Yesaya 54:5

54:5 For your husband is the one who made you –

the Lord who commands armies is his name.

He is your protector, ¹  the Holy One of Israel. ² 

He is called “God of the entire earth.”

Yesaya 62:3-5

62:3 You will be a majestic crown in the hand of the Lord,

a royal turban in the hand of your God.

62:4 You will no longer be called, “Abandoned,”

and your land will no longer be called “Desolate.”

Indeed, ³  you will be called “My Delight is in Her,” ⁴ 

and your land “Married.” ⁵ 

For the Lord will take delight in you,

and your land will be married to him. ⁶ 

62:5 As a young man marries a young woman,

so your sons ⁷  will marry you.

As a bridegroom rejoices over a bride,

so your God will rejoice over you.

Yeremia 3:14-15

3:14 “Come back to me, my wayward sons,” says the Lord, “for I am your true master. ⁸  If you do, ⁹  I will take one of you from each town and two of you from each family group, and I will bring you back to Zion. 3:15 I will give you leaders ¹⁰  who will be faithful to me. ¹¹  They will lead you with knowledge and insight.

Yohanes 3:29

3:29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly ¹²  when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. This then is my joy, and it is complete. ¹³ 

Roma 7:4

7:4 So, my brothers and sisters, ¹⁴  you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God. ¹⁵ 

Roma 7:2

7:2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her ¹⁶  husband dies, she is released from the law of the marriage. ¹⁷ 

Kolose 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ¹⁸  brothers and sisters ¹⁹  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ²⁰  from God our Father! ²¹ 

Efesus 5:25-27

5:25 Husbands, love your ²²  wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her 5:26 to sanctify her by cleansing her ²³  with the washing of the water by the word, 5:27 so that he ²⁴  may present the church to himself as glorious – not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁵ 

Wahyu 19:7-9

19:7 Let us rejoice ²⁶  and exult

and give him glory,

because the wedding celebration of the Lamb has come,

and his bride has made herself ready.

19:8 She was permitted to be dressed in bright, clean, fine linen” ²⁷  (for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints). ²⁸ 

19:9 Then ²⁹  the angel ³⁰  said to me, “Write the following: Blessed are those who are invited to the banquet at the wedding celebration of the Lamb!” He also said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

Wahyu 21:2

21:2 And I saw the holy city – the new Jerusalem – descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband.

Wahyu 21:9-10

The New Jerusalem Descends

21:9 Then ³¹  one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came and spoke to me, ³²  saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb!” 21:10 So ³³  he took me away in the Spirit ³⁴  to a huge, majestic mountain ³⁵  and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.

[54:5]  ¹ tn Or “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[54:5]  ² sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[62:4]  ³ tn Or “for”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “but.”

[62:4]  ⁴ tn Hebrew חֶפְצִי־בָהּ (kheftsi-vah), traditionally transliterated “Hephzibah” (so KJV, ASV, NIV).

[62:4]  ⁵ tn Hebrew בְּעוּלָה (bÿ’ulah), traditionally transliterated “Beulah” (so KJV, ASV, NIV).

[62:4]  ⁶ tn That is, the land will be restored to the Lord’s favor and once again enjoy his blessing and protection. To indicate the land’s relationship to the Lord, the words “to him” have been supplied at the end of the clause.

[62:5]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text has “your sons,” but this produces an odd metaphor and is somewhat incongruous with the parallelism. In the context (v. 4b, see also 54:5-7) the Lord is the one who “marries” Zion. Therefore several prefer to emend “your sons” to בֹּנָיִךְ (bonayikh, “your builder”; e.g., NRSV). In Ps 147:2 the Lord is called the “builder of Jerusalem.” However, this emendation is not the best option for at least four reasons. First, although the Lord is never called the “builder” of Jerusalem in Isaiah, the idea of Zion’s children possessing the land does occur (Isa 49:20; 54:3; cf. also 14:1; 60:21). Secondly, all the ancient versions support the MT reading. Thirdly, although the verb בָּעַל (ba’al) can mean “to marry,” its basic idea is “to possess.” Consequently, the verb stresses a relationship more than a state. All the ancient versions render this verb “to dwell in” or “to dwell with.” The point is not just that the land will be reinhabited, but that it will be in a relationship of “belonging” to the Israelites. Hence a relational verb like בָּעַל is used (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 2:581). Finally, “sons” is a well-known metaphor for “inhabitants” (J. de Waard, Isaiah, 208).

[3:14]  ⁸ tn Or “I am your true husband.”

[3:14]  sn There is a wordplay between the term “true master” and the name of the pagan god Baal. The pronoun “I” is emphatic, creating a contrast between the Lord as Israel’s true master/husband versus Baal as Israel’s illegitimate lover/master. See 2:23-25.

[3:14]  ⁹ tn The words, “If you do” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection of the Hebrew verb with the preceding.

[3:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “shepherds.”

[3:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “after/according to my [own] heart.”

[3:29]  ¹² tn Grk “rejoices with joy” (an idiom).

[3:29]  ¹³ tn Grk “Therefore this my joy is fulfilled.”

[7:4]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[7:4]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “that we might bear fruit to God.”

[7:2]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “the,” with the article used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[7:2]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “husband.”

[7:2]  sn Paul’s example of the married woman and the law of the marriage illustrates that death frees a person from obligation to the law. Thus, in spiritual terms, a person who has died to what controlled us (v. 6) has been released from the law to serve God in the new life produced by the Spirit.

[1:2]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ²⁰ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ²¹ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

[5:25]  ²² tn The Greek article has been translated as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[5:26]  ²³ tn The direct object “her” is implied, but not found in the Greek text. It has been supplied in the English translation to clarify the sense of the passage.

[5:27]  ²⁴ tn The use of the pronoun αὐτός (autos) is intensive and focuses attention on Christ as the one who has made the church glorious.

[5:27]  ²⁵ tn Grk “but in order that it may be holy and blameless.”

[19:7]  ²⁶ tn This verb and the next two verbs are hortatory subjunctives (giving exhortations).

[19:8]  ²⁷ tn On the term translated “fine linen,” BDAG 185 s.v. βύσσινος states, “made of fine linen, subst. τὸ β. fine linen, linen garment…Rv 18:12…16; 19:8, 14.”

[19:8]  ²⁸ sn This phrase is treated as a parenthetical explanation by the author.

[19:9]  ²⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[19:9]  ³⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:9]  ³¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[21:9]  ³² tn Grk “with me.” The translation “with me” implies that John was engaged in a dialogue with the one speaking to him (e.g., Jesus or an angel) when in reality it was a one-sided conversation, with John doing all the listening. For this reason, μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ (met’ emou, “with me”) was translated as “to me.” See also v. 15.

[21:10]  ³³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the angel’s invitation.

[21:10]  ³⁴ tn Or “in the spirit.” “Spirit” could refer either to the Holy Spirit or the human spirit, but in either case John was in “a state of spiritual exaltation best described as a trance” (R. H. Mounce, Revelation [NICNT], 75).

[21:10]  ³⁵ tn Grk “to a mountain great and high.”