Psalms 19:1

Psalm 19 ¹ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; ² 

the sky displays his handiwork. ³ 

Psalms 50:6

50:6 The heavens declare his fairness, ⁴ 

for God is judge. ⁵  (Selah)

Psalms 97:6

97:6 The sky declares his justice,

and all the nations see his splendor.

Isaiah 44:23

44:23 Shout for joy, O sky, for the Lord intervenes; ⁶ 

shout out, you subterranean regions ⁷  of the earth.

O mountains, give a joyful shout;

you too, O forest and all your trees! ⁸ 

For the Lord protects ⁹  Jacob;

he reveals his splendor through Israel. ¹⁰ 

Luke 2:10-15

2:10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! Listen carefully, ¹¹  for I proclaim to you good news ¹²  that brings great joy to all the people: 2:11 Today ¹³  your Savior is born in the city ¹⁴  of David. ¹⁵  He is Christ ¹⁶  the Lord. 2:12 This ¹⁷  will be a sign ¹⁸  for you: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.” ¹⁹  2:13 Suddenly ²⁰  a vast, heavenly army ²¹  appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

2:14 “Glory ²²  to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among people ²³  with whom he is pleased!” ²⁴ 

2:15 When ²⁵  the angels left them and went back to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem ²⁶  and see this thing that has taken place, that the Lord ²⁷  has made known to us.”

Ephesians 3:10

3:10 The purpose of this enlightenment is that ²⁸  through the church the multifaceted wisdom ²⁹  of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 3:1

Paul's Relationship to the Divine Mystery

3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus ³⁰  for the sake of you Gentiles –

Ephesians 1:12

1:12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope ³¹  on Christ, ³²  would be to the praise of his glory.

Revelation 5:11-14

5:11 Then ³³  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 ³⁴  number was ten thousand times ten thousand ³⁵  – thousands times thousands – 5:12 all of whom ³⁶  were singing ³⁷  in a loud voice:

“Worthy is the lamb who was killed ³⁸ 

to receive power and wealth

and wisdom and might

and honor and glory and praise!”

5:13 Then ³⁹  I heard every creature – in heaven, on earth, under the earth, in the sea, and all that is in them – singing: ⁴⁰ 

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

be praise, honor, glory, and ruling power ⁴¹  forever and ever!”

5:14 And the four living creatures were saying “Amen,” and the elders threw themselves to the ground ⁴²  and worshiped.

Revelation 7:10-12

7:10 They were shouting out in a loud voice,

“Salvation belongs to our God, ⁴³ 

to the one seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

7:11 And all the angels stood ⁴⁴  there in a circle around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground ⁴⁵  before the throne and worshiped God, 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!”

[19:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 19. The psalmist praises God for his self-revelation in the heavens and in the Mosaic law. The psalmist concludes with a prayer, asking the Lord to keep him from sinning and to approve of his thoughts and words.

[19:1]  ² sn God’s glory refers here to his royal majesty and power.

[19:1]  ³ tn Heb “and the work of his hands the sky declares.” The participles emphasize the ongoing testimony of the heavens/sky.

[50:6]  ⁴ tn Or “justice.”

[50:6]  ⁵ tn Or “for God, he is about to judge.” The participle may be taken as substantival (as in the translation above) or as a predicate (indicating imminent future action in this context).

[44:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “acts”; NASB, NRSV “has done it”; NLT “has done this wondrous thing.”

[44:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “lower regions.” This refers to Sheol and forms a merism with “sky” in the previous line. See Pss 63:9; 71:20.

[44:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “O forest and all the trees in it”; NASB, NRSV “and every tree in it.”

[44:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.

[44:23]  ¹⁰ tn That is, by delivering Israel. Cf. NCV “showed his glory when he saved Israel”; TEV “has shown his greatness by saving his people Israel.”

[2:10]  ¹¹ tn Grk “behold.”

[2:10]  ¹² tn Grk “I evangelize to you great joy.”

[2:11]  ¹³ sn The Greek word for today (σήμερον, shmeron) occurs eleven times in the Gospel of Luke (2:11; 4:21; 5:26; 12:28; 13:32-33; 19:5, 9; 22:34, 61; 23:43) and nine times in Acts. Its use, especially in passages such as 2:11, 4:21, 5:26; 19:5, 9, signifies the dawning of the era of messianic salvation and the fulfillment of the plan of God. Not only does it underscore the idea of present fulfillment in Jesus’ ministry, but it also indicates salvific fulfillment present in the church (cf. Acts 1:6; 3:18; D. L. Bock, Luke [BECNT], 1:412; I. H. Marshall, Luke, [NIGTC], 873).

[2:11]  ¹⁴ tn Or “town.” See the note on “city” in v. 4.

[2:11]  ¹⁵ tn This is another indication of a royal, messianic connection.

[2:11]  ¹⁶ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[2:12]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “And this.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[2:12]  ¹⁸ sn The sign functions for the shepherds like Elizabeth’s conception served for Mary in 1:36.

[2:12]  ¹⁹ tn Or “a feeding trough,” see Luke 2:7.

[2:13]  ²⁰ tn Grk “And suddenly.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[2:13]  ²¹ tn Grk “a multitude of the armies of heaven.”

[2:14]  ²² sn Glory here refers to giving honor to God.

[2:14]  ²³ tn This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") referring to both males and females.

[2:14]  ²⁴ tc Most witnesses (א² B² L Θ Ξ Ψ Ë^1,13 Ï sy bo) have ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκία (en anqrwpoi" eudokia, “good will among people”) instead of ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκίας (en anqrwpoi" eudokia", “among people with whom he is pleased”), a reading attested by א* A B* D W pc (sa). Most of the Itala witnesses and some other versional witnesses reflect a Greek text which has the genitive εὐδοκίας but drops the preposition ἐν. Not only is the genitive reading better attested, but it is more difficult than the nominative. “The meaning seems to be, not that divine peace can be bestowed only where human good will is already present, but that at the birth of the Saviour God’s peace rests on those whom he has chosen in accord with his good pleasure” (TCGNT 111).

[2:15]  ²⁵ tn Grk “And it happened that when.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[2:15]  ²⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[2:15]  ²⁷ sn Note how although angels delivered the message, it was the Lord whose message is made known, coming through them.

[3:10]  ²⁸ tn Grk “that.” Verse 10 is a subordinate clause to the verb “enlighten” in v. 9.

[3:10]  ²⁹ tn Or “manifold wisdom,” “wisdom in its rich variety.”

[3:1]  ³⁰ tc Several early and important witnesses, chiefly of the Western text (א* D* F G [365]), lack ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou, “Jesus”) here, while most Alexandrian and Byzantine mss (Ì⁴⁶ א¹ A B [C] D¹ Ψ 33 1739 [1881] Ï lat sy bo) have the word. However, because of the Western text’s proclivities to add or delete to the text, seemingly at whim, serious doubts should be attached to the shorter reading. It is strengthened, however, by א’s support. Nevertheless, since both א and D were corrected with the addition of ᾿Ιησοῦ, their testimony might be questioned. Further, in uncial script the nomina sacra here could have led to missing a word by way of homoioteleuton (cMuiMu). At the same time, in light of the rarity of scribal omission of nomina sacra (see TCGNT 582, n. 1), a decision for inclusion of the word here must be tentative. NA²⁷ rightly places ᾿Ιησοῦ in brackets.

[1:12]  ³¹ tn Or “who had already hoped.”

[1:12]  ³² tn Or “the Messiah.”

[5:11]  ³³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[5:11]  ³⁴ 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]  ³⁵ 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]  ³⁶ 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]  ³⁷ tn Grk “saying.”

[5:12]  ³⁸ tn Or “slaughtered”; traditionally, “slain.”

[5:13]  ³⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[5:13]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “saying.”

[5:13]  ⁴¹ tn Or “dominion.”

[5:14]  ⁴² 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.”

[7:10]  ⁴³ tn The dative here has been translated as a dative of possession.

[7:11]  ⁴⁴ tn The verb is pluperfect, but the force is simple past. See ExSyn 586.

[7:11]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “they fell down on their faces.” 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.”