Yeremia 36:6

36:6 So you go there the next time all the people of Judah come in from their towns to fast ¹  in the Lord’s temple. Read out loud where all of them can hear you what I told you the Lord said, which you wrote in the scroll. ² 

Yeremia 36:23

36:23 As soon as Jehudi had read three or four columns ³  of the scroll, the king ⁴  would cut them off with a penknife ⁵  and throw them on the fire in the firepot. He kept doing so until the whole scroll was burned up in the fire. ⁶ 

Yeremia 36:29

36:29 Tell King Jehoiakim of Judah, ‘The Lord says, “You burned the scroll. You asked ⁷  Jeremiah, ‘How dare you write in this scroll that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and wipe out all the people and animals on it?’” ⁸ 

Yeremia 30:2

30:2 “The Lord God of Israel says, ⁹  ‘Write everything that I am about to tell you in a scroll. ¹⁰ 

Yeremia 45:1

Baruch is Rebuked but also Comforted

45:1 The prophet Jeremiah spoke to Baruch son of Neriah while he was writing down in a scroll the words that Jeremiah spoke to him. ¹¹  This happened in the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah. ¹² 

Yeremia 51:60

51:60 Jeremiah recorded ¹³  on one scroll all the judgments ¹⁴  that would come upon Babylon – all these prophecies ¹⁵  written about Babylon.

Keluaran 17:14

17:14 The Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the ¹⁶  book, and rehearse ¹⁷  it in Joshua’s hearing; ¹⁸  for I will surely wipe out ¹⁹  the remembrance ²⁰  of Amalek from under heaven.

Ulangan 31:24

Anticipation of Disobedience

31:24 When Moses finished writing on a scroll the words of this law in their entirety,

Ezra 6:2

6:2 A scroll was found in the citadel ²¹  of Ecbatana which is in the province of Media, and it was inscribed as follows:

“Memorandum:

Ayub 31:35

Job’s Appeal

31:35 “If only I had ²²  someone to hear me!

Here is my signature – ²³ 

let the Almighty answer me!

If only I had an indictment ²⁴ 

that my accuser had written. ²⁵ 

Mazmur 40:7

40:7 Then I say,

“Look! I come!

What is written in the scroll pertains to me. ²⁶ 

Yesaya 8:1

A Sign-Child is Born

8:1 The Lord told me, “Take a large tablet ²⁷  and inscribe these words ²⁸  on it with an ordinary stylus: ²⁹  ‘Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.’ ³⁰ 

Yesaya 30:8-9

30:8 Now go, write it ³¹  down on a tablet in their presence, ³² 

inscribe it on a scroll,

so that it might be preserved for a future time

as an enduring witness. ³³ 

30:9 For these are rebellious people –

they are lying children,

children unwilling to obey the Lord’s law. ³⁴ 

Yehezkiel 2:9

2:9 Then I looked and realized a hand was stretched out to me, and in it was a written scroll.

Yehezkiel 3:1-3

3:1 He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you see in front of you ³⁵  – eat this scroll – and then go and speak to the house of Israel.” 3:2 So I opened my mouth and he fed me the scroll.

3:3 He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving to you.” So I ate it, ³⁶  and it was sweet like honey in my mouth.

Habakuk 2:2-3

The Lord Assures Habakkuk

2:2 The Lord responded: ³⁷ 

“Write down this message! ³⁸  Record it legibly on tablets,

so the one who announces ³⁹  it may read it easily. ⁴⁰ 

2:3 For the message is a witness to what is decreed; ⁴¹ 

it gives reliable testimony about how matters will turn out. ⁴² 

Even if the message ⁴³  is not fulfilled right away, wait patiently; ⁴⁴ 

for it will certainly come to pass – it will not arrive late.

Zakharia 5:1-4

Vision Six: The Flying Scroll

5:1 Then I turned to look, and there was a flying scroll! 5:2 Someone asked me, “What do you see?” I replied, “I see a flying scroll thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide.” ⁴⁵  5:3 The speaker went on to say, “This is a curse ⁴⁶  traveling across the whole earth. For example, according to the curse whoever steals ⁴⁷  will be removed from the community; or on the other hand (according to the curse) whoever swears falsely will suffer the same fate.” 5:4 “I will send it out,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and it will enter the house of the thief and of the person who swears falsely in my name. It will land in the middle of his house and destroy both timber and stones.”

Wahyu 5:1-9

The Opening of the Scroll

5:1 Then ⁴⁸  I saw in the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne a scroll written on the front and back ⁴⁹  and sealed with seven seals. ⁵⁰  5:2 And I saw a powerful angel proclaiming in a loud voice: “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals?” 5:3 But ⁵¹  no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or look into it. 5:4 So ⁵²  I began weeping bitterly ⁵³  because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5:5 Then ⁵⁴  one of the elders said ⁵⁵  to me, “Stop weeping! ⁵⁶  Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered; ⁵⁷  thus he can open ⁵⁸  the scroll and its seven seals.”

5:6 Then ⁵⁹  I saw standing in the middle of the throne ⁶⁰  and of the four living creatures, and in the middle of the elders, a Lamb that appeared to have been killed. ⁶¹  He had ⁶²  seven horns and seven eyes, which ⁶³  are the seven ⁶⁴  spirits of God ⁶⁵  sent out into all the earth. 5:7 Then ⁶⁶  he came and took the scroll ⁶⁷  from the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne, 5:8 and when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders threw themselves to the ground ⁶⁸  before the Lamb. Each ⁶⁹  of them had a harp and golden bowls full of incense (which are the prayers of the saints). ⁷⁰  5:9 They were singing a new song: ⁷¹ 

“You are worthy to take the scroll

and to open its seals

because you were killed, ⁷² 

and at the cost of your own blood ⁷³  you have purchased ⁷⁴  for God

persons ⁷⁵  from every tribe, language, ⁷⁶  people, and nation.

[36:6]  ¹ sn Regular fast days were not a part of Israel’s religious calendar. Rather fast days were called on special occasions, i.e., in times of drought or a locust plague (Joel 1:14; 2:15), or during a military crisis (2 Chr 20:3), or after defeat in battle (1 Sam 31:13; 2 Sam 1:12). A fast day was likely chosen for the reading of the scroll because the people would be more mindful of the crisis they were in and be in more of a repentant mood. The events referred to in the study note on v. 1 would have provided the basis for Jeremiah’s anticipation of a fast day when the scroll could be read.

[36:6]  ² tn Heb “So you go and read from the scroll which you have written from my mouth the words of the Lord in the ears of the people in the house of the Lord on a fast day, and in that way [for the explanation of this rendering see below] you will be reading them in the ears of all Judah [= the people of Judah] who come from their towns [i.e., to the temple to fast].” Again the syntax of the original is awkward, separating several of the qualifying phrases from the word or phrase they are intended to modify. In most of the “literal” English versions the emphasis on “what the Lord said” tends to get lost and it looks like two separate groups are to be addressed rather than one. The intent of the phrase is to define who the people are who will hear; the וַ that introduces the clause is explicative (BDB 252 s.v. וַ 1.b) and the גַּם (gam) is used to emphasize the explicative “all Judah who come in from their towns” (cf. BDB 169 s.v. גַּם 2). If some force were to be given to the “literal” rendering of that particle here it would be “actually.” This is the group that is to be addressed according to v. 3. The complex Hebrew sentence has been restructured to include all the relevant information in more comprehensible and shorter English sentences.

[36:23]  ³ tn Heb “doors.” This is the only time the word “door” is used in this way but all the commentaries and lexicons agree that it means “columns.” The meaning is figurative based on the similarity of shape.

[36:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “he.” The majority of commentaries and English versions are agreed that “he” is the king. However, since a penknife (Heb “a scribe’s razor”) is used to cut the columns off, it is possible that Jehudi himself did it. However, even if Jehudi himself did it, he was acting on the king’s orders.

[36:23]  ⁵ sn Heb “a scribe’s razor.” There is some irony involved here since a scribe’s razor was used to trim the sheets to be sewn together, scrape them in preparation for writing, and to erase errors. What was normally used to prepare the scroll was used to destroy it.

[36:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “until the whole scroll was consumed upon the fire which was in the fire pot.”

[36:29]  ⁷ tn Or “In essence you asked.” For explanation see the translator’s note on the end of the verse.

[36:29]  ⁸ tn Heb “You burned this scroll, saying, ‘Why did you write on it, saying, “The king of Babylon will certainly come [the infinitive absolute before the finite verb expresses certainty here as several places elsewhere in Jeremiah] and destroy this land and exterminate from it both man and beast.”’” The sentence raises several difficulties for translating literally. I.e., the “you” in “why did you write” is undefined, though it obviously refers to Jeremiah. The gerund “saying” that introduces ‘Why did you write’ does not fit very well with “you burned the scroll.” Gerunds of this sort are normally explanatory. Lastly, there is no indication in the narrative that Jehoiakim ever directly asked Jeremiah this question. In fact, he had been hidden out of sight so Jehoiakim couldn’t confront him. The question is presented rhetorically, expressing Jehoiakim’s thoughts or intents and giving the rational for burning the scroll, i.e., he questioned Jeremiah’s right to say such things. The translation has attempted to be as literal as possible without resolving some of these difficulties. One level of embedded quotes has been eliminated for greater simplicity. For the rendering of “How dare you” for the interrogative “why do you” see the translator’s note on 26:9.

[30:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “Thus says Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel, saying….” For significance of the title “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel” see the note at 2:19.

[30:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Write all the words which I speak to you in a scroll.” The verb “which I speak” is the instantaneous use of the perfect tense (cf. GKC 311-12 §106.i or IBHS 488-89 §30.5.1d). The words that the Lord is about to speak follow in chs. 30–31.

[30:2]  sn Reference is made here to the so-called “Book of Consolation” which is the most extended treatment of the theme of hope or deliverance in the book. Jeremiah was called to be a prophet both of judgment (of tearing down and destroying) and of deliverance (of replanting and rebuilding; see Jer 1:10). Jeremiah lamented that he had to predominantly pronounce judgment but he has periodically woven in prophecies of hope after judgment in 3:14-18; 16:14-15; 23:3-8; 24:4-7; 29:10-14, 32. The oracles of hope contained in these chapters are undated but reference is made in them to the restoration of both Israel which had gone into exile in Assyria in 722 b.c. and Judah which began to be exiled in 605 and 597 b.c. Jeremiah had already written as early as the reign of Zedekiah about the exiles who were the good figs who were to experience the “good” of restoration (24:4-7; 29:10-14) and had spoken of the further exile of those who remained in Judah. So it is possible that these oracles fit in roughly the same time frame as chapters 27–29.

[45:1]  ¹¹ sn It is unclear whether this refers to the first scroll (36:4) or the second (36:32). Perhaps from the reactions of Baruch this refers to the second scroll which was written after he had seen how the leaders had responded to the first (36:19). Baruch was from a well-placed family; his grandfather, Mahseiah (32:12) had been governor of Jerusalem under Josiah (2 Chr 34:8) and his brother was a high-ranking official in Zedekiah’s court (Jer 51:59). He himself appears to have had some personal aspirations that he could see were being or going to be jeopardized (v. 5). The passage is both a rebuke to Baruch and an encouragement that his life will be spared wherever he goes. This latter promise is perhaps the reason that the passage is placed where it is, i.e., after the seemingly universal threat of destruction of all who have gone to Egypt in Jer 44.

[45:1]  ¹² tn Heb “[This is] the word/message which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch son of Neriah when he wrote these words on a scroll from the mouth of Jeremiah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, saying.”

[51:60]  ¹³ tn Or “wrote.”

[51:60]  ¹⁴ tn Or “disaster”; or “calamity.”

[51:60]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “words” (or “things”).

[17:14]  ¹⁶ tn The presence of the article does not mean that he was to write this in a book that was existing now, but in one dedicated to this purpose (book, meaning scroll). See GKC 408 §126.s.

[17:14]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew word is “place,” meaning that the events were to be impressed on Joshua.

[17:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “in the ears of Joshua.” The account should be read to Joshua.

[17:14]  ¹⁹ tn The construction uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense to stress the resolution of Yahweh to destroy Amalek. The verb מָחָה (makhah) is often translated “blot out” – but that is not a very satisfactory image, since it would not remove completely what is the object. “Efface, erase, scrape off” (as in a palimpsest, a manuscript that is scraped clean so it can be reused) is a more accurate image.

[17:14]  ²⁰ sn This would seem to be defeated by the preceding statement that the events would be written in a book for a memorial. If this war is recorded, then the Amalekites would be remembered. But here God was going to wipe out the memory of them. But the idea of removing the memory of a people is an idiom for destroying them – they will have no posterity and no lasting heritage.

[6:2]  ²¹ tc The translation reads בִירְתָא (birta’, citadel”) rather than the reading בְּבִירְתָא (bÿvireta’, “in the citadel”) found in the MT. The MT probably experienced dittography here.

[31:35]  ²² tn The optative is again introduced with “who will give to me hearing me? – O that someone would listen to me!”

[31:35]  ²³ tn Heb “here is my ‘tav’” (הֵן תָּוִי, hen tavi). The letter ת (tav) is the last letter of the alphabet in Hebrew. In paleo-Hebrew the letter was in the form of a cross or an “X,” and so used for one making a mark or a signature. In this case Job has signed his statement and delivered it to the court – but he has yet to be charged. Kissane thought that this being the last letter of the alphabet, Job was saying, “This is my last word.” Others take the word to mean “desire” – “this is my desire, that God would answer me” (see E. F. Sutcliffe, “Notes on Job, textual and exegetical,” Bib 30 [1949]: 71-72; G. R. Driver, AJSL 3 [1935/36]: 166; P. P. Saydon, “Philological and Textual Notes to the Maltese Translation of the Old Testament,” CBQ 23 [1961]: 252). R. Gordis (Job, 355) also argues strongly for this view.

[31:35]  ²⁴ tn Heb “a scroll,” in the context referring to a scroll containing the accusations of Job’s legal adversary (see the next line).

[31:35]  ²⁵ tn The last line is very difficult; it simply says, “a scroll [that] my [legal] adversary had written.” The simplest way to handle this is to see it as a continuation of the optative (RSV).

[40:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “in the roll of the scroll it is written concerning me.” Apparently the psalmist refers to the law of God (see v. 8), which contains the commandments God desires him to obey. If this is a distinctly royal psalm, then the psalmist/king may be referring specifically to the regulations of kingship prescribed in Deut 17:14-20. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 315.

[8:1]  ²⁷ sn Probably made of metal, wood, or leather. See HALOT 193 s.v. גִּלָּיוֹן.

[8:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “write” (so KJV, ASV, NIV, NRSV).

[8:1]  ²⁹ tn Heb “with the stylus of a man.” The significance of the qualifying genitive “a man” is uncertain. For various interpretations see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:219, n. 1.

[8:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “quickly, [the] plunder; it hurries, [the] loot.” The first word (מַהֵר, maher) is either a Piel imperative (“hurry [to]”) or infinitive (“hurrying,” or “quickly”). The third word (חָשׁ, khash) is either a third masculine singular perfect or a masculine singular participle, in either case from the root חוּשׁ (khush, “hurry”). Perhaps it is best to translate, “One hastens to the plunder, one hurries to the loot.” In this case מַהֵר is understood as an infinitive functioning as a verb, the subject of חוּשׁ is taken as indefinite, and the two nouns are understood as adverbial accusatives. As we discover in v. 3, this is the name of the son to be born to Isaiah through the prophetess.

[30:8]  ³¹ tn The referent of the third feminine singular pronominal suffix is uncertain. Perhaps it refers to the preceding message, which accuses the people of rejecting the Lord’s help in favor of an alliance with Egypt.

[30:8]  ³² tn Heb “with them.” On the use of the preposition here, see BDB 86 s.v. II אֵת.

[30:8]  ³³ sn Recording the message will enable the prophet to use it in the future as evidence that God warned his people of impending judgment and clearly spelled out the nation’s guilt. An official record of the message will also serve as proof of the prophet’s authority as God’s spokesman.

[30:9]  ³⁴ tn Or perhaps, “instruction” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); NCV, TEV “teachings.”

[3:1]  ³⁵ tn Heb “eat what you find.”

[3:3]  ³⁶ tc Heb “I ate,” a first common singular preterite plus paragogic he (ה). The ancient versions read “I ate it,” which is certainly the meaning in the context, and indicates they read the he as a third feminine singular pronominal suffix. The Masoretes typically wrote a mappiq in the he for the pronominal suffix but apparently missed this one.

[3:3]  sn I ate it. A similar idea of consuming God’s word is found in Jer 15:16 and Rev 10:10, where it is also compared to honey and may be specifically reminiscent of this text.

[2:2]  ³⁷ tn Heb “the Lord answered and said.” The redundant expression “answered and said” has been simplified in the translation as “responded.”

[2:2]  ³⁸ tn Heb “[the] vision.”

[2:2]  ³⁹ tn Or “reads from.”

[2:2]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “might run,” which here probably means “run [through it quickly with one’s eyes],” that is, read it easily.

[2:3]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “For the vision is still for the appointed time.” The Hebrew word עוֹד (’od, “still”) is better emended to עֵד (’ed, “witness”) in light of the parallelism (see the note on the word “turn out” in the following line). The “appointed time” refers to the time when the divine judgment anticipated in vv. 6-20 will be realized.

[2:3]  ⁴² tn Heb “and a witness to the end and it does not lie.” The Hebrew term יָפֵחַ (yafeakh) has been traditionally understood as a verb form from the root פּוּחַ (puakh, “puff, blow”; cf. NEB “it will come in breathless haste”; NASB “it hastens toward the goal”) but recent scholarship has demonstrated that it is actually a noun meaning “witness” (cf. NIV “it speaks of the end / and will not prove false”; NRSV “it speaks of the end, and does not lie”). See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 106. “The end” corresponds to “the appointed time” of the preceding line and refers to the time when the prophecy to follow will be fulfilled.

[2:3]  ⁴³ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the message) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:3]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “If it should delay, wait for it.” The Hebrew word חָזוֹן (khazon, “vision, message”) is the subject of the third person verbs in v. 3 and the antecedent of the pronominal suffix in the phrase “for it.”

[5:2]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “twenty cubits…ten cubits” (so NAB, NRSV). These dimensions (“thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide”) can hardly be referring to the scroll when unrolled since that would be all out of proportion to the normal ratio, in which the scroll would be 10 to 15 times as long as it was wide. More likely, the scroll is 15 feet thick when rolled, a hyperbole expressing the enormous amount and the profound significance of the information it contains.

[5:3]  ⁴⁶ tn The Hebrew word translated “curse” (אָלָה, ’alah) alludes to the covenant sanctions that attend the violation of God’s covenant with Israel (cf. Deut 29:12, 14, 20-21).

[5:3]  ⁴⁷ sn Stealing and swearing falsely (mentioned later in this verse) are sins against mankind and God respectively and are thus violations of the two major parts of the Ten Commandments. These two stipulations (commandments 8 and 3) represent the whole law.

[5:1]  ⁴⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[5:1]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “written on the inside and the outside” (an idiom for having writing on both sides).

[5:1]  ⁵⁰ tn L&N 6.55 states, “From the immediate context of Re 5:1 it is not possible to determine whether the scroll in question had seven seals on the outside or whether the scroll was sealed at seven different points. However, since according to chapter six of Revelation the seals were broken one after another, it would appear as though the scroll had been sealed at seven different places as it had been rolled up.”

[5:3]  ⁵¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[5:4]  ⁵² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of no one being found worthy to open the scroll.

[5:4]  ⁵³ tn Grk “much.”

[5:5]  ⁵⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[5:5]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “says” (a historical present).

[5:5]  ⁵⁶ tn The present imperative with μή (mh) is used here to command cessation of an action in progress (ExSyn 724 lists this verse as an example).

[5:5]  ⁵⁷ tn Or “has been victorious”; traditionally, “has overcome.”

[5:5]  ⁵⁸ tn The infinitive has been translated as an infinitive of result here.

[5:6]  ⁵⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[5:6]  ⁶⁰ tn Perhaps, “in the middle of the throne area” (see L&N 83.10).

[5:6]  ⁶¹ tn Or “slaughtered”; traditionally, “slain.” The phrase behind this translation is ὡς ἐσφαγμένον (Jw" ejsfagmenon). The particle ὡς is used in Greek generally for comparison, and in Revelation it is used often to describe the appearance of what the author saw. This phrase does not imply that the Lamb “appeared to have been killed” but in reality was not, because the wider context of the NT shows that in fact the Lamb, i.e., Jesus, was killed. See 13:3 for the only other occurrence of this phrase in the NT.

[5:6]  ⁶² tn Grk “killed, having.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the pronoun “he.”

[5:6]  ⁶³ sn The relative pronoun which is masculine, referring back to the eyes rather than to the horns.

[5:6]  ⁶⁴ tc There is good ms evidence for the inclusion of “seven” (ἑπτά, Jepta; ̲⁴ א 2053 2351 Ï^K). There is equally good ms support for the omission of the term (A 1006 1611 Ï^A pc). It may have been accidentally added due to its repeated presence in the immediately preceding phrases, or it may have been intentionally added to maintain the symmetry of the phrases or more likely to harmonize the phrase with 1:4; 3:1; 4:5. Or it may have been accidentally deleted by way of homoioteleuton (τὰ ἑπτά, ta Jepta). A decision is difficult in this instance. NA²⁷ also does not find the problem easy to solve, placing the word in brackets to indicate doubts as to its authenticity.

[5:6]  ⁶⁵ sn See the note on the phrase the seven spirits of God in Rev 4:5.

[5:7]  ⁶⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[5:7]  ⁶⁷ tn The words “the scroll” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[5:8]  ⁶⁸ tn Grk “fell down.” BDAG 815 s.v. πίπτω 1.b.α.ב. has “fall down, throw oneself to the ground as a sign of devotion or humility, before high-ranking persons or divine beings.”

[5:8]  ⁶⁹ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[5:8]  ⁷⁰ sn This interpretive comment by the author forms a parenthesis in the narrative.

[5:9]  ⁷¹ tn The redundant participle λέγοντες (legontes) has not been translated here.

[5:9]  ⁷² tn Or “slaughtered”; traditionally, “slain.”

[5:9]  ⁷³ tn The preposition ἐν (en) is taken to indicate price here, like the Hebrew preposition ב (bet) does at times. BDAG 329 s.v. ἐν 5.b states, “The ἐν which takes the place of the gen. of price is also instrumental ἠγόρασας ἐν τῷ αἵματί σου Rv 5:9 (cp. 1 Ch 21:24 ἀγοράζω ἐν ἀργυρίῳ).”

[5:9]  ⁷⁴ tc The Greek text as it stands above (i.e., the reading τῷ θεῷ [tw qew] alone) is found in codex A. א 2050 2344 Ï sy add the term “us” (ἡμᾶς, Jhmas), either before or after τῷ θεῷ, as an attempt to clarify the object of “purchased” (ἠγόρασας, hgorasa"). A few mss (1 vg^ms) delete the reference to God altogether and simply replace it with “us” (ἡμᾶς). This too is an attempt to remove ambiguity in the phrase and provide an object for “purchased.” The shorter reading, supported by the best witness for Revelation, best accounts for the other readings.

[5:9]  ⁷⁵ tn The word “persons” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[5:9]  ⁷⁶ tn Grk “and language,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.