Romans 11:33

11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how fathomless his ways!

Psalms 64:6

64:6 They devise ¹  unjust schemes;

they disguise ²  a well-conceived plot. ³ 

Man’s inner thoughts cannot be discovered. ⁴ 

Proverbs 20:5

20:5 Counsel ⁵  in a person’s heart ⁶  is like ⁷  deep water, ⁸ 

but an understanding person ⁹  draws it out.

Matthew 24:24

24:24 For false messiahs ¹⁰  and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

Matthew 24:2

24:2 And he said to them, ¹¹  “Do you see all these things? I tell you the truth, ¹²  not one stone will be left on another. ¹³  All will be torn down!” ¹⁴ 

Colossians 2:11

2:11 In him you also were circumcised – not, however, ¹⁵  with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal ¹⁶  of the fleshly body, ¹⁷  that is, ¹⁸  through the circumcision done by Christ.

Colossians 1:3

Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Church

1:3 We always ¹⁹  give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ²⁰  brothers and sisters ²¹  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ²²  from God our Father! ²³ 

Colossians 2:9-12

2:9 For in him all the fullness of deity lives ²⁴  in bodily form, 2:10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. 2:11 In him you also were circumcised – not, however, ²⁵  with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal ²⁶  of the fleshly body, ²⁷  that is, ²⁸  through the circumcision done by Christ. 2:12 Having been buried with him in baptism, you also have been raised with him through your ²⁹  faith in the power ³⁰  of God who raised him from the dead.

Revelation 2:24

2:24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, all who do not hold to this teaching ³¹  (who have not learned the so-called “deep secrets ³²  of Satan”), to you I say: I do not put any additional burden on you.

Revelation 12:9

12:9 So ³³  that huge dragon – the ancient serpent, the one called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world – was thrown down to the earth, and his angels along with him.

Revelation 13:14

13:14 and, by the signs he was permitted to perform on behalf of the beast, he deceived those who live on the earth. He told ³⁴  those who live on the earth to make an image to the beast who had been wounded by the sword, but still lived.

Revelation 19:20

19:20 Now ³⁵  the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf ³⁶  – signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur. ³⁷ 

Revelation 20:3

20:3 The angel ³⁸  then ³⁹  threw him into the abyss and locked ⁴⁰  and sealed it so that he could not deceive the nations until the one thousand years were finished. (After these things he must be released for a brief period of time.)

Revelation 20:7

Satan’s Final Defeat

20:7 Now ⁴¹  when the thousand years are finished, Satan will be released from his prison

[64:6]  ¹ tn Heb “search out, examine,” which here means (by metonymy) “devise.”

[64:6]  ² tc The MT has תַּמְנוּ (tamnu, “we are finished”), a Qal perfect first common plural form from the verbal root תָּמַם (tamam). Some understand this as the beginning of a quotation of the enemies’ words and translate, “we have completed,” but the Hiphil would seem to be required in this case. The present translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss in reading טָמְנוּ (tomnu, “they hide”), a Qal perfect third common plural form from the verbal root טָמַן (taman).

[64:6]  ³ tn Heb “a searched-out search,” which is understood as referring here to a thoroughly planned plot to destroy the psalmist.

[64:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the inner part of man, and a heart [is] deep.” The point seems to be that a man’s inner thoughts are incapable of being discovered. No one is a mind reader! Consequently the psalmist is vulnerable to his enemies’ well-disguised plots.

[20:5]  ⁵ sn The noun means “advice, counsel”; it can have the connotation of planning or making decisions. Those with understanding can sort out plans.

[20:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the heart of a man”; NRSV “in the human mind.”

[20:5]  ⁷ tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.

[20:5]  ⁸ sn The motives or plans of a person are “difficult to fathom”; it takes someone with understanding to discover and surface them (the verb in the last colon continues the figure with the sense of bringing the plans to the surface and sorting them out).

[20:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “a man of understanding”; TEV “someone with insight”; NLT “the wise.”

[24:24]  ¹⁰ tn Or “false christs”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[24:2]  ¹¹ tn Grk “answering, he said to them.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (ajpokriqei") is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[24:2]  ¹² tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[24:2]  ¹³ sn With the statement not one stone will be left on another Jesus predicted the total destruction of the temple, something that did occur in a.d. 70.

[24:2]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “not one stone will be left here on another which will not be thrown down.”

[2:11]  ¹⁵ tn The terms “however” and “but” in this sentence were supplied in order to emphasize the contrast.

[2:11]  ¹⁶ tn The articular noun τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (th apekdusei) is a noun which ends in -σις (-sis) and therefore denotes action, i.e., “removal.” Since the head noun is a verbal noun, the following genitive τοῦ σώματος (tou swmatos) is understood as an objective genitive, receiving the action of the head noun.

[2:11]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “in the removal of the body of flesh.” The genitive τῆς σαρκός (th" sarko") has been translated as an attributive genitive, “fleshly body.”

[2:11]  ¹⁸ tn The second prepositional phrase beginning with ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ (en th peritomh) is parallel to the prepositional phrase ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (en th apekdusei) and gives a further explanation of it. The words “that is” were supplied to bring out this force in the translation.

[1:3]  ¹⁹ tn The adverb πάντοτε (pantote) is understood to modify the indicative εὐχαριστοῦμεν (eucaristoumen) because it precedes περὶ ὑμῶν (peri Jumwn) which probably modifies the indicative and not the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi). But see 1:9 where the same expression occurs and περὶ ὑμῶν modifies the participle “praying” (προσευχόμενοι).

[1:2]  ²⁰ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ²¹ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ²² tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ²³ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

[2:9]  ²⁴ sn In him all the fullness of deity lives. The present tense in this verse (“lives”) is significant. Again, as was stated in the note on 1:19, this is not a temporary dwelling, but a permanent one. Paul’s point is polemical against the idea that the fullness of God dwells anywhere else, as the Gnostics believed, except in Christ alone. At the incarnation, the second person of the Trinity assumed humanity, and is forever the God-man.

[2:11]  ²⁵ tn The terms “however” and “but” in this sentence were supplied in order to emphasize the contrast.

[2:11]  ²⁶ tn The articular noun τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (th apekdusei) is a noun which ends in -σις (-sis) and therefore denotes action, i.e., “removal.” Since the head noun is a verbal noun, the following genitive τοῦ σώματος (tou swmatos) is understood as an objective genitive, receiving the action of the head noun.

[2:11]  ²⁷ tn Grk “in the removal of the body of flesh.” The genitive τῆς σαρκός (th" sarko") has been translated as an attributive genitive, “fleshly body.”

[2:11]  ²⁸ tn The second prepositional phrase beginning with ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ (en th peritomh) is parallel to the prepositional phrase ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (en th apekdusei) and gives a further explanation of it. The words “that is” were supplied to bring out this force in the translation.

[2:12]  ²⁹ tn The article with the genitive modifier τῆς πίστεως (th" pistew") is functioning as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[2:12]  ³⁰ tn The genitive τῆς ἐνεργείας (th" energeia") has been translated as an objective genitive, “faith in the power.”

[2:24]  ³¹ sn That is, the teaching of Jezebel (v. 20).

[2:24]  ³² tn Grk “deep things.” For the translation “deep secrets” see L&N 28.76; cf. NAB, NIV, CEV.

[12:9]  ³³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the war in heaven.

[13:14]  ³⁴ tn Grk “earth, telling.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in Greek.

[19:20]  ³⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the introduction of an unexpected development in the account: The opposing armies do not come together in battle; rather the leader of one side is captured.

[19:20]  ³⁶ tn For this meaning see BDAG 342 s.v. ἐνώπιον 4.b, “by the authority of, on behalf of Rv 13:12, 14; 19:20.”

[19:20]  ³⁷ tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”

[20:3]  ³⁸ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the angel introduced in v. 1) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:3]  ³⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[20:3]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “and shut.” While the lexical force of the term is closer to “shut,” it is acceptable to render the verb ἔκλεισεν (ekleisen) as “locked” here in view of the mention of the key in the previous verse.

[20:7]  ⁴¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.