22:21
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints:
There is a textual issue here about the phrase all the saints :
(1) Some Greek manuscripts say all. For example:
everyone (Good News Translation)
(2) Some Greek manuscripts say all the saints. For example:
all the saints (Revised Standard Version)
(3) Some Greek manuscripts say the saints. For example:
God’s holy people (New Living Translation (2004))
It is recommended that you follow option (1), because the UBS Handbook Greek NT supports it, saying that option is nearly certain.
The whole clause is a blessing of farewell. John blessed his readers by expressing his desire that God would give grace to them.
Other ways to translate the whole clause are:
May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with everyone (Good News Translation)
-or-
May the Lord Jesus bless all ⌊of you⌋ with his grace
-or-
May all ⌊of you⌋ have the grace/favor of our Lord Jesus
grace: Here this word refers to God being kind to those who do not deserve his kindness. God is kind to people because he wants to be kind and not because they earned his kindness. John wanted God to show grace to his readers. Other ways to translate this word are:
kind (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
help
-or-
favor
In some languages, it is necessary to translate grace using a verb. For example:
voluntarily/graciously be kind
-or-
help ⌊as a gift/favor⌋
Amen: There is a textual issue here:
(1) Some Greek manuscripts do not have the word.
(2) Some Greek manuscripts have the word. For example:
Amen (Revised Standard Version)
It is recommended that you follow option (1), because the UBS Handbook Greek NT supports it. But if the major language version follows option (2), you may want to follow that.
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