Mazmur 72:3

72:3 The mountains will bring news of peace to the people,

and the hills will announce justice. ¹ 

Mazmur 72:7

72:7 During his days the godly will flourish; ² 

peace will prevail as long as the moon remains in the sky. ³ 

Mazmur 72:17

72:17 May his fame endure! ⁴ 

May his dynasty last as long as the sun remains in the sky! ⁵ 

May they use his name when they formulate their blessings! ⁶ 

May all nations consider him to be favored by God! ⁷ 

Yesaya 11:10

Israel is Reclaimed and Reunited

11:10 At that time ⁸  a root from Jesse ⁹  will stand like a signal flag for the nations. Nations will look to him for guidance, ¹⁰  and his residence will be majestic.

Yesaya 49:6

49:6 he says, “Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant,

to reestablish the tribes of Jacob,

and restore the remnant ¹¹  of Israel? ¹² 

I will make you a light to the nations, ¹³ 

so you can bring ¹⁴  my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”

Yesaya 57:18-19

57:18 I have seen their behavior, ¹⁵ 

but I will heal them and give them rest,

and I will once again console those who mourn. ¹⁶ 

57:19 I am the one who gives them reason to celebrate. ¹⁷ 

Complete prosperity ¹⁸  is available both to those who are far away and those who are nearby,”

says the Lord, “and I will heal them.

Mikha 4:2-4

4:2 Many nations will come, saying,

“Come on! Let’s go up to the Lord’s mountain,

to the temple ¹⁹  of Jacob’s God,

so he can teach us his commands ²⁰ 

and we can live by his laws.” ²¹ 

For Zion will be the source of instruction;

the Lord’s teachings will proceed from Jerusalem. ²² 

4:3 He will arbitrate ²³  between many peoples

and settle disputes between many ²⁴  distant nations. ²⁵ 

They will beat their swords into plowshares, ²⁶ 

and their spears into pruning hooks. ²⁷ 

Nations will not use weapons ²⁸  against other nations,

and they will no longer train for war.

4:4 Each will sit under his own grapevine

or under his own fig tree without any fear. ²⁹ 

The Lord who commands armies has decreed it. ³⁰ 

Kisah Para Rasul 10:36

10:36 You know ³¹  the message ³²  he sent to the people ³³  of Israel, proclaiming the good news of peace ³⁴  through ³⁵  Jesus Christ ³⁶  (he is Lord ³⁷  of all) –

Roma 15:9-13

15:9 and thus the Gentiles glorify God for his mercy. ³⁸  As it is written, “Because of this I will confess you among the Gentiles, and I will sing praises to your name.” ³⁹  15:10 And again it says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” ⁴⁰  15:11 And again, “Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him.” ⁴¹  15:12 And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, and the one who rises to rule over the Gentiles, in him will the Gentiles hope.” ⁴²  15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in him, ⁴³  so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Roma 15:2

15:2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up.

Kolose 1:18

1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn ⁴⁴  from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. ⁴⁵ 

Kolose 1:20

1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, ⁴⁶  whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Efesus 2:13-17

2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ⁴⁷  2:14 For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one ⁴⁸  and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, 2:15 when he nullified ⁴⁹  in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man ⁵⁰  out of two, ⁵¹  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. ⁵²  2:17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near,

Kolose 1:20-21

1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, ⁵³  whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Paul’s Goal in Ministry

1:21 And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your ⁵⁴  minds ⁵⁵  as expressed through ⁵⁶  your evil deeds,

[72:3]  ¹ tn Heb “[the] mountains will bear peace to the people, and [the] hills with justice.” The personified mountains and hills probably represent messengers who will sweep over the land announcing the king’s just decrees and policies. See Isa 52:7 and C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms (ICC), 2:133.

[72:7]  ² tn Heb “sprout up,” like crops. This verse continues the metaphor of rain utilized in v. 6.

[72:7]  ³ tn Heb “and [there will be an] abundance of peace until there is no more moon.”

[72:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “may his name [be] permanent.” The prefixed verbal form is jussive, not imperfect.

[72:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “before the sun may his name increase.” The Kethib (consonantal text) assumes יָנִין (yanin; a Hiphil of the verbal root נִין, nin) or יְנַיֵן (yÿnayen; a Piel form), while the Qere (marginal reading) assumes יִנּוֹן (yinnon; a Niphal form). The verb נִין occurs only here, though a derived noun, meaning “offspring,” appears elsewhere (see Isa 14:22). The verb appears to mean “propagate, increase” (BDB 630 s.v. נוּן, נִין) or “produce shoots, get descendants” (HALOT 696 s.v. נין). In this context this appears to be a prayer for a lasting dynasty that will keep the king’s name and memory alive.

[72:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “may they bless one another by him,” that is, use the king’s name in their blessing formulae because he is a prime example of one blessed by God (for examples of such blessing formulae, see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11). There is some debate on whether the Hitpael form of בָּרַךְ (barakh, “bless”) is reflexive-reciprocal (as assumed in the present translation) or passive. The Hitpael of בָּרַךְ occurs in five other passages, including the hotly debated Gen 22:18 and 26:4. In these two texts one could understand the verb form as passive and translate, “all the nations of the earth will be blessed through your offspring,” or one could take the Hitpael as reflexive or reciprocal and translate, “all the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings [i.e., on themselves or one another] by your offspring.” In the first instance Abraham’s (or Isaac’s) offspring are viewed as a channel of divine blessing. In the second instance they are viewed as a prime example of blessing that will appear as part of the nations’ blessing formulae, but not necessarily as a channel of blessing to the nations. In Deut 29:18 one reads: “When one hears the words of this covenant [or “oath”] and invokes a blessing on himself (Hitpael of בָּרַךְ) in his heart, saying: ‘I will have peace, even though I walk with a rebellious heart.’” In this case the Hitpael is clearly reflexive, as the phrases “in his heart” and “I will have peace” indicate. The Hitpael of בָּרַךְ appears twice in Isaiah 65:16: “The one who invokes a blessing on himself (see Deut 9:18) in the land will invoke that blessing by the God of truth; and the one who makes an oath in the land will make that oath by the God of truth.” A passive nuance does not fit here. The parallel line, which mentions making an oath, suggests that the Hitpael of בָּרַךְ refers here to invoking a blessing. Both pronouncements of blessing and oaths will appeal to God as the one who rewards and judges, respectively. Jer 4:2 states: “If you swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’ with truth, integrity, and honesty, then the nations will pronounce blessings by him and boast in him.” A passive nuance might work (“the nations will be blessed”), but the context refers to verbal pronouncements (swearing an oath, boasting), suggesting that the Hitpael of בָּרַךְ refers here to invoking a blessing. The logic of the verse seems to be as follows: If Israel conducts its affairs with integrity, the nation will be favored by the Lord, which will in turn attract the surrounding nations to Israel’s God. To summarize, while the evidence might leave the door open for a passive interpretation, there is no clear cut passive use. Usage favors a reflexive or reciprocal understanding of the Hitpael of בָּרַךְ. In Ps 72:17 the Hitpael of בָּרַךְ is followed by the prepositional phrase בוֹ (vo, “by him”). The verb could theoretically be taken as passive, “may all the nations be blessed through him” (cf. NIV, NRSV), because the preceding context describes the positive effects of this king’s rule on the inhabitants of the earth. But the parallel line, which employs the Piel of אָשַׁר (’ashar) in a factitive/declarative sense, “regard as happy, fortunate,” suggests a reflexive or reciprocal nuance for the Hitpael of בָּרַךְ here. If the nations regard the ideal king as a prime example of one who is fortunate or blessed, it is understandable that they would use his name in their pronouncements of blessing.

[72:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “all the nations, may they regard him as happy.” The Piel is used here in a delocutive sense (“regard as”).

[11:10]  ⁸ tn Or “in that day” (KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[11:10]  ⁹ sn See the note at v. 1.

[11:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “ a root from Jesse, which stands for a signal flag of the nations, of him nations will inquire” [or “seek”].

[49:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the protected [or “preserved”] ones.”

[49:6]  ¹² sn The question is purely rhetorical; it does not imply that the servant was dissatisfied with his commission or that he minimized the restoration of Israel.

[49:6]  ¹³ tn See the note at 42:6.

[49:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “be” (so KJV, ASV); CEV “you must take.”

[57:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “his ways” (so KJV, NASB, NIV); TEV “how they acted.”

[57:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and I will restore consolation to him, to his mourners.”

[57:19]  ¹⁷ tc The Hebrew text has literally, “one who creates fruit of lips.” Perhaps the pronoun אֲנִי (’ani) should be inserted after the participle; it may have been accidentally omitted by haplography: נוּב שְׂפָתָיִם[אֲנִי] בּוֹרֵא (bore’ [’ani] nuv sÿfatayim). “Fruit of the lips” is often understood as a metonymy for praise; perhaps it refers more generally to joyful shouts (see v. 18).

[57:19]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Peace, peace.” The repetition of the noun emphasizes degree.

[4:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “house.”

[4:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “ways.”

[4:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “and we can walk in his paths.”

[4:2]  ²² tn Heb “instruction [or, “law”] will go out from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

[4:2]  map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[4:3]  ²³ tn Or “judge.”

[4:3]  ²⁴ tn Or “mighty” (NASB); KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV “strong”; TEV “among the great powers.”

[4:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “[for many nations] to a distance.”

[4:3]  ²⁶ sn Instead of referring to the large plow as a whole, the plowshare is simply the metal tip which actually breaks the earth and cuts the furrow.

[4:3]  ²⁷ sn This implement was used to prune the vines, i.e., to cut off extra leaves and young shoots (M. Klingbeil, NIDOTTE 1:1117-18). It was a short knife with a curved hook at the end sharpened on the inside like a sickle.

[4:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “take up the sword.”

[4:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and there will be no one making [him] afraid.”

[4:4]  ³⁰ tn Heb “for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.”

[10:36]  ³¹ tn The subject and verb (“you know”) do not actually occur until the following verse, but have been repeated here because of the requirements of English word order.

[10:36]  ³² tn Grk “the word.”

[10:36]  ³³ tn Grk “to the sons.”

[10:36]  ³⁴ sn Peace is a key OT concept: Isa 52:7; Nah 1:15; also for Luke: Luke 1:79; 2:14; Acts 9:31. See also the similar phrase in Eph 2:17.

[10:36]  ³⁵ tn Or “by.”

[10:36]  ³⁶ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[10:36]  ³⁷ sn He is Lord of all. Though a parenthetical remark, this is the theological key to the speech. Jesus is Lord of all, so the gospel can go to all. The rest of the speech proclaims Jesus’ authority.

[15:9]  ³⁸ tn There are two major syntactical alternatives which are both awkward: (1) One could make “glorify” dependent on “Christ has become a minister” and coordinate with “to confirm” and the result would be rendered “Christ has become a minister of circumcision to confirm the promises…and so that the Gentiles might glorify God.” (2) One could make “glorify” dependent on “I tell you” and coordinate with “Christ has become a minister” and the result would be rendered “I tell you that Christ has become a minister of circumcision…and that the Gentiles glorify God.” The second rendering is preferred.

[15:9]  ³⁹ sn A quotation from Ps 18:49.

[15:10]  ⁴⁰ sn A quotation from Deut 32:43.

[15:11]  ⁴¹ sn A quotation from Ps 117:1.

[15:12]  ⁴² sn A quotation from Isa 11:10.

[15:13]  ⁴³ tn Grk “in the believing” or “as [you] believe,” with the object “him” supplied from the context. The referent could be God (15:13a) or Christ (15:12).

[1:18]  ⁴⁴ tn See the note on the term “firstborn” in 1:15. Here the reference to Jesus as the “firstborn from among the dead” seems to be arguing for a chronological priority, i.e., Jesus was the first to rise from the dead.

[1:18]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “in order that he may become in all things, himself, first.”

[1:20]  ⁴⁶ tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì⁴⁶ א A C D¹ Ψ 048^vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.

[2:13]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “have come near in the blood of Christ.”

[2:13]  sn See the note on “his blood” in 1:7.

[2:14]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “who made the both one.”

[2:15]  ⁴⁹ 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]  ⁵⁰ 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]  ⁵¹ 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]  ⁵² tn Grk “by killing the hostility in himself.”

[1:20]  ⁵³ tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì⁴⁶ א A C D¹ Ψ 048^vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.

[1:21]  ⁵⁴ tn The article τῇ (th) has been translated as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[1:21]  ⁵⁵ tn Although διανοία (dianoia) is singular in Greek, the previous plural noun ἐχθρούς (ecqrous) indicates that all those from Colossae are in view here.

[1:21]  ⁵⁶ tn The dative ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς (en toi" ergoi" toi" ponhroi") is taken as means, indicating the avenue through which hostility in the mind is revealed and made known.