Matthew 5:11-12

5:11 “Blessed are you when people ¹  insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things about you falsely ²  on account of me. 5:12 Rejoice and be glad because your reward is great in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way.

John 16:22-23

16:22 So also you have sorrow ³  now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. ⁴  16:23 At that time ⁵  you will ask me nothing. I tell you the solemn truth, ⁶  whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. ⁷ 

Acts 5:41

5:41 So they left the council rejoicing because they had been considered worthy ⁸  to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name. ⁹ 

Acts 16:25

16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying ¹⁰  and singing hymns to God, ¹¹  and the rest of ¹²  the prisoners were listening to them.

Romans 5:3

5:3 Not ¹³  only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

James 1:2-4

Joy in Trials

1:2 My brothers and sisters, ¹⁴  consider it nothing but joy ¹⁵  when you fall into all sorts of trials, 1:3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 1:4 And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything.

James 1:12

1:12 Happy is the one ¹⁶  who endures testing, because when he has proven to be genuine, he will receive the crown of life that God ¹⁷  promised to those who love him.

James 5:11

5:11 Think of how we regard ¹⁸  as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and you have seen the Lord’s purpose, that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. ¹⁹ 

James 5:1

Warning to the Rich

5:1 Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud ²⁰  over the miseries that are coming on you.

James 4:12-16

4:12 But there is only one who is lawgiver and judge – the one who is able to save and destroy. On the other hand, who are you to judge your neighbor? ²¹ 

4:13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town ²²  and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” 4:14 You ²³  do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? ²⁴  For you are a puff of smoke ²⁵  that appears for a short time and then vanishes. 4:15 You ought to say instead, ²⁶  “If the Lord is willing, then we will live and do this or that.” 4:16 But as it is, ²⁷  you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

[5:11]  ¹ tn Grk “when they insult you.” The third person pronoun (here implied in the verb ὀνειδίσωσιν [ojneidiswsin]) has no specific referent, but refers to people in general.

[5:11]  ² tc Although ψευδόμενοι (yeudomenoi, “bearing witness falsely”) could be a motivated reading, clarifying that the disciples are unjustly persecuted, its lack in only D it sy^s Tert does not help its case. Since the Western text is known for numerous free alterations, without corroborative evidence the shorter reading must be judged as secondary.

[16:22]  ³ tn Or “distress.”

[16:22]  ⁴ sn An allusion to Isa 66:14 LXX, which reads: “Then you will see, and your heart will be glad, and your bones will flourish like the new grass; and the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, but he will be indignant toward his enemies.” The change from “you will see [me]” to I will see you places more emphasis on Jesus as the one who reinitiates the relationship with the disciples after his resurrection, but v. 16 (you will see me) is more like Isa 66:14. Further support for seeing this allusion as intentional is found in Isa 66:7, which uses the same imagery of the woman giving birth found in John 16:21. In the context of Isa 66 the passages refer to the institution of the messianic kingdom, and in fact the last clause of 66:14 along with the following verses (15-17) have yet to be fulfilled. This is part of the tension of present and future eschatological fulfillment that runs throughout the NT, by virtue of the fact that there are two advents. Some prophecies are fulfilled or partially fulfilled at the first advent, while other prophecies or parts of prophecies await fulfillment at the second.

[16:23]  ⁵ tn Grk “And in that day.”

[16:23]  ⁶ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[16:23]  ⁷ sn This statement is also found in John 15:16.

[5:41]  ⁷ sn That is, considered worthy by God. They “gloried in their shame” of honoring Jesus with their testimony (Luke 6:22-23; 2 Macc 6:30).

[5:41]  ⁸ sn The name refers to the name of Jesus (cf. 3 John 7).

[16:25]  ⁹ tn Grk “praying, were singing.” The participle προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[16:25]  ¹⁰ sn Praying and singing hymns to God. Tertullian said, “The legs feel nothing in the stocks when the heart is in heaven” (To the Martyrs 2; cf. Rom 5:3; Jas 1:2; 1 Pet 5:6). The presence of God means the potential to be free (cf. v. 26).

[16:25]  ¹¹ tn The words “the rest of” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[5:3]  ¹¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[1:2]  ¹³ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited). Where the plural term is used in direct address, as here, “brothers and sisters” is used; where the term is singular and not direct address (as in v. 9), “believer” is preferred.

[1:2]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “all joy,” “full joy,” or “greatest joy.”

[1:12]  ¹⁵ 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.”

[1:12]  ¹⁶ tc Most mss ([C] P 0246 Ï) read ὁ κύριος (Jo kurio", “the Lord”) here, while others have ὁ θεός (Jo qeo", “God”; 4 33^vid 323 945 1739 al). However, several important and early witnesses (̲³ א A B Ψ 81 co) have no explicit subject. In light of the scribal tendency toward clarification, and the fact that both κύριος and θεός are well represented, there can be no doubt that the original text had no explicit subject. The referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity, not because of textual basis.

[5:11]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “Behold! We regard…”

[5:11]  ¹⁸ sn An allusion to Exod 34:6; Neh 9:17; Ps 86:15; 102:13; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2.

[5:1]  ¹⁹ tn Or “wail”; Grk “crying aloud.”

[4:12]  ²¹ tn Grk “who judges your neighbor.”

[4:13]  ²³ tn Or “city.”

[4:14]  ²⁵ tn Grk “who” (continuing the description of the people of v. 13). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:14]  ²⁶ tn Or “you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.”

[4:14]  ²⁷ tn Or “a vapor.” The Greek word ἀτμίς (atmis) denotes a swirl of smoke arising from a fire (cf. Gen 19:28; Lev 16:13; Joel 2:30 [Acts 2:19]; Ezek 8:11).

[4:15]  ²⁷ tn Grk “instead of your saying.”

[4:16]  ²⁹ tn Grk “but now.”