Luke 8:14

8:14 As for the seed that ¹  fell among thorns, these are the ones who hear, but ²  as they go on their way they are choked ³  by the worries and riches and pleasures of life, ⁴  and their fruit does not mature. ⁵ 

Luke 12:15

12:15 Then ⁶  he said to them, “Watch out and guard yourself from ⁷  all types of greed, ⁸  because one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Luke 19:8

19:8 But Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I now give ⁹  to the poor, and if ¹⁰  I have cheated anyone of anything, I am paying back four times as much!”

Luke 21:34

Be Ready!

21:34 “But be on your guard ¹¹  so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day close down upon you suddenly like a trap. ¹² 

Jude 1:23-24

1:23 save ¹³  others by snatching them out of the fire; have mercy ¹⁴  on others, coupled with a fear of God, ¹⁵  hating even the clothes stained ¹⁶  by the flesh. ¹⁷ 

Final Blessing

1:24 Now to the one who is able to keep you from falling, ¹⁸  and to cause you to stand, rejoicing, ¹⁹  without blemish ²⁰  before his glorious presence, ²¹ 

Job 31:24-25

31:24 “If I have put my confidence in gold

or said to pure gold,

‘You are my security!’

31:25 if I have rejoiced because of the extent of my wealth,

or because of the great wealth my hand had gained,

Ezekiel 33:31

33:31 They come to you in crowds, ²²  and they sit in front of you as ²³  my people. They hear your words, but do not obey ²⁴  them. For they talk lustfully, ²⁵  and their heart is set on ²⁶  their own advantage. ²⁷ 

Matthew 19:22

19:22 But when the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he was very rich. ²⁸ 

Mark 10:22

10:22 But at this statement, the man ²⁹  looked sad and went away sorrowful, for he was very rich. ³⁰ 

Ephesians 5:5

5:5 For you can be confident of this one thing: ³¹  that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

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! ³²  – that I may gain Christ,

Colossians 3:5

3:5 So put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth: ³³  sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion, ³⁴  evil desire, and greed which is idolatry.

Colossians 3:1

Exhortations to Seek the Things Above

3:1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Colossians 2:15

2:15 Disarming ³⁵  the rulers and authorities, he has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross. ³⁶ 

[8:14]  ¹ tn Grk “What”; the referent (the seed) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:14]  ² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[8:14]  ³ sn That is, their concern for spiritual things is crowded out by material things.

[8:14]  ⁴ sn On warnings about the dangers of excessive material attachments, described here as the worries and riches and pleasures of life, see Luke 12:12-21; 16:19-31.

[8:14]  ⁵ tn The verb τελεσφορέω (telesforew) means “to produce mature or ripe fruit” (L&N 23.203). Once again the seed does not reach its goal.

[12:15]  ⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[12:15]  ⁷ tn See L&N 13.154 for this use of the middle voice of φυλάσσω (fulassw) in this verse.

[12:15]  ⁸ tn Or “avarice,” “covetousness.” Note the warning covers more than money and gets at the root attitude – the strong desire to acquire more and more possessions and experiences.

[19:8]  ⁹ sn Zacchaeus was a penitent man who resolved on the spot to act differently in the face of Jesus’ acceptance of him. In resolving to give half his possessions to the poor, Zacchaeus was not defending himself against the crowd’s charges and claiming to be righteous. Rather as a result of this meeting with Jesus, he was a changed individual. So Jesus could speak of salvation coming that day (v. 9) and of the lost being saved (v. 10).

[19:8]  ¹⁰ tn This is a first class condition in the Greek text. It virtually confesses fraud.

[21:34]  ¹¹ tn Grk “watch out for yourselves.”

[21:34]  ¹² sn Or like a thief, see Luke 12:39-40. The metaphor of a trap is a vivid one. Most modern English translations traditionally place the words “like a trap” at the end of v. 34, completing the metaphor. In the Greek text (and in the NRSV and REB) the words “like a trap” are placed at the beginning of v. 35. This does not affect the meaning.

[1:23]  ¹³ tn Grk “and save.”

[1:23]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “and have mercy.”

[1:23]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “with fear.” But as this contrasts with ἀφόβως (afobw") in v. 12 (without reverence), the posture of the false teachers, it most likely refers to reverence for God.

[1:23]  ¹⁶ sn The imagery here suggests that the things close to the sinners are contaminated by them, presumably during the process of sinning.

[1:23]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “hating even the tunic spotted by the flesh.” The “flesh” in this instance could refer to the body or to the sin nature. It makes little difference in one sense: Jude is thinking primarily of sexual sins, which are borne of the sin nature and manifest themselves in inappropriate deeds done with the body. At the same time, he is not saying that the body is intrinsically bad, a view held by the opponents of Christianity. Hence, it is best to see “flesh” as referring to the sin nature here and the language as metaphorical.

[1:24]  ¹⁸ tn The construction in Greek is a double accusative object-complement. “You” is the object and “free from falling” is the adjectival complement.

[1:24]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “with rejoicing.” The prepositional clause is placed after “his glorious presence” in Greek, but most likely goes with “cause you to stand.”

[1:24]  ²⁰ tn The construction in Greek is a double accusative object-complement. “You” is the object and “without blemish” is the adjectival complement.

[1:24]  ²¹ tn Or “in the presence of his glory,” “before his glory.”

[33:31]  ²² tn Heb “as people come.” Apparently this is an idiom indicating that they come in crowds. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:264.

[33:31]  ²³ tn The word “as” is supplied in the translation.

[33:31]  ²⁴ tn Heb “do.”

[33:31]  ²⁵ tn Heb “They do lust with their mouths.”

[33:31]  ²⁶ tn Heb “goes after.”

[33:31]  ²⁷ tn The present translation understands the term often used for “unjust gain” in a wider sense, following M. Greenberg, who also notes that the LXX uses a term which can describe either sexual or ritual pollution. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:687.

[19:22]  ²⁸ tn Grk “he had many possessions.” This term (κτῆμα, kthma) is often used for land as a possession.

[10:22]  ²⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the man who asked the question in v. 17) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:22]  ³⁰ tn Grk “he had many possessions.” This term (κτῆμα, kthma) is often used for land as a possession.

[5:5]  ³¹ tn Grk “be knowing this.” See also 2 Pet 1:20 for a similar phrase: τοῦτο πρῶτον γινώσκοντες (touto prwton ginwskonte").

[3:8]  ³² 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.

[3:5]  ³³ tn Grk “the members which are on the earth.” See BDAG 628 s.v. μέλος 1, “put to death whatever in you is worldly.”

[3:5]  ³⁴ tn Or “lust.”

[2:15]  ³⁵ tn See BDAG 100 s.v. ἀπεκδύομαι 2.

[2:15]  ³⁶ tn The antecedent of the Greek pronoun αὐτῷ (autw) could either be “Christ” or the “cross.” There are several reasons for choosing “the cross” as the antecedent for αὐτῷ in verse 15: (1) The nearest antecedent is τῷ σταυρῷ (tw staurw) in v. 14; (2) the idea of ἐδειγμάτισεν ἐν παρρησία (edeigmatisen en parrhsia, “made a public disgrace”) seems to be more in keeping with the idea of the cross; (3) a reference to Christ seems to miss the irony involved in the idea of triumph – the whole point is that where one would expect defeat, there came the victory; (4) if Christ is the subject of the participles in v. 15 then almost certainly the cross is the referent for αὐτῷ. Thus the best solution is to see αὐτῷ as a reference to the cross and the preposition ἐν (en) indicating “means” (i.e., by means of the cross) or possibly (though less likely) location (on the cross).