Genesis 18:14

18:14 Is anything impossible ¹  for the Lord? I will return to you when the season comes round again and Sarah will have a son.” ² 

Isaiah 43:13

43:13 From this day forward I am he;

no one can deliver from my power; ³ 

I will act, and who can prevent it?”

Jeremiah 32:17

32:17 ‘Oh, Lord God, ⁴  you did indeed ⁵  make heaven and earth by your mighty power and great strength. ⁶  Nothing is too hard for you!

Matthew 19:26

19:26 Jesus ⁷  looked at them and replied, “This is impossible for mere humans, ⁸  but for God all things are possible.”

Mark 10:27

10:27 Jesus looked at them and replied, “This is impossible for mere humans, ⁹  but not for God; all things are possible for God.”

Mark 14:36

14:36 He said, “Abba, ¹⁰  Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup ¹¹  away from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Luke 18:27

18:27 He replied, “What is impossible ¹²  for mere humans ¹³  is possible for God.”

¹ tn The Hebrew verb פָּלָא (pala’) means “to be wonderful, to be extraordinary, to be surpassing, to be amazing.”

² sn Sarah will have a son. The passage brings God’s promise into clear focus. As long as it was a promise for the future, it really could be believed without much involvement. But now, when it seemed so impossible from the human standpoint, when the Lord fixed an exact date for the birth of the child, the promise became rather overwhelming to Abraham and Sarah. But then this was the Lord of creation, the one they had come to trust. The point of these narratives is that the creation of Abraham’s offspring, which eventually became Israel, is no less a miraculous work of creation than the creation of the world itself.

³ tn Heb “hand” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “No one can oppose what I do.”

⁴ tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.” For an explanation of the rendering here see the study note on 1:6.

⁵ tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle normally translated “behold.” See the translator’s note on 1:6 for the usage of this particle.

⁶ tn Heb “by your great power and your outstretched arm.” See 21:5; 27:5 and the marginal note on 27:5 for this idiom.

⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁸ tn The plural Greek term ἄνθρωποις (anqrwpois) is used here in a generic sense, referring to both men and women (cf. NASB 1995 update, “people”). Because of the contrast here between mere mortals and God (“impossible for men, but for God all things are possible”) the phrase “mere humans” has been used in the translation. There may also be a slight wordplay with “the Son of Man” in v. 28.

⁹ tn The plural Greek term ἄνθρωποις (anqrwpois) is used here in a generic sense, referring to both men and women (cf. NASB 1995 update, “people”). Because of the contrast here between mere mortals and God (“impossible for men…all things are possible for God”) the phrase “mere humans” has been used in the translation.

¹⁰ tn The word means “Father” in Aramaic.

¹¹ sn This cup alludes to the wrath of God that Jesus would experience (in the form of suffering and death) for us. See Ps 11:6; 75:8-9; Isa 51:17, 19, 22 for this figure.

¹² sn The term impossible is in the emphatic position in the Greek text. God makes the impossible possible.

¹³ tn The plural Greek term ἄνθρωποις (anqrwpois) is used here in a generic sense, referring to both men and women (cf. NASB 1995 update, “people”). Because of the contrast here between mere mortals and God (“impossible for men…possible for God”) the phrase “mere humans” has been used in the translation.