2 Tawarikh 20:6

20:6 He prayed: “O Lord God of our ancestors, ¹  you are the God who lives in heaven ²  and rules over all the kingdoms of the nations. You possess strength and power; no one can stand against you.

Ayub 16:19

16:19 Even now my witness ³  is in heaven;

my advocate ⁴  is on high.

Kisah Para Rasul 4:28

4:28 to do as much as your power ⁵  and your plan ⁶  had decided beforehand ⁷  would happen.

Efesus 1:11

1:11 In Christ ⁸  we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, ⁹  since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will

[20:6]  ¹ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 33).

[20:6]  ² tn Heb “are you not God in heaven?” The rhetorical question expects the answer “yes,” resulting in the positive statement “you are the God who lives in heaven” employed in the translation.

[16:19]  ³ sn The witness in heaven must be God, to whom the cries and prayers come. Job’s dilemma is serious, but common to the human experience: the hostility of God toward him is baffling, but he is conscious of his innocence and can call on God to be his witness.

[16:19]  ⁴ tn The parallelism now uses the Aramaic word “my advocate” – the one who testifies on my behalf. The word again appears in Gen 31:47 for Laban’s naming of the “heap of witness” in Aramaic – “Sahadutha.”

[4:28]  ⁵ tn Grk “hand,” here a metaphor for God’s strength or power or authority.

[4:28]  ⁶ tn Or “purpose,” “will.”

[4:28]  ⁷ tn Or “had predestined.” Since the term “predestine” is something of a technical theological term, not in wide usage in contemporary English, the translation “decide beforehand” was used instead (see L&N 30.84). God’s direction remains as the major theme.

[1:11]  ⁸ tn Grk “in whom,” as a continuation of the previous verse.

[1:11]  ⁹ tn Grk “we were appointed by lot.” The notion of the verb κληρόω (klhrow) in the OT was to “appoint a portion by lot” (the more frequent cognate verb κληρονομέω [klhronomew] meant “obtain a portion by lot”). In the passive, as here, the idea is that “we were appointed [as a portion] by lot” (BDAG 548 s.v. κληρόω 1). The words “God’s own” have been supplied in the translation to clarify this sense of the verb. An alternative interpretation is that believers receive a portion as an inheritance: “In Christ we too have been appointed a portion of the inheritance.” See H. W. Hoehner, Ephesians, 226-27, for discussion on this interpretive issue.

[1:11]  sn God’s own possession. Although God is not mentioned explicitly in the Greek text, it is clear from the context that he has chosen believers for himself. Just as with the nation Israel, the church is God’s chosen portion or possession (cf. Deut 32:8-9).