Proverbs 14:6

14:6 The scorner ¹  seeks wisdom but finds none, ² 

but understanding is easy ³  for a discerning person.

John 5:44

5:44 How can you believe, if you accept praise ⁴  from one another and don’t seek the praise ⁵  that comes from the only God? ⁶ 

John 6:44-45

6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, ⁷  and I will raise him up at the last day. 6:45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ ⁸  Everyone who hears and learns from the Father ⁹  comes to me.

Acts 16:14

16:14 A ¹⁰  woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth ¹¹  from the city of Thyatira, ¹²  a God-fearing woman, listened to us. ¹³  The Lord opened her heart to respond ¹⁴  to what Paul was saying.

Acts 16:2

16:2 The brothers in Lystra ¹⁵  and Iconium ¹⁶  spoke well ¹⁷  of him. ¹⁸ 

Colossians 4:4-6

4:4 Pray that I may make it known as I should. ¹⁹  4:5 Conduct yourselves ²⁰  with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunities. 4:6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer everyone.

Colossians 4:1

4:1 Masters, treat your slaves with justice and fairness, because you know that you also have a master in heaven.

Colossians 2:20

2:20 If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits ²¹  of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world?

Colossians 2:1

2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, ²²  and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face. ²³ 

Colossians 1:20

1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, ²⁴  whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Jude 1:19

1:19 These people are divisive, ²⁵  worldly, ²⁶  devoid of the Spirit. ²⁷ 

[14:6]  ¹ sn The “scorner” (לֵץ, lets) is intellectually arrogant; he lacks any serious interest in knowledge or religion. He pursues wisdom in a superficial way so that he can appear wise. The acquisition of wisdom is conditioned by one’s attitude toward it (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 149).

[14:6]  ² tn Heb “and there is not.”

[14:6]  ³ sn The Niphal of קָלַל (qalal) means “to appear light; to appear trifling; to appear easy.”

[5:44]  ⁴ tn Or “honor” (Grk “glory,” in the sense of respect or honor accorded to a person because of their status).

[5:44]  ⁵ tn Or “honor” (Grk “glory,” in the sense of respect or honor accorded to a person because of their status).

[5:44]  ⁶ tc Several early and important witnesses (Ì^66,75 B W a b sa) lack θεοῦ (qeou, “God”) here, thus reading “the only one,” while most of the rest of the tradition, including some important mss, has the name ({א A D L Θ Ψ 33 Ï}). Internally, it could be argued that the name of God was not used here, in keeping with the NT practice of suppressing the name of God at times for rhetorical effect, drawing the reader inexorably to the conclusion that the one being spoken of is God himself. On the other hand, never is ὁ μόνος (Jo mono") used absolutely in the NT (i.e., without a noun or substantive with it), and always the subject of the adjunct is God (cf. Matt 24:36; John 17:3; 1 Tim 6:16). What then is to explain the shorter reading? In uncial script, with θεοῦ written as a nomen sacrum, envisioning accidental omission of the name by way of homoioteleuton requires little imagination, largely because of the succession of words ending in -ου: toumonouqMuou. It is thus preferable to retain the word in the text.

[6:44]  ⁷ tn Or “attracts him,” or “pulls him.” The word is used of pulling or dragging, often by force. It is even used once of magnetic attraction (A. Oepke, TDNT 2:503).

[6:45]  ⁸ sn A quotation from Isa 54:13.

[6:45]  ⁹ tn Or “listens to the Father and learns.”

[16:14]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “And a.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[16:14]  ¹¹ tn On the term translated “a dealer in purple cloth” see BDAG 855 s.v. πορφυρόπωλις.

[16:14]  ¹² sn Thyatira was a city in the province of Lydia in Asia Minor.

[16:14]  ¹³ tn The words “to us” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[16:14]  ¹⁴ tn Although BDAG 880 s.v. προσέχω 2.b gives the meaning “pay attention to” here, this could be misunderstood by the modern English reader to mean merely listening intently. The following context, however, indicates that Lydia responded positively to Paul’s message, so the verb here was translated “to respond.”

[16:2]  ¹⁵ sn Lystra was a city in Lycaonia about 25 mi (40 km) south of Iconium.

[16:2]  ¹⁶ sn Iconium was a city in Lycaonia about 110 mi (175 km) east of Pisidian Antioch.

[16:2]  ¹⁷ tn For this sense of μαρτυρέω (marturew), see BDAG 618 s.v. 2.b.

[16:2]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “who was well spoken of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconium.” Because of the awkwardness in English of having two relative clauses follow one another (“who was a believer…who was well spoken of”) and the awkwardness of the passive verb (“was well spoken of”), the relative pronoun at the beginning of 16:2 (“who”) has been translated as a pronoun (“him”) and the construction converted from passive to active at the same time a new sentence was started in the translation.

[4:4]  ¹⁹ tn The phrase begins with the ἵνα (Jina) clause and is subordinate to the imperative προσκαρτερεῖτε (proskartereite) in v. 2. The reference to the idea that Paul must make it known indicates that this clause is probably best viewed as purpose and not content, like the ἵνα of v. 3. It is the second purpose stated in the context; the first is expressed through the infinitive λαλῆσαι (lalhsai) in v. 3. The term “pray” at the beginning of the sentence is intended to pick up the imperative of v. 3.

[4:5]  ²⁰ tn Grk “walk.” The verb περιπατέω (peripatew) is a common NT idiom for one’s lifestyle, behavior, or manner of conduct (L&N 41.11).

[2:20]  ²¹ tn See the note on the phrase “elemental spirits” in 2:8.

[2:1]  ²² tn Or “I want you to know how hard I am working for you…”

[2:1]  ²³ tn Grk “as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.”

[1:20]  ²⁴ tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì⁴⁶ א A C D¹ Ψ 048^vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.

[1:19]  ²⁵ tn Grk “these are the ones who cause divisions.”

[1:19]  ²⁶ tn Or “natural,” that is, living on the level of instincts, not on a spiritual level (the same word occurs in 1 Cor 2:14 as a description of nonbelievers).

[1:19]  ²⁷ tn Grk “not having [the] Spirit.”