FOOTNOTES:

^a Verses 3 through 10 are structured as a single sentence in the Greek text. It has been separated into smaller sentences for clarity in English, but the complexity is difficult to untangle and several different ways to organize and compensate for the organization of the several thoughts contained in these verses are all grammatically valid, though potentially influencing significant differences in interpretation.

^b Or ‘giving thanks’

^c Most other translations use the possible meaning of the Greek word ei for ‘since’ here, assuming that it is, in fact, just. However, the Greek form is the longer eiper. In the authoritative Greek-English lexicon referred to as BDAG, it ties that form to the possible meanings of ‘if indeed,’ ‘if after all,’ and ‘since.’ Within that entry, it lists this verse specifically and assigns the more specific possible meanings as ‘if indeed’ and ‘provided that.’ It does not include ‘since’ as a possibility for this context. There are also several other clearer and more commonly used ways to indicate ‘since’ or an assumed foundational idea to explain the rest of the sentence. The use of eiper here suggests there is doubt about what follows, that the statements are conditional on a premise that has not been established.

^d Literally, ‘away from.’ Several Greek words can be translated as ‘from.’ This one is apo, which carries a sense of distance, often indicated by adding the word ‘away.’ This implies that it is not saying where Jesus originates but that his revelation, Jesus being revealed, is happening elsewhere from where he is already fully known (in the heavens), which means he is being revealed on earth among humans.

^e Or ‘distributing a giving of justice’ or ‘distributing rectification of injustice’

^f ‘with flaming fire, distributing a righting of wrongs to those who have not come to know God’ is a reference to Jeremiah 10:25 (read the context starting at least five verses earlier) and Isaiah 66:15 (with the whole chapter as context).

^g Perhaps, ‘reparations.’ The word is dike, related to dikaios (‘just’ or ‘right’) and dikaiosune (‘justice’ or ‘justness’ or ‘alignment with the Path’). It refers to whatever is needed in order to reestablish all things being just and well for all. Unlike American justice, Hebrew justice was about the offending party making things right for those who had been wronged, repaying for stolen property plus extra for the hardship, etc. For violence and oppression, the penalties were more severe because the offenses were more severe and not easily made right. See Exodus 22.

^h See Deuteronomy 28-30, especially 30:15-20.

ⁱ The conditional statement begun in verse 6 has its antecedent (hypothesis) in verses 6 and 7, and then starting with the parenthesis in verse 7 is an explanatory aside concluding at the end of verse 9. The beginning of verse 10 has the word hotan (meaning ‘when’) indicating the beginning of the consequent (conclusion) followed by ethe, which is a subjunctive form of erchomai (‘to come’), meaning that the verb is the action of which the implementation is conditional on the fulfillment of the antecedent. In short, the Lord’s coming in this way is conditional on whether it is actually just for God to repay oppressors with oppression. That question is not answered here by Paul, and it seems appropriate to leave it as something with an uncomfortable tension that requires readers to wrestle with it for themselves.

^j The Greek here is an infinitive form, typically translated as ‘to be praised’ or possibly as a gerund ‘being praised.’ The sentence structure between verses 3 and 10 is extremely complex as one sentence in the Greek. While Greek infinitives are usually translated as English infinitives or gerunds, there are instances when translating it as if it were an indicative verb in English is the best option. An example of how most translations do that very thing in this same chapter exists in 2 Thessalonians 1:4 with the verb enkauchaomai, ‘to boast’ or ‘to be proud of.’ All translations render it as something like ‘we boast,’ ‘we take pride,’ or ‘we speak proudly,’ (or in this translation, ‘we express being proud of’) which is appropriate in the context. While the complexity of this long Greek sentence complicates these questions, it seems reasonable to translate this infinitive as if it were indicative, and it makes sense in the context to do so.

^k This verb translated as ‘be seen as amazing’ is another instance of a Greek infinitive being translated as an English indicative verb.