Kolose 2:20

2:20 If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits ¹  of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world?

Ester 3:12

3:12 So the royal scribes ²  were summoned in the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month. Everything Haman commanded was written to the king’s satraps ³  and governors who were in every province and to the officials of every people, province by province according to its script and people by people according to its language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written and sealed with the king’s signet ring.

Ester 8:8

8:8 Now you write in the king’s name whatever in your opinion is appropriate concerning the Jews and seal it with the king’s signet ring. Any decree that is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring cannot be rescinded.

Daniel 5:7-8

5:7 The king called out loudly ⁴  to summon ⁵  the astrologers, wise men, and diviners. The king proclaimed ⁶  to the wise men of Babylon that anyone who could read this inscription and disclose its interpretation would be clothed in purple ⁷  and have a golden collar ⁸  placed on his neck and be third ruler in the kingdom.

5:8 So all the king’s wise men came in, but they were unable to read the writing or to make known its ⁹  interpretation to the king.

Lukas 1:6

1:6 They ¹⁰  were both righteous in the sight of God, following ¹¹  all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly. ¹² 

Galatia 4:1-4

4:1 Now I mean that the heir, as long as he is a minor, ¹³  is no different from a slave, though he is the owner ¹⁴  of everything. 4:2 But he is under guardians ¹⁵  and managers until the date set by his ¹⁶  father. 4:3 So also we, when we were minors, ¹⁷  were enslaved under the basic forces ¹⁸  of the world. 4:4 But when the appropriate time ¹⁹  had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

Efesus 2:14-16

2:14 For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one ²⁰  and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, 2:15 when he nullified ²¹  in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man ²²  out of two, ²³  thus making peace, 2:16 and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed. ²⁴ 

Ibrani 7:18

7:18 On the one hand a former command is set aside ²⁵  because it is weak and useless, ²⁶ 

Ibrani 8:13

8:13 When he speaks of a new covenant, ²⁷  he makes the first obsolete. Now what is growing obsolete and aging is about to disappear. ²⁸ 

Ibrani 9:9-10

9:9 This was a symbol for the time then present, when gifts and sacrifices were offered that could not perfect the conscience of the worshiper. 9:10 They served only for matters of food and drink ²⁹  and various washings; they are external regulations ³⁰  imposed until the new order came. ³¹ 

Ibrani 10:8-9

10:8 When he says above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you did not desire nor did you take delight in them” ³²  (which are offered according to the law), 10:9 then he says, “Here I am: I have come to do your will.” ³³  He does away with ³⁴  the first to establish the second.

[2:20]  ¹ tn See the note on the phrase “elemental spirits” in 2:8.

[3:12]  ² tn Or “secretaries” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[3:12]  ³ tn Or “princes” (so NLT); CEV “highest officials.”

[5:7]  ⁴ tn Aram “in strength.”

[5:7]  ⁵ tn Aram “cause to enter.”

[5:7]  ⁶ tn Aram “answered and said.”

[5:7]  ⁷ sn Purple was a color associated with royalty in the ancient world.

[5:7]  ⁸ tn The term translated “golden collar” here probably refers to something more substantial than merely a gold chain (cf. NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT) or necklace (cf. NASB).

[5:8]  ⁹ tc Read וּפִשְׁרֵהּ (ufishreh) with the Qere rather than וּפִשְׁרָא (ufishra’) of the Kethib.

[1:6]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “And they.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[1:6]  ¹¹ tn Grk “walking in” (an idiom for one’s lifestyle).

[1:6]  sn The description of Zechariah and Elizabeth as following… blamelessly was not to say that they were sinless, but that they were faithful and pious. Thus a practical righteousness is meant here (Gen 6:8; Deut 28:9).

[1:6]  ¹² tn The predicate adjective has the effect of an adverb here (BDF §243).

[4:1]  ¹³ tn Grk “a small child.” The Greek term νήπιος (nhpios) refers to a young child, no longer a helpless infant but probably not more than three or four years old (L&N 9.43). The point in context, though, is that this child is too young to take any responsibility for the management of his assets.

[4:1]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “master” or “lord” (κύριος, kurios).

[4:2]  ¹⁵ tn The Greek term translated “guardians” here is ἐπίτροπος (epitropo"), whose semantic domain overlaps with that of παιδαγωγός (paidagwgo") according to L&N 36.5.

[4:2]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “the,” but the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[4:3]  ¹⁷ tn See the note on the word “minor” in 4:1.

[4:3]  ¹⁸ tn Or “basic principles,” “elemental things,” or “elemental spirits.” Some interpreters take this as a reference to supernatural powers who controlled nature and/or human fate.

[4:4]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “the fullness of time” (an idiom for the totality of a period of time, with the implication of proper completion; see L&N 67.69).

[2:14]  ²⁰ tn Grk “who made the both one.”

[2:15]  ²¹ tn Or “rendered inoperative.” This is a difficult text to translate because it is not easy to find an English term which communicates well the essence of the author’s meaning, especially since legal terminology is involved. Many other translations use the term “abolish” (so NRSV, NASB, NIV), but this term implies complete destruction which is not the author’s meaning here. The verb καταργέω (katargew) can readily have the meaning “to cause someth. to lose its power or effectiveness” (BDAG 525 s.v. 2, where this passage is listed), and this meaning fits quite naturally here within the author’s legal mindset. A proper English term which communicates this well is “nullify” since this word carries the denotation of “making something legally null and void.” This is not, however, a common English word. An alternate term like “rendered inoperative [or ineffective]” is also accurate but fairly inelegant. For this reason, the translation retains the term “nullify”; it is the best choice of the available options, despite its problems.

[2:15]  ²² tn In this context the author is not referring to a new individual, but instead to a new corporate entity united in Christ (cf. BDAG 497 s.v. καινός 3.b: “All the Christians together appear as κ. ἄνθρωπος Eph 2:15”). This is clear from the comparison made between the Gentiles and Israel in the immediately preceding verses and the assertion in v. 14 that Christ “made both groups into one.” This is a different metaphor than the “new man” of Eph 4:24; in that passage the “new man” refers to the new life a believer has through a relationship to Christ.

[2:15]  ²³ tn Grk “in order to create the two into one new man.” Eph 2:14-16 is one sentence in Greek. A new sentence was started here in the translation for clarity since contemporary English is less tolerant of extended sentences.

[2:16]  ²⁴ tn Grk “by killing the hostility in himself.”

[7:18]  ²⁵ tn Grk “the setting aside of a former command comes to pass.”

[7:18]  ²⁶ tn Grk “because of its weakness and uselessness.”

[8:13]  ²⁷ tn Grk “when he says, ‘new,’” (referring to the covenant).

[8:13]  ²⁸ tn Grk “near to disappearing.”

[9:10]  ²⁹ tn Grk “only for foods and drinks.”

[9:10]  ³⁰ tc Most witnesses (D¹ Ï) have “various washings, and external regulations” (βαπτισμοῖς καὶ δικαιώμασιν, baptismoi" kai dikaiwmasin), with both nouns in the dative. The translation “washings; they are… regulations” renders βαπτισμοῖς, δικαιώματα (baptismoi", dikaiwmata; found in such important mss as Ì⁴⁶ א* A I P 0278 33 1739 1881 al sa) in which case δικαιώματα is taken as the nominative subject of the participle ἐπικείμενα (epikeimena). It seems far more likely that scribes would conform δικαιώματα to the immediately preceding datives and join it to them by καί than they would to the following nominative participle. Both on external and internal evidence the text is thus secure as reading βαπτισμοῖς, δικαιώματα.

[9:10]  ³¹ tn Grk “until the time of setting things right.”

[10:8]  ³² sn Various phrases from the quotation of Ps 40:6 in Heb 10:5-6 are repeated in Heb 10:8.

[10:9]  ³³ tc The majority of mss, especially the later ones (א² 0278^vid 1739 Ï lat), have ὁ θεός (Jo qeo", “God”) at this point, while most of the earliest and best witnesses lack such an explicit addressee (so Ì⁴⁶ א* A C D K P Ψ 33 1175 1881 2464 al). The longer reading is a palpable corruption, apparently motivated in part by the wording of Ps 40:8 (39:9 LXX) and by the word order of this same verse as quoted in Heb 10:7.

[10:9]  ³⁴ tn Or “abolishes.”