John 2:25

2:25 He did not need anyone to testify about man, ¹  for he knew what was in man. ² 

Genesis 32:24-30

32:24 So Jacob was left alone. Then a man ³  wrestled ⁴  with him until daybreak. ⁵  32:25 When the man ⁶  saw that he could not defeat Jacob, ⁷  he struck ⁸  the socket of his hip so the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated while he wrestled with him.

32:26 Then the man ⁹  said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” ¹⁰  “I will not let you go,” Jacob replied, ¹¹  “unless you bless me.” ¹²  32:27 The man asked him, ¹³  “What is your name?” ¹⁴  He answered, “Jacob.” 32:28 “No longer will your name be Jacob,” the man told him, ¹⁵  “but Israel, ¹⁶  because you have fought ¹⁷  with God and with men and have prevailed.”

32:29 Then Jacob asked, “Please tell me your name.” ¹⁸  “Why ¹⁹  do you ask my name?” the man replied. ²⁰  Then he blessed ²¹  Jacob ²²  there. 32:30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, ²³  explaining, ²⁴  “Certainly ²⁵  I have seen God face to face ²⁶  and have survived.” ²⁷ 

Psalms 139:1-2

Psalm 139 ²⁸ 

For the music director, a psalm of David.

139:1 O Lord, you examine me ²⁹  and know.

139:2 You know when I sit down and when I get up;

even from far away you understand my motives.

Isaiah 65:24

65:24 Before they even call out, ³⁰  I will respond;

while they are still speaking, I will hear.

Matthew 6:6

6:6 But whenever you pray, go into your room, ³¹  close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. ³² 

Matthew 6:1

Pure-hearted Giving

6:1 “Be ³³  careful not to display your righteousness merely to be seen by people. ³⁴  Otherwise you have no reward with your Father in heaven.

Colossians 4:5

4:5 Conduct yourselves ³⁵  with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunities.

Colossians 1:25

1:25 I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship ³⁶  from God – given to me for you – in order to complete ³⁷  the word of God,

Revelation 2:18-19

To the Church in Thyatira

2:18 “To ³⁸  the angel of the church in Thyatira write the following: ³⁹ 

“This is the solemn pronouncement of ⁴⁰  the Son of God, the one who has eyes like a fiery flame ⁴¹  and whose feet are like polished bronze: ⁴²  2:19 ‘I know your deeds: your love, faith, ⁴³  service, and steadfast endurance. ⁴⁴  In fact, ⁴⁵  your more recent deeds are greater than your earlier ones.

[2:25]  ¹ tn The masculine form has been retained here in the translation to maintain the connection with “a man of the Pharisees” in 3:1, with the understanding that the reference is to people of both genders.

[2:25]  ² tn See previous note on “man” in this verse.

[32:24]  ³ sn Reflecting Jacob’s perspective at the beginning of the encounter, the narrator calls the opponent simply “a man.” Not until later in the struggle does Jacob realize his true identity.

[32:24]  ⁴ sn The verb translated “wrestled” (וַיֵּאָבֵק, vayye’aveq) sounds in Hebrew like the names “Jacob” (יַעֲקֹב, ya’aqov) and “Jabbok” (יַבֹּק, yabboq). In this way the narrator links the setting, the main action, and the main participant together in the mind of the reader or hearer.

[32:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “until the rising of the dawn.”

[32:25]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:25]  ⁸ tn Or “injured”; traditionally “touched.” The Hebrew verb translated “struck” has the primary meanings “to touch; to reach; to strike.” It can, however, carry the connotation “to harm; to molest; to injure.” God’s “touch” cripples Jacob – it would be comparable to a devastating blow.

[32:26]  ⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:26]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “dawn has arisen.”

[32:26]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he said, ‘I will not let you go.’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:26]  ¹² sn Jacob wrestled with a man thinking him to be a mere man, and on that basis was equal to the task. But when it had gone on long enough, the night visitor touched Jacob and crippled him. Jacob’s request for a blessing can only mean that he now knew that his opponent was supernatural. Contrary to many allegorical interpretations of the passage that make fighting equivalent to prayer, this passage shows that Jacob stopped fighting, and then asked for a blessing.

[32:27]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he said to him.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (the man who wrestled with Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:27]  ¹⁴ sn What is your name? The question is rhetorical, since the Lord obviously knew Jacob’s identity. But since the Lord is going to change Jacob’s name, this question is designed to bring focus Jacob’s attention on all that his name had come to signify.

[32:28]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and he said.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (the man who wrestled with Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:28]  ¹⁶ sn The name Israel is a common construction, using a verb with a theophoric element (אֵל, ’el) that usually indicates the subject of the verb. Here it means “God fights.” This name will replace the name Jacob; it will be both a promise and a call for faith. In essence, the Lord was saying that Jacob would have victory and receive the promises because God would fight for him.

[32:28]  ¹⁷ sn You have fought. The explanation of the name Israel includes a sound play. In Hebrew the verb translated “you have fought” (שָׂרִיתָ, sarita) sounds like the name “Israel” (יִשְׂרָאֵל, yisra’el ), meaning “God fights” (although some interpret the meaning as “he fights [with] God”). The name would evoke the memory of the fight and what it meant. A. Dillmann says that ever after this the name would tell the Israelites that, when Jacob contended successfully with God, he won the battle with man (Genesis, 2:279). To be successful with God meant that he had to be crippled in his own self-sufficiency (A. P. Ross, “Jacob at the Jabboq, Israel at Peniel,” BSac 142 [1985]: 51-62).

[32:29]  ¹⁸ sn Tell me your name. In primitive thought to know the name of a deity or supernatural being would enable one to use it for magical manipulation or power (A. S. Herbert, Genesis 12-50 [TBC], 108). For a thorough structural analysis of the passage discussing the plays on the names and the request of Jacob, see R. Barthes, “The Struggle with the Angel: Textual Analysis of Genesis 32:23-33,” Structural Analysis and Biblical Exegesis (PTMS), 21-33.

[32:29]  ¹⁹ tn The question uses the enclitic pronoun “this” to emphasize the import of the question.

[32:29]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (the man who wrestled with Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:29]  ²¹ tn The verb here means that the Lord endowed Jacob with success; he would be successful in everything he did, including meeting Esau.

[32:29]  ²² tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:30]  ²³ sn The name Peniel means “face of God.” Since Jacob saw God face to face here, the name is appropriate.

[32:30]  ²⁴ tn The word “explaining” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:30]  ²⁵ tn Or “because.”

[32:30]  ²⁶ sn I have seen God face to face. See the note on the name “Peniel” earlier in the verse.

[32:30]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and my soul [= life] has been preserved.”

[139:1]  ²⁸ sn Psalm 139. The psalmist acknowledges that God, who created him, is aware of his every action and thought. He invites God to examine his motives, for he is confident they are pure.

[139:1]  ²⁹ tn The statement is understood as generalizing – the psalmist describes what God typically does.

[65:24]  ³⁰ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[6:6]  ³¹ sn The term translated room refers to the inner room of a house, normally without any windows opening outside, the most private location possible (BDAG 988 s.v. ταμεῖον 2).

[6:6]  ³² tc See the tc note on “will reward you” in 6:4: The problem is the same and the ms support differs only slightly.

[6:1]  ³³ tc ‡ Several mss (א L Z Θ Ë¹ 33 892 1241 1424 al) have δέ (de, “but, now”) at the beginning of this verse; the reading without δέ is supported by B D W 0250 ˹³ Ï lat. A decision is difficult, but apparently the conjunction was added by later scribes to indicate a transition in the thought-flow of the Sermon on the Mount. NA²⁷ has δέ in brackets, indicating reservations about its authenticity.

[6:1]  ³⁴ tn Grk “before people in order to be seen by them.”

[4:5]  ³⁵ tn Grk “walk.” The verb περιπατέω (peripatew) is a common NT idiom for one’s lifestyle, behavior, or manner of conduct (L&N 41.11).

[1:25]  ³⁶ tn BDAG 697 s.v. οἰκονομία 1.b renders the term here as “divine office.”

[1:25]  ³⁷ 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.

[2:18]  ³⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated due to differences between Greek and English style.

[2:18]  ³⁹ tn The phrase “the following” after “write” is supplied to clarify that what follows is the content of what is to be written.

[2:18]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “These things says [the One]…” See the note on the phrase “this is the solemn pronouncement of” in 2:1.

[2:18]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “a flame of fire.” The Greek term πυρός (puros) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

[2:18]  ⁴² tn The precise meaning of the term translated “polished bronze” (χαλκολιβάνῳ, calkolibanw), which appears no where else in Greek literature outside of the book of Revelation (see 1:15), is uncertain. Without question it is some sort of metal. BDAG 1076 s.v. χαλκολίβανον suggests “fine brass/bronze.” L&N 2.57 takes the word to refer to particularly valuable or fine bronze, but notes that the emphasis here and in Rev 1:15 is more on the lustrous quality of the metal.

[2:19]  ⁴³ tn Grk “and faith.” Here and before the following term καί (kai) has not been translated because English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the next to last and last terms in a list.

[2:19]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “perseverance.”

[2:19]  ⁴⁵ tn The phrase “In fact” is supplied in the translation to bring out the ascensive quality of the clause. It would also be possible to supply here an understood repetition of the phrase “I know” from the beginning of the verse (so NRSV). Grk “and your last deeds [that are] greater than the first.”