Psalms 6:3

6:3 I am absolutely terrified, ¹ 

and you, Lord – how long will this continue? ² 

Psalms 69:20

69:20 Their insults are painful ³  and make me lose heart; ⁴ 

I look ⁵  for sympathy, but receive none, ⁶ 

for comforters, but find none.

Psalms 88:3

88:3 For my life ⁷  is filled with troubles

and I am ready to enter Sheol. ⁸ 

Psalms 102:3-5

102:3 For my days go up in smoke, ⁹ 

and my bones are charred like a fireplace. ¹⁰ 

102:4 My heart is parched ¹¹  and withered like grass,

for I am unable ¹²  to eat food. ¹³ 

102:5 Because of the anxiety that makes me groan,

my bones protrude from my skin. ¹⁴ 

Matthew 26:37-38

26:37 He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and became anguished and distressed. 26:38 Then he said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake with me.”

Mark 14:33-34

14:33 He took Peter, James, ¹⁵  and John with him, and became very troubled and distressed. 14:34 He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to the point of death. Remain here and stay alert.”

John 12:27

12:27 “Now my soul is greatly distressed. And what should I say? ‘Father, deliver me ¹⁶  from this hour’? ¹⁷  No, but for this very reason I have come to this hour. ¹⁸ 

John 12:2

12:2 So they prepared a dinner for Jesus ¹⁹  there. Martha ²⁰  was serving, and Lazarus was among those present at the table ²¹  with him.

Colossians 1:8-10

1:8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ²²  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ²³  to fill ²⁴  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 1:10 so that you may live ²⁵  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ²⁶  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

[6:3]  ¹ tn Heb “my being is very terrified.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[6:3]  ² tn Heb “and you, Lord, how long?” The suffering psalmist speaks in broken syntax. He addresses God, but then simply cries out with a brief, but poignant, question: How long will this (= his suffering) continue?

[69:20]  ³ tn Heb “break my heart.” The “heart” is viewed here as the origin of the psalmist’s emotions.

[69:20]  ⁴ tn The verb form appears to be a Qal preterite from an otherwise unattested root נוּשׁ (nush), which some consider an alternate form of אָנַשׁ (’anash, “be weak; be sick”; see BDB 60 s.v. I אָנַשׁ). Perhaps the form should be emended to a Niphal, וָאֵאָנְשָׁה (va’e’onshah, “and I am sick”). The Niphal of אָנַשׁ occurs in 2 Sam 12:15, where it is used to describe David’s sick child.

[69:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “wait.”

[69:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “and I wait for sympathy, but there is none.” The form נוּד (nud) is an infinitive functioning as a verbal noun:, “sympathizing.” Some suggest emending the form to a participle נָד (nad, “one who shows sympathy”). The verb נוּד (nud) also has the nuance “show sympathy” in Job 2:11; 42:11 and Isa 51:19.

[88:3]  ⁷ tn Or “my soul.”

[88:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “and my life approaches Sheol.”

[102:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “for my days come to an end in smoke.”

[102:3]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew noun מוֹ־קֵד (mo-qed, “fireplace”) occurs only here, in Isa 33:14 (where it refers to the fire itself), and perhaps in Lev 6:2.

[102:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “struck, attacked.”

[102:4]  ¹² tn Heb “I forget.”

[102:4]  ¹³ sn I am unable to eat food. During his time of mourning, the psalmist refrained from eating. In the following verse he describes metaphorically the physical effects of fasting.

[102:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from the sound of my groaning my bone[s] stick to my flesh.” The preposition at the beginning of the verse is causal; the phrase “sound of my groaning” is metonymic for the anxiety that causes the groaning. The point seems to be this: Anxiety (which causes the psalmist to groan) keeps him from eating (v. 4). This physical deprivation in turn makes him emaciated – he is turned to “skin and bones,” so to speak.

[14:33]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “and James,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[12:27]  ¹⁶ tn Or “save me.”

[12:27]  ¹⁷ tn Or “this occasion.”

[12:27]  ¹⁸ tn Or “this occasion.”

[12:2]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity and to conform with contemporary English style.

[12:2]  ²⁰ tn Grk “And Martha.” The connective καί (kai, “and”) has been omitted in the translation because it would produce a run-on sentence in English.

[12:2]  ²¹ tn Grk “reclining at the table.”

[1:9]  ²² 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]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ 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.”