Galatians 3:3

3:3 Are you so foolish? Although you began ¹  with ²  the Spirit, are you now trying to finish ³  by human effort? ⁴ 

Deuteronomy 32:6

32:6 Is this how you repay ⁵  the Lord,

you foolish, unwise people?

Is he not your father, your creator?

He has made you and established you.

Deuteronomy 32:1

Invocation of Witnesses

32:1 Listen, O heavens, and I will speak;

hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

Deuteronomy 13:13

13:13 some evil people ⁶  have departed from among you to entice the inhabitants of their cities, ⁷  saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods” (whom you have not known before). ⁸ 

Matthew 7:26

7:26 Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

Luke 24:25

24:25 So ⁹  he said to them, “You ¹⁰  foolish people ¹¹  – how slow of heart ¹²  to believe ¹³  all that the prophets have spoken!

Ephesians 5:15

Live Wisely

5:15 Therefore be very careful how you live – not as unwise but as wise,

Ephesians 5:1

Live in Love

5:1 Therefore, be ¹⁴  imitators of God as dearly loved children

Ephesians 6:4

6:4 Fathers, ¹⁵  do not provoke your children to anger, ¹⁶  but raise them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

¹ tn Grk “Having begun”; the participle ἐναρξάμενοι (enarxamenoi) has been translated concessively.

² tn Or “by the Spirit.”

³ tn The verb ἐπιτελεῖσθε (epiteleisqe) has been translated as a conative present (see ExSyn 534). This is something the Galatians were attempting to do, but could not accomplish successfully.

⁴ tn Grk “in/by [the] flesh.”

⁵ tn Or “treat” (TEV).

⁹ tn Heb “men, sons of Belial.” The Hebrew term בְּלִיַּעַל (bÿliyya’al) has the idea of worthlessness, without morals or scruples (HALOT 133-34 s.v.). Cf. NAB, NRSV “scoundrels”; TEV, CEV “worthless people”; NLT “worthless rabble.”

¹⁰ tc The LXX and Tg read “your” for the MT’s “their.”

¹¹ tn The translation understands the relative clause as a statement by Moses, not as part of the quotation from the evildoers. See also v. 2.

¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the disciples’ inability to believe in Jesus’ resurrection.

¹⁴ tn Grk “O,” an interjection used both in address and emotion (BDAG 1101 s.v. 1).

¹⁵ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied to complete the interjection.

¹⁶ sn The rebuke is for failure to believe the promise of scripture, a theme that will appear in vv. 43-47 as well.

¹⁷ tn On the syntax of this infinitival construction, see BDAG 364-65 s.v. ἐπί 6.b.

¹⁷ tn Or “become.”

²¹ tn Or perhaps “Parents” (so TEV, CEV). The plural οἱ πατέρες (Joi patere", “fathers”) can be used to refer to both the male and female parent (BDAG 786 s.v. πατήρ 1.b).

²² tn Or “do not make your children angry.” BDAG 780 s.v. παροργίζω states “make angry.” The Greek verb in Col 3:21 is a different one with a slightly different nuance.