Efesus 1:4

1:4 For ¹  he chose us in Christ ²  before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished ³  in his sight ⁴  in love. ⁵ 

Efesus 1:9

1:9 He did this when he revealed ⁶  to us the secret ⁷  of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth ⁸  in Christ, ⁹ 

Efesus 1:11

1:11 In Christ ¹⁰  we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, ¹¹  since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will

Yesaya 14:24-27

14:24 ¹² The Lord who commands armies makes this solemn vow:

“Be sure of this:

Just as I have intended, so it will be;

just as I have planned, it will happen.

14:25 I will break Assyria ¹³  in my land,

I will trample them ¹⁴  underfoot on my hills.

Their yoke will be removed from my people,

the burden will be lifted from their shoulders. ¹⁵ 

14:26 This is the plan I have devised for the whole earth;

my hand is ready to strike all the nations.” ¹⁶ 

14:27 Indeed, ¹⁷  the Lord who commands armies has a plan,

and who can possibly frustrate it?

His hand is ready to strike,

and who can possibly stop it? ¹⁸ 

Yesaya 46:10-11

46:10 who announces the end from the beginning

and reveals beforehand ¹⁹  what has not yet occurred,

who says, ‘My plan will be realized,

I will accomplish what I desire,’

46:11 who summons an eagle ²⁰  from the east,

from a distant land, one who carries out my plan.

Yes, I have decreed, ²¹ 

yes, I will bring it to pass;

I have formulated a plan,

yes, I will carry it out.

Yeremia 51:29

51:29 The earth will tremble and writhe in agony. ²² 

For the Lord will carry out his plan.

He plans to make the land of Babylonia ²³ 

a wasteland where no one lives. ²⁴ 

Roma 8:28-30

8:28 And we know that all things work together ²⁵  for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, 8:29 because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son ²⁶  would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ²⁷  8:30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

Roma 9:11

9:11 even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose in election ²⁸  would stand, not by works but by ²⁹  his calling) ³⁰  –

Roma 9:2

9:2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³¹ 

Titus 1:9

1:9 He must hold firmly to the faithful message as it has been taught, ³²  so that he will be able to give exhortation in such healthy teaching ³³  and correct those who speak against it.

[1:4]  ¹ tn Grk “just as.” Eph 1:3-14 are one long sentence in Greek that must be broken up in English translation. Verse 4 expresses the reason why God the Father is blessed (cf. BDAG 494 s.v. καθώς 3).

[1:4]  ² tn Grk “in him.”

[1:4]  ³ sn The Greek word translated unblemished (ἀμώμους, amwmous) is often used of an acceptable paschal lamb. Christ, as our paschal lamb, is also said to be unblemished (Heb 9:14; 1 Pet 1:19). Since believers are in Christ, God views them positionally and will make them ultimately without blemish as well (Jude 24; Eph 5:27; Col 1:22).

[1:4]  ⁴ tn Grk “before him.”

[1:4]  ⁵ tn The prepositional phrase ἐν ἀγάπῃ (en agaph, “in love”) may modify one of three words or phrases: (1) “chose,” (2) “holy and unblemished,” both in v. 4, or (3) “by predestining” in v. 5. If it modifies “chose,” it refers to God’s motivation in that election, but this option is unlikely because of the placement of the prepositional phrase far away from the verb. The other two options are more likely. If it modifies “holy and unblemished,” it specifies that our holiness cannot be divorced from love. This view is in keeping with the author’s use of ἀγάπη to refer often to human love in Ephesians, but the placement of the prepositional phrase not immediately following the words it modifies would be slightly awkward. If it modifies “by predestining” (v. 5), again the motivation of God’s choice is love. This would fit the focus of the passage on God’s gracious actions toward believers, but it could be considered slightly redundant in that God’s predestination itself proves his love.

[1:9]  ⁶ tn Or “He did this by revealing”; Grk “making known, revealing.” Verse 9 begins with a participle dependent on “lavished” in v. 8; the adverbial participle could be understood as temporal (“when he revealed”), which would be contemporaneous to the action of the finite verb “lavished,” or as means (“by revealing”). The participle has been translated here with the temporal nuance to allow for means to also be a possible interpretation. If the translation focused instead upon means, the temporal nuance would be lost as the time frame for the action of the participle would become indistinct.

[1:9]  ⁷ tn Or “mystery.” In the NT μυστήριον (musthrion) refers to a divine secret previously undisclosed.

[1:9]  ⁸ tn Or “purposed,” “publicly displayed.” Cf. Rom 3:25.

[1:9]  ⁹ tn Grk “in him”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[1:9]  sn In Christ. KJV has “in himself” as though the antecedent were God the Father. Although possible, the notion of the verb set forth (Greek προτίθημι, protiqhmi) implies a plan that is carried out in history (cf. Rom 1:13; 3:25) and thus more likely refers to Christ.

[1:11]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “in whom,” as a continuation of the previous verse.

[1:11]  ¹¹ 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).

[14:24]  ¹² sn Having announced the downfall of the Chaldean empire, the Lord appends to this prophecy a solemn reminder that the Assyrians, the major Mesopotamian power of Isaiah’s day, would be annihilated, foreshadowing what would subsequently happen to Babylon and the other hostile nations.

[14:25]  ¹³ tn Heb “to break Assyria.”

[14:25]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “him.” This is a collective singular referring to the nation, or a reference to the king of Assyria who by metonymy stands for the entire nation.

[14:25]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and his [i.e., Assyria’s] yoke will be removed from them [the people?], and his [Assyria’s] burden from his [the nation’s?] shoulder will be removed.” There are no antecedents in this oracle for the suffixes in the phrases “from them” and “from his shoulder.” Since the Lord’s land and hills are referred to in the preceding line and the statement seems to echo 10:27, it is likely that God’s people are the referents of the suffixes; the translation uses “my people” to indicate this.

[14:26]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and this is the hand that is outstretched over all the nations.”

[14:27]  ¹⁷ tn Or “For” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[14:27]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “His hand is outstretched and who will turn it back?”

[46:10]  ¹⁹ tn Or “from long ago”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “from ancient times.”

[46:11]  ²⁰ tn Or, more generally, “a bird of prey” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV; see 18:6).

[46:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “spoken”; KJV “I have spoken it.”

[51:29]  ²² sn The figure here is common in the poetic tradition of the Lord going forth to do battle against his foes and the earth’s reaction to it is compared to a person trembling with fear and writhing in agony, agony like that of a woman in labor (cf. Judg 5:4; Nah 1:2-5; Hab 3:1-15 [especially v. 6]).

[51:29]  ²³ tn Heb “For the plans of the Lord have been carried out to make the land of Babylon…” The passive has been turned into an active and the sentence broken up to better conform with contemporary English style. For the meaning of the verb קוּם (qum) in the sense used here see BDB 878 s.v. קוּם 7.g and compare the usage in Prov 19:21 and Isa 46:10.

[51:29]  ²⁴ tn The verbs in this verse and v. 30 are all in the past tense in Hebrew, in the tense that views the action as already as good as done (the Hebrew prophetic perfect). The verb in v. 31a, however, is imperfect, viewing the action as future; the perfects that follow are all dependent on that future. Verse 33 looks forward to a time when Babylon will be harvested and trampled like grain on the threshing floor and the imperatives imply a time in the future. Hence the present translation has rendered all the verbs in vv. 29-30 as future.

[8:28]  ²⁵ tc ὁ θεός (Jo qeos, “God”) is found after the verb συνεργεῖ (sunergei, “work”) in v. 28 by Ì⁴⁶ A B 81 sa; the shorter reading is found in א C D F G Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï latt sy bo. Although the inclusion is supported by a significant early papyrus, the alliance of significant Alexandrian and Western witnesses favors the shorter reading. As well, the longer reading is evidently motivated by a need for clarification. Since ὁ θεός is textually suspect, it is better to read the text without it. This leaves two good translational options: either “he works all things together for good” or “all things work together for good.” In the first instance the subject is embedded in the verb and “God” is clearly implied (as in v. 29). In the second instance, πάντα (panta) becomes the subject of an intransitive verb. In either case, “What is expressed is a truly biblical confidence in the sovereignty of God” (C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans [ICC], 1:427).

[8:29]  ²⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God’s Son) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:29]  ²⁷ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[9:11]  ²⁸ tn Grk “God’s purpose according to election.”

[9:11]  ²⁹ tn Or “not based on works but based on…”

[9:11]  ³⁰ tn Grk “by the one who calls.”

[9:11]  sn The entire clause is something of a parenthetical remark.

[9:2]  ³¹ tn Grk “my sorrow is great and the anguish in my heart is unceasing.”

[1:9]  ³² tn Grk “the faithful message in accordance with the teaching” (referring to apostolic teaching).

[1:9]  ³³ tn Grk “the healthy teaching” (referring to what was just mentioned).