Matthew 25:23

25:23 His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’

Psalms 16:10-11

16:10 You will not abandon me ¹  to Sheol; ² 

you will not allow your faithful follower ³  to see ⁴  the Pit. ⁵ 

16:11 You lead me in ⁶  the path of life; ⁷ 

I experience absolute joy in your presence; ⁸ 

you always give me sheer delight. ⁹ 

John 12:26

12:26 If anyone wants to serve me, he must follow ¹⁰  me, and where I am, my servant will be too. ¹¹  If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

John 14:3

14:3 And if I go and make ready ¹²  a place for you, I will come again and take you ¹³  to be with me, ¹⁴  so that where I am you may be too.

John 17:24

17:24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, ¹⁵  so that they can see my glory that you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world ¹⁶ .

Philippians 1:23

1:23 I feel torn between the two, ¹⁷  because I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far,

Philippians 1:2

1:2 Grace and peace to you ¹⁸  from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Philippians 2:12

Lights in the World

2:12 So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence, ¹⁹ 

Hebrews 12:2

12:2 keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. ²⁰ 

Hebrews 12:1

The Lord’s Discipline

12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, ²¹  we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us,

Hebrews 1:8

1:8 but of ²²  the Son he says, ²³ 

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, ²⁴ 

and a righteous scepter ²⁵  is the scepter of your kingdom.

Revelation 7:17

7:17 because the Lamb in the middle of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” ²⁶ 

[16:10]  ¹ tn Or “my life.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[16:10]  ² sn In ancient Israelite cosmology Sheol is the realm of the dead, viewed as being under the earth’s surface. See L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 165-76.

[16:10]  ³ tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד [khasid], traditionally rendered “holy one”) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 18:25; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10). The psalmist here refers to himself, as the parallel line (“You will not abandon me to Sheol”) indicates.

[16:10]  ⁴ tn That is, “experience.” The psalmist is confident that the Lord will protect him in his present crisis (see v. 1) and prevent him from dying.

[16:10]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew word שָׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 30:9; 49:9; 55:24; 103:4). Note the parallelism with the previous line.

[16:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “cause me to know”; or “cause me to experience.”

[16:11]  ⁷ tn This is a metaphorical way of saying, “you preserve my life.” The phrase “path of life” stands in contrast to death/Sheol in Prov 2:18-19; 5:5-6; 15:24.

[16:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “abundance of joy [is] with your face.” The plural form of the noun שִׂמְחָה (simkhah, “joy”) occurs only here and in Ps 45:15. It may emphasize the degree of joy experienced.

[16:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “delight [is] in your right hand forever.” The plural form of the adjective נָעִים (na’im, “pleasant, delightful”) may here emphasize the degree of delight experienced (see Job 36:11).

[12:26]  ¹⁰ tn As a third person imperative in Greek, ἀκολουθείτω (akolouqeitw) is usually translated “let him follow me.” This could be understood by the modern English reader as merely permissive, however (“he may follow me if he wishes”). In this context there is no permissive sense, but rather a command, so the translation “he must follow me” is preferred.

[12:26]  ¹¹ tn Grk “where I am, there my servant will be too.”

[14:3]  ¹² tn Or “prepare.”

[14:3]  ¹³ tn Or “bring you.”

[14:3]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “to myself.”

[17:24]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “the ones you have given me, I want these to be where I am with me.”

[17:24]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “before the foundation of the world.”

[1:23]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “I am hard-pressed between the two.” Cf. L&N 30.18.

[1:2]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”

[2:12]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “with fear and trembling.” The Greek words φόβος and τρόμος both imply fear in a negative sense (L&N 25.251 and 16.6 respectively) while the former can also refer to respect and awe for deity (L&N 53.59). Paul’s use of the terms in other contexts refers to “awe and reverence in the presence of God” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 284; see discussion on 282-84). The translation “awe and reverence” was chosen to portray the attitude the believer should have toward God as they consider their behavior in light of God working through Jesus Christ (2:6-11) and in the believer’s life (2:13) to accomplish their salvation.

[12:2]  ²⁰ sn An allusion to Ps 110:1.

[12:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “having such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us.”

[1:8]  ²² tn Or “to.”

[1:8]  ²³ tn The verb “he says” (λέγει, legei) is implied from the λέγει of v. 7.

[1:8]  ²⁴ tn Or possibly, “Your throne is God forever and ever.” This translation is quite doubtful, however, since (1) in the context the Son is being contrasted to the angels and is presented as far better than they. The imagery of God being the Son’s throne would seem to be of God being his authority. If so, in what sense could this not be said of the angels? In what sense is the Son thus contrasted with the angels? (2) The μέν…δέ (men…de) construction that connects v. 7 with v. 8 clearly lays out this contrast: “On the one hand, he says of the angels…on the other hand, he says of the Son.” Thus, although it is grammatically possible that θεός (qeos) in v. 8 should be taken as a predicate nominative, the context and the correlative conjunctions are decidedly against it. Hebrews 1:8 is thus a strong affirmation of the deity of Christ.

[1:8]  ²⁵ tn Grk “the righteous scepter,” but used generically.

[7:17]  ²⁶ sn An allusion to Isa 25:8.