Yesaya 8:12-13

8:12 “Do not say, ‘Conspiracy,’ every time these people say the word. ¹ 

Don’t be afraid of what scares them; don’t be terrified.

8:13 You must recognize the authority of the Lord who commands armies. ² 

He is the one you must respect;

he is the one you must fear. ³ 

Yesaya 41:10-14

41:10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you!

Don’t be frightened, for I am your God! ⁴ 

I strengthen you –

yes, I help you –

yes, I uphold you with my saving right hand! ⁵ 

41:11 Look, all who were angry at you will be ashamed and humiliated;

your adversaries ⁶  will be reduced to nothing ⁷  and perish.

41:12 When you will look for your opponents, ⁸  you will not find them;

your enemies ⁹  will be reduced to absolutely nothing.

41:13 For I am the Lord your God,

the one who takes hold of your right hand,

who says to you, ‘Don’t be afraid, I am helping you.’

41:14 Don’t be afraid, despised insignificant Jacob, ¹⁰ 

men of ¹¹  Israel.

I am helping you,” says the Lord,

your protector, ¹²  the Holy One of Israel. ¹³ 

Yesaya 51:12

51:12 “I, I am the one who consoles you. ¹⁴ 

Why are you afraid of mortal men,

of mere human beings who are as short-lived as grass? ¹⁵ 

Yeremia 1:8

1:8 Do not be afraid of those to whom I send you, ¹⁶  for I will be with you to protect ¹⁷  you,” says the Lord.

Yehezkiel 3:9

3:9 I have made your forehead harder than flint – like diamond! ¹⁸  Do not fear them or be terrified of the looks they give you, ¹⁹  for they are a rebellious house.”

Matius 10:28

10:28 Do ²⁰  not be afraid of those who kill the body ²¹  but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. ²² 

Matius 10:31

10:31 So do not be afraid; ²³  you are more valuable than many sparrows.

Lukas 12:4-5

12:4 “I ²⁴  tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, ²⁵  and after that have nothing more they can do. 12:5 But I will warn ²⁶  you whom you should fear: Fear the one who, after the killing, ²⁷  has authority to throw you ²⁸  into hell. ²⁹  Yes, I tell you, fear him!

Yohanes 14:1

Jesus’ Parting Words to His Disciples

14:1 “Do not let your hearts be distressed. ³⁰  You believe in God; ³¹  believe also in me.

Yohanes 14:27

14:27 “Peace I leave with you; ³²  my peace I give to you; I do not give it ³³  to you as the world does. ³⁴  Do not let your hearts be distressed or lacking in courage. ³⁵ 

Kisah Para Rasul 18:9-10

18:9 The Lord said to Paul by a vision ³⁶  in the night, ³⁷  “Do not be afraid, ³⁸  but speak and do not be silent, 18:10 because I am with you, and no one will assault ³⁹  you to harm ⁴⁰  you, because I have many people in this city.”

[8:12]  ¹ tn Heb “Do not say, ‘Conspiracy,’ with respect to all which these people say, ‘Conspiracy.’” The verb translated “do not say” is second masculine plural, indicating that this exhortation is directed to Isaiah and other followers of the Lord (see v. 16).

[8:12]  sn The background of this command is uncertain. Perhaps the “conspiracy” in view is the alliance between Israel and Syria. Some of the people may even have thought that individuals in Judah were plotting with Israel and Syria to overthrow the king.

[8:13]  ² tn Heb “the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts], him you must set apart.” The word order is emphatic, with the object being placed first.

[8:13]  ³ tn Heb “he is your [object of] fear, he is your [object of] terror.” The roots יָרֵא (yare’) and עָרַץ (’arats) are repeated from v. 12b.

[41:10]  ⁴ tn According to BDB (1043 s.v. שָׁעָה), the verb תִּשְׁתָּע (tishta’) in the second line of the poetic couplet is a Hitpael form from the root שָׁעָה (sha’ah, “gaze,” with metathesis of the stem prefix and the first root letter). Taking the Hitpael as iterative, one may then translate “do not anxiously look about.” However, the alleged Hitpael form of שָׁעָה (sha’ah) only occurs here and in verse 23. HALOT 1671 s.v. שׁתע proposes that the verb is instead a Qal form from the root שׁתע (“fear”) which is attested in cognate Semitic languages, including Ugaritic (discovered after the publishing of BDB), suggests the existence of this root. The poetic structure of v. 10 also supports the proposal, for the form in question is in synonymous parallelism to יָרֵא (yare’, “fear”).

[41:10]  ⁵ tn The “right hand” is a symbol of the Lord’s power to deliver (Exod 15:6, 12) and protect (Ps 63:9 HT [63:8 ET]). Here צֶדֶק (tsedeq) has its well-attested nuance of “vindicated righteousness,” i.e., “victory, deliverance” (see 45:8; 51:5, and BDB 841-42 s.v.).

[41:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “the men of your strife”; NASB “those who contend with you.”

[41:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “like nothing”; NAB “come to nought.”

[41:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “the men of your struggle”; NASB “those who quarrel with you.”

[41:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “the men of your battle”; NAB “who do battle with you.”

[41:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “O worm Jacob” (NAB, NIV). The worm metaphor suggests that Jacob is insignificant and despised.

[41:14]  ¹¹ tn On the basis of the parallelism (note “worm”) and an alleged Akkadian cognate, some read “louse” or “weevil.” Cf. NAB “O maggot Israel”; NRSV “you insect Israel.”

[41:14]  ¹² tn Heb “your kinsman redeemer.” A גָּאַל (ga’al, “kinsman redeemer”) was a protector of the extended family’s interests.

[41:14]  ¹³ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[51:12]  ¹⁴ tc The plural suffix should probably be emended to the second masculine singular (which is used in v. 13). The final mem (ם) is probably dittographic; note the mem at the beginning of the next word.

[51:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, and of the son of man who [as] grass is given up?” The feminine singular forms should probably be emended to the masculine singular (see v. 13). They have probably been influenced by the construction אַתְּ־הִיא (’at-hi’) in vv. 9-10.

[1:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “be afraid of them.” The antecedent is the “whomever” in v. 7.

[1:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “rescue.”

[3:9]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew term translated “diamond” is parallel to “iron” in Jer 17:1. The Hebrew uses two terms which are both translated at times as “flint,” but here one is clearly harder than the other. The translation “diamond” attempts to reflect this distinction in English.

[3:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “of their faces.”

[10:28]  ²⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[10:28]  ²¹ sn Judaism had a similar exhortation in 4 Macc 13:14-15.

[10:28]  ²² sn See the note on the word hell in 5:22.

[10:31]  ²³ sn Do not be afraid. One should respect and show reverence to God, but need not fear his tender care.

[12:4]  ²⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[12:4]  ²⁵ sn Judaism had a similar exhortation in 4 Macc 13:14-15.

[12:5]  ²⁶ tn Grk “will show,” but in this reflective context such a demonstration is a warning or exhortation.

[12:5]  ²⁷ sn The actual performer of the killing is not here specified. It could be understood to be God (so NASB, NRSV) but it could simply emphasize that, after a killing has taken place, it is God who casts the person into hell.

[12:5]  ²⁸ tn The direct object (“you”) is understood.

[12:5]  ²⁹ sn The word translated hell is “Gehenna” (γέεννα, geenna), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36).

[14:1]  ³⁰ sn The same verb is used to describe Jesus’ own state in John 11:33, 12:27, and 13:21. Jesus is looking ahead to the events of the evening and the next day, his arrest, trials, crucifixion, and death, which will cause his disciples extreme emotional distress.

[14:1]  ³¹ tn Or “Believe in God.” The translation of the two uses of πιστεύετε (pisteuete) is difficult. Both may be either indicative or imperative, and as L. Morris points out (John [NICNT], 637), this results in a bewildering variety of possibilities. To complicate matters further, the first may be understood as a question: “Do you believe in God? Believe also in me.” Morris argues against the KJV translation which renders the first πιστεύετε as indicative and the second as imperative on the grounds that for the writer of the Fourth Gospel, faith in Jesus is inseparable from faith in God. But this is precisely the point that Jesus is addressing in context. He is about to undergo rejection by his own people as their Messiah. The disciples’ faith in him as Messiah and Lord would be cast into extreme doubt by these events, which the author makes clear were not at this time foreseen by the disciples. After the resurrection it is this identification between Jesus and the Father which needs to be reaffirmed (cf. John 20:24-29). Thus it seems best to take the first πιστεύετε as indicative and the second as imperative, producing the translation “You believe in God; believe also in me.”

[14:27]  ³² sn Peace I leave with you. In spite of appearances, this verse does not introduce a new subject (peace). Jesus will use the phrase as a greeting to his disciples after his resurrection (20:19, 21, 26). It is here a reflection of the Hebrew shalom as a farewell. But Jesus says he leaves peace with his disciples. This should probably be understood ultimately in terms of the indwelling of the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, who has been the topic of the preceding verses. It is his presence, after Jesus has left the disciples and finally returned to the Father, which will remain with them and comfort them.

[14:27]  ³³ tn The pronoun “it” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.

[14:27]  ³⁴ tn Grk “not as the world gives do I give to you.”

[14:27]  ³⁵ tn Or “distressed or fearful and cowardly.”

[18:9]  ³⁶ sn Frequently in Acts such a vision will tell the reader where events are headed. See Acts 10:9-16 and 16:9-10 for other accounts of visions.

[18:9]  ³⁷ tn BDAG 682 s.v. νύξ 1.c has “W. prep. ἐν ν. at night, in the night…Ac 18:9.”

[18:9]  ³⁸ tn The present imperative here (with negation) is used (as it normally is) of a general condition (BDF §335).

[18:10]  ³⁹ tn BDAG 384 s.v. ἐπιτίθημι 2 has “to set upon, attack, lay a hand on” here, but “assault” is a contemporary English equivalent very close to the meaning of the original.

[18:10]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “injure.”