John 3:20

3:20 For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed.

John 8:43

8:43 Why don’t you understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot accept ¹  my teaching. ² 

John 12:43

12:43 For they loved praise ³  from men more than praise ⁴  from God.

Jeremiah 13:23

13:23 But there is little hope for you ever doing good,

you who are so accustomed to doing evil.

Can an Ethiopian ⁵  change the color of his skin?

Can a leopard remove its spots? ⁶ 

Romans 8:7-8

8:7 because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so. 8:8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Hebrews 3:12

3:12 See to it, ⁷  brothers and sisters, ⁸  that none of you has ⁹  an evil, unbelieving heart that forsakes ¹⁰  the living God. ¹¹ 

¹ tn Grk “you cannot hear,” but this is not a reference to deafness, but rather hearing in the sense of listening to something and responding to it.

² tn Grk “my word.”

³ tn Grk “the glory.”

⁴ tn Grk “the glory.”

⁵ tn This is a common proverb in English coming from this biblical passage. For cultures where it is not proverbial perhaps it would be better to translate “Can black people change the color of their skin?” Strictly speaking these are “Cushites” inhabitants of a region along the upper Nile south of Egypt. The Greek text is responsible for the identification with Ethiopia. The term in Greek is actually a epithet = “burnt face.”

⁶ tn Heb “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? [Then] you also will be able to do good who are accustomed to do evil.” The English sentence has been restructured and rephrased in an attempt to produce some of the same rhetorical force the Hebrew original has in this context.

⁷ tn Or “take care.”

⁸ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 2:11.

⁹ tn Grk “that there not be in any of you.”

¹⁰ tn Or “deserts,” “rebels against.”

¹¹ tn Grk “in forsaking the living God.”