more about the Christian movement than what the Jewish leaders had told him.

[24:22]  ¹⁰ tn L&N 56.18 s.v. ἀναβάλλω has “to adjourn a court proceeding until a later time – ‘to adjourn a hearing, to stop a hearing and put it off until later.’…‘then Felix, who was well informed about the Way, adjourned their hearing’ Ac 24:22.”

[24:22]  ¹¹ tn BDAG 227 s.v. διαγινώσκω 2 states, “to make a judicial decision, decide/hear (a case)…τὰ καθ᾿ ὑμᾶς decide your case Ac 24:22.”

[24:1]  ¹² sn Ananias was in office from a.d. 47-59.

[24:1]  ¹³ tn The term refers to a professional advocate (BDAG 905 s.v. ῥήτωρ).

[24:1]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “an attorney, a certain Tertullus.”

[24:1]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “who” (plural). Because in English the relative pronoun “who” could be understood to refer only to the attorney Tertullus and not to the entire group, it has been replaced with the third person plural pronoun “they.” “And” has been supplied to provide the connection to the preceding clause.

[24:1]  ¹⁶ tn BDAG 326 s.v. ἐμφανίζω 3 has “ἐ. τινὶ κατά τινος bring formal charges against someone…Ac 24:1; 25:2.”

[1:20]  ¹⁷ 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.

[4:12]  ¹⁸ tn See the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.

[4:12]  ¹⁹ tc ‡ Strong Alexandrian testimony, along with some other witnesses, suggests that ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou, “Jesus”) follows Χριστοῦ (Cristou, “Christ”; so א A B C I L 0278 33 81 365 629 1175 2464 al lat), but the evidence for the shorter reading is diverse (Ì⁴⁶ D F G Ψ 075 1739 1881 Ï it sy Hier), cutting across all major texttypes. There can be little motivation for omitting the name of Jesus; hence, the shorter reading is judged to be original. NA²⁷ has ᾿Ιησοῦ in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.

[4:12]  ²⁰ tn Or “filled.”

[3:16]  ²¹ tc Since “the word of Christ” occurs nowhere else in the NT, two predictable variants arose: “word of God” and “word of the Lord.” Even though some of the witnesses for these variants are impressive (κυρίου [kuriou, “of the Lord”] in א* I 1175 pc bo; θεοῦ [qeou, “of God”] in A C* 33 104 323 945 al), the reading Χριστοῦ (Cristou, “of Christ”) is read by an excellent cross-section of witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א² B C² D F G Ψ 075 1739 1881 Ï lat sa). On both internal and external grounds, Χριστοῦ is strongly preferred.

[3:16]  ²² tn Grk “with grace”; “all” is supplied as it is implicitly related to all the previous instructions in the verse.