2 Tawarikh 31:20-21

31:20 This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah. He did what the Lord his God considered good and right and faithful. 31:21 He wholeheartedly and successfully reinstituted service in God’s temple and obedience to the law, in order to follow his God. ¹ 

Mazmur 32:2

32:2 How blessed is the one ²  whose wrongdoing the Lord does not punish, ³ 

in whose spirit there is no deceit. ⁴ 

Mazmur 145:18

145:18 The Lord is near all who cry out to him,

all who cry out to him sincerely. ⁵ 

Yeremia 4:2

4:2 You must be truthful, honest and upright

when you take an oath saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives!’ ⁶ 

If you do, ⁷  the nations will pray to be as blessed by him as you are

and will make him the object of their boasting.” ⁸ 

Yohanes 1:47

1:47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and exclaimed, ⁹  “Look, a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” ¹⁰ 

Yohanes 1:2

1:2 The Word ¹¹  was with God in the beginning.

Kolose 1:12

1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share ¹²  in the saints’ ¹³  inheritance in the light.

Kolose 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ¹⁴  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Yohanes 3:21-22

3:21 But the one who practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be plainly evident that his deeds have been done in God. ¹⁵ 

Further Testimony About Jesus by John the Baptist

3:22 After this, ¹⁶  Jesus and his disciples came into Judean territory, and there he spent time with them and was baptizing.

[31:21]  ¹ tn Heb “and in all the work which he began with regard to the service of the house of God and with respect to the law and with respect to the commandment, to seek his God; with all his heart he acted and he succeeded.”

[32:2]  ² tn Heb “man.” The word choice reflects the perspective of the psalmist, who is male. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, the gender and age specific “man” has been translated with the more neutral “one.”

[32:2]  ³ tn Heb “blessed [is] the man to whom the Lord does not impute wrongdoing.”

[32:2]  ⁴ sn In whose spirit there is no deceit. The point is not that the individual is sinless and pure. In this context, which focuses on confession and forgiveness of sin, the psalmist refers to one who refuses to deny or hide his sin, but instead honestly confesses it to God.

[145:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “in truth.”

[4:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “If you [= you must, see the translator’s note on the word “do” later in this verse] swear/take an oath, ‘As the Lord lives,’ in truth, justice, and righteousness…”

[4:2]  ⁷ tn 4:1-2a consists of a number of “if” clauses, two of which are formally introduced by the Hebrew particle אִם (’im) while the others are introduced by the conjunction “and,” followed by a conjunction (“and” = “then”) with a perfect in 4:2b which introduces the consequence. The translation “You must…. If you do,” was chosen to avoid a long and complicated sentence.

[4:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “bless themselves in him and make their boasts in him.”

[1:47]  ⁹ tn Grk “said about him.”

[1:47]  ¹⁰ tn Or “treachery.”

[1:47]  sn An allusion to Ps 32:2.

[1:2]  ¹¹ tn Grk “He”; the referent (the Word) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:12]  ¹² tn BDAG 473 s.v. ἱκανόω states, “τινὰ εἴς τι someone for someth. Col 1:12.” The point of the text is that God has qualified the saints for a “share” or “portion” in the inheritance of the saints.

[1:12]  ¹³ tn Grk “the inheritance of the saints.” The genitive noun τῶν ἁγίων (twn Jagiwn) is a possessive genitive: “the saints’ inheritance.”

[1:1]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[3:21]  ¹⁵ sn John 3:16-21 provides an introduction to the (so-called) “realized” eschatology of the Fourth Gospel: Judgment has come; eternal life may be possessed now, in the present life, as well as in the future. The terminology “realized eschatology” was originally coined by E. Haenchen and used by J. Jeremias in discussion with C. H. Dodd, but is now characteristically used to describe Dodd’s own formulation. See L. Goppelt, Theology of the New Testament, 1:54, note 10, and R. E. Brown (John [AB], 1:cxvii-cxviii) for further discussion. Especially important to note is the element of choice portrayed in John’s Gospel. If there is a twofold reaction to Jesus in John’s Gospel, it should be emphasized that that reaction is very much dependent on a person’s choice, a choice that is influenced by his way of life, whether his deeds are wicked or are done in God (John 3:20-21). For John there is virtually no trace of determinism at the surface. Only when one looks beneath the surface does one find statements like “no one can come to me, unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44).

[3:22]  ¹⁶ tn This section is related loosely to the preceding by μετὰ ταῦτα (meta tauta). This constitutes an indefinite temporal reference; the intervening time is not specified.