Psalms 95:7

95:7 For he is our God;

we are the people of his pasture,

the sheep he owns. ¹ 

Today, if only you would obey him! ² 

Isaiah 56:12

56:12 Each one says, ³ 

‘Come on, I’ll get some wine!

Let’s guzzle some beer!

Tomorrow will be just like today!

We’ll have everything we want!’ ⁴ 

Luke 12:19-20

12:19 And I will say to myself, ⁵  “You have plenty of goods stored up for many years; relax, eat, drink, celebrate!”’ 12:20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life ⁶  will be demanded back from ⁷  you, but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ ⁸ 

Luke 12:2

12:2 Nothing is hidden ⁹  that will not be revealed, ¹⁰  and nothing is secret that will not be made known.

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ¹¹  brothers and sisters ¹²  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ¹³  from God our Father! ¹⁴ 

James 4:13-16

4:13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town ¹⁵  and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” 4:14 You ¹⁶  do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? ¹⁷  For you are a puff of smoke ¹⁸  that appears for a short time and then vanishes. 4:15 You ought to say instead, ¹⁹  “If the Lord is willing, then we will live and do this or that.” 4:16 But as it is, ²⁰  you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

[95:7]  ¹ tn Heb “of his hand.”

[95:7]  ² tn Heb “if only you would listen to his voice.” The Hebrew particle אִם (’im, “if”) and following prefixed verbal form here express a wish (cf. Ps 81:8). Note that the apodosis (the “then” clause of the conditional sentence) is suppressed.

[56:12]  ³ tn The words “each one says” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[56:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “great, [in] abundance, very much,” i.e., “very great indeed.” See HALOT 452 s.v. יֶתֶר.

[12:19]  ⁵ tn Grk “to my soul,” which is repeated as a vocative in the following statement, but is left untranslated as redundant.

[12:20]  ⁶ tn Grk “your soul,” but ψυχή (yuch) is frequently used of one’s physical life. It clearly has that meaning in this context.

[12:20]  ⁷ tn Or “required back.” This term, ἀπαιτέω (apaitew), has an economic feel to it and is often used of a debt being called in for repayment (BDAG 96 s.v. 1).

[12:20]  ⁸ tn Grk “the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” The words “for yourself” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[12:2]  ⁹ tn Or “concealed.”

[12:2]  ¹⁰ sn I.e., be revealed by God. The passive voice verbs here (“be revealed,” be made known”) see the revelation as coming from God. The text is both a warning about bad things being revealed and an encouragement that good things will be made known, though the stress with the images of darkness and what is hidden in vv. 2-3 is on the attempt to conceal.

[1:2]  ¹¹ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ¹² tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ¹³ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ¹⁴ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

[4:13]  ¹⁵ tn Or “city.”

[4:14]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “who” (continuing the description of the people of v. 13). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:14]  ¹⁷ tn Or “you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.”

[4:14]  ¹⁸ tn Or “a vapor.” The Greek word ἀτμίς (atmis) denotes a swirl of smoke arising from a fire (cf. Gen 19:28; Lev 16:13; Joel 2:30 [Acts 2:19]; Ezek 8:11).

[4:15]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “instead of your saying.”

[4:16]  ²⁰ tn Grk “but now.”