Proverbs 24:10-12

24:10 If you faint ¹  in the day of trouble, ² 

your strength is small! ³ 

24:11 Deliver those being taken away to death,

and hold back those slipping to the slaughter. ⁴ 

24:12 If you say, “But we did not know about this,”

does not the one who evaluates ⁵  hearts consider?

Does not the one who guards your life know?

Will he not repay each person according to his deeds? ⁶ 

Matthew 16:24-25

16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ⁷  he must deny ⁸  himself, take up his cross, ⁹  and follow me. 16:25 For whoever wants to save his life ¹⁰  will lose it, ¹¹  but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

John 12:25

12:25 The one who loves his life ¹²  destroys ¹³  it, and the one who hates his life in this world guards ¹⁴  it for eternal life.

Philippians 2:30

2:30 since it was because of the work of Christ that he almost died. He risked his life so that he could make up for your inability to serve me. ¹⁵ 

Hebrews 12:3

12:3 Think of him who endured such opposition against himself by sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up.

[24:10]  ¹ tn Heb “show yourself slack” (NASB similar). The verb רָפָה (rafah) means “to sink; to relax.” In the causative stems it means “to let slacken; to let go; to refrain; to fail; to do nothing.” In the Hitpael stem BDB 952 s.v. defines it as “to show yourself slack.” It has also been rendered as “give up” (NCV, CEV); “fail” (NLT); “falter” (NIV). The colon implies a condition, for which the second part of the verse is the apodosis.

[24:10]  ² tn The verse employs a paronomasia to underscore the point: “trouble” is צָרָה (tsarah), literally “a bind; a strait [or, narrow] place”; “small” is צַר (tsar), with the same idea of “narrow” or “close.”

[24:10]  ³ sn The test of strength is adversity, for it reveals how strong a person is. Of course a weak person can always plead adverse conditions in order to quit. This is the twenty-fourth saying.

[24:11]  ⁴ tn The idea of “slipping” (participle from מוֹט, mot) has troubled some commentators. G. R. Driver emends it to read “at the point of” (“Problems in Proverbs,” ZAW 50 [1932]: 146). But the MT as it stands makes good sense. The reference would be general, viz., to help any who are in mortal danger or who might be tottering on the edge of such disaster – whether through sin, or through disease, war, or danger. Several English versions (e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV) render this term as “staggering.”

[24:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “weighs” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV) meaning “tests” or “evaluates.”

[24:12]  ⁶ sn The verse completes the saying by affirming that people will be judged responsible for helping those in mortal danger. The verse uses a series of rhetorical questions to affirm that God knows our hearts and we cannot plead ignorance.

[16:24]  ⁷ tn Grk “to come after me.”

[16:24]  ⁸ tn This translation better expresses the force of the Greek third person imperative than the traditional “let him deny,” which could be understood as merely permissive.

[16:24]  ⁹ sn To bear the cross means to accept the rejection of the world for turning to Jesus and following him. Discipleship involves a death that is like a crucifixion; see Gal 6:14.

[16:25]  ¹⁰ tn Or “soul” (throughout vv. 25-26).

[16:25]  ¹¹ sn The point of the saying whoever wants to save his life will lose it is that if one comes to Jesus then rejection by many will certainly follow. If self-protection is a key motivation, then one will not respond to Jesus and will not be saved. One who is willing to risk rejection will respond and find true life.

[12:25]  ¹² tn Or “soul.”

[12:25]  ¹³ tn Or “loses.” Although the traditional English translation of ἀπολλύει (apolluei) in John 12:25 is “loses,” the contrast with φυλάξει (fulaxei, “keeps” or “guards”) in the second half of the verse favors the meaning “destroy” here.

[12:25]  ¹⁴ tn Or “keeps.”

[2:30]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “make up for your lack of service to me.”