Psalms 109:31

109:31 because he stands at the right hand of the needy,

to deliver him from those who threaten ¹  his life.

Luke 22:32

22:32 but I have prayed for you, Simon, ²  that your faith may not fail. ³  When ⁴  you have turned back, ⁵  strengthen ⁶  your brothers.”

Romans 16:20

16:20 The God of peace will quickly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

Romans 16:1

Personal Greetings

16:1 Now I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant ⁷  of the church in Cenchrea,

Romans 3:8

3:8 And why not say, “Let us do evil so that good may come of it”? – as some who slander us allege that we say. ⁸  (Their ⁹  condemnation is deserved!)

[109:31]  ¹ tn Heb “judge.”

[22:32]  ² sn Here and in the remainder of the verse the second person pronouns are singular, so only Peter is in view. The name “Simon” has been supplied as a form of direct address to make this clear in English.

[22:32]  ³ sn That your faith may not fail. Note that Peter’s denials are pictured here as lapses, not as a total absence of faith.

[22:32]  ⁴ tn Grk “And when.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[22:32]  ⁵ tn Or “turned around.”

[22:32]  ⁶ sn Strengthen your brothers refers to Peter helping to strengthen their faith. Jesus quite graciously restores Peter “in advance,” even with the knowledge of his approaching denials.

[16:1]  ⁷ tn Or “deaconess.” It is debated whether διάκονος (diakonos) here refers to a specific office within the church. One contextual argument used to support this view is that Phoebe is associated with a particular church, Cenchrea, and as such would therefore be a deacon of that church. In the NT some who are called διάκονος are related to a particular church, yet the scholarly consensus is that such individuals are not deacons, but “servants” or “ministers” (other viable translations for διάκονος). For example, Epaphras is associated with the church in Colossians and is called a διάκονος in Col 1:7, but no contemporary translation regards him as a deacon. In 1 Tim 4:6 Paul calls Timothy a διάκονος; Timothy was associated with the church in Ephesus, but he obviously was not a deacon. In addition, the lexical evidence leans away from this view: Within the NT, the διακον- word group rarely functions with a technical nuance. In any case, the evidence is not compelling either way. The view accepted in the translation above is that Phoebe was a servant of the church, not a deaconess, although this conclusion should be regarded as tentative.

[3:8]  ⁸ tn Grk “(as we are slandered and some affirm that we say…).”

[3:8]  ⁹ tn Grk “whose.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, this relative clause was rendered as a new sentence in the translation.