Sunday, September 20, 2020

Colossians 1:23

Last week, I was looking at some verses in Colossians 1, and I noticed a small feature in verse 23:  "if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister."  "Stable" and "steadfast" alliterate, and this repetition of sound gives a sense of the words' meanings.  There's a sense of constancy.

Of the translations I have (English and otherwise), this feature is specific to the ESV.  In the NIV, this phrase is translated as "established and firm," and in the NKJV it's "grounded and steadfast."