10:3 So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and told him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: ‘How long do you refuse 5 to humble yourself before me? 6 Release my people so that they may serve me!
18:15 Now people 10 were even bringing their babies 11 to him for him to touch. 12 But when the disciples saw it, they began to scold those who brought them. 13
4:1 Where do the conflicts and where 14 do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, 15 from your passions that battle inside you? 16
1 tn Heb “and his prayer and being entreated by him, and all his sin and his unfaithfulness and the places where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself – behold, they are written on the words of his seers.”
2 tn Heb “as Manasseh his father had humbled himself.”
3 tn Heb “for he, Amon, multiplied guilt.”
4 tn Heb “and Hezekiah humbled himself in the height of his heart, he and the residents of Jerusalem, and the anger of the
5 tn The verb is מֵאַנְתָּ (me’anta), a Piel perfect. After “how long,” the form may be classified as present perfect (“how long have you refused), for it describes actions begun previously but with the effects continuing. (See GKC 311 §106.g-h). The use of a verb describing a state or condition may also call for a present translation (“how long do you refuse”) that includes past, present, and potentially future, in keeping with the question “how long.”
6 tn The clause is built on the use of the infinitive construct to express the direct object of the verb – it answers the question of what Pharaoh was refusing to do. The Niphal infinitive construct (note the elision of the ה [hey] prefix after the preposition [see GKC 139 §51.l]) is from the verb עָנָה (’anah). The verb in this stem would mean “humble oneself.” The question is somewhat rhetorical, since God was not yet through humbling Pharaoh, who would not humble himself. The issue between Yahweh and Pharaoh is deeper than simply whether or not Pharaoh will let the Israelites leave Egypt.
7 sn The prayer that was heard and honored was the one given with humility; in a surprising reversal it was the tax collector who went down to his home justified.
8 tn Grk “the other”; the referent (the Pharisee, v. 10) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 sn Everyone who exalts himself. See Luke 14:11. Jesus often called for humility and condemned those who sought honor.
10 tn Grk “they.”
11 tn The term βρέφος (brefos) here can refer to babies or to toddlers (2:12, 16; Acts 7:19; 2 Tim 3:15; 1 Pet 2:2).
12 tn Grk “so that he would touch them.” Here the touch is connected with (or conveys) a blessing (cf. Mark 10:16; also BDAG 126 s.v. ἅπτω 2.c).
13 tn Grk “the disciples began to scold them.” In the translation the referent has been specified as “those who brought them,” since otherwise the statement could be understood to mean that the disciples began scolding the children rather than their parents who brought them.
14 tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.
15 tn Grk “from here.”
16 tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”
17 sn James’ point seems to be that instead of seeking deliverance from condemnation, they have defied God’s law (fattened your hearts) and made themselves more likely objects of his judgment (in a day of slaughter).
18 tn Literally a series of verbs without connectives, “you have condemned, you have murdered…he does not resist.”