Kolose 3:2

3:2 Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth,

Mazmur 16:11

16:11 You lead me in ¹  the path of life; ² 

I experience absolute joy in your presence; ³ 

you always give me sheer delight. ⁴ 

Mazmur 17:14-15

17:14 Lord, use your power to deliver me from these murderers, ⁵ 

from the murderers of this world! ⁶ 

They enjoy prosperity; ⁷ 

you overwhelm them with the riches they desire. ⁸ 

They have many children,

and leave their wealth to their offspring. ⁹ 

17:15 As for me, because I am innocent I will see your face; ¹⁰ 

when I awake you will reveal yourself to me. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 73:25-26

73:25 Whom do I have in heaven but you?

I desire no one but you on earth. ¹² 

73:26 My flesh and my heart may grow weak, ¹³ 

but God always ¹⁴  protects my heart and gives me stability. ¹⁵ 

Amsal 15:24

15:24 The path of life is upward ¹⁶  for the wise person, ¹⁷ 

to ¹⁸  keep him from going downward to Sheol. ¹⁹ 

Matius 6:20

6:20 But accumulate for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.

Matius 6:33

6:33 But above all pursue his kingdom ²⁰  and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Lukas 12:33

12:33 Sell your possessions ²¹  and give to the poor. ²²  Provide yourselves purses that do not wear out – a treasure in heaven ²³  that never decreases, ²⁴  where no thief approaches and no moth ²⁵  destroys.

Roma 8:6

8:6 For the outlook ²⁶  of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace,

Roma 8:2

8:2 For the law of the life-giving Spirit ²⁷  in Christ Jesus has set you ²⁸  free from the law of sin and death.

Kolose 4:18

4:18 I, Paul, write this greeting by my own hand. ²⁹  Remember my chains. ³⁰  Grace be with you. ³¹ 

Filipi 3:20-21

3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven – and we also await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 3:21 who will transform these humble bodies of ours ³²  into the likeness of his glorious body by means of that power by which he is able to subject all things to himself.

Ibrani 11:13-16

11:13 These all died in faith without receiving the things promised, ³³  but they saw them in the distance and welcomed them and acknowledged that they were strangers and foreigners ³⁴  on the earth. 11:14 For those who speak in such a way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 11:15 In fact, if they had been thinking of the land that they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 11:16 But as it is, ³⁵  they aspire to a better land, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

[16:11]  ¹ tn Heb “cause me to know”; or “cause me to experience.”

[16:11]  ² tn This is a metaphorical way of saying, “you preserve my life.” The phrase “path of life” stands in contrast to death/Sheol in Prov 2:18-19; 5:5-6; 15:24.

[16:11]  ³ tn Heb “abundance of joy [is] with your face.” The plural form of the noun שִׂמְחָה (simkhah, “joy”) occurs only here and in Ps 45:15. It may emphasize the degree of joy experienced.

[16:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “delight [is] in your right hand forever.” The plural form of the adjective נָעִים (na’im, “pleasant, delightful”) may here emphasize the degree of delight experienced (see Job 36:11).

[17:14]  ⁵ tc Heb “from men [by] your hand, Lord.” The translation assumes an emendation (both here and in the following line) of מִמְתִים (mimtim, “from men”) to מִמְמִתִים (mimmitim, “from those who kill”). For other uses of the plural form of the Hiphil participle of מוּת (mut, “die”), see 2 Kgs 17:26 (used with lions as subject), Job 33:22 (apparently referring to the agents of death), and Jer 26:15 (used of those seeking Jeremiah’s life).

[17:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “from men, from [the] world.” On the emendation of “men” to “murderers,” see the preceding note on the word “murderers.”

[17:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “their portion, in life.”

[17:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “and [with] your treasures you fill their belly.”

[17:14]  sn You overwhelm them with the riches they desire. The psalmist is not accusing God of being unjust; he is simply observing that the wicked often prosper and that God is the ultimate source of all blessings that human beings enjoy (see Matt 5:45). When the wicked are ungrateful for God’s blessings, they become even more culpable and deserving of judgment. So this description of the wicked actually supports the psalmist’s appeal for deliverance. God should rescue him because he is innocent (see vv. 3-5) and because the wicked, though blessed abundantly by God, still have the audacity to attack God’s people.

[17:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “they are satisfied [with] sons and leave their abundance to their children.”

[17:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I, in innocence, I will see your face.” To “see” God’s “face” means to have access to his presence and to experience his favor (see Ps 11:7; see also Job 33:26 [where רָאָה (ra’ah), not חָזַה (khazah), is used]). Here, however, the psalmist may be anticipating a mystical experience. See the following note on the word “me.”

[17:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I will be satisfied, when I awake, [with] your form.” The noun תְּמוּנָה (tÿmunah) normally carries the nuance “likeness” or “form.” In Job 4:16 it refers to a ghostlike spiritual entity (see v. 15) that revealed itself to Eliphaz during the night. The psalmist may anticipate a mystical encounter with God in which he expects to see a manifestation of God’s presence (i.e., a theophany), perhaps in conjunction with an oracle of deliverance. During the quiet darkness of the night, God examines the psalmist’s inner motives and finds them to be pure (see v. 3). The psalmist is confident that when he awakens, perhaps sometime during the night or in the morning, he will be visited by God and assured of vindication.

[17:15]  sn When I awake you will reveal yourself to me. Some see in this verse an allusion to resurrection. According to this view, when the psalmist awakens from the sleep of death, he will see God. It is unlikely that the psalmist had such a highly developed personal eschatology. As noted above, it is more likely that he is anticipating a divine visitation and mystical encounter as a prelude to his deliverance from his enemies.

[73:25]  ¹² tn Heb “Who [is there] for me in heaven? And besides you I do not desire [anyone] in the earth.” The psalmist uses a merism (heaven/earth) to emphasize that God is the sole object of his desire and worship in the entire universe.

[73:26]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew verb כָלָה (khalah, “to fail; to grow weak”) does not refer here to physical death per se, but to the physical weakness that sometimes precedes death (see Job 33:21; Pss 71:9; 143:7; Prov 5:11).

[73:26]  ¹⁴ tn Or “forever.”

[73:26]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “is the rocky summit of my heart and my portion.” The psalmist compares the Lord to a rocky summit where one could go for protection and to landed property, which was foundational to economic stability in ancient Israel.

[15:24]  ¹⁶ tn There is disagreement over the meaning of the term translated “upward.” The verse is usually taken to mean that “upward” is a reference to physical life and well-being (cf. NCV), and “going down to Sheol” is a reference to physical death, that is, the grave, because the concept of immortality is said not to appear in the book of Proverbs. The proverb then would mean that the wise live long and healthy lives. But W. McKane argues (correctly) that “upwards” in contrast to Sheol, does not fit the ways of describing the worldly pattern of conduct and that it is only intelligible if taken as a reference to immortality (Proverbs [OTL], 480). The translations “upwards” and “downwards” are not found in the LXX. This has led some commentators to speculate that these terms were not found in the original, but were added later, after the idea of immortality became prominent. However, this is mere speculation.

[15:24]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “to the wise [man],” because the form is masculine.

[15:24]  ¹⁸ tn The term לְמַעַן (lema’an, “in order to”) introduces a purpose clause; the path leads upward in order to turn the wise away from Sheol.

[15:24]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “to turn from Sheol downward”; cf. NAB “the nether world below.”

[6:33]  ²⁰ tc ‡ Most mss (L W Θ 0233 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat sy mae) read τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ (thn basileian tou qeou kai thn dikaiosunhn aujtou, “the kingdom of God and his righteousness”) here, but the words “of God” are lacking in א B pc sa bo Eus. On the one hand, there is the possibility of accidental omission on the part of these Alexandrian witnesses, but it seems unlikely that the scribe’s eye would skip over both words (especially since τοῦ θεοῦ is bracketed by first declension nouns). Intrinsically, the author generally has a genitive modifier with βασιλεία – especially θεοῦ or οὐρανῶν (ouranwn) – but this argument cuts both ways: Although he might be expected to use such an adjunct here, scribes might also be familiar with his practice and would thus naturally insert it if it were missing in their copy of Matthew. Although a decision is difficult, the omission of τοῦ θεοῦ is considered most likely to be original. NA²⁷ includes the words in brackets, indicating doubt as to their authenticity.

[6:33]  sn God’s kingdom is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong.

[12:33]  ²¹ sn The call to sell your possessions is a call to a lack of attachment to the earth and a generosity as a result.

[12:33]  ²² tn Grk “give alms,” but this term is not in common use today.

[12:33]  ²³ tn Grk “in the heavens.”

[12:33]  ²⁴ tn Or “an unfailing treasure in heaven,” or “an inexhaustible treasure in heaven.”

[12:33]  ²⁵ tn The term σής (shs) refers to moths in general. It is specifically the larvae of moths that destroy clothing by eating holes in it (L&N 4.49; BDAG 922 s.v.). See Jas 5:2, which mentions “moth-eaten” clothing.

[8:6]  ²⁶ tn Or “mindset,” “way of thinking” (twice in this verse and once in v. 7). The Greek term φρόνημα does not refer to one’s mind, but to one’s outlook or mindset.

[8:2]  ²⁷ tn Grk “for the law of the Spirit of life.”

[8:2]  ²⁸ tc Most mss read the first person singular pronoun με (me) here (A D 1739^c 1881 Ï lat sa). The second person singular pronoun σε (se) is superior because of external support (א B {F which reads σαι} G 1506* 1739*) and internal support (it is the harder reading since ch. 7 was narrated in the first person). At the same time, it could have arisen via dittography from the final syllable of the verb preceding it (ἠλευθέρωσεν, hleuqerwsen; “has set free”). But for this to happen in such early and diverse witnesses is unlikely, especially as it depends on various scribes repeatedly overlooking either the nu or the nu-bar at the end of the verb.

[4:18]  ²⁹ tn Grk “the greeting by my hand, of Paul.”

[4:18]  ³⁰ tn Or “my imprisonment.”

[4:18]  ³¹ tc Most witnesses, including a few important ones (א² D Ψ 075 0278 Ï lat sy), conclude this letter with ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”). Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, the external evidence for the omission is quite compelling (א* A B C F G 048 6 33 81 1739* 1881 sa). The strongly preferred reading is therefore the omission of ἀμήν.

[3:21]  ³² tn Grk “transform the body of our humility.”

[11:13]  ³³ tn Grk “the promises,” referring to the things God promised, not to the pledges themselves.

[11:13]  ³⁴ tn Or “sojourners.”

[11:16]  ³⁵ tn Grk “now.”