20:3 But God appeared 6 to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him, “You are as good as dead 7 because of the woman you have taken, for she is someone else’s wife.” 8
3:1 “If a man divorces his wife
and she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife,
he may not take her back again. 9
Doing that would utterly defile the land. 10
But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods. 11
So what makes you think you can return to me?” 12
says the Lord.
7:1 Or do you not know, brothers and sisters 17 (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a person 18 as long as he lives?
1:1 From Paul, 21 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
1 tn The demonstrative pronoun translated “this” adds emphasis: “What in the world have you done to me?” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).
2 tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive here expresses consequence.
3 tn Heb “to me for a wife.”
4 tn Heb “Look, your wife!”
5 tn Heb “take and go.”
6 tn Heb “came.”
7 tn Heb “Look, you [are] dead.” The Hebrew construction uses the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) with a second person pronominal particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) with by the participle. It is a highly rhetorical expression.
8 tn Heb “and she is owned by an owner.” The disjunctive clause is causal or explanatory in this case.
9 tn Heb “May he go back to her again?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.
10 tn Heb “Would the land not be utterly defiled?” The stative is here rendered actively to connect better with the preceding. The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.
11 tn Heb “But you have played the prostitute with many lovers.”
12 tn Heb “Returning to me.” The form is the bare infinitive which the KJV and ASV have interpreted as an imperative “Yet, return to me!” However, it is more likely that a question is intended, expressing surprise in the light of the law alluded to and the facts cited. For the use of the infinitive absolute in the place of a finite verb, cf. GKC 346 §113.ee. For the introduction of a question without a question marker, cf. GKC 473 §150.a.
13 tn Grk “the,” with the article used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).
14 tn Grk “husband.”
15 tn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.
16 tn Grk “the,” with the article used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).
17 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
18 sn Here person refers to a human being.
19 tn The adverbial participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") is understood to be temporal and translated with “since.” A causal idea may also be in the apostle’s mind, but the context emphasizes temporal ideas, e.g., “from the day” (v. 6).
20 tn The expression “for the display of” is an attempt to convey in English the force of the Greek preposition εἰς (eis) in this context.
21 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.