Genesis 6:5

6:5 But the Lord saw¹ that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination² of the thoughts³ of their minds⁴ was only evil⁵ all the time.⁶

Genesis 8:21

8:21 And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma⁷ and said⁸ to himself,⁹ “I will never again curse¹⁰ the ground because of humankind, even though¹¹ the inclination of their minds¹² is evil from childhood on.¹³ I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.

Deuteronomy 29:19-20

29:19 When such a person¹⁴ hears the words of this oath he secretly¹⁵ blesses himself¹⁶ and says, “I will have peace though I continue to walk with a stubborn spirit.”¹⁷ This will destroy¹⁸ the watered ground with the parched.¹⁹ 29:20 The Lord will be unwilling to forgive him, and his intense anger²⁰ will rage²¹ against that man; all the curses²² written in this scroll will fall upon him²³ and the Lord will obliterate his name from memory.²⁴

Romans 1:21

1:21 For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts²⁵ were darkened.

Romans 1:2

1:2 This gospel²⁶ he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures,

Colossians 1:5

1:5 Your faith and love have arisen²⁷ from the hope laid up²⁸ for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel²⁹

¹sn The Hebrew verb translated “saw” (רָאָה, ra’ah), used here of God’s evaluation of humankind’s evil deeds, contrasts with God’s evaluation of creative work in Gen 1, when he observed that everything was good.

²tn The noun יֵצֶר (yetser) is related to the verb יָצָר (yatsar, “to form, to fashion [with a design]”). Here it refers to human plans or intentions (see Gen 8:21; 1 Chr 28:9; 29:18). People had taken their God-given capacities and used them to devise evil. The word יֵצֶר (yetser) became a significant theological term in Rabbinic literature for what might be called the sin nature – the evil inclination (see also R. E. Murphy, “Yeser in the Qumran Literature,” Bib 39 [1958]: 334-44).

³tn The related verb הָשָׁב (hashav) means “to think, to devise, to reckon.” The noun (here) refers to thoughts or considerations.

⁴tn Heb “his heart” (referring to collective “humankind”). The Hebrew term לֵב (lev, “heart”) frequently refers to the seat of one’s thoughts (see BDB 524 s.v. לֵב). In contemporary English this is typically referred to as the “mind.”

⁵sn Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil. There is hardly a stronger statement of the wickedness of the human race than this. Here is the result of falling into the “knowledge of good and evil”: Evil becomes dominant, and the good is ruined by the evil.

⁶tn Heb “all the day.”

⁷tn The Lord “smelled” (וַיָּרַח, vayyarakh) a “soothing smell” (רֵיחַ הַנִּיהֹחַ, reakh hannihoakh). The object forms a cognate accusative with the verb. The language is anthropomorphic. The offering had a sweet aroma that pleased or soothed. The expression in Lev 1 signifies that God accepts the offering with pleasure, and in accepting the offering he accepts the worshiper.

⁸tn Heb “and the Lord said.”

⁹tn Heb “in his heart.”

¹⁰tn Here the Hebrew word translated “curse” is קָלָל (qalal), used in the Piel verbal stem.

¹¹tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) can be used in a concessive sense (see BDB 473 s.v. כִּי), which makes good sense in this context. Its normal causal sense (“for”) does not fit the context here very well.

¹²tn Heb “the inclination of the heart of humankind.”

¹³tn Heb “from his youth.”

¹⁴tn Heb “he”; the referent (the subject of the warning in v. 18) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁵tn Heb “in his heart.”

¹⁶tn Or “invokes a blessing on himself.” A formalized word of blessing is in view, the content of which appears later in the verse.

¹⁷tn Heb “heart.”

¹⁸tn Heb “thus destroying.” For stylistic reasons the translation begins a new sentence here.

¹⁹tn Heb “the watered with the parched.” The word “ground” is implied. The exact meaning of the phrase is uncertain although it appears to be figurative. This appears to be a proverbial observation employing a figure of speech (a merism) suggesting totality. That is, the Israelite who violates the letter and even spirit of the covenant will harm not only himself but everything he touches – “the watered and the parched.” Cf. CEV “you will cause the rest of Israel to be punished along with you.”

²⁰tn Heb “the wrath of the Lord and his zeal.” The expression is a hendiadys, a figure in which the second noun becomes adjectival to the first.

²¹tn Heb “smoke,” or “smolder.”

²²tn Heb “the entire oath.”

²³tn Or “will lie in wait against him.”

²⁴tn Heb “blot out his name from under the sky.”

²⁵tn Grk “heart.”

²⁶tn Grk “the gospel of God, which he promised.” Because of the length and complexity of this sentence in Greek, it was divided into shorter English sentences in keeping with contemporary English style. To indicate the referent of the relative pronoun (“which”), the word “gospel” was repeated at the beginning of v. 2.

²⁷tn Col 1:3-8 form one long sentence in the Greek text and have been divided at the end of v. 4 and v. 6 and within v. 6 for clarity, in keeping with the tendency in contemporary English toward shorter sentences. Thus the phrase “Your faith and love have arisen from the hope” is literally “because of the hope.” The perfect tense “have arisen” was chosen in the English to reflect the fact that the recipients of the letter had acquired this hope at conversion in the past, but that it still remains and motivates them to trust in Christ and to love one another.

²⁸tn BDAG 113 s.v. ἀπόκειμαι 2 renders ἀποκειμένην (apokeimenhn) with the expression “reserved” in this verse.

²⁹tn The term “the gospel” (τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, tou euangeliou) is in apposition to “the word of truth” (τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθείας, tw logw th" alhqeia") as indicated in the translation.