Matthew 10:26

Fear God, Not Man

10:26 “Do ¹  not be afraid of them, for nothing is hidden ²  that will not be revealed, ³  and nothing is secret that will not be made known.

Isaiah 8:12-13

8:12 “Do not say, ‘Conspiracy,’ every time these people say the word. ⁴ 

Don’t be afraid of what scares them; don’t be terrified.

8:13 You must recognize the authority of the Lord who commands armies. ⁵ 

He is the one you must respect;

he is the one you must fear. ⁶ 

Isaiah 51:7

51:7 Listen to me, you who know what is right,

you people who are aware of my law! ⁷ 

Don’t be afraid of the insults of men;

don’t be discouraged because of their abuse!

Isaiah 51:12

51:12 “I, I am the one who consoles you. ⁸ 

Why are you afraid of mortal men,

of mere human beings who are as short-lived as grass? ⁹ 

Daniel 3:10-18

3:10 You have issued an edict, O king, that everyone must bow down and pay homage to the golden statue when they hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music. 3:11 And whoever does not bow down and pay homage must be thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire. 3:12 But there are Jewish men whom you appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – and these men ¹⁰  have not shown proper respect to you, O king. They don’t serve your gods and they don’t pay homage to the golden statue that you have erected.”

3:13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in a fit of rage ¹¹  demanded that they bring ¹²  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego before him. So they brought them ¹³  before the king. 3:14 Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you don’t serve my gods and that you don’t pay homage to the golden statue that I erected? 3:15 Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must bow down and pay homage to the statue that I had made. If you don’t pay homage to it, you will immediately be thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. Now, who is that god who can rescue you from my power?” ¹⁴  3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to King Nebuchadnezzar, ¹⁵  “We do not need to give you a reply ¹⁶  concerning this. 3:17 If ¹⁷  our God whom we are serving exists, ¹⁸  he is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he will rescue us, O king, from your power as well. 3:18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we don’t serve your gods, and we will not pay homage to the golden statue that you have erected.”

Luke 12:4-5

12:4 “I ¹⁹  tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, ²⁰  and after that have nothing more they can do. 12:5 But I will warn ²¹  you whom you should fear: Fear the one who, after the killing, ²²  has authority to throw you ²³  into hell. ²⁴  Yes, I tell you, fear him!

Acts 20:23-24

20:23 except ²⁵  that the Holy Spirit warns ²⁶  me in town after town ²⁷  that ²⁸  imprisonment ²⁹  and persecutions ³⁰  are waiting for me. 20:24 But I do not consider my life ³¹  worth anything ³²  to myself, so that ³³  I may finish my task ³⁴  and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news ³⁵  of God’s grace.

Acts 21:13

21:13 Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking ³⁶  my heart? For I am ready not only to be tied up, ³⁷  but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Romans 8:35-39

8:35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁸  8:36 As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” ³⁹  8:37 No, in all these things we have complete victory ⁴⁰  through him ⁴¹  who loved us! 8:38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, ⁴²  nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:2

8:2 For the law of the life-giving Spirit ⁴³  in Christ Jesus has set you ⁴⁴  free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 4:6-8

4:6 So even David himself speaks regarding the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

4:7 “Blessed ⁴⁵  are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;

4:8 blessed is the one ⁴⁶  against whom the Lord will never count ⁴⁷  sin.” ⁴⁸ 

Hebrews 11:35

11:35 and women received back their dead raised to life. ⁴⁹  But others were tortured, not accepting release, to obtain resurrection to a better life. ⁵⁰ 

Hebrews 11:1

People Commended for Their Faith

11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.

Hebrews 3:14

3:14 For we have become partners with Christ, if in fact we hold our initial confidence ⁵¹  firm until the end.

Revelation 2:10

2:10 Do not be afraid of the things you are about to suffer. The devil is about to have some of you thrown ⁵²  into prison so you may be tested, ⁵³  and you will experience suffering ⁵⁴  for ten days. Remain faithful even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown that is life itself. ⁵⁵ 

[10:26]  ¹ tn Grk “Therefore do not.” Here οὖν (oun) has not been translated.

[10:26]  ² tn Or “concealed.”

[10:26]  ³ sn I.e., be revealed by God. The passive voice here and in the next verb see the revelation as coming from God. The text is both a warning about bad things being revealed and an encouragement that good things will be made known.

[8:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “Do not say, ‘Conspiracy,’ with respect to all which these people say, ‘Conspiracy.’” The verb translated “do not say” is second masculine plural, indicating that this exhortation is directed to Isaiah and other followers of the Lord (see v. 16).

[8:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts], him you must set apart.” The word order is emphatic, with the object being placed first.

[8:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “he is your [object of] fear, he is your [object of] terror.” The roots יָרֵא (yare’) and עָרַץ (’arats) are repeated from v. 12b.

[51:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “people (who have) my law in their heart.”

[51:12]  ⁸ tc The plural suffix should probably be emended to the second masculine singular (which is used in v. 13). The final mem (ם) is probably dittographic; note the mem at the beginning of the next word.

[51:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, and of the son of man who [as] grass is given up?” The feminine singular forms should probably be emended to the masculine singular (see v. 13). They have probably been influenced by the construction אַתְּ־הִיא (’at-hi’) in vv. 9-10.

[3:12]  ¹⁰ sn Daniel’s absence from this scene has sparked the imagination of commentators, some of whom have suggested that perhaps he was unable to attend the dedication due to sickness or due to being away on business. Hippolytus supposed that Daniel may have been watching from a distance.

[3:13]  ¹¹ tn Aram “in anger and wrath”; NASB “in rage and anger.” The expression is a hendiadys.

[3:13]  ¹² tn The Aramaic infinitive is active.

[3:13]  ¹³ tn Aram “these men.” The pronoun is used in the translation to avoid undue repetition.

[3:15]  ¹⁴ tn Aram “hand.” So also in v. 17.

[3:16]  ¹⁵ tc In the MT this word is understood to begin the following address (“answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar’”). However, it seems unlikely that Nebuchadnezzar’s subordinates would address the king in such a familiar way, particularly in light of the danger that they now found themselves in. The present translation implies moving the atnach from “king” to “Nebuchadnezzar.”

[3:16]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “to return a word to you.”

[3:17]  ¹⁷ tc The ancient versions typically avoid the conditional element of v. 17.

[3:17]  ¹⁸ tn The Aramaic expression used here is very difficult to interpret. The question concerns the meaning and syntax of אִיתַי (’itay, “is” or “exist”). There are several possibilities. (1) Some interpreters take this word closely with the participle later in the verse יָכִל (yakhil, “able”), understanding the two words to form a periphrastic construction (“if our God is…able”; cf. H. Bauer and P. Leander, Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen, 365, §111b). But the separation of the two elements from one another is not an argument in favor of this understanding. (2) Other interpreters take the first part of v. 17 to mean “If it is so, then our God will deliver us” (cf. KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB). However, the normal sense of ’itay is existence; on this point see F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 45, §95. The present translation maintains the sense of existence for the verb (“If our God…exists”), even though the statement is admittedly difficult to understand in this light. The statement may be an implicit reference back to Nebuchadnezzar’s comment in v. 15, which denies the existence of a god capable of delivering from the king’s power.

[12:4]  ¹⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[12:4]  ²⁰ sn Judaism had a similar exhortation in 4 Macc 13:14-15.

[12:5]  ²¹ tn Grk “will show,” but in this reflective context such a demonstration is a warning or exhortation.

[12:5]  ²² sn The actual performer of the killing is not here specified. It could be understood to be God (so NASB, NRSV) but it could simply emphasize that, after a killing has taken place, it is God who casts the person into hell.

[12:5]  ²³ tn The direct object (“you”) is understood.

[12:5]  ²⁴ sn The word translated hell is “Gehenna” (γέεννα, geenna), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36).

[20:23]  ²⁵ tn BDAG 826 s.v. πλήν 1.d has “πλὴν ὅτι except that…Ac 20:23.”

[20:23]  ²⁶ tn The verb διαμαρτύρομαι (diamarturomai) can mean “warn” (BDAG 233 s.v. διαμαρτύρομαι 2 has “solemnly urge, exhort, warn…w. dat. of pers. addressed”), and this meaning better fits the context here, although BDAG categorizes Acts 20:23 under the meaning “testify of, bear witness to” (s.v. 1).

[20:23]  ²⁷ tn The Greek text here reads κατὰ πόλιν (kata polin).

[20:23]  ²⁸ tn Grk “saying that,” but the participle λέγον (legon) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[20:23]  ²⁹ tn Grk “bonds.”

[20:23]  ³⁰ tn Or “troubles,” “suffering.” See Acts 19:21; 21:4, 11.

[20:24]  ³¹ tn Grk “soul.”

[20:24]  ³² tn Or “I do not consider my life worth a single word.” According to BDAG 599 s.v. λόγος 1.a.α, “In the textually uncertain pass. Ac 20:24 the text as it stands in N., οὐδενὸς λόγου (v.l. λόγον) ποιοῦμαι τὴν ψυχὴν τιμίαν, may well mean: I do not consider my life worth a single word (cp. λόγου ἄξιον [ἄξιος 1a] and our ‘worth mention’).”

[20:24]  ³³ tn BDAG 1106 s.v. ὡς 9 describes this use as “a final particle, expressing intention/purpose, with a view to, in order to.”

[20:24]  ³⁴ tn Grk “course.” See L&N 42.26, “(a figurative extension of meaning of δρόμος ‘race’) a task or function involving continuity, serious, effort, and possibly obligation – ‘task, mission’…Ac 20:24.” On this Pauline theme see also Phil 1:19-26; Col 1:24; 2 Tim 4:6-7.

[20:24]  ³⁵ tn Or “to the gospel.”

[21:13]  ³⁶ tn The term translated “breaking” as used by Josephus (Ant. 10.10.4 [10.207]) means to break something into pieces, but in its only NT use (it is a hapax legomenon) it is used figuratively (BDAG 972 s.v. συνθρύπτω).

[21:13]  ³⁷ tn L&N 18.13 has “to tie objects together – ‘to tie, to tie together, to tie up.’” The verb δέω (dew) is sometimes figurative for imprisonment (L&N 37.114), but it is preferable to translate it literally here in light of v. 11 where Agabus tied himself up with Paul’s belt.

[8:35]  ³⁸ tn Here “sword” is a metonymy that includes both threats of violence and acts of violence, even including death (although death is not necessarily the only thing in view here).

[8:36]  ³⁹ sn A quotation from Ps 44:22.

[8:37]  ⁴⁰ tn BDAG 1034 s.v. ὑπερνικάω states, “as a heightened form of νικᾶν prevail completely ὑπερνικῶμεν we are winning a most glorious victory Ro 8:37.”

[8:37]  ⁴¹ tn Here the referent could be either God or Christ, but in v. 39 it is God’s love that is mentioned.

[8:38]  ⁴² tn BDAG 138 s.v. ἀρχή 6 takes this term as a reference to angelic or transcendent powers (as opposed to merely human rulers). To clarify this, the adjective “heavenly” has been supplied in the translation. Some interpreters see this as a reference to fallen angels or demonic powers, and this view is reflected in some recent translations (NIV, NLT).

[8:2]  ⁴³ tn Grk “for the law of the Spirit of life.”

[8:2]  ⁴⁴ tc Most mss read the first person singular pronoun με (me) here (A D 1739^c 1881 Ï lat sa). The second person singular pronoun σε (se) is superior because of external support (א B {F which reads σαι} G 1506* 1739*) and internal support (it is the harder reading since ch. 7 was narrated in the first person). At the same time, it could have arisen via dittography from the final syllable of the verb preceding it (ἠλευθέρωσεν, hleuqerwsen; “has set free”). But for this to happen in such early and diverse witnesses is unlikely, especially as it depends on various scribes repeatedly overlooking either the nu or the nu-bar at the end of the verb.

[4:7]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “Happy.”

[4:8]  ⁴⁶ tn The word for “man” or “individual” here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” However, as BDAG 79 s.v. 2 says, here it is “equivalent to τὶς someone, a person.”

[4:8]  ⁴⁷ tn The verb translated “count” here is λογίζομαι (logizomai). It occurs eight times in Rom 4:1-12, including here, each time with the sense of “place on someone’s account.” By itself the word is neutral, but in particular contexts it can take on a positive or negative connotation. The other occurrences of the verb have been translated using a form of the English verb “credit” because they refer to a positive event: the application of righteousness to the individual believer. The use here in v. 8 is negative: the application of sin. A form of the verb “credit” was not used here because of the positive connotations associated with that English word, but it is important to recognize that the same concept is used here as in the other occurrences.

[4:8]  ⁴⁸ sn A quotation from Ps 32:1-2.

[11:35]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “received back their dead from resurrection.”

[11:35]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “to obtain a better resurrection.”

[3:14]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “the beginning of the confidence.”

[2:10]  ⁵² tn Grk “is about to throw some of you,” but the force is causative in context.

[2:10]  ⁵³ tn Or “tempted.”

[2:10]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “experience persecution,” “will be in distress” (see L&N 22.2).

[2:10]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “crown of life,” with the genitive “of life” (τῆς ζωῆς, th" zwh") functioning in apposition to “crown” (στέφανον, stefanon): “the crown that consists of life.”