Psalms 67:1-2

Psalm 67 ¹ 

For the music director; to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a psalm, a song.

67:1 May God show us his favor ²  and bless us! ³ 

May he smile on us! ⁴  (Selah)

67:2 Then those living on earth will know what you are like;

all nations will know how you deliver your people. ⁵ 

Psalms 98:2-3

98:2 The Lord demonstrates his power to deliver; ⁶ 

in the sight of the nations he reveals his justice.

98:3 He remains loyal and faithful to the family of Israel. ⁷ 

All the ends of the earth see our God deliver us. ⁸ 

Isaiah 11:10

Israel is Reclaimed and Reunited

11:10 At that time ⁹  a root from Jesse ¹⁰  will stand like a signal flag for the nations. Nations will look to him for guidance, ¹¹  and his residence will be majestic.

Isaiah 49:6

49:6 he says, “Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant,

to reestablish the tribes of Jacob,

and restore the remnant ¹²  of Israel? ¹³ 

I will make you a light to the nations, ¹⁴ 

so you can bring ¹⁵  my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”

Matthew 12:21

12:21 And in his name the Gentiles ¹⁶  will hope.” ¹⁷ 

Luke 2:32

2:32 a light, ¹⁸ 

for revelation to the Gentiles,

and for glory ¹⁹  to your people Israel.”

Acts 11:18

11:18 When they heard this, ²⁰  they ceased their objections ²¹  and praised ²²  God, saying, “So then, God has granted the repentance ²³  that leads to life even to the Gentiles.” ²⁴ 

Acts 13:46-48

13:46 Both Paul and Barnabas replied courageously, ²⁵  “It was necessary to speak the word of God ²⁶  to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy ²⁷  of eternal life, we ²⁸  are turning to the Gentiles. ²⁹  13:47 For this ³⁰  is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have appointed ³¹  you to be a light ³²  for the Gentiles, to bring salvation ³³  to the ends of the earth.’” ³⁴  13:48 When the Gentiles heard this, they began to rejoice ³⁵  and praise ³⁶  the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed for eternal life ³⁷  believed.

Acts 22:21

22:21 Then ³⁸  he said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”

Ephesians 3:8

3:8 To me – less than the least of all the saints ³⁹  – this grace was given, ⁴⁰  to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ

Colossians 1:27

1:27 God wanted to make known to them the glorious ⁴¹  riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ⁴²  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 2:7

2:7 rooted ⁴³  and built up in him and firm ⁴⁴  in your ⁴⁵  faith just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Colossians 2:2

2:2 My goal is that ⁴⁶  their hearts, having been knit together ⁴⁷  in love, may be encouraged, and that ⁴⁸  they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ, ⁴⁹ 

Colossians 1:11

1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of ⁵⁰  all patience and steadfastness, joyfully

[67:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 67. The psalmist prays for God’s blessing upon his people and urges the nations to praise him for he is the just ruler of the world.

[67:1]  ² tn Or “have mercy on us.”

[67:1]  ³ tn The prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives expressing the psalmist’s prayer. Note the jussive form יָאֵר (ya’er) in the next line.

[67:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “may he cause his face to shine with us.”

[67:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “to know in the earth your way, among all nations your deliverance.” The infinitive with -לְ (lamed) expresses purpose/result. When God demonstrates his favor to his people, all nations will recognize his character as a God who delivers. The Hebrew term דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, “way”) refers here to God’s characteristic behavior, more specifically, to the way he typically saves his people.

[98:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “makes known his deliverance.”

[98:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “he remembers his loyal love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel.”

[98:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “the deliverance of our God,” with “God” being a subjective genitive (= God delivers).

[11:10]  ⁹ tn Or “in that day” (KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[11:10]  ¹⁰ sn See the note at v. 1.

[11:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “ a root from Jesse, which stands for a signal flag of the nations, of him nations will inquire” [or “seek”].

[49:6]  ¹² tn Heb “the protected [or “preserved”] ones.”

[49:6]  ¹³ sn The question is purely rhetorical; it does not imply that the servant was dissatisfied with his commission or that he minimized the restoration of Israel.

[49:6]  ¹⁴ tn See the note at 42:6.

[49:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “be” (so KJV, ASV); CEV “you must take.”

[12:21]  ¹⁶ tn Or “the nations” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[12:21]  ¹⁷ sn Verses 18-21 are a quotation from Isa 42:1-4.

[2:32]  ¹⁸ tn The syntax of this verse is disputed. Most read “light” and “glory” in parallelism, so Jesus is a light for revelation to the Gentiles and is glory to the people for Israel. Others see “light” (1:78-79) as a summary, while “revelation” and “glory” are parallel, so Jesus is light for all, but is revelation for the Gentiles and glory for Israel. Both readings make good sense and either could be correct, but Luke 1:78-79 and Acts 26:22-23 slightly favor this second option.

[2:32]  ¹⁹ sn In other words, Jesus is a special cause for praise and honor (“glory”) for the nation.

[11:18]  ²⁰ tn Grk “these things.”

[11:18]  ²¹ tn Or “became silent,” but this would create an apparent contradiction with the subsequent action of praising God. The point, in context, is that they ceased objecting to what Peter had done.

[11:18]  ²² tn Or “glorified.”

[11:18]  ²³ sn Here the summary phrase for responding to the gospel is the repentance that leads to life. Note how the presence of life is tied to the presence of the Spirit (cf. John 4:7-42; 7:37-39).

[11:18]  ²⁴ sn In the Greek text the phrase even to the Gentiles is in an emphatic position.

[13:46]  ²⁵ tn Grk “Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out courageously and said.” The redundancy is removed in the translation and the verb “replied” is used in keeping with the logical sequence of events. The theme of boldness reappears: Acts 4:24-30; 9:27-28.

[13:46]  ²⁶ tn Grk “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken.” For smoothness and simplicity of English style, the passive construction has been converted to active voice in the translation.

[13:46]  ²⁷ tn Or “and consider yourselves unworthy.”

[13:46]  ²⁸ tn Grk “behold, we.” In this context ἰδού (idou) is not easily translated into English.

[13:46]  ²⁹ sn This turning to the Gentiles would be a shocking rebuke to 1st century Jews who thought they alone were the recipients of the promise.

[13:47]  ³⁰ tn Here οὕτως (Joutws) is taken to refer to what follows, the content of the quotation, as given for this verse by BDAG 742 s.v. οὕτω/οὕτως 2.

[13:47]  ³¹ tn BDAG 1004 s.v. τίθημι 3.a has “τιθέναι τινὰ εἴς τι place/appoint someone to or for (to function as) someth….Ac 13:47.” This is a double accusative construction of object (“you”) and complement (“a light”).

[13:47]  ³² sn Paul alludes here to the language of the Servant in Isaiah, pointing to Isa 42:6; 49:6. He and Barnabas do the work of the Servant in Isaiah.

[13:47]  ³³ tn Grk “that you should be for salvation,” but more simply “to bring salvation.”

[13:47]  ³⁴ sn An allusion to Isa 42:6 and 49:6. The expression the ends of the earth recalls Luke 3:6 and Acts 1:8. Paul sees himself and Barnabas as carrying out the commission of Luke 24:27. (See 2 Cor 6:2, where servant imagery also appears concerning Paul’s message.)

[13:48]  ³⁵ tn The imperfect verb ἔχαιρον (ecairon) and the following ἐδόξαζον (edoxazon) are translated as ingressive imperfects.

[13:48]  ³⁶ tn Or “glorify.” Although “honor” is given by BDAG 258 s.v. δοξάζω as a translation, it would be misleading here, because the meaning is “to honor in the sense of attributing worth to something,” while in contemporary English usage one speaks of “honoring” a contract in the sense of keeping its stipulations. It is not a synonym for “obey” in this context (“obey the word of the Lord”), but that is how many English readers would understand it.

[13:48]  ³⁷ sn Note the contrast to v. 46 in regard to eternal life.

[22:21]  ³⁸ tn Grk “And.” Since this represents a response to Paul’s reply in v. 19, καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the logical sequence.

[3:8]  ³⁹ sn In Pauline writings saints means any true believer. Thus for Paul to view himself as less than the least of all the saints is to view himself as the most unworthy object of Christ’s redemption.

[3:8]  ⁴⁰ sn The parallel phrases to proclaim and to enlighten which follow indicate why God’s grace was manifested to Paul. Grace was not something just to be received, but to be shared with others (cf. Acts 13:47).

[1:27]  ⁴¹ tn The genitive noun τῆς δόξης (ths doxhs) is an attributive genitive and has therefore been translated as “glorious riches.”

[1:1]  ⁴² tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[2:7]  ⁴³ tn Or “having been rooted.”

[2:7]  ⁴⁴ sn The three participles rooted, built up, and firm belong together and reflect three different metaphors. The first participle “rooted” (perfect tense) indicates a settled condition on the part of the Colossian believers and refers to horticulture. The second participle “built up” (present passive) comes from the world of architecture. The third participle “firm [established]” (present passive) comes from the law courts. With these three metaphors (as well as the following comment on thankfulness) Paul explains what he means when he commands them to continue to live their lives in Christ. The use of the passive probably reflects God’s activity among them. It was he who had rooted them, had been building them up, and had established them in the faith (cf. 1 Cor 3:5-15 for the use of mixed metaphors).

[2:7]  ⁴⁵ tn The Greek text has the article τῇ (th), not the possessive pronoun ὑμῶν (Jumwn), but the article often functions as a possessive pronoun and was translated as such here (ExSyn 215).

[2:2]  ⁴⁶ tn Verse two begins a subordinate ἵνα (Jina) clause which was divided up into two sentences for the sake of clarity in English. Thus the phrase “My goal is that” is an attempt to reflect in the translation the purpose expressed through the ἵνα clauses.

[2:2]  ⁴⁷ tn BDAG 956 s.v. συμβιβάζω 1.b reads “unite, knit together.” Some commentators take the verb as a reference to instruction, “instructed in love.” See P. T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (WBC), 93.

[2:2]  ⁴⁸ tn The phrase “and that” translates the first εἰς (eis) clause of v. 2 and reflects the second goal of Paul’s striving and struggle for the Colossians – the first is “encouragement” and the second is “full assurance.”

[2:2]  ⁴⁹ tc There are at least a dozen variants here, almost surely generated by the unusual wording τοῦ θεοῦ, Χριστοῦ (tou qeou, Cristou, “of God, Christ”; so Ì⁴⁶ B Hil). Scribes would be prone to conform this to more common Pauline expressions such as “of God, who is in Christ” (33), “of God, the Father of Christ” (א* A C 048^vid 1175 bo), and “of the God and Father of Christ” (א² Ψ 075 0278 365 1505 pc). Even though the external support for the wording τοῦ θεοῦ, Χριστοῦ is hardly overwhelming, it clearly best explains the rise of the other readings and should thus be regarded as authentic.

[1:11]  ⁵⁰ tn The expression “for the display of” is an attempt to convey in English the force of the Greek preposition εἰς (eis) in this context.