Yesaya 28:24-26

28:24 Does a farmer just keep on plowing at planting time? ¹ 

Does he keep breaking up and harrowing his ground?

28:25 Once he has leveled its surface,

does he not scatter the seed of the caraway plant,

sow the seed of the cumin plant,

and plant the wheat, barley, and grain in their designated places? ² 

28:26 His God instructs him;

he teaches him the principles of agriculture. ³ 

Matius 9:37-38

9:37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. 9:38 Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest ⁴  to send out ⁵  workers into his harvest.”

Matius 20:1

Workers in the Vineyard

20:1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner ⁶  who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.

Matius 21:33-41

The Parable of the Tenants

21:33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner ⁷  who planted a vineyard. ⁸  He put a fence around it, dug a pit for its winepress, and built a watchtower. Then ⁹  he leased it to tenant farmers ¹⁰  and went on a journey. 21:34 When the harvest time was near, he sent his slaves ¹¹  to the tenants to collect his portion of the crop. ¹²  21:35 But the tenants seized his slaves, beat one, ¹³  killed another, and stoned another. 21:36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they treated them the same way. 21:37 Finally he sent his son to them, ¹⁴  saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 21:38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and get his inheritance!’ 21:39 So ¹⁵  they seized him, ¹⁶  threw him out of the vineyard, ¹⁷  and killed him. 21:40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 21:41 They said to him, “He will utterly destroy those evil men! Then he will lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his portion at the harvest.”

Lukas 10:2

10:2 He ¹⁸  said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest ¹⁹  to send out ²⁰  workers into his harvest.

Yohanes 4:35-38

4:35 Don’t you say, ²¹  ‘There are four more months and then comes the harvest?’ I tell you, look up ²²  and see that the fields are already white ²³  for harvest! 4:36 The one who reaps receives pay ²⁴  and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who reaps can rejoice together. 4:37 For in this instance the saying is true, ²⁵  ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 4:38 I sent you to reap what you did not work for; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.”

Yohanes 4:1

Departure From Judea

4:1 Now when Jesus ²⁶  knew that the Pharisees ²⁷  had heard that he ²⁸  was winning ²⁹  and baptizing more disciples than John

Kolose 3:6-9

3:6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. ³⁰  3:7 You also lived your lives ³¹  in this way at one time, when you used to live among them. 3:8 But now, put off all such things ³²  as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth. 3:9 Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with its practices

Kolose 1:7-11

1:7 You learned the gospel ³³  from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave ³⁴  – a ³⁵  faithful minister of Christ on our ³⁶  behalf – 1:8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ³⁷  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ³⁸  to fill ³⁹  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 1:10 so that you may live ⁴⁰  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ⁴¹  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God, 1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of ⁴²  all patience and steadfastness, joyfully

[28:24]  ¹ tn Heb “All the day does the plowman plow in order to plant?” The phrase “all the day” here has the sense of “continually, always.” See BDB 400 s.v. יוֹם.

[28:25]  ² tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “place wheat [?], and barley [?], and grain in its territory.” The term שׂוֹרָה (shorah) is sometimes translated “[in] its place,” but the word is unattested elsewhere. It is probably due to dittography of the immediately following שְׂעֹרָה (sÿo’rah, “barley”). The meaning of נִסְמָן (nisman) is also uncertain. It may be due to dittography of the immediately following כֻסֶּמֶת (kussemet, “grain”).

[28:26]  ³ tn Heb “he teaches him the proper way, his God instructs him.”

[9:38]  ⁴ sn The phrase Lord of the harvest recognizes God’s sovereignty over the harvest process.

[9:38]  ⁵ tn Grk “to thrust out.”

[20:1]  ⁶ sn The term landowner here refers to the owner and manager of a household.

[21:33]  ⁷ tn The term here refers to the owner and manager of a household.

[21:33]  ⁸ sn The vineyard is a figure for Israel in the OT (Isa 5:1-7). The nation and its leaders are the tenants, so the vineyard here may well refer to the promise that resides within the nation. The imagery is like that in Rom 11:11-24.

[21:33]  ⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[21:33]  ¹⁰ sn The leasing of land to tenant farmers was common in this period.

[21:34]  ¹¹ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 8:9.

[21:34]  sn These slaves represent the prophets God sent to the nation, who were mistreated and rejected.

[21:34]  ¹² tn Grk “to collect his fruits.”

[21:35]  ¹³ sn The image of the tenants mistreating the owner’s slaves pictures the nation’s rejection of the prophets and their message.

[21:37]  ¹⁴ sn The owner’s decision to send his son represents God sending Jesus.

[21:39]  ¹⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the tenants’ decision to kill the son in v. 38.

[21:39]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “seizing him.” The participle λαβόντες (labontes) has been translated as attendant circumstance.

[21:39]  ¹⁷ sn Throwing the heir out of the vineyard pictures Jesus’ death outside of Jerusalem.

[10:2]  ¹⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[10:2]  ¹⁹ sn The phrase Lord of the harvest recognizes God’s sovereignty over the harvest process.

[10:2]  ²⁰ tn Grk “to thrust out.”

[4:35]  ²¹ tn The recitative ὅτι (Joti) after λέγετε (legete) has not been translated.

[4:35]  ²² tn Grk “lift up your eyes” (an idiom). BDAG 357 s.v. ἐπαίρω 1 has “look up” here.

[4:35]  ²³ tn That is, “ripe.”

[4:36]  ²⁴ tn Or “a reward”; see L&N 38.14 and 57.173. This is something of a wordplay.

[4:37]  ²⁵ tn The recitative ὅτι (Joti) after ἀληθινός (alhqino") has not been translated.

[4:1]  ²⁶ tc Several early and important witnesses, along with the majority of later ones (Ì^66c,75 A B C L W^s Ψ 083 ˹³ 33 Ï sa), have κύριος (kurio", “Lord”) here instead of ᾿Ιησοῦς (Ihsou", “Jesus”). As significant as this external support is, the internal evidence seems to be on the side of ᾿Ιησοῦς. “Jesus” is mentioned two more times in the first two verses of chapter four in a way that is stylistically awkward (so much so that the translation has substituted the pronoun for the first one; see tn note below). This seems to be sufficient reason to motivate scribes to change the wording to κύριος. Further, the reading ᾿Ιησοῦς is not without decent support, though admittedly not as strong as that for κύριος (Ì^66* א D Θ 086 ˹ 565 1241 al lat bo). On the other hand, this Gospel speaks of Jesus as Lord in the evangelist’s narrative descriptions elsewhere only in 11:2; 20:18, 20; 21:12; and probably 6:23, preferring ᾿Ιησοῦς most of the time. This fact could be used to argue that scribes, acquainted with John’s style, changed κύριος to ᾿Ιησοῦς. But the immediate context generally is weighed more heavily than an author’s style. It is possible that neither word was in the original text and scribes supplied what they thought most appropriate (see TCGNT 176). But without ms evidence to this effect coupled with the harder reading ᾿Ιησοῦς, this conjecture must remain doubtful. All in all, it is best to regard ᾿Ιησοῦς as the original reading here.

[4:1]  ²⁷ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[4:1]  ²⁸ tn Grk “Jesus”; the repetition of the proper name is somewhat redundant in English (see the beginning of the verse) and so the pronoun (“he”) has been substituted here.

[4:1]  ²⁹ tn Grk “was making.”

[3:6]  ³⁰ tc The words ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῆς ἀπειθείας (epi tou" Juiou" th" apeiqeia", “on the sons of disobedience”) are lacking in Ì⁴⁶ B b sa, but are found in א A C D F G H I Ψ 075 0278 33 1739 1881 Ï lat sy bo. The words are omitted by several English translations (NASB, NIV, ESV, TNIV). This textual problem is quite difficult to resolve. On the one hand, the parallel account in Eph 5:6 has these words, thus providing scribes a motive for adding them here. On the other hand, the reading without the words may be too hard: The ἐν οἷς (en |oi") of v. 7 seems to have no antecedent without υἱούς already in the text, although it could possibly be construed as neuter referring to the vice list in v. 5. Further, although the witness of B is especially important, there are other places in which B and Ì⁴⁶ share errant readings of omission. Nevertheless, the strength of the internal evidence against the longer reading is at least sufficient to cause doubt here. The decision to retain the words in the text is less than certain.

[3:6]  sn The expression sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” In this context it refers to “all those who are disobedient.” Cf. Eph 5:6.

[3:7]  ³¹ tn Grk “you also walked.” The verb περιπατέω (peripatew) is commonly used in the NT to refer to behavior or conduct of one’s life (L&N 41.11).

[3:8]  ³² tn The Greek article with τὰ πάντα (ta panta) is anaphoric, referring to the previous list of vices, and has been translated here as “all such things.”

[1:7]  ³³ tn Or “learned it.” The Greek text simply has “you learned” without the reference to “the gospel,” but “the gospel” is supplied to clarify the sense of the clause. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[1:7]  ³⁴ tn The Greek word translated “fellow slave” is σύνδουλος (sundoulo"); the σύν- prefix here denotes association. Though δοῦλος is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:7]  ³⁵ tn The Greek text has “who (ὅς, Jos) is a faithful minister.” The above translation conveys the antecedent of the relative pronoun quite well and avoids the redundancy with the following substantival participle of v. 8, namely, “who told” (ὁ δηλώσας, Jo dhlwsa").

[1:7]  ³⁶ tc ‡ Judging by the superior witnesses for the first person pronoun ἡμῶν (Jhmwn, “us”; Ì⁴⁶ א* A B D* F G 326* 1505 al) vs. the second person pronoun ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “you”; found in א² C D¹ Ψ 075 33 1739 1881 Ï lat sy co), ἡμῶν should be regarded as original. Although it is possible that ἡμῶν was an early alteration of ὑμῶν (either unintentionally, as dittography, since it comes seventeen letters after the previous ἡμῶν; or intentionally, to conform to the surrounding first person pronouns), this supposition is difficult to maintain in light of the varied and valuable witnesses for this reading. Further, the second person is both embedded in the verb ἐμάθετε (emaqete) and is explicit in v. 8 (ὑμῶν). Hence, the motivation to change to the first person pronoun is counterbalanced by such evidence. The second person pronoun may have been introduced unintentionally via homoioarcton with the ὑπέρ (Juper) that immediately precedes it. As well, the second person reading is somewhat harder for it seems to address Epaphras’ role only in relation to Paul and his colleagues, rather than in relation to the Colossians. Nevertheless, the decision must be based ultimately on external evidence (because the internal evidence can be variously interpreted), and this strongly supports ἡμῶν.

[1:9]  ³⁷ tn Or “heard about it”; Grk “heard.” There is no direct object stated in the Greek (direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context). A direct object is expected by an English reader, however, so most translations supply one. Here, however, it is not entirely clear what the author “heard”: a number of translations supply “it” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV; NAB “this”), but this could refer back either to (1) “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8, or (2) “your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints” (v. 4). In light of this uncertainty, other translations supply “about you” (TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). This is preferred by the present translation since, while it does not resolve the ambiguity entirely, it does make it less easy for the English reader to limit the reference only to “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8.

[1:9]  ³⁸ tn The term “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but the following reference to “the knowledge of his will” makes it clear that “God” is in view as the object of the “praying and asking,” and should therefore be included in the English translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ³⁹ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as substantival, indicating the content of the prayer and asking. The idea of purpose may also be present in this clause.

[1:10]  ⁴⁰ tn The infinitive περιπατῆσαι (peripathsai, “to walk, to live, to live one’s life”) is best taken as an infinitive of purpose related to “praying” (προσευχόμενοι, proseucomenoi) and “asking” (αἰτούμενοι, aitoumenoi) in v. 9 and is thus translated as “that you may live.”

[1:10]  ⁴¹ tn BDAG 129 s.v. ἀρεσκεία states that ἀρεσκείαν (areskeian) refers to a “desire to please εἰς πᾶσαν ἀ. to please (the Lord) in all respects Col 1:10.”

[1:11]  ⁴² tn The expression “for the display of” is an attempt to convey in English the force of the Greek preposition εἰς (eis) in this context.