Romans 11:7-8

11:7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was diligently seeking, but the elect obtained it. The ¹  rest were hardened, 11:8 as it is written,

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,

eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear,

to this very day.” ² 

Romans 11:2

11:2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew! Do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?

Colossians 3:14-16

3:14 And to all these ³  virtues ⁴  add ⁵  love, which is the perfect bond. ⁶  3:15 Let the peace of Christ be in control in your heart (for you were in fact called as one body ⁷  to this peace), and be thankful. 3:16 Let the word of Christ ⁸  dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace ⁹  in your hearts to God.

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

² sn A quotation from Deut 29:4; Isa 29:10.

³ tn BDAG 365 s.v. ἐπί 7 suggests “to all these” as a translation for ἐπὶ πᾶσιν δὲ τούτοις (epi pasin de toutoi").

⁴ tn The term “virtues” is not in the Greek text, but is included in the translation to specify the antecedent and to make clear the sense of the pronoun “these.”

⁵ tn The verb “add,” though not in the Greek text, is implied, picking up the initial imperative “clothe yourselves.”

⁶ tn The genitive τῆς τελειότητος (th" teleiothto") has been translated as an attributive genitive, “the perfect bond.”

⁷ tn Grk “in one body.” This phrase emphasizes the manner in which the believers were called, not the goal of their calling, and focuses upon their unity.

⁸ tc Since “the word of Christ” occurs nowhere else in the NT, two predictable variants arose: “word of God” and “word of the Lord.” Even though some of the witnesses for these variants are impressive (κυρίου [kuriou, “of the Lord”] in א* I 1175 pc bo; θεοῦ [qeou, “of God”] in A C* 33 104 323 945 al), the reading Χριστοῦ (Cristou, “of Christ”) is read by an excellent cross-section of witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א² B C² D F G Ψ 075 1739 1881 Ï lat sa). On both internal and external grounds, Χριστοῦ is strongly preferred.

⁹ tn Grk “with grace”; “all” is supplied as it is implicitly related to all the previous instructions in the verse.