1 Corinthians 5:6

5:6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast ¹  affects ²  the whole batch of dough?

1 Corinthians 5:2

5:2 And you are proud! ³  Shouldn’t you have been deeply sorrowful instead and removed the one who did this ⁴  from among you?

1 Corinthians 1:23-29

1:23 but we preach about a crucified Christ, ⁵  a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. 1:24 But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 1:25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, ⁶  and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. ⁷ 

1:26 Think about the circumstances of your call, ⁸  brothers and sisters. ⁹  Not many were wise by human standards, ¹⁰  not many were powerful, not many were born to a privileged position. ¹¹  1:27 But God chose what the world thinks foolish to shame the wise, and God chose what the world thinks weak to shame the strong. 1:28 God chose ¹²  what is low and despised in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something, 1:29 so that no one can boast in his presence.

Ezekiel 28:2-5

28:2 “Son of man, say to the prince ¹³  of Tyre, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Your heart is proud ¹⁴  and you said, “I am a god; ¹⁵ 

I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas” –

yet you are a man and not a god,

though you think you are godlike. ¹⁶ 

28:3 Look, you are wiser than Daniel; ¹⁷ 

no secret is hidden from you. ¹⁸ 

28:4 By your wisdom and understanding you have gained wealth for yourself;

you have amassed gold and silver in your treasuries.

28:5 By your great skill ¹⁹  in trade you have increased your wealth,

and your heart is proud because of your wealth.

Ezekiel 29:3

29:3 Tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Look, I am against ²⁰  you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,

the great monster ²¹  lying in the midst of its waterways,

who has said, “My Nile is my own, I made it for myself.” ²² 

Daniel 4:30-32

4:30 The king uttered these words: “Is this not the great Babylon that I have built for a royal residence ²³  by my own mighty strength ²⁴  and for my majestic honor?” 4:31 While these words were still on the king’s lips, ²⁵  a voice came down from heaven: “It is hereby announced to you, ²⁶  King Nebuchadnezzar, that your kingdom has been removed from you! 4:32 You will be driven from human society, and you will live with the wild animals. You will be fed grass like oxen, and seven periods of time will pass by for you before ²⁷  you understand that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms and gives them to whomever he wishes.”

Daniel 5:18

5:18 As for you, O king, the most high God bestowed on your father Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom, greatness, honor, and majesty. ²⁸ 

Daniel 5:23

5:23 Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. You brought before you the vessels from his temple, and you and your nobles, together with your wives and concubines, drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone – gods ²⁹  that cannot see or hear or comprehend! But you have not glorified the God who has in his control ³⁰  your very breath and all your ways!

Acts 12:22-23

12:22 But the crowd ³¹  began to shout, ³²  “The voice of a god, ³³  and not of a man!” 12:23 Immediately an angel of the Lord ³⁴  struck ³⁵  Herod ³⁶  down because he did not give the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died. ³⁷ 

[5:6]  ¹ sn In this passage (5:6-8) yeast represents the presence of evil within the church, specifically the immoral person described in 5:1-5 and mentioned again in 5:13.

[5:6]  ² tn Grk “a little yeast leavens.”

[5:2]  ³ tn Or “are puffed up/arrogant,” the same verb occurring in 4:6, 18.

[5:2]  ⁴ tn Grk “sorrowful, so that the one who did this might be removed.”

[1:23]  ⁵ tn Or “Messiah”; Grk “preach Christ [Messiah] crucified,” giving the content of the message.

[1:25]  ⁶ tn Grk “than men.”

[1:25]  ⁷ tn Grk “than men.”

[1:26]  ⁸ tn Grk “Think about your calling.” “Calling” in Paul’s writings usually refers to God’s work of drawing people to faith in Christ. The following verses show that “calling” here stands by metonymy for their circumstances when they became Christians, leading to the translation “the circumstances of your call.”

[1:26]  ⁹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:10.

[1:26]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “according to the flesh.”

[1:26]  ¹¹ tn The Greek word ευγενής (eugenh") refers to the status of being born into nobility, wealth, or power with an emphasis on the privileges and benefits that come with that position.

[1:28]  ¹² tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[28:2]  ¹³ tn Or “ruler” (NIV, NCV).

[28:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “lifted up.”

[28:2]  ¹⁵ tn Or “I am divine.”

[28:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and you made your heart (mind) like the heart (mind) of gods.”

[28:3]  ¹⁷ sn Or perhaps “Danel” (so TEV), referring to a ruler known from Canaanite legend. See the note on “Daniel” in 14:14. A reference to Danel (preserved in legend at Ugarit, near the northern end of the Phoenician coast) makes more sense here when addressing Tyre than in 14:14.

[28:3]  ¹⁸ sn The tone here is sarcastic, reflecting the ruler’s view of himself.

[28:5]  ¹⁹ tn Or “wisdom.”

[29:3]  ²⁰ tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘h!nn#n' ?l?K>,’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.

[29:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “jackals,” but many medieval Hebrew mss read correctly “the serpent.” The Hebrew term appears to refer to a serpent in Exod 7:9-10, 12; Deut 32:33; and Ps 91:13. It also refers to large creatures that inhabit the sea (Gen 1:21; Ps 148:7). In several passages it is associated with the sea or with the multiheaded sea monster Leviathan (Job 7:12; Ps 74:13; Isa 27:1; 51:9). Because of the Egyptian setting of this prophecy and the reference to the creature’s scales (v. 4), many understand a crocodile to be the referent here (e.g., NCV “a great crocodile”; TEV “you monster crocodile”; CEV “a giant crocodile”).

[29:3]  ²² sn In Egyptian theology Pharaoh owned and controlled the Nile. See J. D. Currid, Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament, 240-44.

[4:30]  ²³ tn Aram “house.”

[4:30]  ²⁴ tn Aram “by the might of my strength.”

[4:31]  ²⁵ tn Aram “in the mouth of the king.”

[4:31]  ²⁶ tn Aram “to you they say.”

[4:32]  ²⁷ tn Aram “until.”

[5:18]  ²⁸ tn Or “royal greatness and majestic honor,” if the four terms are understood as a double hendiadys.

[5:23]  ²⁹ tn Aram “which.”

[5:23]  ³⁰ tn Aram “in whose hand [are].”

[12:22]  ³¹ tn The translation “crowd” is given by BDAG 223 s.v. δῆμος; the word often means a gathering of citizens to conduct public business. Here it is simply the group of people gathered to hear the king’s speech.

[12:22]  ³² tn The imperfect verb ἐπεφώνει (epefwnei) is taken ingressively in the sequence of events. Presumably the king had started his speech when the crowd began shouting.

[12:22]  ³³ sn The voice of a god. Contrast the response of Paul and Barnabas in Acts 14:13-15.

[12:23]  ³⁴ tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 5:19.

[12:23]  ³⁵ sn On being struck…down by an angel, see Acts 23:3; 1 Sam 25:28; 2 Sam 12:15; 2 Kgs 19:35; 2 Chr 13:20; 2 Macc 9:5.

[12:23]  ³⁶ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:23]  ³⁷ sn He was eaten by worms and died. Josephus, Ant. 19.8.2 (19.343-352), states that Herod Agrippa I died at Caesarea in a.d. 44. The account by Josephus, while not identical to Luke’s account, is similar in many respects: On the second day of a festival, Herod Agrippa appeared in the theater with a robe made of silver. When it sparkled in the sun, the people cried out flatteries and declared him to be a god. The king, carried away by the flattery, saw an owl (an omen of death) sitting on a nearby rope, and immediately was struck with severe stomach pains. He was carried off to his house and died five days later. The two accounts can be reconciled without difficulty, since while Luke states that Herod was immediately struck down by an angel, his death could have come several days later. The mention of worms with death adds a humiliating note to the scene. The formerly powerful ruler had been thoroughly reduced to nothing (cf. Jdt 16:17; 2 Macc 9:9; cf. also Josephus, Ant. 17.6.5 [17.168-170], which details the sickness which led to Herod the Great’s death).