Jonah 4:9

4:9 God said to Jonah, “Are you really so very angry ¹  about the little plant?” And he said, “I am as angry ²  as I could possibly be!” ³ 

Matthew 20:15

20:15 Am I not ⁴  permitted to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ ⁵ 

Luke 7:39

7:39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, ⁶  he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, ⁷  he would know who and what kind of woman ⁸  this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.”

Luke 15:28

15:28 But the older son ⁹  became angry ¹⁰  and refused ¹¹  to go in. His father came out and appealed to him,

Acts 13:46

13:46 Both Paul and Barnabas replied courageously, ¹²  “It was necessary to speak the word of God ¹³  to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy ¹⁴  of eternal life, we ¹⁵  are turning to the Gentiles. ¹⁶ 

James 4:5-6

4:5 Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says, ¹⁷  “The spirit that God ¹⁸  caused ¹⁹  to live within us has an envious yearning”? ²⁰  4:6 But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.” ²¹ 

¹ tn Heb “Does it burn so thoroughly to you?” or “Does it burn rightly to you?” See note on this expression in v. 4.

² tn Heb “It thoroughly burns to me” or “It rightly burns to me.”

³ tn Heb “unto death.” The phrase עַד־מָוֶת (’ad-mavet, “unto death”) is an idiomatic expression meaning “to the extreme” or simply “extremely [angry]” (HALOT 563 s.v. מָוֶת 1.c). The noun מָוֶת (“death”) is often used as an absolute superlative with a negative sense, similar to the English expression “bored to death” (IBHS 267-69 §14.5). For example, “his soul was vexed to death” (לָמוּת, lamut) means that he could no longer endure it (Judg 16:16), and “love is as strong as death” (כַמָּוֶת, kammavet) means love is irresistible or exceedingly strong (Song 8:6). Here the expression “I am angry unto death” (עַד־מָוֶת) means that Jonah could not be more angry. Unfortunately, this idiomatic expression has gone undetected by virtually every other major English version to date (KJV, NKJV, RSV, NRSV, ASV, NASB, NIV, NJB, JPS, NJPS). The only English version that comes close to representing the idiom correctly is BBE: “I have a right to be truly angry.”

⁴ tc ‡ Before οὐκ (ouk, “[am I] not”) a number of significant witnesses read ἤ (h, “or”; e.g., א C W 085 Ë^1,13 33 and most others). Although in later Greek the οι in σοι (oi in soi) – the last word of v. 14 – would have been pronounced like ἤ, since ἤ is lacking in early mss (B D; among later witnesses, note L Z Θ 700) and since mss were probably copied predominantly by sight rather than by sound, even into the later centuries, the omission of ἤ cannot be accounted for as easily. Thus the shorter reading is most likely original. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

⁵ tn Grk “Is your eye evil because I am good?”

⁶ tn The word “this” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

⁷ tn This is a good example of a second class (contrary to fact) Greek conditional sentence. The Pharisee said, in effect, “If this man were a prophet (but he is not)…”

⁸ sn The Pharisees believed in a form of separationism that would have prevented them from any kind of association with such a sinful woman.

⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the older son, v. 25) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn The aorist verb ὠργίσθη (wrgisqh) has been translated as an ingressive aorist, reflecting entry into a state or condition.

¹¹ sn Ironically the attitude of the older son has left him outside and without joy.

¹² tn Grk “Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out courageously and said.” The redundancy is removed in the translation and the verb “replied” is used in keeping with the logical sequence of events. The theme of boldness reappears: Acts 4:24-30; 9:27-28.

¹³ tn Grk “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken.” For smoothness and simplicity of English style, the passive construction has been converted to active voice in the translation.

¹⁴ tn Or “and consider yourselves unworthy.”

¹⁵ tn Grk “behold, we.” In this context ἰδού (idou) is not easily translated into English.

¹⁶ sn This turning to the Gentiles would be a shocking rebuke to 1st century Jews who thought they alone were the recipients of the promise.

¹⁷ tn Grk “vainly says.”

¹⁸ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁹ tc The Byzantine text and a few other mss (P 33 Ï) have the intransitive κατῴκησεν (katwkhsen) here, which turns τὸ πνεῦμα (to pneuma) into the subject of the verb: “The spirit which lives within us.” But the more reliable and older witnesses (Ì⁷⁴ א B Ψ 049 1241 1739 al) have the causative verb, κατῴκισεν (katwkisen), which implies a different subject and τὸ πνεῦμα as the object: “The spirit that he causes to live within us.” Both because of the absence of an explicit subject and the relative scarcity of the causative κατοικίζω (katoikizw, “cause to dwell”) compared to the intransitive κατοικέω (katoikew, “live, dwell”) in biblical Greek (κατοικίζω does not occur in the NT at all, and occurs one twelfth as frequently as κατοικέω in the LXX), it is easy to see why scribes would replace κατῴκισεν with κατῴκησεν. Thus, on internal and external grounds, κατῴκισεν is the preferred reading.

²⁰ tn Interpreters debate the referent of the word “spirit” in this verse: (1) The translation takes “spirit” to be the lustful capacity within people that produces a divided mind (1:8, 14) and inward conflicts regarding God (4:1-4). God has allowed it to be in man since the fall, and he provides his grace (v. 6) and the new birth through the gospel message (1:18-25) to counteract its evil effects. (2) On the other hand the word “spirit” may be taken positively as the Holy Spirit and the sense would be, “God yearns jealously for the Spirit he caused to live within us.” But the word for “envious” or “jealous” is generally negative in biblical usage and the context before and after seems to favor the negative interpretation.

²¹ sn A quotation from Prov 3:34.