2 Samuel 12:11

12:11 This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to bring disaster on you ¹  from inside your own household! ²  Right before your eyes I will take your wives and hand them over to your companion. ³  He will have sexual relations with ⁴  your wives in broad daylight! ⁵ 

2 Samuel 16:21-22

16:21 Ahithophel replied to Absalom, “Have sex with ⁶  your father’s concubines whom he left to care for the palace. All Israel will hear that you have made yourself repulsive to your father. Then your followers will be motivated to support you.” ⁷  16:22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, ⁸  and Absalom had sex with ⁹  his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

2 Samuel 20:3

20:3 Then David went to his palace ¹⁰  in Jerusalem. The king took the ten concubines he had left to care for the palace and placed them under confinement. ¹¹  Though he provided for their needs, he did not have sexual relations with them. ¹²  They remained in confinement until the day they died, living out the rest of their lives as widows.

Romans 12:2

12:2 Do not be conformed ¹³  to this present world, ¹⁴  but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve ¹⁵  what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

[12:11]  ¹ tn Heb “raise up against you disaster.”

[12:11]  ² tn Heb “house” (so NAB, NRSV); NCV, TEV, CEV “family.”

[12:11]  ³ tn Or “friend.”

[12:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “will lie with” (so NIV, NRSV); TEV “will have intercourse with”; CEV, NLT “will go to bed with.”

[12:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “in the eyes of this sun.”

[16:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “go to”; NAB “have (+ sexual NCV) relations with”; TEV “have intercourse with”; NLT “Go and sleep with.”

[16:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”

[16:22]  ⁸ sn That is, on top of the flat roof of the palace, so it would be visible to the public.

[16:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “went to”; NAB “he visited his father’s concubines”; NIV “lay with his father’s concubines”; TEV “went in and had intercourse with.”

[20:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “house.”

[20:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he placed them in a guarded house.”

[20:3]  ¹² tn Heb “he did not come to them”; NAB “has no further relations with them”; NIV “did not lie with them”; TEV “did not have intercourse with them”; NLT “would no longer sleep with them.”

[12:2]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “to this age.”

[12:2]  ¹⁵ sn The verb translated test and approve (δοκιμάζω, dokimazw) carries the sense of “test with a positive outcome,” “test so as to approve.”