1 Samuel 8:5

8:5 They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons don’t follow your ways. So now appoint over us a king to lead ¹  us, just like all the other nations have.”

Exodus 33:16

33:16 For how will it be known then that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not by your going with us, so that we will be distinguished, I and your people, from all the people who are on the face of the earth?” ² 

Leviticus 20:24-26

20:24 So I have said to you: You yourselves will possess their land and I myself will give it to you for a possession, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God who has set you apart from the other peoples. ³  20:25 Therefore you must distinguish ⁴  between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean, and you must not make yourselves detestable by means of an animal or bird or anything that creeps on the ground – creatures ⁵  I have distinguished for you as unclean. ⁶  20:26 You must be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the other peoples to be mine.

Numbers 23:9

23:9 For from the top of the rocks I see them; ⁷ 

from the hills I watch them. ⁸ 

Indeed, a nation that lives alone,

and it will not be reckoned ⁹  among the nations.

Deuteronomy 7:6

7:6 For you are a people holy ¹⁰  to the Lord your God. He ¹¹  has chosen you to be his people, prized ¹²  above all others on the face of the earth.

Psalms 106:35

106:35 They mixed in with the nations

and learned their ways. ¹³ 

John 15:19

15:19 If you belonged to the world, ¹⁴  the world would love you as its own. ¹⁵  However, because you do not belong to the world, ¹⁶  but I chose you out of the world, for this reason ¹⁷  the world hates you. ¹⁸ 

Romans 12:12

12:12 Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer.

Romans 12:2

12:2 Do not be conformed ¹⁹  to this present world, ²⁰  but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve ²¹  what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

Colossians 1:17

1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together ²²  in him.

Philippians 3:20

3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven – and we also await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

Philippians 3:1

True and False Righteousness

3:1 Finally, my brothers and sisters, ²³  rejoice in the Lord! To write this again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.

Philippians 2:9

2:9 As a result God exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

[8:5]  ¹ tn Heb “judge” (also in v. 6).

[33:16]  ² sn See W. Brueggemann, “The Crisis and Promise of Presence in Israel,” HBT 1 (1979): 47-86; and N. M. Waldman, “God’s Ways – A Comparative Note,” JQR 70 (1979): 67-70.

[20:24]  ³ tc Here and with the same phrase in v. 26, the LXX adds “all,” resulting in the reading “all the peoples.”

[20:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “And you shall distinguish.” The verb is the same as “set apart” at the end of the previous verse. The fact that God had “set them apart” from the other peoples roundabout them called for them to “distinguish between” the clean and the unclean, etc.

[20:25]  ⁵ tn The word “creatures” has been supplied in the translation to make it clear that the following relative clause modifies the animal, bird, or creeping thing mentioned earlier, and not the ground itself.

[20:25]  ⁶ tc The MT has “to defile,” but Smr, LXX, and Syriac have “to uncleanness.”

[23:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “him,” but here it refers to the Israelites (Israel).

[23:9]  ⁸ sn Balaam reports his observation of the nation of Israel spread out below him in the valley. Based on that vision, and the Lord’s word, he announces the uniqueness of Israel – they are not just like one of the other nations. He was correct, of course; they were the only people linked with the living God by covenant.

[23:9]  ⁹ tn The verb could also be taken as a reflexive – Israel does not consider itself as among the nations, meaning, they consider themselves to be unique.

[7:6]  ¹⁰ tn That is, “set apart.”

[7:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[7:6]  ¹² tn Or “treasured” (so NIV, NRSV); NLT “his own special treasure.” The Hebrew term סְגֻלָּה (sÿgullah) describes Israel as God’s choice people, those whom he elected and who are most precious to him (cf. Exod 19:4-6; Deut 14:2; 26:18; 1 Chr 29:3; Ps 135:4; Eccl 2:8 Mal 3:17). See E. Carpenter, NIDOTTE 3:224.

[106:35]  ¹³ tn Heb “their deeds.”

[15:19]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “if you were of the world.”

[15:19]  ¹⁵ tn The words “you as” are not in the original but are supplied for clarity.

[15:19]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “because you are not of the world.”

[15:19]  ¹⁷ tn Or “world, therefore.”

[15:19]  ¹⁸ sn I chose you out of the world…the world hates you. Two themes are brought together here. In 8:23 Jesus had distinguished himself from the world in addressing his Jewish opponents: “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.” In 15:16 Jesus told the disciples “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you.” Now Jesus has united these two ideas as he informs the disciples that he has chosen them out of the world. While the disciples will still be “in” the world after Jesus has departed, they will not belong to it, and Jesus prays later in John 17:15-16 to the Father, “I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” The same theme also occurs in 1 John 4:5-6: “They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us.” Thus the basic reason why the world hates the disciples (as it hated Jesus before them) is because they are not of the world. They are born from above, and are not of the world. For this reason the world hates them.

[12:2]  ¹⁹ tn Although συσχηματίζεσθε (suschmatizesqe) could be either a passive or middle, the passive is more likely since it would otherwise have to be a direct middle (“conform yourselves”) and, as such, would be quite rare for NT Greek. It is very telling that being “conformed” to the present world is viewed as a passive notion, for it may suggest that it happens, in part, subconsciously. At the same time, the passive could well be a “permissive passive,” suggesting that there may be some consciousness of the conformity taking place. Most likely, it is a combination of both.

[12:2]  ²⁰ tn Grk “to this age.”

[12:2]  ²¹ sn The verb translated test and approve (δοκιμάζω, dokimazw) carries the sense of “test with a positive outcome,” “test so as to approve.”

[1:17]  ²² tn BDAG 973 s.v. συνίστημι B.3 suggests “continue, endure, exist, hold together” here.

[3:1]  ²³ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:12.