Revelation 2:4

2:4 But I have this against you: You have departed ¹  from your first love!

Deuteronomy 3:28

3:28 Commission ²  Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, because he will lead these people over and will enable them to inherit the land you will see.”

Job 4:4-5

4:4 Your words have supported ³  those

who stumbled, ⁴ 

and you have strengthened the knees

that gave way. ⁵ 

4:5 But now the same thing ⁶  comes to you,

and you are discouraged; ⁷ 

it strikes you,

and you are terrified. ⁸ 

Job 16:5

16:5 But ⁹  I would strengthen ¹⁰  you with my words; ¹¹ 

comfort from my lips would bring ¹²  you relief.

Isaiah 35:3

35:3 Strengthen the hands that have gone limp,

steady the knees that shake! ¹³ 

Luke 22:31-32

22:31 “Simon, ¹⁴  Simon, pay attention! ¹⁵  Satan has demanded to have you all, ¹⁶  to sift you like wheat, ¹⁷  22:32 but I have prayed for you, Simon, ¹⁸  that your faith may not fail. ¹⁹  When ²⁰  you have turned back, ²¹  strengthen ²²  your brothers.”

Acts 18:23

18:23 After he spent ²³  some time there, Paul left and went through the region of Galatia ²⁴  and Phrygia, ²⁵  strengthening all the disciples.

[2:4]  ¹ tn The Greek word translated “departed from” (ἀφίημι, afihmi; L&N 15.48) can actually be used of divorce (L&N 34.78), so the imagery here is very strong.

[3:28]  ² tn Heb “command”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “charge Joshua.”

[4:4]  ³ tn Both verbs in this line are imperfects, and probably carry the same nuance as the last verb in v. 3, namely, either customary imperfect or preterite. The customary has the aspect of stressing that this was what Job used to do.

[4:4]  ⁴ tn The form is the singular active participle, interpreted here collectively. The verb is used of knees that give way (Isa 35:3; Ps 109:24).

[4:4]  ⁵ tn The expression is often translated as “feeble knees,” but it literally says “the bowing [or “tottering”] knees.” The figure is one who may be under a heavy load whose knees begin to shake and buckle (see also Heb 12:12).

[4:5]  ⁶ tn The sentence has no subject, but the context demands that the subject be the same kind of trouble that has come upon people that Job has helped.

[4:5]  ⁷ tn This is the same verb used in v. 2, meaning “to be exhausted” or “impatient.” Here with the vav (ו) consecutive the verb describes Job’s state of mind that is a consequence of the trouble coming on him. In this sentence the form is given a present tense translation (see GKC 329 §111.t).

[4:5]  ⁸ tn This final verb in the verse is vivid; it means “to terrify, dismay” (here the Niphal preterite). Job will go on to speak about all the terrors that come on him.

[16:5]  ⁹ tn “But” has been added in the translation to strengthen the contrast.

[16:5]  ¹⁰ tn The Piel of אָמַץ (’amats) means “to strengthen, fortify.”

[16:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “my mouth.”

[16:5]  ¹² tn The verb יַחְשֹׂךְ (yakhsokh) means “to restrain; to withhold.” There is no object, so many make it first person subject, “I will not restrain.” The LXX and the Syriac have a different person – “I would not restrain.” G. R. Driver, arguing that the verb is intransitive here, made it “the solace of my lips would not [added] be withheld” (see JTS 34 [1933]: 380). D. J. A. Clines says that what is definitive is the use of the verb in the next line, where it clearly means “soothed, assuaged.”

[35:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “staggering knees”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “feeble knees”; NIV “knees that give way.”

[22:31]  ¹⁴ tc The majority of mss (א A D W Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 Ï as well as several versional witnesses) begin this verse with an introductory comment, “and the Lord said,” indicating a change in the subject of discussion. But this is apparently a reading motivated by the need for clarity. Some of the best witnesses, along with a few others (Ì⁷⁵ B L T 1241 2542^c sy^s co), do not contain these words. The abrupt shift is the more difficult reading and thus more likely to be original.

[22:31]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “behold” (for “pay attention” see L&N 91.13).

[22:31]  ¹⁶ sn This pronoun is plural in the Greek text, so it refers to all the disciples of which Peter is the representative.

[22:31]  ¹⁷ sn Satan has demanded permission to put them to the test. The idiom “sift (someone) like wheat” is similar to the English idiom “to pick (someone) apart.” The pronoun you is implied.

[22:32]  ¹⁸ sn Here and in the remainder of the verse the second person pronouns are singular, so only Peter is in view. The name “Simon” has been supplied as a form of direct address to make this clear in English.

[22:32]  ¹⁹ sn That your faith may not fail. Note that Peter’s denials are pictured here as lapses, not as a total absence of faith.

[22:32]  ²⁰ tn Grk “And when.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[22:32]  ²¹ tn Or “turned around.”

[22:32]  ²² sn Strengthen your brothers refers to Peter helping to strengthen their faith. Jesus quite graciously restores Peter “in advance,” even with the knowledge of his approaching denials.

[18:23]  ²³ tn Grk “Having spent”; the participle ποιήσας (poihsas) is taken temporally.

[18:23]  ²⁴ sn Galatia refers to either (1) the region of the old kingdom of Galatia in the central part of Asia Minor, or (2) the Roman province of Galatia, whose principal cities in the 1st century were Ancyra and Pisidian Antioch. The exact extent and meaning of this area has been a subject of considerable controversy in modern NT studies.

[18:23]  ²⁵ sn Phrygia was a district in central Asia Minor west of Pisidia. See Acts 16:6.