35:11 Violent men perjure themselves, 3
and falsely accuse me. 4
55:3 because of what the enemy says, 5
and because of how the wicked 6 pressure me, 7
for they hurl trouble 8 down upon me 9
and angrily attack me.
10:18 The one who conceals hatred utters lies, 10
and the one who spreads 11 slander 12 is certainly 13 a fool.
51:7 Listen to me, you who know what is right,
you people who are aware of my law! 14
Don’t be afraid of the insults of men;
don’t be discouraged because of their abuse!
54:17 No weapon forged to be used against you will succeed;
you will refute everyone who tries to accuse you. 15
This is what the Lord will do for his servants –
I will vindicate them,” 16
says the Lord.
5:11 “Blessed are you when people 17 insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things about you falsely 18 on account of me.
1:1 From Paul, 34 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2:20 If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits 35 of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world?
3:18 Wives, submit to your 43 husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
1 tn Heb “she lifted up her eyes toward,” an expression that emphasizes her deliberate and careful scrutiny of him.
2 tn Heb “lie with me.” Here the expression “lie with” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
3 tn Heb “witnesses of violence rise up.”
4 tn Heb “[that] which I do not know they ask me.”
5 tn Heb “because of [the] voice of [the] enemy.”
6 tn The singular forms “enemy” and “wicked” are collective or representative, as the plural verb forms in the second half of the verse indicate.
7 tn Heb “from before the pressure of the wicked.” Some suggest the meaning “screech” (note the parallel “voice”; cf. NEB “shrill clamour”; NRSV “clamor”) for the rare noun עָקָה (’aqah, “pressure”).
8 tn Heb “wickedness,” but here the term refers to the destructive effects of their wicked acts.
9 tc The verb form in the MT appears to be a Hiphil imperfect from the root מוֹט (mot, “to sway”), but the Hiphil occurs only here and in the Kethib (consonantal text) of Ps 140:10, where the form יַמְטֵר (yamter, “let him rain down”) should probably be read. Here in Ps 55:3 it is preferable to read יַמְטִירוּ (yamtiru, “they rain down”). It is odd for “rain down” to be used with an abstract object like “wickedness,” but in Job 20:23 God “rains down” anger (unless one emends the text there; see BHS).
10 tn Heb “lips of falsehood.” The genitive noun שָׁקֶר (shaqer, “falsehood”) functions as an attributive genitive. The noun “lips” is a metonymy of cause for speech produced by lips. The one who shows friendliness while concealing hatred is a liar (e.g., Ps 28:3).
11 tn Heb “causes to go out.” The Hiphil of יָצָא (yatsa) literally means “to cause to go out” (BDB 424 s.v. Hiph.1). This may refer to speech (“to utter”) in the sense of causing words to go out of one’s mouth, or it may refer to slander (“to spread”) in the sense of causing slander to go out to others.
12 tn The word דִבָּה (dibbah) means “whispering; defamation; evil report” (BDB 179 s.v.). Cf. NAB “accusations”; TEV “gossip.”
13 tn Heb “he is a fool.” The independent personal pronoun הוּא (hu’, “he”) is used for emphasis. This is reflected in the translation as “certainly.”
14 tn Heb “people (who have) my law in their heart.”
15 tn Heb “and every tongue that rises up for judgment with you will prove to be guilty.”
16 tn Heb “this is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication from me.”
17 tn Grk “when they insult you.” The third person pronoun (here implied in the verb ὀνειδίσωσιν [ojneidiswsin]) has no specific referent, but refers to people in general.
18 tc Although ψευδόμενοι (yeudomenoi, “bearing witness falsely”) could be a motivated reading, clarifying that the disciples are unjustly persecuted, its lack in only D it sys Tert does not help its case. Since the Western text is known for numerous free alterations, without corroborative evidence the shorter reading must be judged as secondary.
19 tn Grk “Now the.” Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
20 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
21 sn They began to accuse him. There were three charges: (1) disturbing Jewish peace; (2) fomenting rebellion through advocating not paying taxes (a lie – 20:20-26); and (3) claiming to be a political threat to Rome, by claiming to be a king, an allusion to Jesus’ messianic claims. The second and third charges were a direct challenge to Roman authority. Pilate would be forced to do something about them.
22 tn On the use of the term διαστρέφω (diastrefw) here, see L&N 31.71 and 88.264.
23 tn Grk “and forbidding.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated to suggest to the English reader that this and the following charge are specifics, while the previous charge was a summary one. See the note on the word “misleading” earlier in this verse.
24 tn This was a “poll tax.” L&N 57.182 states this was “a payment made by the people of one nation to another, with the implication that this is a symbol of submission and dependence – ‘tribute tax.’”
25 tn Or “to the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).
26 tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
27 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
28 sn They began to accuse him. There were three charges: (1) disturbing Jewish peace; (2) fomenting rebellion through advocating not paying taxes (a lie – 20:20-26); and (3) claiming to be a political threat to Rome, by claiming to be a king, an allusion to Jesus’ messianic claims. The second and third charges were a direct challenge to Roman authority. Pilate would be forced to do something about them.
29 tn On the use of the term διαστρέφω (diastrefw) here, see L&N 31.71 and 88.264.
30 tn Grk “and forbidding.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated to suggest to the English reader that this and the following charge are specifics, while the previous charge was a summary one. See the note on the word “misleading” earlier in this verse.
31 tn This was a “poll tax.” L&N 57.182 states this was “a payment made by the people of one nation to another, with the implication that this is a symbol of submission and dependence – ‘tribute tax.’”
32 tn Or “to the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).
33 tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
34 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
35 tn See the note on the phrase “elemental spirits” in 2:8.
36 tn BDAG 365 s.v. ἐπί 7 suggests “to all these” as a translation for ἐπὶ πᾶσιν δὲ τούτοις (epi pasin de toutoi").
37 tn The term “virtues” is not in the Greek text, but is included in the translation to specify the antecedent and to make clear the sense of the pronoun “these.”
38 tn The verb “add,” though not in the Greek text, is implied, picking up the initial imperative “clothe yourselves.”
39 tn The genitive τῆς τελειότητος (th" teleiothto") has been translated as an attributive genitive, “the perfect bond.”
40 tn Grk “in one body.” This phrase emphasizes the manner in which the believers were called, not the goal of their calling, and focuses upon their unity.
41 tc Since “the word of Christ” occurs nowhere else in the NT, two predictable variants arose: “word of God” and “word of the Lord.” Even though some of the witnesses for these variants are impressive (κυρίου [kuriou, “of the Lord”] in א* I 1175 pc bo; θεοῦ [qeou, “of God”] in A C* 33 104 323 945 al), the reading Χριστοῦ (Cristou, “of Christ”) is read by an excellent cross-section of witnesses (Ì46 א2 B C2 D F G Ψ 075 1739 1881 Ï lat sa). On both internal and external grounds, Χριστοῦ is strongly preferred.
42 tn Grk “with grace”; “all” is supplied as it is implicitly related to all the previous instructions in the verse.
43 tn The article τοῖς (tois) with ἀνδράσιν (andrasin, “husbands”) has been translated as a possessive pronoun (“your”); see ExSyn 215.