Job 9:31

9:31 then you plunge me into a slimy pit ¹ 

and my own clothes abhor me.

Job 40:3-4

40:3 Then Job answered the Lord:

40:4 “Indeed, I am completely unworthy ²  – how could I reply to you?

I put ³  my hand over my mouth to silence myself. ⁴ 

Ezra 9:6

9:6 I prayed, ⁵ 

“O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face to you, my God! For our iniquities have climbed higher than our heads, and our guilt extends to the heavens.

Psalms 51:17

51:17 The sacrifices God desires are a humble spirit ⁶  –

O God, a humble and repentant heart ⁷  you will not reject. ⁸ 

Isaiah 5:5

5:5 Now I will inform you

what I am about to do to my vineyard:

I will remove its hedge and turn it into pasture, ⁹ 

I will break its wall and allow animals to graze there. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 31:19

31:19 For after we turned away from you we repented.

After we came to our senses ¹¹  we beat our breasts in sorrow. ¹² 

We are ashamed and humiliated

because of the disgraceful things we did previously.’ ¹³ 

Ezekiel 16:63

16:63 Then you will remember, be ashamed, and remain silent ¹⁴  when I make atonement for all you have done, ¹⁵  declares the sovereign Lord.’”

Ezekiel 20:43

20:43 And there you will remember your conduct ¹⁶  and all your deeds by which you defiled yourselves. You will despise yourselves ¹⁷  because of all the evil deeds you have done.

Ezekiel 36:31

36:31 Then you will remember your evil behavior ¹⁸  and your deeds which were not good; you will loathe yourselves on account of your sins and your abominable deeds.

Luke 15:18-19

15:18 I will get up and go to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned ¹⁹  against heaven ²⁰  and against ²¹  you. 15:19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me ²²  like one of your hired workers.”’

Luke 15:1

The Parable of the Lost Sheep and Coin

15:1 Now all the tax collectors ²³  and sinners were coming ²⁴  to hear him.

Colossians 1:8-9

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, ²⁵  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ²⁶  to fill ²⁷  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²⁸  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 1:13-16

1:13 He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, ²⁹  1:14 in whom we have redemption, ³⁰  the forgiveness of sins.

The Supremacy of Christ

1:15 ³¹ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn ³²  over all creation, ³³ 

1:16 for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, ³⁴  whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him.

James 4:7-10

4:7 So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you. 4:8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded. ³⁵  4:9 Grieve, mourn, ³⁶  and weep. Turn your laughter ³⁷  into mourning and your joy into despair. 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.

[9:31]  ¹ tn The pointing in the MT gives the meaning “pit” or “ditch.” A number of expositors change the pointing to שֻׁחוֹת (shukhot) to obtain the equivalent of שֻׂחוֹת (sukhot) / סֻחוֹת (sukhot): “filth” (Isa 5:25). This would make the contrast vivid – Job has just washed with pure water and soap, and now God plunges him into filth. M. H. Pope argues convincingly that the word “pit” in the MT includes the idea of “filth,” making the emendation unnecessary (“The Word sahat in Job 9:31,” JBL 83 [1964]: 269-78).

[40:4]  ² tn The word קַלֹּתִי (qalloti) means “to be light; to be of small account; to be unimportant.” From this comes the meaning “contemptible,” which in the causative stem would mean “to treat with contempt; to curse.” Dhorme tries to make the sentence a conditional clause and suggests this meaning: “If I have been thoughtless.” There is really no “if” in Job’s mind.

[40:4]  ³ tn The perfect verb here should be classified as an instantaneous perfect; the action is simultaneous with the words.

[40:4]  ⁴ tn The words “to silence myself” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “I said.”

[51:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “a broken spirit.”

[51:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “a broken and crushed heart.”

[51:17]  ⁸ tn Or “despise.”

[5:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “and it will become [a place for] grazing.” בָּעַר (ba’ar, “grazing”) is a homonym of the more often used verb “to burn.”

[5:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and it will become a trampled place” (NASB “trampled ground”).

[31:19]  ¹¹ tn For this meaning of the verb see HAL 374 s.v. יָדַע Nif 5 or W. L. Holladay, Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, 129. REB translates “Now that I am submissive” relating the verb to a second root meaning “be submissive.” (See HALOT 375 s.v. II יָדַע and J. Barr, Comparative Philology and the Text of the Old Testament, 19-21, for evidence for this verb. Other passages cited with this nuance are Judg 8:16; Prov 10:9; Job 20:20.)

[31:19]  ¹² tn Heb “I struck my thigh.” This was a gesture of grief and anguish (cf. Ezek 21:12 [21:17 HT]). The modern equivalent is “to beat the breast.”

[31:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “because I bear the reproach of my youth.” For the plural referents see the note at the beginning of v. 18.

[16:63]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and your mouth will not be open any longer.”

[16:63]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “when I make atonement for you for all which you have done.”

[20:43]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “ways.”

[20:43]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “loathe yourselves in your faces.”

[36:31]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “ways.”

[15:18]  ¹⁹ sn In the confession “I have sinned” there is a recognition of wrong that pictures the penitent coming home and “being found.”

[15:18]  ²⁰ sn The phrase against heaven is a circumlocution for God.

[15:18]  ²¹ tn According to BDAG 342 s.v. ἐνωπιον 4.a, “in relation to ἁμαρτάνειν ἐ. τινος sin against someone Lk 15:18, 21 (cf. Jdth 5:17; 1 Km 7:6; 20:1).”

[15:19]  ²² tn Or “make me.” Here is a sign of total humility.

[15:1]  ²³ sn See the note on tax collectors in 3:12.

[15:1]  ²⁴ tn Grk “were drawing near.”

[1:9]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ 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.

[1:1]  ²⁸ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:13]  ²⁹ tn Here αὐτοῦ (autou) has been translated as a subjective genitive (“he loves”).

[1:14]  ³⁰ tc διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ (dia tou {aimato" autou, “through his blood”) is read at this juncture by several minuscule mss (614 630 1505 2464 al) as well as a few, mostly secondary, versional and patristic witnesses. But the reading was prompted by the parallel in Eph 1:7 where the wording is solid. If these words had been in the original of Colossians, why would scribes omit them here but not in Eph 1:7? Further, the testimony on behalf of the shorter reading is quite overwhelming: {א A B C D F G Ψ 075 0150 6 33 1739 1881 Ï latt co as well as several other versions and fathers}. The conviction that “through his blood” is not authentic in Col 1:14 is as strong as the conviction that these words are authentic in Eph 1:7.

[1:15]  ³¹ sn This passage has been typeset as poetry because many scholars regard this passage as poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage, so the decision to typeset it as poetry should be viewed as a tentative decision about its genre.

[1:15]  ³² tn The Greek term πρωτότοκος (prwtotokos) could refer either to first in order of time, such as a first born child, or it could refer to one who is preeminent in rank. M. J. Harris, Colossians and Philemon (EGGNT), 43, expresses the meaning of the word well: “The ‘firstborn’ was either the eldest child in a family or a person of preeminent rank. The use of this term to describe the Davidic king in Ps 88:28 LXX (=Ps 89:27 EVV), ‘I will also appoint him my firstborn (πρωτότοκον), the most exalted of the kings of the earth,’ indicates that it can denote supremacy in rank as well as priority in time. But whether the πρωτό- element in the word denotes time, rank, or both, the significance of the -τοκος element as indicating birth or origin (from τίκτω, give birth to) has been virtually lost except in ref. to lit. birth.” In Col 1:15 the emphasis is on the priority of Jesus’ rank as over and above creation (cf. 1:16 and the “for” clause referring to Jesus as Creator).

[1:15]  ³³ tn The genitive construction πάσης κτίσεως (pash" ktisew") is a genitive of subordination and is therefore translated as “over all creation.” See ExSyn 103-4.

[1:16]  ³⁴ tn BDAG 579 s.v. κυριότης 3 suggests “bearers of the ruling powers, dominions” here.

[4:8]  ³⁵ tn Or “two-minded” (the same description used in 1:8).

[4:9]  ³⁶ tn This term and the following one are preceded by καί (kai) in the Greek text, but contemporary English generally uses connectives only between the last two items in such a series.

[4:9]  ³⁷ tn Grk “let your laughter be turned.”