Psalms 24:3

24:3 Who is allowed to ascend ¹  the mountain of the Lord? ² 

Who may go up to his holy dwelling place?

Psalms 24:7-10

24:7 Look up, ³  you gates!

Rise up, ⁴  you eternal doors!

Then the majestic king ⁵  will enter! ⁶ 

24:8 Who is this majestic king? ⁷ 

The Lord who is strong and mighty!

The Lord who is mighty in battle!

24:9 Look up, you gates!

Rise up, you eternal doors!

Then the majestic king will enter!

24:10 Who is this majestic king?

The Lord who commands armies! ⁸ 

He is the majestic king! (Selah)

Psalms 47:5

47:5 God has ascended his throne ⁹  amid loud shouts; ¹⁰ 

the Lord has ascended his throne amid the blaring of ram’s horns. ¹¹ 

Psalms 110:1

Psalm 110 ¹² 

A psalm of David.

110:1 Here is the Lord’s proclamation ¹³  to my lord: ¹⁴ 

“Sit down at my right hand ¹⁵  until I make your enemies your footstool!” ¹⁶ 

Mark 16:9

The Longer Ending of Mark

16:9 ¹⁷ [[Early on the first day of the week, after he arose, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had driven out seven demons.

Luke 24:51

24:51 Now ¹⁸  during the blessing ¹⁹  he departed ²⁰  and was taken up into heaven. ²¹ 

Acts 1:2-9

1:2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, ²²  after he had given orders ²³  by ²⁴  the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 1:3 To the same apostles ²⁵  also, after his suffering, ²⁶  he presented himself alive with many convincing proofs. He was seen by them over a forty-day period ²⁷  and spoke about matters concerning the kingdom of God. 1:4 While he was with them, ²⁸  he declared, ²⁹  “Do not leave Jerusalem, ³⁰  but wait there ³¹  for what my ³²  Father promised, ³³  which you heard about from me. ³⁴  1:5 For ³⁵  John baptized with water, but you ³⁶  will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

1:6 So when they had gathered together, they began to ask him, ³⁷  “Lord, is this the time when you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” 1:7 He told them, “You are not permitted to know ³⁸  the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts ³⁹  of the earth.” 1:9 After ⁴⁰  he had said this, while they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud hid him from their sight.

Ephesians 4:8-10

4:8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he captured ⁴¹  captives; he gave gifts to men.” ⁴²  4:9 Now what is the meaning of “he ascended,” except that he also descended ⁴³  to the lower regions, ⁴⁴  namely, the earth? ⁴⁵  4:10 He, the very one ⁴⁶  who descended, is also the one who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things.

Hebrews 4:14

Jesus Our Compassionate High Priest

4:14 Therefore since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.

Hebrews 6:20

6:20 where Jesus our forerunner entered on our behalf, since he became a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. ⁴⁷ 

Hebrews 8:1

The High Priest of a Better Covenant

8:1 Now the main point of what we are saying is this: ⁴⁸  We have such a high priest, one who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, ⁴⁹ 

Hebrews 8:1

The High Priest of a Better Covenant

8:1 Now the main point of what we are saying is this: ⁵⁰  We have such a high priest, one who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, ⁵¹ 

Hebrews 3:1

Jesus and Moses

3:1 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, ⁵²  partners in a heavenly calling, take note of Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess, ⁵³ 

[24:3]  ¹ tn The imperfects in v. 3 are modal, expressing potential or permission.

[24:3]  ² sn In this context the Lord’s mountain probably refers to Zion/Jerusalem (see Isa 2:2-3).

[24:7]  ³ tn Heb “lift up your heads.” The gates of the Lord’s dwelling place are here personified. The idiom “lift up the head” often means “be confident, bold” (see Judg 8:28; Job 10:15; Ps 83:2; Zech 1:21).

[24:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “lift yourselves up.”

[24:7]  ⁵ tn Or “king of glory.”

[24:7]  ⁶ tn Following the imperatives of the preceding lines, the prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose or result.

[24:8]  ⁵ sn Who is this majestic king? Perhaps the personified gates/doors ask this question, in response to the command given in v. 7.

[24:10]  ⁷ tn Traditionally, “the Lord of hosts,” a title which here pictures the Lord as a mighty warrior-king who leads armies into battle.

[47:5]  ⁹ sn God ascended his throne. In the context of vv. 3-4, which refer to the conquest of the land under Joshua, v. 5 is best understood as referring to an historical event. When the Lord conquered the land and placed his people in it, he assumed a position of kingship, as predicted by Moses (see Exod 15:17-18, as well as Ps 114:1-2). That event is here described metaphorically in terms of a typical coronation ceremony for an earthly king (see 2 Sam 15:10; 2 Kgs 9:13). Verses 1-2, 8-9 focus on God’s continuing kingship, which extends over all nations.

[47:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “God ascended amid a shout.” The words “his throne” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Lord’s coronation as king is described here (see v. 8). Here the perfect probably has a present perfect function, indicating a completed action with continuing effects.

[47:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the Lord amid the sound of the ram horn.” The verb “ascended” is understood by ellipsis; see the preceding line.

[110:1]  ¹¹ sn Psalm 110. In this royal psalm the psalmist announces God’s oracle to the Davidic king. The first part of the oracle appears in v. 1, the second in v. 4. In vv. 2-3 the psalmist addresses the king, while in vv. 5-7 he appears to address God.

[110:1]  ¹² tn The word נְאֻם (nÿ’um) is used frequently in the OT of a formal divine announcement through a prophet.

[110:1]  ¹³ sn My lord. In the psalm’s original context the speaker is an unidentified prophetic voice in the royal court. In the course of time the psalm is applied to each successive king in the dynasty and ultimately to the ideal Davidic king. NT references to the psalm understand David to be speaking about his “lord,” the Messiah. (See Matt 22:43-45; Mark 12:36-37; Luke 20:42-44; Acts 2:34-35).

[110:1]  ¹⁴ tn To sit at the “right hand” of the king was an honor (see 1 Kgs 2:19). In Ugaritic myth (CTA 4 v. 108-10) the artisan god Kothar-and Khasis is described as sitting at the right hand of the storm god Baal. See G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 61-62.

[110:1]  ¹⁵ sn When the Lord made his covenant with David, he promised to subdue the king’s enemies (see 2 Sam 7:9-11; Ps 89:22-23).

[16:9]  ¹³ tc The Gospel of Mark ends at this point in some witnesses (א B 304 sy^s sa^ms arm^mss Eus Eus^mss Hier^mss), including two of the most respected mss (א B). The following shorter ending is found in some mss: “They reported briefly to those around Peter all that they had been commanded. After these things Jesus himself sent out through them, from the east to the west, the holy and imperishable preaching of eternal salvation. Amen.” This shorter ending is usually included with the longer ending (L Ψ 083 099 0112 579 al); k, however, ends at this point. Most mss include the longer ending (vv. 9-20) immediately after v. 8 (A C D W [which has a different shorter ending between vv. 14 and 15] Θ Ë¹³ 33 2427 Ï lat sy^c,p,h bo); however, Jerome and Eusebius knew of almost no Greek mss that had this ending. Several mss have marginal comments noting that earlier Greek mss lacked the verses, while others mark the text with asterisks or obeli (symbols that scribes used to indicate that the portion of text being copied was spurious). Internal evidence strongly suggests the secondary nature of both the short and the long endings. Their vocabulary and style are decidedly non-Markan (for further details, see TCGNT 102-6). All of this evidence strongly suggests that as time went on scribes added the longer ending, either for the richness of its material or because of the abruptness of the ending at v. 8. (Indeed, the strange variety of dissimilar endings attests to the probability that early copyists had a copy of Mark that ended at v. 8, and they filled out the text with what seemed to be an appropriate conclusion. All of the witnesses for alternative endings to vv. 9-20 thus indirectly confirm the Gospel as ending at v. 8.) Because of such problems regarding the authenticity of these alternative endings, 16:8 is usually regarded as the last verse of the Gospel of Mark. There are three possible explanations for Mark ending at 16:8: (1) The author intentionally ended the Gospel here in an open-ended fashion; (2) the Gospel was never finished; or (3) the last leaf of the ms was lost prior to copying. This first explanation is the most likely due to several factors, including (a) the probability that the Gospel was originally written on a scroll rather than a codex (only on a codex would the last leaf get lost prior to copying); (b) the unlikelihood of the ms not being completed; and (c) the literary power of ending the Gospel so abruptly that the readers are now drawn into the story itself. E. Best aptly states, “It is in keeping with other parts of his Gospel that Mark should not give an explicit account of a conclusion where this is already well known to his readers” (Mark, 73; note also his discussion of the ending of this Gospel on 132 and elsewhere). The readers must now ask themselves, “What will I do with Jesus? If I do not accept him in his suffering, I will not see him in his glory.”

[24:51]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “And it happened that while.” 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.

[24:51]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “while he blessed them.”

[24:51]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “he departed from them.”

[24:51]  ¹⁸ tc The reference to the ascension (“and was taken up into heaven”) is lacking in א* D it sy^s, but it is found in Ì⁷⁵ and the rest of the ms tradition. The authenticity of the statement here seems to be presupposed in Acts 1:2, for otherwise it is difficult to account for Luke’s reference to the ascension there. For a helpful discussion, see TCGNT 162-63.

[1:2]  ¹⁷ tn The words “to heaven” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied from v. 11. Several modern translations (NIV, NRSV) supply the words “to heaven” after “taken up” to specify the destination explicitly mentioned later in 1:11.

[1:2]  ¹⁸ tn Or “commands.” Although some modern translations render ἐντειλάμενος (enteilameno") as “instructions” (NIV, NRSV), the word implies authority or official sanction (G. Schrenk, TDNT 2:545), so that a word like “orders” conveys the idea more effectively. The action of the temporal participle is antecedent (prior) to the action of the verb it modifies (“taken up”).

[1:2]  ¹⁹ tn Or “through.”

[1:3]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “to them”; the referent (the apostles) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:3]  ²⁰ sn After his suffering is a reference to Jesus’ crucifixion and the abuse which preceded it.

[1:3]  ²¹ tn Grk “during forty days.” The phrase “over a forty-day period” is used rather than “during forty days” because (as the other NT accounts of Jesus’ appearances make clear) Jesus was not continually visible to the apostles during the forty days, but appeared to them on various occasions.

[1:4]  ²¹ tn Or “While he was assembling with them,” or “while he was sharing a meal with them.” There are three basic options for translating the verb συναλίζω (sunalizw): (1) “Eat (salt) with, share a meal with”; (2) “bring together, assemble”; (3) “spend the night with, stay with” (see BDAG 964 s.v.). The difficulty with the first option is that it does not fit the context, and this meaning is not found elsewhere. The second option is difficult because of the singular number and the present tense. The third option is based on a spelling variation of συναυλιζόμενος (sunaulizomeno"), which some minuscules actually read here. The difference in meaning between (2) and (3) is not great, but (3) seems to fit the context somewhat better here.

[1:4]  ²² tn Grk “ordered them”; the command “Do not leave” is not in Greek but is an indirect quotation in the original (see note at end of the verse for explanation).

[1:4]  ²³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:4]  ²⁴ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text (direct objects in Greek were frequently omitted when clear from the context).

[1:4]  ²⁵ tn Grk “the,” with the article used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[1:4]  ²⁶ tn Grk “for the promise of the Father.” Jesus is referring to the promised gift of the Holy Spirit (see the following verse).

[1:4]  ²⁷ tn Grk “While he was with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for ‘what my Father promised, which you heard about from me.’” This verse moves from indirect to direct discourse. This abrupt change is very awkward, so the entire quotation has been rendered as direct discourse in the translation.

[1:5]  ²³ tn In the Greek text v. 5 is a continuation of the previous sentence, which is long and complicated. In keeping with the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:5]  ²⁴ tn The pronoun is plural in Greek.

[1:6]  ²⁵ tn Grk “they began to ask him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. The imperfect tense of the Greek verb ἠρώτων (hrwtwn) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.

[1:7]  ²⁷ tn Grk “It is not for you to know.”

[1:8]  ²⁹ tn Or “to the ends.”

[1:9]  ³¹ tn Grk “And after.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[4:8]  ³³ tn Grk “he led captive captivity.”

[4:8]  ³⁴ sn A quotation which is perhaps ultimately derived from Ps 68:18. However, the wording here differs from that of Ps 68 in both the Hebrew text and the LXX in a few places, the most significant of which is reading “gave gifts to” in place of “received gifts from” as in HT and LXX. It has sometimes been suggested that the author of Ephesians modified the text he was citing in order to better support what he wanted to say here. Such modifications are sometimes found in rabbinic exegesis from this and later periods, but it is also possible that the author was simply citing a variant of Ps 68 known to him but which has not survived outside its quotation here (W. H. Harris, The Descent of Christ [AGJU 32], 104). Another possibility is that the words here, which strongly resemble Ps 68:19 HT and LXX (68:18 ET), are actually part of an early Christian hymn quoted by the author.

[4:9]  ³⁵ tc The majority of mss (א² B C³ Ψ Ï) read πρῶτον (prwton, “first”) here in conjunction with this verb: “he first descended.” The shorter reading, which lacks πρῶτον, should be considered original on the basis of both external and internal evidence: It has strong external support from the Alexandrian and Western texttypes (Ì⁴⁶ א* A C* D F G I^vid 082 6 33 81 1739 1881 pc); internally, the inclusion of πρῶτον is most likely an addition to clarify the sense of the passage.

[4:9]  ³⁶ tc The Western texttype (D* F G it) lacks the plural noun μέρη (merh, “regions”); the shorter reading cannot be dismissed out of hand since it is also supported by Ì⁴⁶ (which often has strong affinities, however, with the Western text). The inclusion of the word has strong external support from important, early mss as well as the majority of Byzantine cursives (א A B C D² I Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï). Certain scribes may have deleted the word, thinking it superfluous; in addition, if the shorter reading were original one would expect to see at least a little variation in clarifying additions to the text. For these reasons the inclusion of μέρη should be regarded as original.

[4:9]  ³⁷ tn Grk “to the lower parts of the earth.” This phrase has been variously interpreted: (1) The traditional view understands it as a reference to the underworld (hell), where Jesus is thought to have descended in the three days between his death and resurrection. In this case, “of the earth” would be a partitive genitive. (2) A second option is to translate the phrase “of the earth” as a genitive of apposition: “to the lower parts, namely, the earth” (as in the present translation). Many recent scholars hold this view and argue that it is a reference to the incarnation. (3) A third option, which also sees the phrase “of the earth” as a genitive of apposition, is that the descent in the passage occurs after the ascent rather than before it, and refers to the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost (cf. Acts 4:11-16). Support for this latter view is found in the intertestamental and rabbinic use of Ps 68:18 (quoted in v. 8), which is consistently and solely interpreted as a reference to Moses’ ascent of Mt. Sinai to “capture” the words of the law. The probability, therefore, is that the comments here in v. 9 reflect a polemic against the interpretation of Ps 68:18 in certain circles as a reference to Moses. See W. H. Harris, The Descent of Christ (AGJU 32), 46-54; 171-204.

[4:10]  ³⁷ tn The Greek text lays specific emphasis on “He” through the use of the intensive pronoun, αὐτός (autos). This is reflected in the English translation through the use of “the very one.”

[6:20]  ³⁹ sn A quotation from Ps 110:4, picked up again from Heb 5:6, 10.

[8:1]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “the main point of the things being said.”

[8:1]  ⁴² sn An allusion to Ps 110:1; see Heb 1:3, 13.

[8:1]  ⁴³ tn Grk “the main point of the things being said.”

[8:1]  ⁴⁴ sn An allusion to Ps 110:1; see Heb 1:3, 13.

[3:1]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 2:11.

[3:1]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “of our confession.”