Colossians 4:13-15

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Colossians 4:13 tn Grk “pain.” This word appears only three times in the NT outside of this verse (Rev 16:10, 11; 21:4) where the translation “pain” makes sense. For the present verse it has been translated “worked hard.” See BDAG 852 s.v. πόνος 1.
2. Colossians 4:14 sn Demas is most likely the same individual mentioned in Phlm 24 and 2 Tim 4:10. Apparently, he later on abandoned the faith because of his love of the world.
3. Colossians 4:15 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
4. Colossians 4:15 tc If the name Nympha is accented with a circumflex on the ultima (Νυμφᾶν, Numphan), then it refers to a man; if it receives an acute accent on the penult (Νύμφαν), the reference is to a woman. Scribes that considered Nympha to be a man’s name had the corresponding masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ here (autou, “his”; so D [F G] Ψ [1505] M), while those who saw Nympha as a woman read the feminine αὐτῆς here (autēs, “her”; B 0278 6 1739^[*^] 1881 sa). Several mss (א A C P 075 33 81 104 326 1175 2464 bo) have αὐτῶν (autōn, “their”), perhaps because of indecisiveness on the gender of Nympha, perhaps because they included ἀδελφούς (adelphous, here translated “brothers and sisters”) as part of the referent. The harder reading is certainly αὐτῆς, and thus Nympha should be considered a woman.
5. Colossians 4:15 tn Grk “the church in her house.” The meaning is that Paul sends greetings to the church that meets at Nympha’s house.