23:15 “Woe to you, experts in the law 2 and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You cross land and sea to make one convert, 3 and when you get one, 4 you make him twice as much a child of hell 5 as yourselves!
23:23 “Woe to you, experts in the law 6 and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth 7 of mint, dill, and cumin, 8 yet you neglect what is more important in the law – justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You 9 should have done these things without neglecting the others.
2:17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law 10 and boast of your relationship to God 11 2:18 and know his will 12 and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law, 13 2:19 and if you are convinced 14 that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 2:20 an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth – 2:21 therefore 15 you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 2:22 You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor 16 idols, do you rob temples? 2:23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law! 2:24 For just as it is written, “the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” 17
3:9 What then? Are we better off? Certainly not, for we have already charged that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin, 3:10 just as it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one,
3:11 there is no one who understands,
there is no one who seeks God.
3:12 All have turned away,
together they have become worthless;
there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.” 18
3:13 “Their throats are open graves, 19
they deceive with their tongues,
the poison of asps is under their lips.” 20
3:14 “Their mouths are 21 full of cursing and bitterness.” 22
3:15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood,
3:16 ruin and misery are in their paths,
3:17 and the way of peace they have not known.” 23
3:18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” 24
3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under 25 the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
1 tn Grk “for they say and do not do.”
2 tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
3 tn Or “one proselyte.”
4 tn Grk “when he becomes [one].”
5 tn Grk “a son of Gehenna.” Expressions constructed with υἱός (Juios) followed by a genitive of class or kind denote a person belonging to the class or kind specified by the following genitive (L&N 9.4). Thus the phrase here means “a person who belongs to hell.”
6 tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
7 tn Or “you tithe mint.”
8 sn Cumin (alternately spelled cummin) was an aromatic herb native to the Mediterranean region. Its seeds were used for seasoning.
9 tc ‡ Many witnesses (B C K L W Δ 0102 33 565 892 pm) have δέ (de, “but”) after ταῦτα (tauta, “these things”), while many others lack it (א D Γ Θ Ë1,13 579 700 1241 1424 pm). Since asyndeton was relatively rare in Koine Greek, the conjunction may be an intentional alteration, and is thus omitted from the present translation. NA27 includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.
10 sn The law refers to the Mosaic law, described mainly in the OT books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
11 tn Grk “boast in God.” This may be an allusion to Jer 9:24.
12 tn Grk “the will.”
13 tn Grk “because of being instructed out of the law.”
14 tn This verb is parallel to the verbs in vv. 17-18a, so it shares the conditional meaning even though the word “if” is not repeated.
15 tn The structure of vv. 21-24 is difficult. Some take these verses as the apodosis of the conditional clauses (protases) in vv. 17-20; others see vv. 17-20 as an instance of anacoluthon (a broken off or incomplete construction).
16 tn Or “detest.”
17 sn A quotation from Isa 52:5.
18 sn Verses 10-12 are a quotation from Ps 14:1-3.
19 tn Grk “their throat is an opened grave.”
20 sn A quotation from Pss 5:9; 140:3.
21 tn Grk “whose mouth is.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
22 sn A quotation from Ps 10:7.
23 sn Rom 3:15-17 is a quotation from Isa 59:7-8.
24 sn A quotation from Ps 36:1.
25 tn Grk “in,” “in connection with.”
26 tn Grk “much in every way.”
27 tc ‡ Most witnesses (א A D2 33 Ï) have γάρ (gar) after μέν (men), though some significant Alexandrian and Western witnesses lack the conjunction (B D* G Ψ 81 365 1506 2464* pc latt). A few
28 tn Grk “they were.”
29 tn The referent of λόγια (logia, “oracles”) has been variously understood: (1) BDAG 598 s.v. λόγιον takes the term to refer here to “God’s promises to the Jews”; (2) some have taken this to refer more narrowly to the national promises of messianic salvation given to Israel (so S. L. Johnson, Jr., “Studies in Romans: Part VII: The Jews and the Oracles of God,” BSac 130 [1973]: 245); (3) perhaps the most widespread interpretation sees the term as referring to the entire OT generally.
30 tn This verb is parallel to the verbs in vv. 17-18a, so it shares the conditional meaning even though the word “if” is not repeated.