Psalms 92:5-6

92:5 How great are your works, O Lord!

Your plans are very intricate! ¹ 

92:6 The spiritually insensitive do not recognize this;

the fool does not understand this. ² 

Proverbs 17:24

17:24 Wisdom is directly in front of ³  the discerning person,

but the eyes of a fool run ⁴  to the ends of the earth. ⁵ 

Luke 7:29

7:29 (Now ⁶  all the people who heard this, even the tax collectors, ⁷  acknowledged ⁸  God’s justice, because they had been baptized ⁹  with John’s baptism.

Luke 7:35

7:35 But wisdom is vindicated ¹⁰  by all her children.” ¹¹ 

Luke 7:1

Healing the Centurion’s Slave

7:1 After Jesus ¹²  had finished teaching all this to the people, ¹³  he entered Capernaum. ¹⁴ 

Colossians 1:24-29

1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body – for the sake of his body, the church – what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. 1:25 I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship ¹⁵  from God – given to me for you – in order to complete ¹⁶  the word of God, 1:26 that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints. 1:27 God wanted to make known to them the glorious ¹⁷  riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 1:28 We proclaim him by instructing ¹⁸  and teaching ¹⁹  all people ²⁰  with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature ²¹  in Christ. 1:29 Toward this goal ²²  I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully ²³  works in me.

Ephesians 3:8-10

3:8 To me – less than the least of all the saints ²⁴  – this grace was given, ²⁵  to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ 3:9 and to enlighten ²⁶  everyone about God’s secret plan ²⁷  – a secret that has been hidden for ages ²⁸  in God ²⁹  who has created all things. 3:10 The purpose of this enlightenment is that ³⁰  through the church the multifaceted wisdom ³¹  of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms.

Revelation 5:11-14

5:11 Then ³²  I looked and heard the voice of many angels in a circle around the throne, as well as the living creatures and the elders. Their ³³  number was ten thousand times ten thousand ³⁴  – thousands times thousands – 5:12 all of whom ³⁵  were singing ³⁶  in a loud voice:

“Worthy is the lamb who was killed ³⁷ 

to receive power and wealth

and wisdom and might

and honor and glory and praise!”

5:13 Then ³⁸  I heard every creature – in heaven, on earth, under the earth, in the sea, and all that is in them – singing: ³⁹ 

“To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb

be praise, honor, glory, and ruling power ⁴⁰  forever and ever!”

5:14 And the four living creatures were saying “Amen,” and the elders threw themselves to the ground ⁴¹  and worshiped.

Revelation 7:12

7:12 saying,

“Amen! Praise and glory,

and wisdom and thanksgiving,

and honor and power and strength

be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

[92:5]  ¹ tn Heb “very deep [are] your thoughts.” God’s “thoughts” refer here to his moral design of the world, as outlined in vv. 6-15.

[92:6]  ² tn Heb “the brutish man does not know, and the fool does not understand this.” The adjective בַּעַר (ba’ar, “brutish”) refers to spiritual insensitivity, not mere lack of intelligence or reasoning ability (see Pss 49:10; 73:22; Prov 12:1; 30:2, as well as the use of the related verb in Ps 94:8).

[17:24]  ³ tn The verse begins with אֶת־פְּנֵי מֵבִין (’et-pÿni mevin), “before the discerning” or “the face of the discerning.” The particle אֶת here is simply drawing emphasis to the predicate (IBHS 182-83 §10.3.2b). Cf. NIV “A discerning man keeps wisdom in view.”

[17:24]  ⁴ tn The term “run” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for the sake of clarification.

[17:24]  ⁵ sn To say that “the eyes of the fool run to the ends of the earth” means that he has no power to concentrate and cannot focus his attention on anything. The language is hyperbolic. Cf. NCV “the mind of a fool wanders everywhere.”

[7:29]  ⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the parenthetical nature of the comment by the author.

[7:29]  ⁷ sn See the note on tax collectors in 3:12.

[7:29]  ⁸ tn Or “vindicated God”; Grk “justified God.” This could be expanded to “vindicated and responded to God.” The point is that God’s goodness and grace as evidenced in the invitation to John was justified and responded to by the group one might least expect, tax collector and sinners. They had more spiritual sensitivity than others. The contrastive response is clear from v. 30.

[7:29]  ⁹ tn The participle βαπτισθέντες (baptisqente") has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.

[7:35]  ¹⁰ tn Or “shown to be right.” This is the same verb translated “acknowledged… justice” in v. 29, with a similar sense – including the notion of response. Wisdom’s children are those who respond to God through John and Jesus.

[7:35]  ¹¹ tn Or “by all those who follow her” (cf. CEV, NLT). Note that the parallel in Matt 11:19 reads “by her deeds.”

[7:1]  ¹² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:1]  ¹³ tn Grk “After he had completed all his sayings in the hearing of the people.”

[7:1]  ¹⁴ sn Capernaum was a town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, 680 ft (204 m) below sea level. It was a major trade and economic center in the North Galilean region.

[1:25]  ¹⁵ tn BDAG 697 s.v. οἰκονομία 1.b renders the term here as “divine office.”

[1:25]  ¹⁶ tn See BDAG 828 s.v. πληρόω 3. The idea here seems to be that the apostle wants to “complete the word of God” in that he wants to preach it to every person in the known world (cf. Rom 15:19). See P. T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (WBC), 82.

[1:27]  ¹⁷ tn The genitive noun τῆς δόξης (ths doxhs) is an attributive genitive and has therefore been translated as “glorious riches.”

[1:28]  ¹⁸ tn Or “admonishing,” or “warning.” BDAG 679 s.v. νουθετέω states, “to counsel about avoidance or cessation of an improper course of conduct,, admonish, warn, instruct.” After the participle νουθετοῦντες (nouqetounte", “instructing”) the words πάντα ἄνθρωπον (panta anqrwpon, “all men”) occur in the Greek text, but since the same phrase appears again after διδάσκοντες (didaskontes) it was omitted in translation to avoid redundancy in English.

[1:28]  ¹⁹ tn The two participles “instructing” (νουθετοῦντες, nouqetounte") and “teaching” (διδάσκοντες, didaskonte") are translated as participles of means (“by”) related to the finite verb “we proclaim” (καταγγέλλομεν, katangellomen).

[1:28]  ²⁰ tn Here ἄνθρωπον (anqrwpon) is twice translated as a generic (“people” and “person”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.

[1:28]  ²¹ tn Since Paul’s focus is on the present experience of the Colossians, “mature” is a better translation of τέλειον (teleion) than “perfect,” since the latter implies a future, eschatological focus.

[1:29]  ²² tn The Greek phrase εἴς ὅ (eis Jo, “toward which”) implies “movement toward a goal” and has been rendered by the English phrase “Toward this goal.”

[1:29]  ²³ tn The prepositional phrase ἐν δυνάμει (en dunamei) seems to be functioning adverbially, related to the participle, and has therefore been translated “powerfully.”

[3:8]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ 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).

[3:9]  ²⁶ tn There is a possible causative nuance in the Greek verb, but this is difficult to convey in the translation.

[3:9]  ²⁷ tn Grk “what is the plan of the divine secret.” Earlier the author had used οἰκονομία (oikonomia; here “plan”) to refer to his own “stewardship” (v. 2). But now he is speaking about the content of this secret, not his own activity in relation to it.

[3:9]  ²⁸ tn Or “for eternity,” or perhaps “from the Aeons.” Cf. 2:2, 7.

[3:9]  ²⁹ tn Or “by God.” It is possible that ἐν (en) plus the dative here indicates agency, that is, that God has performed the action of hiding the secret. However, this usage of the preposition ἐν is quite rare in the NT, and even though here it does follow a perfect passive verb as in the Classical idiom, it is more likely that a different nuance is intended.

[3:10]  ³⁰ tn Grk “that.” Verse 10 is a subordinate clause to the verb “enlighten” in v. 9.

[3:10]  ³¹ tn Or “manifold wisdom,” “wisdom in its rich variety.”

[5:11]  ³² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[5:11]  ³³ tn Grk “elders, and the number of them was.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[5:11]  ³⁴ tn Or “myriads of myriads.” Although μυριάς (murias) literally means “10,000,” the point of the combination here may simply be to indicate an incalculably huge number. See L&N 60.9.

[5:12]  ³⁵ tn The words “all of whom” are not in the Greek text, but have been supplied to indicate the resumption of the phrase “the voice of many angels” at the beginning of the verse.

[5:12]  ³⁶ tn Grk “saying.”

[5:12]  ³⁷ tn Or “slaughtered”; traditionally, “slain.”

[5:13]  ³⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[5:13]  ³⁹ tn Grk “saying.”

[5:13]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “dominion.”

[5:14]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “fell down.” BDAG 815 s.v. πίπτω 1.b.α.ב. has “fall down, throw oneself to the ground as a sign of devotion or humility, before high-ranking persons or divine beings.”