Psalms 25:4-5

25:4 Make me understand your ways, O Lord!

Teach me your paths! ¹ 

25:5 Guide me into your truth ²  and teach me.

For you are the God who delivers me;

on you I rely all day long.

Psalms 25:8-9

25:8 The Lord is both kind and fair; ³ 

that is why he teaches sinners the right way to live. ⁴ 

25:9 May he show ⁵  the humble what is right! ⁶ 

May he teach ⁷  the humble his way!

Psalms 25:12

25:12 The Lord shows his faithful followers

the way they should live. ⁸ 

Psalms 119:5-7

119:5 If only I were predisposed ⁹ 

to keep your statutes!

119:6 Then I would not be ashamed,

if ¹⁰  I were focused on ¹¹  all your commands.

119:7 I will give you sincere thanks, ¹² 

when I learn your just regulations.

Psalms 119:12

119:12 You deserve praise, ¹³  O Lord!

Teach me your statutes!

Psalms 119:35

119:35 Guide me ¹⁴  in the path of your commands,

for I delight to walk in it. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 139:24

139:24 See if there is any idolatrous tendency ¹⁶  in me,

and lead me in the reliable ancient path! ¹⁷ 

Micah 4:2

4:2 Many nations will come, saying,

“Come on! Let’s go up to the Lord’s mountain,

to the temple ¹⁸  of Jacob’s God,

so he can teach us his commands ¹⁹ 

and we can live by his laws.” ²⁰ 

For Zion will be the source of instruction;

the Lord’s teachings will proceed from Jerusalem. ²¹ 

Matthew 28:20

28:20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, ²²  I am with you ²³  always, to the end of the age.” ²⁴ 

Colossians 1:9-10

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ²⁵  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ²⁶  to fill ²⁷  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 1:10 so that you may live ²⁸  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ²⁹  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ³⁰  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 4:1-2

4:1 Masters, treat your slaves with justice and fairness, because you know that you also have a master in heaven.

Exhortation to Pray for the Success of Paul’s Mission

4:2 Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.

Hebrews 13:21

13:21 equip you with every good thing to do his will, working in us ³¹  what is pleasing before him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. ³²  Amen.

Hebrews 13:1

Final Exhortations

13:1 Brotherly love must continue.

Hebrews 2:1

Warning Against Drifting Away

2:1 Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

[25:4]  ¹ sn Teach me your paths. In this context the Lord’s “ways” and “paths” refer to the moral principles which the Lord prescribes for his followers. See vv. 8-10.

[25:5]  ² sn The Lord’s commandments are referred to as truth here because they are a trustworthy and accurate expression of the divine will.

[25:8]  ³ tn Heb “good and just.”

[25:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “teaches sinners in the way.”

[25:9]  ⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form is jussive; the psalmist expresses his prayer.

[25:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “may he guide the humble into justice.” The Hebrew term עֲנָוִים (’anavim, “humble”) usually refers to the oppressed, but in this context, where the psalmist confesses his sin and asks for moral guidance, it apparently refers to sinners who humble themselves before God and seek deliverance from their sinful condition.

[25:9]  ⁷ tn The prefixed verbal form is interpreted as a jussive (it stands parallel to the jussive form, “may he guide”).

[25:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “Who is this man, the one who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.” The singular (note “man”) is representative here (see v. 14, where the plural is used), and has thus been translated as a plural (“followers…they”).

[119:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “if only my ways were established.”

[119:6]  ¹⁰ tn Or “when.”

[119:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I gaze at.”

[119:7]  ¹² tn Heb “I will give you thanks with an upright heart.”

[119:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “[are] blessed.”

[119:35]  ¹⁴ tn Or “make me walk.”

[119:35]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “for in it I delight.”

[139:24]  ¹⁶ tn Many understand the Hebrew term עֹצֶב (’otsev) as a noun meaning “pain,” and translate the phrase דֶּרֶךְ עֹצֶב (derekh ’otsev) as “of pain,” but this makes little sense here. (Some interpret it to refer to actions which bring pain to others.) It is preferable to take עֹצֶב as “idol” (see HALOT 865 s.v. I עֹצֶב) and understand “way of an idol” to refer to idolatrous actions or tendency. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 253.

[139:24]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “in the path of antiquity.” This probably refers to the moral path prescribed by the Lord at the beginning of Israel’s history. See Jer 6:16; 18:15, as well as L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 253.

[4:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “house.”

[4:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “ways.”

[4:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and we can walk in his paths.”

[4:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “instruction [or, “law”] will go out from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

[28:20]  ²² tn The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has been translated here as “remember” (BDAG 468 s.v. 1.c).

[28:20]  ²³ sn I am with you. Matthew’s Gospel begins with the prophecy that the Savior’s name would be “Emmanuel, that is, ‘God with us,’” (1:23, in which the author has linked Isa 7:14 and 8:8, 10 together) and it ends with Jesus’ promise to be with his disciples forever. The Gospel of Matthew thus forms an inclusio about Jesus in his relationship to his people that suggests his deity.

[28:20]  ²⁴ tc Most mss (A^c Θ Ë¹³ Ï it sy) have ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”) at the end of v. 20. Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, no good reason exists for the omission of the particle in significant and early witnesses such as א A* B D W ˹ 33 al lat sa.

[1:9]  ²⁵ tn Or “heard about it”; Grk “heard.” There is no direct object stated in the Greek (direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context). A direct object is expected by an English reader, however, so most translations supply one. Here, however, it is not entirely clear what the author “heard”: a number of translations supply “it” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV; NAB “this”), but this could refer back either to (1) “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8, or (2) “your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints” (v. 4). In light of this uncertainty, other translations supply “about you” (TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). This is preferred by the present translation since, while it does not resolve the ambiguity entirely, it does make it less easy for the English reader to limit the reference only to “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8.

[1:9]  ²⁶ tn The term “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but the following reference to “the knowledge of his will” makes it clear that “God” is in view as the object of the “praying and asking,” and should therefore be included in the English translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ²⁷ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as substantival, indicating the content of the prayer and asking. The idea of purpose may also be present in this clause.

[1:10]  ²⁸ tn The infinitive περιπατῆσαι (peripathsai, “to walk, to live, to live one’s life”) is best taken as an infinitive of purpose related to “praying” (προσευχόμενοι, proseucomenoi) and “asking” (αἰτούμενοι, aitoumenoi) in v. 9 and is thus translated as “that you may live.”

[1:10]  ²⁹ tn BDAG 129 s.v. ἀρεσκεία states that ἀρεσκείαν (areskeian) refers to a “desire to please εἰς πᾶσαν ἀ. to please (the Lord) in all respects Col 1:10.”

[1:1]  ³⁰ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[13:21]  ³¹ tc Some mss (C P Ψ 6 629* 630 1505 pm latt sy^h) read ὑμῖν (Jumin, “in you”) here, but ἡμῖν (Jhmin) has stronger external support (Ì⁴⁶ א A D^vid K 0243 0285 33 81 104 326 365 629^c 1175 1739 1881 pm sy^p co). It is also more likely that ἡμῖν would have been changed to ὑμῖν in light of the “you” which occurs at the beginning of the verse than vice versa.

[13:21]  ³² tc ‡ Most mss (א A [C*] 0243 0285 33 1739 1881 Ï latt) include the words “and ever” here, but the shorter reading (supported by Ì⁴⁶ C³ D Ψ 6 104 365 1505 al) is preferred on internal grounds. It seemed more likely that scribes would assimilate the wording to the common NT doxological expression “for ever and ever,” found especially in the Apocalypse (cf., e.g., 1 Tim 1:17; 2 Tim 4:18; Rev 4:9; 22:5) than to the “forever” of Heb 13:8. Nevertheless, a decision is difficult here. NA²⁷ places the phrase in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.