Revelation 3:17-18

3:17 Because you say, “I am rich and have acquired great wealth, ¹  and need nothing,” but ²  do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, ³  poor, blind, and naked, 3:18 take my advice ⁴  and buy gold from me refined by fire so you can become rich! Buy from me ⁵  white clothing so you can be clothed and your shameful nakedness ⁶  will not be exposed, and buy eye salve ⁷  to put on your eyes so you can see!

Luke 12:21

12:21 So it is with the one who stores up riches for himself, ⁸  but is not rich toward God.”

Luke 12:2

12:2 Nothing is hidden ⁹  that will not be revealed, ¹⁰  and nothing is secret that will not be made known.

Colossians 1:10

1:10 so that you may live ¹¹  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ¹²  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ¹³  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 1:18

1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn ¹⁴  from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. ¹⁵ 

James 2:5-6

2:5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! ¹⁶  Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him? 2:6 But you have dishonored the poor! ¹⁷  Are not the rich oppressing you and dragging you into the courts?

[3:17]  ¹ tn Grk “and have become rich.” The semantic domains of the two terms for wealth here, πλούσιος (plousios, adjective) and πλουτέω (ploutew, verb) overlap considerably, but are given slightly different English translations for stylistic reasons.

[3:17]  ² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[3:17]  ³ tn All the terms in this series are preceded by καί (kai) in the Greek text, but contemporary English generally uses connectives only between the last two items in such a series.

[3:18]  ⁴ tn Grk “I counsel you to buy.”

[3:18]  ⁵ tn Grk “rich, and.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation, repeating the words “Buy from me” to make the connection clear for the English reader.

[3:18]  ⁶ tn Grk “the shame of the nakedness of you,” which has been translated as an attributed genitive like καινότητι ζωῆς (kainothti zwh") in Rom 6:4 (ExSyn 89-90).

[3:18]  ⁷ sn The city of Laodicea had a famous medical school and exported a powder (called a “Phrygian powder”) that was widely used as an eye salve. It was applied to the eyes in the form of a paste the consistency of dough (the Greek term for the salve here, κολλούριον, kollourion [Latin collyrium], is a diminutive form of the word for a long roll of bread).

[12:21]  ⁸ sn It is selfishness that is rebuked here, in the accumulation of riches for himself. Recall the emphasis on the first person pronouns throughout the parable.

[12:2]  ⁹ tn Or “concealed.”

[12:2]  ¹⁰ sn I.e., be revealed by God. The passive voice verbs here (“be revealed,” be made known”) see the revelation as coming from God. The text is both a warning about bad things being revealed and an encouragement that good things will be made known, though the stress with the images of darkness and what is hidden in vv. 2-3 is on the attempt to conceal.

[1:10]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:18]  ¹⁴ tn See the note on the term “firstborn” in 1:15. Here the reference to Jesus as the “firstborn from among the dead” seems to be arguing for a chronological priority, i.e., Jesus was the first to rise from the dead.

[1:18]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “in order that he may become in all things, himself, first.”

[2:5]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[2:6]  ¹⁷ tn This is singular: “the poor person,” perhaps referring to the hypothetical one described in vv. 2-3.