Luke 10:42

10:42 but one thing ¹  is needed. Mary has chosen the best ²  part; it will not be taken away from her.”

Psalms 27:4

27:4 I have asked the Lord for one thing –

this is what I desire!

I want to live ³  in the Lord’s house ⁴  all the days of my life,

so I can gaze at the splendor ⁵  of the Lord

and contemplate in his temple.

Philippians 3:13

3:13 Brothers and sisters, ⁶  I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: ⁷  Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead,

Philippians 3:2

3:2 Beware of the dogs, ⁸  beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! ⁹ 

Philippians 3:8

3:8 More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things – indeed, I regard them as dung! ¹⁰  – that I may gain Christ,

[10:42]  ¹ tc Or, with some mss (̳ [א] B C² L 070^vid ˹ 33 [579] pc), “few things are needed – or only one” (as well as other variants). The textual problem here is a difficult one to decide. The shorter reading is normally preferred, but it is not altogether clear how the variants would arise from it. However, the reading followed in the translation has good support (with some internal variations) from a number of witnesses (Ì^45,75 A C* W Θ Ψ Ë¹³ Ï lat sa).

[10:42]  ² tn Or “better”; Grk “good.” This is an instance of the positive adjective used in place of the superlative adjective. According to ExSyn 298, this could also be treated as a positive for comparative (“better”).

[27:4]  ³ tn Heb “my living.”

[27:4]  ⁴ sn The Lord’s house. This probably refers to the tabernacle (if one accepts Davidic authorship) or the temple (see Judg 19:18; 1 Sam 1:7, 24; 2 Sam 12:20; 1 Kgs 7:12, 40, 45, 51).

[27:4]  ⁵ tn Or “beauty.”

[3:13]  ⁶ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:12.

[3:13]  ⁷ tn Grk “But this one thing (I do).”

[3:2]  ⁸ sn Dogs is a figurative reference to false teachers whom Paul regards as just as filthy as dogs.

[3:2]  ⁹ tn Grk “beware of the mutilation.”

[3:8]  ¹⁰ tn The word here translated “dung” was often used in Greek as a vulgar term for fecal matter. As such it would most likely have had a certain shock value for the readers. This may well be Paul’s meaning here, especially since the context is about what the flesh produces.