2 Timothy 4:2

4:2 Preach the message, ¹  be ready ²  whether it is convenient or not, ³  reprove, rebuke, exhort ⁴  with complete patience and instruction.

Exodus 35:26

35:26 and all the women whose heart stirred them to action and who were skilled ⁵  spun goats’ hair.

Exodus 36:2

36:2 Moses summoned ⁶  Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person in whom ⁷  the Lord had put skill – everyone whose heart stirred him ⁸  to volunteer ⁹  to do the work,

Matthew 25:15-30

25:15 To ¹⁰  one he gave five talents, ¹¹  to another two, and to another one, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 25:16 The one who had received five talents went off right away and put his money to work ¹²  and gained five more. 25:17 In the same way, the one who had two gained two more. 25:18 But the one who had received one talent went out and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money in it. 25:19 After ¹³  a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled his accounts with them. 25:20 The ¹⁴  one who had received the five talents came and brought five more, saying, ‘Sir, ¹⁵  you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ 25:21 His master answered, ¹⁶  ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 25:22 The ¹⁷  one with the two talents also came and said, ‘Sir, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more.’ 25:23 His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 25:24 Then the one who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Sir, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed, 25:25 so ¹⁸  I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ 25:26 But his master answered, ¹⁹  ‘Evil and lazy slave! So you knew that I harvest where I didn’t sow and gather where I didn’t scatter? 25:27 Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, ²⁰  and on my return I would have received my money back with interest! ²¹  25:28 Therefore take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten. ²²  25:29 For the one who has will be given more, ²³  and he will have more than enough. But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. ²⁴  25:30 And throw that worthless slave into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Luke 19:13

19:13 And he summoned ten of his slaves, ²⁵  gave them ten minas, ²⁶  and said to them, ‘Do business with these until I come back.’

Romans 12:6-8

12:6 And we have different gifts ²⁷  according to the grace given to us. If the gift is prophecy, that individual must use it in proportion to his faith. 12:7 If it is service, he must serve; if it is teaching, he must teach; 12:8 if it is exhortation, he must exhort; if it is contributing, he must do so with sincerity; if it is leadership, he must do so with diligence; if it is showing mercy, he must do so with cheerfulness.

Romans 12:1

Consecration of the Believer’s Life

12:1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, ²⁸  by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God ²⁹  – which is your reasonable service.

Romans 5:19

5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man ³⁰  many ³¹  were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man ³²  many ³³  will be made righteous.

Romans 5:1

The Expectation of Justification

5:1 ³⁴ Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have ³⁵  peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Ecclesiastes 4:10-11

4:10 For if they fall, one will help his companion up,

but pity ³⁶  the person who falls down and has no one to help him up.

4:11 Furthermore, if two lie down together, they can keep each other warm,

but how can one person keep warm by himself?

¹ tn Or “the word.”

² tn Or “be persistent.”

³ tn Grk “in season, out of season.”

⁴ tn Or “encourage.”

⁵ tn The text simply uses a prepositional phrase, “with/in wisdom.” It seems to be qualifying “the women” as the relative clause is.

⁶ tn The verb קָרָא (qara’) plus the preposition “to” – “to call to” someone means “to summon” that person.

⁷ tn Here there is a slight change: “in whose heart Yahweh had put skill.”

⁸ tn Or “whose heart was willing.”

⁹ sn The verb means more than “approach” or “draw near”; קָרַב (qarav) is the word used for drawing near the altar as in bringing an offering. Here they offer themselves, their talents and their time.

¹⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

¹¹ sn A talent was equal to 6000 denarii. See the note on this term in 18:24.

¹² tn Grk “traded with them.”

¹³ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

¹⁵ tn Grk Or “Lord; or “Master” (and so throughout this paragraph).

¹⁶ tn Grk “His master said to him.”

¹⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

¹⁹ tn Grk “But answering, his master said to him.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation.

²⁰ tn For the translation “deposited my money with the bankers,” see L&N 57.216.

²¹ sn That is, “If you really feared me you should have done a minimum to get what I asked for.”

²² tn Grk “the ten talents.”

²³ tn Grk “to everyone who has, he will be given more.”

²⁴ sn The one who has nothing has even what he seems to have taken from him, ending up with no reward at all (see also Luke 8:18). The exact force of this is left ambiguous, but there is no comfort here for those who are pictured by the third slave as being totally unmoved by the master. Though not an outright enemy, there is no relationship to the master either.

²⁵ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 7:2.

²⁶ sn That is, one for each. A mina was a Greek monetary unit worth one hundred denarii or about four months’ wages for an average worker based on a six-day work week.

²⁷ tn This word comes from the same root as “grace” in the following clause; it means “things graciously given,” “grace-gifts.”

²⁸ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

²⁹ tn The participle and two adjectives “alive, holy, and pleasing to God” are taken as predicates in relation to “sacrifice,” making the exhortation more emphatic. See ExSyn 618-19.

³⁰ sn Here the one man refers to Adam (cf. 5:14).

³¹ tn Grk “the many.”

³² sn One man refers here to Jesus Christ.

³³ tn Grk “the many.”

³⁴ sn Many interpreters see Rom 5:1 as beginning the second major division of the letter.

³⁵ tc A number of important witnesses have the subjunctive ἔχωμεν (ecwmen, “let us have”) instead of ἔχομεν (ecomen, “we have”) in v. 1. Included in the subjunctive’s support are א* A B* C D K L 33 81 630 1175 1739* pm lat bo. But the indicative is not without its supporters: א¹ B² F G P Ψ 0220^vid 104 365 1241 1505 1506 1739^c 1881 2464 pm. If the problem were to be solved on an external basis only, the subjunctive would be preferred. Because of this, the “A” rating on behalf of the indicative in the UBS⁴ appears overly confident. Nevertheless, the indicative is probably correct. First, the earliest witness to Rom 5:1 has the indicative (0220^vid, third century). Second, the first set of correctors is sometimes, if not often, of equal importance with the original hand. Hence, א¹ might be given equal value with א*. Third, there is a good cross-section of witnesses for the indicative: Alexandrian (in 0220^vid, probably א¹ 1241 1506 1881 al), Western (in F G), and Byzantine (noted in NA²⁷ as pm). Thus, although the external evidence is strongly in favor of the subjunctive, the indicative is represented well enough that its ancestry could easily go back to the original. Turning to the internal evidence, the indicative gains much ground. (1) The variant may have been produced via an error of hearing (since omicron and omega were pronounced alike in ancient Greek). This, of course, does not indicate which reading was original – just that an error of hearing may have produced one of them. In light of the indecisiveness of the transcriptional evidence, intrinsic evidence could play a much larger role. This is indeed the case here. (2) The indicative fits well with the overall argument of the book to this point. Up until now, Paul has been establishing the “indicatives of the faith.” There is only one imperative (used rhetorically) and only one hortatory subjunctive (and this in a quotation within a diatribe) up till this point, while from ch. 6 on there are sixty-one imperatives and seven hortatory subjunctives. Clearly, an exhortation would be out of place in ch. 5. (3) Paul presupposes that the audience has peace with God (via reconciliation) in 5:10. This seems to assume the indicative in v. 1. (4) As C. E. B. Cranfield notes, “it would surely be strange for Paul, in such a carefully argued writing as this, to exhort his readers to enjoy or to guard a peace which he has not yet explicitly shown to be possessed by them” (Romans [ICC], 1:257). (5) The notion that εἰρήνην ἔχωμεν (eirhnhn ecwmen) can even naturally mean “enjoy peace” is problematic (ExSyn 464), yet those who embrace the subjunctive have to give the verb some such force. Thus, although the external evidence is stronger in support of the subjunctive, the internal evidence points to the indicative. Although a decision is difficult, ἔχομεν appears to be the authentic reading.

³⁶ tn Heb “woe to him.”