Matthew 3:9-10

3:9 and don’t think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! 3:10 Even now the ax is laid at ¹  the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

Matthew 7:22-23

7:22 On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do ²  many powerful deeds?’ 7:23 Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’ ³ 

Matthew 21:43

21:43 For this reason I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people ⁴  who will produce its fruit.

Acts 3:25

3:25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, ⁵  saying to Abraham, ‘And in your descendants ⁶  all the nations ⁷  of the earth will be blessed.’ ⁸ 

Romans 9:4

9:4 who are Israelites. To them belong ⁹  the adoption as sons, ¹⁰  the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple worship, ¹¹  and the promises.

¹ sn Laid at the root. That is, placed and aimed, ready to begin cutting.

² tn Grk “and in your name do.” This phrase was not repeated here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

³ tn Grk “workers of lawlessness.”

⁴ tn Or “to a nation” (so KJV, NASB, NLT).

⁵ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

⁶ tn Or “in your offspring”; Grk “in your seed.”

⁷ tn Or “families.” The Greek word πατριά (patria) can indicate persons of succeeding generations who are related by birth (“lineage,” “family”) but it can also indicate a relatively large unit of people who make up a sociopolitical group and who share a presumed biological descent. In many contexts πατριά is very similar to ἔθνος (eqnos) and λαός (laos). In light of the context of the OT quotation, it is better to translate πατριά as “nations” here.

⁸ sn A quotation from Gen 22:18.

⁹ tn Grk “of whom.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

¹⁰ tn The Greek term υἱοθεσία (Juioqesia) was originally a legal technical term for adoption as a son with full rights of inheritance. BDAG 1024 s.v. notes, “a legal t.t. of ‘adoption’ of children, in our lit., i.e. in Paul, only in a transferred sense of a transcendent filial relationship between God and humans (with the legal aspect, not gender specificity, as major semantic component).” Although some modern translations remove the filial sense completely and render the term merely “adoption” (cf. NAB, ESV), the retention of this component of meaning was accomplished in the present translation by the phrase “as sons.”

¹¹ tn Or “cultic service.”