Psalms 83:3-4

83:3 They carefully plot ¹  against your people,

and make plans to harm ²  the ones you cherish. ³ 

83:4 They say, “Come on, let’s annihilate them so they are no longer a nation! ⁴ 

Then the name of Israel will be remembered no more.”

Psalms 139:2

139:2 You know when I sit down and when I get up;

even from far away you understand my motives.

Proverbs 19:21

19:21 There are many plans ⁵  in a person’s mind, ⁶ 

but it ⁷  is the counsel ⁸  of the Lord which will stand.

Isaiah 10:7

10:7 But he does not agree with this,

his mind does not reason this way, ⁹ 

for his goal is to destroy,

and to eliminate many nations. ¹⁰ 

Mark 7:21

7:21 For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder,

John 13:2

13:2 The evening meal ¹¹  was in progress, and the devil had already put into the heart ¹²  of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, that he should betray ¹³  Jesus. ¹⁴ 

Acts 5:3

5:3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled ¹⁵  your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself part of the proceeds from the sale of ¹⁶  the land?

Acts 5:9

5:9 Peter then told her, “Why have you agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out!”

Acts 8:22

8:22 Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord ¹⁷  that he may perhaps forgive you for the intent of your heart. ¹⁸ 

Acts 8:1

8:1 And Saul agreed completely with killing ¹⁹  him.

Saul Begins to Persecute the Church

Now on that day a great ²⁰  persecution began ²¹  against the church in Jerusalem, ²²  and all ²³  except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions ²⁴  of Judea and Samaria.

Colossians 4:5

4:5 Conduct yourselves ²⁵  with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunities.

[83:3]  ¹ tn Heb “they make crafty a plot.”

[83:3]  ² tn Heb “and consult together against.”

[83:3]  ³ tn The passive participle of the Hebrew verb צָפַן (tsafan, “to hide”) is used here in the sense of “treasured; cherished.”

[83:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “we will cause them to disappear from [being] a nation.”

[19:21]  ⁵ sn The plans (from the Hebrew verb חָשַׁב [khashav], “to think; to reckon; to devise”) in the human heart are many. But only those which God approves will succeed.

[19:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the heart of a man” (cf. NAB, NIV). Here “heart” is used for the seat of thoughts, plans, and reasoning, so the translation uses “mind.” In contemporary English “heart” is more often associated with the seat of emotion than with the seat of planning and reasoning.

[19:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “but the counsel of the Lord, it will stand.” The construction draws attention to the “counsel of the Lord”; it is an independent nominative absolute, and the resumptive independent pronoun is the formal subject of the verb.

[19:21]  ⁸ tn The antithetical parallelism pairs “counsel” with “plans.” “Counsel of the Lord” (עֲצַת יְהוָה, ’atsat yehvah) is literally “advice” or “counsel” with the connotation of “plan” in this context (cf. NIV, NRSV, NLT “purpose”; NCV “plan”; TEV “the Lord’s will”).

[10:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “but he, not so does he intend, and his heart, not so does it think.”

[10:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for to destroy [is] in his heart, and to cut off nations, not a few.”

[13:2]  ¹¹ tn Or “Supper.” To avoid possible confusion because of different regional English usage regarding the distinction between “dinner” and “supper” as an evening meal, the translation simply refers to “the evening meal.”

[13:2]  ¹² sn At this point the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, that he should betray Jesus. C. K. Barrett (St. John, 365) thought this was a reference to the idea entering the devil’s own heart, but this does not seem likely. It is more probable that Judas’ heart is meant, since the use of the Greek article (rather than a possessive pronoun) is a typical idiom when a part of one’s own body is indicated. Judas’ name is withheld until the end of the sentence for dramatic effect (emphasis). This action must be read in light of 13:27, and appears to refer to a preliminary idea or plan.

[13:2]  ¹³ tn Or “that he should hand over.”

[13:2]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “betray him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:3]  ¹⁵ sn This is a good example of the Greek verb fill (πληρόω, plhrow) meaning “to exercise control over someone’s thought and action” (cf. Eph 5:18).

[5:3]  ¹⁶ tn The words “from the sale of” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to clarify the meaning, since the phrase “proceeds from the land” could possibly be understood as crops rather than money from the sale.

[8:22]  ¹⁷ tn Or “and implore the Lord.”

[8:22]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “that if possible the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.” The passive construction is somewhat awkward in contemporary English and has thus been converted to an active construction in the translation.

[8:1]  ¹⁹ tn The term ἀναίρεσις (anairesi") can refer to murder (BDAG 64 s.v.; 2 Macc 5:13; Josephus, Ant. 5.2.12 [5.165]).

[8:1]  ²⁰ tn Or “severe.”

[8:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “Now there happened on that day a great persecution.” It is less awkward to say in English “Now on that day a great persecution began.”

[8:1]  ²² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[8:1]  ²³ sn All. Given that the Jerusalem church is still active after this and that the Hellenists are the focus of Acts 6-8, it is possible to argue that only the Hellenistic Christians were forced to scatter.

[8:1]  ²⁴ tn Or “countryside.”

[4:5]  ²⁵ 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).