Job 9:2

9:2 “Truly, ¹  I know that this is so.

But how ²  can a human ³  be just before ⁴  God? ⁵ 

Isaiah 5:9

5:9 The Lord who commands armies told me this: ⁶ 

“Many houses will certainly become desolate,

large, impressive houses will have no one living in them. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 26:15

26:15 But you should take careful note of this: If you put me to death, you will bring on yourselves and this city and those who live in it the guilt of murdering an innocent man. For the Lord has sent me to speak all this where you can hear it. That is the truth!” ⁸ 

Daniel 2:47

2:47 The king replied to Daniel, “Certainly your God is a God of gods and Lord of kings and revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery!”

Matthew 14:33

14:33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Luke 22:59

22:59 And after about an hour still another insisted, ⁹  “Certainly this man was with him, because he too is a Galilean.” ¹⁰ 

Acts 4:27

4:27 “For indeed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together in this city against ¹¹  your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, ¹² 

Acts 4:1

The Arrest and Trial of Peter and John

4:1 While Peter and John ¹³  were speaking to the people, the priests and the commander ¹⁴  of the temple guard ¹⁵  and the Sadducees ¹⁶  came up ¹⁷  to them,

Colossians 1:25

1:25 I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship ¹⁸  from God – given to me for you – in order to complete ¹⁹  the word of God,

[9:2]  ¹ tn The adverb אָמְנָם (’omnam, “in truth”) is characteristic of the Book of Job (12:2; 19:4; 34:12; 36:4). The friends make commonplace statements, general truths, and Job responds with “truly I know this is so.” Job knows as much about these themes as his friends do.

[9:2]  ² sn The interrogative is used to express what is an impossibility.

[9:2]  ³ tn The attempt to define אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh) as “weak” or “mortal” man is not compelling. Such interpretations are based on etymological links without the clear support of usage (an issue discussed by J. Barr, Comparative Philology and the Text of the Old Testament). This seems to be a poetic word for “human” (the only nonpoetic use is in 2 Chr 14:10).

[9:2]  ⁴ tn The preposition is אִם (’im, “with, before, in the presence of”). This is more specific than מִן (min) in 4:17.

[9:2]  ⁵ sn The point of Job’s rhetorical question is that man cannot be justified as against God, because God is too powerful and too clever – he controls the universe. He is discussing now the question that Eliphaz raised in 4:17. Peake observes that Job is raising the question of whether something is right because God says it is right, or that God declares it right because it is right.

[5:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “in my ears, the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].”

[5:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “great and good [houses], without a resident.”

[26:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “For in truth the Lord has sent me to you to speak in your ears all these words/things.”

[22:59]  ⁹ tn Grk “insisted, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in English and has not been translated here.

[22:59]  ¹⁰ sn According to Mark 14:70 it was Peter’s accent that gave him away as a Galilean.

[4:27]  ¹¹ sn The application of Ps 2:1-2 is that Jews and Gentiles are opposing Jesus. The surprise of the application is that Jews are now found among the enemies of God’s plan.

[4:27]  ¹² sn A wordplay on “Christ,” v. 26, which means “one who has been anointed.”

[4:1]  ¹³ tn Grk “While they”; the referents (Peter and John) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:1]  ¹⁴ tn Or “captain.”

[4:1]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “the official of the temple,” a title for the commander of the Jewish soldiers guarding the temple (thus the translation, “the commander of the temple guard”). See L&N 37.91.

[4:1]  ¹⁶ sn The Sadducees controlled the official political structures of Judaism at this time, being the majority members of the Sanhedrin. They were known as extremely strict on law and order issues (Josephus, J. W. 2.8.2 [2.119], 2.8.14 [2.164-166]; Ant. 13.5.9 [13.171-173], 13.10.6 [13.293-298], 18.1.2 [18.11], 18.1.4 [18.16-17], 20.9.1 [20.199]; Life 2 [10-11]). See also Matt 3:7; 16:1-12; 22:23-34; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-38; Acts 5:17; 23:6-8.

[4:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “approached.” This verb often denotes a sudden appearing (BDAG 418 s.v. ἐφίστημι 1).

[1:25]  ¹⁸ tn BDAG 697 s.v. οἰκονομία 1.b renders the term here as “divine office.”

[1:25]  ¹⁹ tn See BDAG 828 s.v. πληρόω 3. The idea here seems to be that the apostle wants to “complete the word of God” in that he wants to preach it to every person in the known world (cf. Rom 15:19). See P. T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (WBC), 82.