Psalms 20:4

20:4 May he grant your heart’s desire; ¹ 

may he bring all your plans to pass! ² 

Psalms 34:9

34:9 Remain loyal to ³  the Lord, you chosen people of his, ⁴ 

for his loyal followers ⁵  lack nothing!

Psalms 36:7-8

36:7 How precious ⁶  is your loyal love, O God!

The human race finds shelter under your wings. ⁷ 

36:8 They are filled with food from your house,

and you allow them to drink from the river of your delicacies.

Psalms 37:4

37:4 Then you will take delight in the Lord, ⁸ 

and he will answer your prayers. ⁹ 

Psalms 37:19

37:19 They will not be ashamed when hard times come; ¹⁰ 

when famine comes they will have enough to eat. ¹¹ 

Matthew 5:6

5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger ¹²  and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.

Luke 1:53

1:53 he has filled the hungry with good things, ¹³  and has sent the rich away empty. ¹⁴ 

John 15:7

15:7 If you remain ¹⁵  in me and my words remain ¹⁶  in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you. ¹⁷ 

John 15:16

15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you ¹⁸  and appointed you to go and bear ¹⁹  fruit, fruit that remains, ²⁰  so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.

John 16:24

16:24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive it, ²¹  so that your joy may be complete.

Ephesians 3:16-20

3:16 I pray that ²²  according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, 3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, 3:18 you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ²³  3:19 and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to ²⁴  all the fullness of God.

3:20 Now to him who by the power that is working within us ²⁵  is able to do far beyond ²⁶  all that we ask or think,

Ephesians 3:1

Paul's Relationship to the Divine Mystery

3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus ²⁷  for the sake of you Gentiles –

Ephesians 5:15

Live Wisely

5:15 Therefore be very careful how you live – not as unwise but as wise,

[20:4]  ¹ tn Heb “may he give to you according to your heart.” This probably refers to the king’s prayer for protection and victory in battle. See vv. 5-6.

[20:4]  ² sn May he bring all your plans to pass. This probably refers to the king’s strategy for battle.

[34:9]  ³ tn Heb “fear.”

[34:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “O holy ones of his.”

[34:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[36:7]  ⁶ tn Or “valuable.”

[36:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the sons of man in the shadow of your wings find shelter.” The preservation of physical life is in view, as the next verse makes clear.

[37:4]  ⁸ tn Following the imperatives of v. 3 the prefixed verbal forms with vav (ו) in v. 4 indicate result. Faith and obedience (v. 3) will bring divine blessing (v. 4).

[37:4]  ⁹ tn Or “and he will give you what you desire most.” Heb “and he will grant to you the requests of your heart.”

[37:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in a time of trouble.”

[37:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in days of famine they will be satisfied.”

[5:6]  ¹² sn Those who hunger are people like the poor Jesus has already mentioned. The term has OT roots both in conjunction with the poor (Isa 32:6-7; 58:6-7, 9-10; Ezek 18:7, 16) or by itself (Ps 37:16-19; 107:9).

[1:53]  ¹³ sn Good things refers not merely to material blessings, but blessings that come from knowing God.

[1:53]  ¹⁴ sn Another fundamental contrast of Luke’s is between the hungry and the rich (Luke 6:20-26).

[15:7]  ¹⁵ tn Or “reside.”

[15:7]  ¹⁶ tn Or “reside.”

[15:7]  ¹⁷ sn Once again Jesus promises the disciples ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you. This recalls 14:13-14, where the disciples were promised that if they asked anything in Jesus’ name it would be done for them. The two thoughts are really quite similar, since here it is conditioned on the disciples’ remaining in Jesus and his words remaining in them. The first phrase relates to the genuineness of their relationship with Jesus. The second phrase relates to their obedience. When both of these qualifications are met, the disciples would in fact be asking in Jesus’ name and therefore according to his will.

[15:16]  ¹⁸ sn You did not choose me, but I chose you. If the disciples are now elevated in status from slaves to friends, they are friends who have been chosen by Jesus, rather than the opposite way round. Again this is true of all Christians, not just the twelve, and the theme that Christians are “chosen” by God appears frequently in other NT texts (e.g., Rom 8:33; Eph 1:4ff.; Col 3:12; and 1 Pet 2:4). Putting this together with the comments on 15:14 one may ask whether the author sees any special significance at all for the twelve. Jesus said in John 6:70 and 13:18 that he chose them, and 15:27 makes clear that Jesus in the immediate context is addressing those who have been with him from the beginning. In the Fourth Gospel the twelve, as the most intimate and most committed followers of Jesus, are presented as the models for all Christians, both in terms of their election and in terms of their mission.

[15:16]  ¹⁹ tn Or “and yield.”

[15:16]  ²⁰ sn The purpose for which the disciples were appointed (“commissioned”) is to go and bear fruit, fruit that remains. The introduction of the idea of “going” at this point suggests that the fruit is something more than just character qualities in the disciples’ own lives, but rather involves fruit in the lives of others, i.e., Christian converts. There is a mission involved (cf. John 4:36). The idea that their fruit is permanent, however, relates back to vv. 7-8, as does the reference to asking the Father in Jesus’ name. It appears that as the imagery of the vine and the branches develops, the “fruit” which the branches produce shifts in emphasis from qualities in the disciples’ own lives in John 15:2, 4, 5 to the idea of a mission which affects the lives of others in John 15:16. The point of transition would be the reference to fruit in 15:8.

[16:24]  ²¹ tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[3:16]  ²² tn Grk “that.” In Greek v. 16 is a subordinate clause to vv. 14-15.

[3:18]  ²³ sn The object of these dimensions is not stated in the text. Interpreters have suggested a variety of referents for this unstated object, including the cross of Christ, the heavenly Jerusalem (which is then sometimes linked to the Church), God’s power, the fullness of salvation given in Christ, the Wisdom of God, and the love of Christ. Of these interpretations, the last two are the most plausible. Associations from Wisdom literature favor the Wisdom of God, but the immediate context favors the love of Christ. For detailed discussion of these interpretive options, see A. T. Lincoln, Ephesians (WBC), 207-13, who ultimately favors the love of Christ.

[3:19]  ²⁴ tn Or “with.”

[3:20]  ²⁵ sn On the power that is working within us see 1:19-20.

[3:20]  ²⁶ tn Or “infinitely beyond,” “far more abundantly than.”

[3:1]  ²⁷ 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.