Psalms 64:2-4

64:2 Hide me from the plots of evil men,

from the crowd of evildoers. ¹ 

64:3 They ²  sharpen their tongues like a sword;

they aim their arrow, a slanderous charge, ³ 

64:4 in order to shoot down the innocent ⁴  in secluded places.

They shoot at him suddenly and are unafraid of retaliation. ⁵ 

Psalms 140:3

140:3 Their tongues wound like a serpent; ⁶ 

a viper’s ⁷  venom is behind ⁸  their lips. (Selah)

Job 5:21

5:21 You will be protected ⁹  from malicious gossip, ¹⁰ 

and will not be afraid of the destruction ¹¹  when it comes.

Romans 13:13

13:13 Let us live decently as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in discord and jealousy.

Romans 13:2

13:2 So the person who resists such authority ¹²  resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will incur judgment

Colossians 1:20

1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, ¹³  whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Galatians 5:20

5:20 idolatry, sorcery, ¹⁴  hostilities, ¹⁵  strife, ¹⁶  jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, ¹⁷  factions,

Galatians 5:1

Freedom of the Believer

5:1 For freedom ¹⁸  Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke ¹⁹  of slavery.

Galatians 6:4

6:4 Let each one examine ²⁰  his own work. Then he can take pride ²¹  in himself and not compare himself with ²²  someone else.

James 3:5-6

3:5 So too the tongue is a small part of the body, ²³  yet it has great pretensions. ²⁴  Think ²⁵  how small a flame sets a huge forest ablaze. 3:6 And the tongue is a fire! The tongue represents ²⁶  the world of wrongdoing among the parts of our bodies. It ²⁷  pollutes the entire body and sets fire to the course of human existence – and is set on fire by hell. ²⁸ 

James 3:14-16

3:14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfishness in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth. 3:15 Such ²⁹  wisdom does not come ³⁰  from above but is earthly, natural, ³¹  demonic. 3:16 For where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is disorder and every evil practice.

[64:2]  ¹ tn Heb “workers of wickedness.”

[64:3]  ² tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[64:3]  ³ tn Heb “a bitter word.”

[64:4]  ⁴ tn The psalmist uses the singular because he is referring to himself here as representative of a larger group.

[64:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “and are unafraid.” The words “of retaliation” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[140:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “they sharpen their tongue like a serpent.” Ps 64:3 reads, “they sharpen their tongues like sword.” Perhaps Ps 140:3 uses a mixed metaphor, the point being that “they sharpen their tongues [like a sword],” as it were, so that when they speak, their words wound like a serpent’s bite. Another option is that the language refers to the pointed or forked nature of a serpent’s tongue, which is viewed metaphorically as “sharpened.”

[140:3]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew term is used only here in the OT.

[140:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “under.”

[5:21]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew verb essentially means “you will be hidden.” In the Niphal the verb means “to be hidden, to be in a hiding place,” and protected (Ps 31:20).

[5:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from the lash [i.e., whip] of the tongue.” Sir 26:9 and 51:2 show usages of these kinds of expressions: “the lash of the tongue” or “the blow of the tongue.” The expression indicates that a malicious gossip is more painful than a blow.

[5:21]  ¹¹ tn The word here is שׁוֹד (shod); it means “destruction,” but some commentators conjecture alternate readings: שׁוֹאָה (sho’ah, “desolation”); or שֵׁד (shed, “demon”). One argument for maintaining שׁוֹד (shod) is that it fits the assonance within the verse שׁוֹד…לָשׁוֹן…שׁוֹט (shot…lashon…shod).

[13:2]  ¹² tn Grk “the authority,” referring to the authority just described.

[1:20]  ¹³ tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì⁴⁶ א A C D¹ Ψ 048^vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.

[5:20]  ¹⁴ tn Or “witchcraft.”

[5:20]  ¹⁵ tn Or “enmities,” “[acts of] hatred.”

[5:20]  ¹⁶ tn Or “discord” (L&N 39.22).

[5:20]  ¹⁷ tn Or “discord(s)” (L&N 39.13).

[5:1]  ¹⁸ tn Translating the dative as “For freedom” shows the purpose for Christ setting us free; however, it is also possible to take the phrase in the sense of means or instrument (“with [or by] freedom”), referring to the freedom mentioned in 4:31 and implied throughout the letter.

[5:1]  ¹⁹ sn Here the yoke figuratively represents the burdensome nature of slavery.

[6:4]  ²⁰ tn Or “determine the genuineness of.”

[6:4]  ²¹ tn Grk “he will have a reason for boasting.”

[6:4]  ²² tn Or “and not in regard to.” The idea of comparison is implied in the context.

[3:5]  ²³ tn Grk “a small member.”

[3:5]  ²⁴ tn Grk “boasts of great things.”

[3:5]  ²⁵ tn Grk “Behold.”

[3:6]  ²⁶ tn Grk “makes itself,” “is made.”

[3:6]  ²⁷ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[3:6]  ²⁸ sn The word translated hell is “Gehenna” (γέεννα, geenna), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36).

[3:15]  ²⁹ tn Grk “This.”

[3:15]  ³⁰ tn Grk “come down”; “descend.”

[3:15]  ³¹ tn Grk “soulish,” which describes life apart from God, characteristic of earthly human life as opposed to what is spiritual. Cf. 1 Cor 2:14; 15:44-46; Jude 19.