Isaiah 55:7

55:7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle ¹ 

and sinful people their plans. ² 

They should return ³  to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, ⁴ 

and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. ⁵ 

Isaiah 56:11

56:11 The dogs have big appetites;

they are never full. ⁶ 

They are shepherds who have no understanding;

they all go their own way,

each one looking for monetary gain. ⁷ 

Ezekiel 3:18

3:18 When I say to the wicked, “You will certainly die,” ⁸  and you do not warn him – you do not speak out to warn the wicked to turn from his wicked deed and wicked lifestyle so that he may live – that wicked person will die for his iniquity, ⁹  but I will hold you accountable for his death. ¹⁰ 

Romans 4:25

4:25 He ¹¹  was given over ¹²  because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of ¹³  our justification. ¹⁴ 

James 5:20

5:20 he should know that the one who turns a sinner back from his wandering path ¹⁵  will save that person’s ¹⁶  soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

James 5:1

Warning to the Rich

5:1 Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud ¹⁷  over the miseries that are coming on you.

James 3:18

3:18 And the fruit that consists of righteousness ¹⁸  is planted ¹⁹  in peace among ²⁰  those who make peace.

[55:7]  ¹ tn Heb “Let the wicked one abandon his way.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ² tn Heb “and the man of evil his thoughts.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ³ tn Heb “let him return.” The singular is collective, meaning “let them.”

[55:7]  ⁴ tn The imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive after the jussive indicates purpose/result.

[55:7]  ⁵ sn The appeal and promise of vv. 6-7 echoes the language of Deut 4:25-31; 30:1-10; and 1 Kgs 8:46-53, all of which anticipate the exile and speak of the prerequisites for restoration.

[56:11]  ⁶ sn The phrase never full alludes to the greed of the leaders.

[56:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “for his gain from his end.”

[3:18]  ⁸ sn Even though the infinitive absolute is used to emphasize the warning, the warning is still implicitly conditional, as the following context makes clear.

[3:18]  ⁹ tn Or “in his punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and v. 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 18: 17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 33:6, 8, 9; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment for iniquity.”

[3:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “his blood I will seek from your hand.” The expression “seek blood from the hand” is equivalent to requiring the death penalty (2 Sam 4:11-12).

[4:25]  ¹¹ tn Grk “who,” referring to Jesus. The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:25]  ¹² tn Or “handed over.”

[4:25]  ¹³ tn Grk “because of.” However, in light of the unsatisfactory sense that a causal nuance would here suggest, it has been argued that the second διά (dia) is prospective rather than retrospective (D. Moo, Romans [NICNT], 288-89). The difficulty of this interpretation is the structural balance that both διά phrases provide (“given over because of our transgressions…raised because of our justification”). However the poetic structure of this verse strengthens the likelihood that the clauses each have a different force.

[4:25]  ¹⁴ sn Many scholars regard Rom 4:25 to be poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage.

[5:20]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “from the error of his way” (using the same root as the verb “to wander, to err” in the first part of the verse).

[5:20]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “his soul”; the referent (the sinner mentioned at the beginning of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “wail”; Grk “crying aloud.”

[3:18]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “the fruit of righteousness,” meaning righteous living as a fruit, as the thing produced.

[3:18]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “is sown.”

[3:18]  ²⁰ tn Or “for,” or possibly “by.”