17:1 3 The Lord spoke to Moses:
1:5 “Before I formed you in your mother’s womb 7 I chose you. 8
Before you were born I set you apart.
I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.”
17:16 But I have not pestered you to bring disaster. 9
I have not desired the time of irreparable devastation. 10
You know that.
You are fully aware of every word that I have spoken. 11
12:1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, 23 by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God 24 – which is your reasonable service.
1:1 From Paul, 25 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
4:7 Tychicus, a dear brother, faithful minister, and fellow slave 34 in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me. 35
1:1 From Paul, 39 an apostle (not from men, nor by human agency, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead)
1:1 From Paul, 40 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints [in Ephesus], 41 the faithful 42 in Christ Jesus.
3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus 48 for the sake of you Gentiles –
1:1 From James, 54 a slave 55 of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes dispersed abroad. 56 Greetings!
4:11 Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters. 57 He who speaks against a fellow believer 58 or judges a fellow believer speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but its judge. 59
1 tn The verb is the Piel perfect. There is no imperfect tense before this, which makes the construction a little difficult. If the vav (ו) is classified as a consecutive, then the form would stand alone as an equivalent to the imperfect, and rendered as a modal nuance such as “would you [now] seek,” or as a progressive imperfect, “are you seeking.” This latter nuance can be obtained by treating it as a regular perfect tense, with an instantaneous nuance: “do you [now] seek.”
2 sn The question indicates that they had been murmuring against Aaron, that is, expressing disloyalty and challenging his leadership. But it is actually against the
3 sn Num 17:1 in the English Bible is 17:16 in the Hebrew text (BHS). See also the note on 16:36.
4 tn Heb “between the evenings” meaning between dusk and dark.
5 sn That is about two quarts.
6 sn That is about one quart.
7 tn Heb “the womb.” The words “your mother’s” are implicit and are supplied in the translation for clarity.
8 tn Heb “I knew you.” The parallelism here with “set you apart” and “appointed you” make clear that Jeremiah is speaking of his foreordination to be a prophet. For this same nuance of the Hebrew verb see Gen 18:19; Amos 3:2.
9 tc Heb “I have not run after you for the sake of disaster.” The translation follows the suggestion of some ancient versions. The Hebrew text reads “I have not run from being a shepherd after you.” The translation follows two Greek versions (Aquila and Symmachus) and the Syriac in reading the word “evil” or “disaster” here in place of the word “shepherd” in the Hebrew text. The issue is mainly one of vocalization. The versions mentioned are reading a form מֵרָעָה (mera’ah) instead of מֵרֹעֶה (mero’eh). There does not appear to be any clear case of a prophet being called a shepherd, especially in Jeremiah where it is invariably used of the wicked leaders/rulers of Judah, the leaders/rulers of the enemy that he brings to punish them, or the righteous ruler that he will bring in the future. Moreover, there are no cases where the preposition “after” is used with the verb “shepherd.” Parallelism also argues for the appropriateness of this reading; “disaster” parallels the “incurable day.” The thought also parallels the argument thus far. Other than 11:20; 12:3; 15:15 where he has prayed for vindication by the
10 tn Heb “the incurable day.” For the use of this word see the note on 17:9.
11 tn Heb “that which goes out of my lip is right in front of your face.”
12 tn Heb “from [following] after.”
13 tn Heb “and the
14 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
15 sn A talent was equal to 6000 denarii. See the note on this term in 18:24.
16 tn See the note on the word “slave” in 10:44.
17 tn Grk “giving.”
18 tn Grk “through whom.”
19 tn Some interpreters understand the phrase “grace and apostleship” as a hendiadys, translating “grace [i.e., gift] of apostleship.” The pronoun “our” is supplied in the translation to clarify the sense of the statement.
20 tn Grk “and apostleship for obedience.”
21 tn The phrase ὑπακοὴν πίστεως has been variously understood as (1) an objective genitive (a reference to the Christian faith, “obedience to [the] faith”); (2) a subjective genitive (“the obedience faith produces [or requires]”); (3) an attributive genitive (“believing obedience”); or (4) as a genitive of apposition (“obedience, [namely] faith”) in which “faith” further defines “obedience.” These options are discussed by C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans (ICC), 1:66. Others take the phrase as deliberately ambiguous; see D. B. Garlington, “The Obedience of Faith in the Letter to the Romans: Part I: The Meaning of ὑπακοὴ πίστεως (Rom 1:5; 16:26),” WTJ 52 (1990): 201-24.
22 tn This word comes from the same root as “grace” in the following clause; it means “things graciously given,” “grace-gifts.”
23 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
24 tn The participle and two adjectives “alive, holy, and pleasing to God” are taken as predicates in relation to “sacrifice,” making the exhortation more emphatic. See ExSyn 618-19.
25 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
26 tn The article with the genitive modifier τῆς πίστεως (th" pistew") is functioning as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).
27 tn The genitive τῆς ἐνεργείας (th" energeia") has been translated as an objective genitive, “faith in the power.”
28 tn The article τοῖς (tois) with παραπτώμασιν (paraptwmasin) is functioning as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).
29 tn The word “nevertheless,” though not in the Greek text, was supplied in the translation to bring out the force of the concessive participle ὄντας (ontas).
30 tn The participle ἐξαλείψας (exaleiyas) is a temporal adverbial participle of contemporaneous time related to the previous verb συνεζωοποίησεν (sunezwopoihsen), but has been translated as a finite verb because of the complexity of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences. For the meaning “destroy” see BDAG 344-45 s.v. ἐξαλείφω 2.
31 tn On the translation of χειρόγραφον (ceirografon), see BDAG 1083 s.v. which refers to it as “a certificate of indebtedness.”
32 tn Grk “the members which are on the earth.” See BDAG 628 s.v. μέλος 1, “put to death whatever in you is worldly.”
33 tn Or “lust.”
34 tn See the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.
35 tn Grk “all things according to me.”
36 tn The expression “for the display of” is an attempt to convey in English the force of the Greek preposition εἰς (eis) in this context.
37 tn The infinitive περιπατῆσαι (peripathsai, “to walk, to live, to live one’s life”) is best taken as an infinitive of purpose related to “praying” (προσευχόμενοι, proseucomenoi) and “asking” (αἰτούμενοι, aitoumenoi) in v. 9 and is thus translated as “that you may live.”
38 tn BDAG 129 s.v. ἀρεσκεία states that ἀρεσκείαν (areskeian) refers to a “desire to please εἰς πᾶσαν ἀ. to please (the Lord) in all respects Col 1:10.”
39 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
40 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
41 tc The earliest and most important
42 tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style [and even if this letter is not by Paul it follows the general style of Paul’s letters, with some modifications]) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated. See M. Barth, Ephesians (AB 34), 1:68 and ExSyn 282.
43 tn Grk “of which I was made a minister,” “of which I became a servant.”
44 tn Grk “according to.”
45 sn On the exercise of his power see 1:19-20.
46 sn In Pauline writings saints means any true believer. Thus for Paul to view himself as less than the least of all the saints is to view himself as the most unworthy object of Christ’s redemption.
47 sn The parallel phrases to proclaim and to enlighten which follow indicate why God’s grace was manifested to Paul. Grace was not something just to be received, but to be shared with others (cf. Acts 13:47).
48 tc Several early and important witnesses, chiefly of the Western text (א* D* F G [365]), lack ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou, “Jesus”) here, while most Alexandrian and Byzantine
49 tn Or possibly “to the Aeons who are about to come.”
50 tn Or “upon.”
51 tn The first phrase refers to the action of giving and the second to what is given.
52 tn Or “All generous giving and every perfect gift from above is coming down.”
53 tn Grk “variation or shadow of turning” (referring to the motions of heavenly bodies causing variations of light and darkness).
54 tn Grk “James.” The word “From” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
55 tn Traditionally, “servant” or “bondservant.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.
56 tn Grk “to the twelve tribes in the Diaspora.” The Greek term διασπορά (diaspora, “dispersion”) refers to Jews not living in Palestine but “dispersed” or scattered among the Gentiles.
57 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
58 tn See note on the word “believer” in 1:9.
59 tn Grk “a judge.”