Psalms 122:5-9

122:5 Indeed, ¹  the leaders sit ²  there on thrones and make legal decisions,

on the thrones of the house of David. ³ 

122:6 Pray ⁴  for the peace of Jerusalem!

May those who love her prosper! ⁵ 

122:7 May there be peace inside your defenses,

and prosperity ⁶  inside your fortresses! ⁷ 

122:8 For the sake of my brothers and my neighbors

I will say, “May there be peace in you!”

122:9 For the sake of the temple of the Lord our God

I will pray for you to prosper. ⁸ 

Jeremiah 28:6

28:6 The prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the Lord do all this! May the Lord make your prophecy come true! May he bring back to this place from Babylon all the valuable articles taken from the Lord’s temple and the people who were carried into exile.

Romans 12:15

12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

Romans 12:2

12:2 Do not be conformed ⁹  to this present world, ¹⁰  but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve ¹¹  what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

Colossians 1:9

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ¹²  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ¹³  to fill ¹⁴  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ¹⁵  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 2:19-20

2:19 He has not held fast ¹⁶  to the head from whom the whole body, supported ¹⁷  and knit together through its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God. ¹⁸ 

2:20 If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits ¹⁹  of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world?

Colossians 3:6-9

3:6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. ²⁰  3:7 You also lived your lives ²¹  in this way at one time, when you used to live among them. 3:8 But now, put off all such things ²²  as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth. 3:9 Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with its practices

Colossians 3:2

3:2 Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth,

Colossians 2:11-12

2:11 In him you also were circumcised – not, however, ²³  with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal ²⁴  of the fleshly body, ²⁵  that is, ²⁶  through the circumcision done by Christ. 2:12 Having been buried with him in baptism, you also have been raised with him through your ²⁷  faith in the power ²⁸  of God who raised him from the dead.

Revelation 5:10

5:10 You have appointed ²⁹  them ³⁰  as a kingdom and priests ³¹  to serve ³²  our God, and they will reign ³³  on the earth.”

[122:5]  ¹ tn Or “for.”

[122:5]  ² tn Or “sat.”

[122:5]  ³ tn Heb “Indeed, there they sit [on] thrones for judgment, [on] thrones [belonging] to the house of David.”

[122:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “ask [for].”

[122:6]  ⁵ tn Or “be secure.”

[122:7]  ⁶ tn or “security.”

[122:7]  ⁷ tn The psalmist uses second feminine singular pronominal forms to address personified Jerusalem.

[122:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “I will seek good for you.” The psalmist will seek Jerusalem’s “good” through prayer.

[12:2]  ⁹ tn Although συσχηματίζεσθε (suschmatizesqe) could be either a passive or middle, the passive is more likely since it would otherwise have to be a direct middle (“conform yourselves”) and, as such, would be quite rare for NT Greek. It is very telling that being “conformed” to the present world is viewed as a passive notion, for it may suggest that it happens, in part, subconsciously. At the same time, the passive could well be a “permissive passive,” suggesting that there may be some consciousness of the conformity taking place. Most likely, it is a combination of both.

[12:2]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “to this age.”

[12:2]  ¹¹ sn The verb translated test and approve (δοκιμάζω, dokimazw) carries the sense of “test with a positive outcome,” “test so as to approve.”

[1:9]  ¹² tn Or “heard about it”; Grk “heard.” There is no direct object stated in the Greek (direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context). A direct object is expected by an English reader, however, so most translations supply one. Here, however, it is not entirely clear what the author “heard”: a number of translations supply “it” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV; NAB “this”), but this could refer back either to (1) “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8, or (2) “your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints” (v. 4). In light of this uncertainty, other translations supply “about you” (TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). This is preferred by the present translation since, while it does not resolve the ambiguity entirely, it does make it less easy for the English reader to limit the reference only to “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8.

[1:9]  ¹³ tn The term “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but the following reference to “the knowledge of his will” makes it clear that “God” is in view as the object of the “praying and asking,” and should therefore be included in the English translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ¹⁴ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as substantival, indicating the content of the prayer and asking. The idea of purpose may also be present in this clause.

[1:1]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[2:19]  ¹⁶ tn The Greek participle κρατῶν (kratwn) was translated as a finite verb to avoid an unusually long and pedantic sentence structure in English.

[2:19]  ¹⁷ tn See BDAG 387 s.v. ἐπιχορηγέω 3.

[2:19]  ¹⁸ tn The genitive τοῦ θεοῦ (tou qeou) has been translated as a genitive of source, “from God.”

[2:20]  ¹⁹ tn See the note on the phrase “elemental spirits” in 2:8.

[3:6]  ²⁰ tc The words ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῆς ἀπειθείας (epi tou" Juiou" th" apeiqeia", “on the sons of disobedience”) are lacking in Ì⁴⁶ B b sa, but are found in א A C D F G H I Ψ 075 0278 33 1739 1881 Ï lat sy bo. The words are omitted by several English translations (NASB, NIV, ESV, TNIV). This textual problem is quite difficult to resolve. On the one hand, the parallel account in Eph 5:6 has these words, thus providing scribes a motive for adding them here. On the other hand, the reading without the words may be too hard: The ἐν οἷς (en |oi") of v. 7 seems to have no antecedent without υἱούς already in the text, although it could possibly be construed as neuter referring to the vice list in v. 5. Further, although the witness of B is especially important, there are other places in which B and Ì⁴⁶ share errant readings of omission. Nevertheless, the strength of the internal evidence against the longer reading is at least sufficient to cause doubt here. The decision to retain the words in the text is less than certain.

[3:7]  ²¹ tn Grk “you also walked.” The verb περιπατέω (peripatew) is commonly used in the NT to refer to behavior or conduct of one’s life (L&N 41.11).

[3:8]  ²² tn The Greek article with τὰ πάντα (ta panta) is anaphoric, referring to the previous list of vices, and has been translated here as “all such things.”

[2:11]  ²³ tn The terms “however” and “but” in this sentence were supplied in order to emphasize the contrast.

[2:11]  ²⁴ tn The articular noun τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (th apekdusei) is a noun which ends in -σις (-sis) and therefore denotes action, i.e., “removal.” Since the head noun is a verbal noun, the following genitive τοῦ σώματος (tou swmatos) is understood as an objective genitive, receiving the action of the head noun.

[2:11]  ²⁵ tn Grk “in the removal of the body of flesh.” The genitive τῆς σαρκός (th" sarko") has been translated as an attributive genitive, “fleshly body.”

[2:11]  ²⁶ tn The second prepositional phrase beginning with ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ (en th peritomh) is parallel to the prepositional phrase ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (en th apekdusei) and gives a further explanation of it. The words “that is” were supplied to bring out this force in the translation.

[2:12]  ²⁷ tn The article with the genitive modifier τῆς πίστεως (th" pistew") is functioning as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[2:12]  ²⁸ tn The genitive τῆς ἐνεργείας (th" energeia") has been translated as an objective genitive, “faith in the power.”

[5:10]  ²⁹ tn The verb ἐποίησας (epoihsas) is understood to mean “appointed” here. For an example of this use, see Mark 3:14.

[5:10]  ³⁰ tc The vast majority of witnesses have αὐτούς (autous, “them”) here, while the Textus Receptus reads ἡμᾶς (Jhmas, “us”) with insignificant support (pc gig vg^cl sa Prim Bea). There is no question that the original text read αὐτούς here.

[5:10]  ³¹ tn The reference to “kingdom and priests” may be a hendiadys: “priestly kingdom.”

[5:10]  ³² tn The words “to serve” are not in the Greek text, but are implied by the word “priests.”

[5:10]  ³³ tc The textual problem here between the present tense βασιλεύουσιν (basileuousin, “they are reigning”; so A 1006 1611 Ï^K pc) and the future βασιλεύσουσιν (basileusousin, “they will reign”; so א 1854 2053 Ï^A pc lat co) is a difficult one. Both readings have excellent support. On the one hand, the present tense seems to be the harder reading in this context. On the other hand, codex A elsewhere mistakes the future for the present (20:6). Further, the lunar sigma in uncial script could have been overlooked by some scribes, resulting in the present tense. All things considered, there is a slight preference for the future.