Discovery BoxActs 14:15
Context14:15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We too are men, with human natures 1 just like you! We are proclaiming the good news to you, so that you should turn 2 from these worthless 3 things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, 4 the sea, and everything that is in them.
Acts 17:29
Context17:29 So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity 5 is like gold or silver or stone, an image 6 made by human 7 skill 8 and imagination. 9
Psalms 115:4-8
Context115:4 Their 10 idols are made of silver and gold –
they are man-made. 11
115:5 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see,
115:6 ears, but cannot hear,
noses, but cannot smell,
115:7 hands, but cannot touch,
feet, but cannot walk.
They cannot even clear their throats. 12
115:8 Those who make them will end up 13 like them,
as will everyone who trusts in them.
Psalms 135:15-18
Context135:15 The nations’ idols are made of silver and gold,
they are man-made. 14
135:16 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see,
135:17 and ears, but cannot hear.
Indeed, they cannot breathe. 15
135:18 Those who make them will end up 16 like them,
as will everyone who trusts in them.
Isaiah 44:10-20
Context44:10 Who forms a god and casts an idol
that will prove worthless? 17
44:11 Look, all his associates 18 will be put to shame;
the craftsmen are mere humans. 19
Let them all assemble and take their stand!
They will panic and be put to shame.
44:12 A blacksmith works with his tool 20
and forges metal over the coals.
He forms it 21 with hammers;
he makes it with his strong arm.
He gets hungry and loses his energy; 22
he drinks no water and gets tired.
44:13 A carpenter takes measurements; 23
he marks out an outline of its form; 24
he scrapes 25 it with chisels,
and marks it with a compass.
He patterns it after the human form, 26
like a well-built human being,
and puts it in a shrine. 27
44:14 He cuts down cedars
and acquires a cypress 28 or an oak.
He gets 29 trees from the forest;
he plants a cedar 30 and the rain makes it grow.
44:15 A man uses it to make a fire; 31
he takes some of it and warms himself.
Yes, he kindles a fire and bakes bread.
Then he makes a god and worships it;
he makes an idol and bows down to it. 32
44:16 Half of it he burns in the fire –
over that half he cooks 33 meat;
he roasts a meal and fills himself.
Yes, he warms himself and says,
‘Ah! I am warm as I look at the fire.’
44:17 With the rest of it he makes a god, his idol;
he bows down to it and worships it.
He prays to it, saying,
‘Rescue me, for you are my god!’
44:18 They do not comprehend or understand,
for their eyes are blind and cannot see;
their minds do not discern. 34
44:19 No one thinks to himself,
nor do they comprehend or understand and say to themselves:
‘I burned half of it in the fire –
yes, I baked bread over the coals;
I roasted meat and ate it.
With the rest of it should I make a disgusting idol?
Should I bow down to dry wood?’ 35
his deceived mind misleads him.
He cannot rescue himself,
nor does he say, ‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’ 37
Isaiah 46:5-8
Context46:5 To whom can you compare and liken me?
Tell me whom you think I resemble, so we can be compared!
46:6 Those who empty out gold from a purse
and weigh out silver on the scale 38
hire a metalsmith, who makes it into a god.
They then bow down and worship it.
46:7 They put it on their shoulder and carry it;
they put it in its place and it just stands there;
it does not 39 move from its place.
Even when someone cries out to it, it does not reply;
it does not deliver him from his distress.
46:8 Remember this, so you can be brave! 40
Think about it, you rebels! 41
Jeremiah 10:3-5
Context10:3 For the religion 42 of these people is worthless.
They cut down a tree in the forest,
and a craftsman makes it into an idol with his tools. 43
10:4 He decorates it with overlays of silver and gold.
He uses hammer and nails to fasten it 44 together
so that it will not fall over.
10:5 Such idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field.
They cannot talk.
They must be carried
because they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them
because they cannot hurt you.
And they do not have any power to help you.” 45
Jeremiah 10:11
Context10:11 You people of Israel should tell those nations this:
‘These gods did not make heaven and earth.
They will disappear 46 from the earth and from under the heavens.’ 47
Jeremiah 10:14-15
Context10:14 All these idolaters 48 will prove to be stupid and ignorant.
Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made.
For the image he forges is merely a sham. 49
There is no breath in any of those idols. 50
10:15 They are worthless, mere objects to be mocked. 51
When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.
Hosea 8:6
Context8:6 That idol was made by a workman – it is not God!
The calf idol of Samaria will be broken to bits.
Hosea 8:1
ContextAn eagle 53 looms over the temple of the Lord!
For they have broken their covenant with me, 54
and have rebelled against my law.
Colossians 1:4
Context1:4 since 55 we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints.
Colossians 1:19-20
Context1:19 For God 56 was pleased to have all his 57 fullness dwell 58 in the Son 59
1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, 60 whether things on earth or things in heaven.
Colossians 1:2
Context1:2 to the saints, the faithful 61 brothers and sisters 62 in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you 63 from God our Father! 64
Galatians 4:8
Context4:8 Formerly when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods at all. 65
[14:15] 1 tn Grk “with the same kinds of feelings,” L&N 25.32. BDAG 706 s.v. ὁμοιοπαθής translates the phrase “with the same nature τινί as someone.” In the immediate context, the contrast is between human and divine nature, and the point is that Paul and Barnabas are mere mortals, not gods.
[14:15] 2 tn Grk “in order that you should turn,” with ἐπιστρέφειν (epistrefein) as an infinitive of purpose, but this is somewhat awkward contemporary English. To translate the infinitive construction “proclaim the good news, that you should turn,” which is much smoother English, could give the impression that the infinitive clause is actually the content of the good news, which it is not. The somewhat less formal “to get you to turn” would work, but might convey to some readers manipulativeness on the part of the apostles. Thus “proclaim the good news, so that you should turn,” is used, to convey that the purpose of the proclamation of good news is the response by the hearers. The emphasis here is like 1 Thess 1:9-10.
[14:15] 3 tn Or “useless,” “futile.” The reference is to idols and idolatry, worshiping the creation over the Creator (Rom 1:18-32). See also 1 Kgs 16:2, 13, 26; 2 Kgs 17:15; Jer 2:5; 8:19; 3 Macc 6:11.
[14:15] 4 tn Grk “and the earth, and the sea,” but καί (kai) has not been translated before “the earth” and “the sea” since contemporary English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.
[17:29] 5 tn Or “the divine being.” BDAG 446 s.v. θεῖος 1.b has “divine being, divinity” here.
[17:29] 6 tn Or “a likeness.” Again idolatry is directly attacked as an affront to God and a devaluation of him.
[17:29] 7 tn Grk “by the skill and imagination of man,” but ἀνθρώπου (anqrwpou) has been translated as an attributive genitive.
[17:29] 8 tn Or “craftsmanship” (cf. BDAG 1001 s.v. τέχνη).
[17:29] 9 tn Or “thought.” BDAG 336 s.v. ἐνθύμησις has “thought, reflection, idea” as the category of meaning here, but in terms of creativity (as in the context) the imaginative faculty is in view.
[115:4] 10 tn The referent of the pronominal suffix is “the nations” (v. 2).
[115:4] 11 tn Heb “the work of the hands of man.”
[115:7] 12 tn Heb “they cannot mutter in their throats.” Verse 5a refers to speaking, v. 7c to inarticulate sounds made in the throat (see M. Dahood, Psalms [AB], 3:140-41).
[115:8] 13 tn Heb “will be.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a prayer, “may those who make them end up like them.”
[135:15] 14 tn Heb “the work of the hands of man.”
[135:17] 15 tn Heb “indeed, there is not breath in their mouth.” For the collocation אַף אֵין (’af ’en, “indeed, there is not”) see Isa 41:26. Another option is to take אַף as “nose” (see Ps 115:6), in which case one might translate, “a nose, [but] they have no breath in their mouths.”
[135:18] 16 tn Heb “will be.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a prayer, “may those who make them end up like them.”
[44:10] 17 tn The rhetorical question is sarcastic. The sense is, “Who is foolish enough…?”
[44:11] 18 tn The pronoun “his” probably refers to the one who forms/casts an idol (v. 10), in which case it refers to the craftsman’s associates in the idol-manufacturing guild.
[44:11] 19 sn The point seems to be this: If the idols are the mere products of human hands, then those who trust in them will be disappointed, for man-made gods are incapable of helping their “creators.”
[44:12] 20 tn The noun מַעֲצָד (ma’atsad), which refers to some type of tool used for cutting, occurs only here and in Jer 10:3. See HALOT 615 s.v. מַעֲצָד.
[44:12] 21 tn Some English versions take the pronoun “it” to refer to an idol being fashioned by the blacksmith (cf. NIV, NCV, CEV). NLT understands the referent to be “a sharp tool,” which is then used by the carpenter in the following verse to carve an idol from wood.
[44:12] 22 tn Heb “and there is no strength”; NASB “his strength fails.”
[44:13] 23 tn Heb “stretches out a line” (ASV similar); NIV “measures with a line.”
[44:13] 24 tn Heb “he makes an outline with the [?].” The noun שֶׂרֶד (shered) occurs only here; it apparently refers to some type of tool or marker. Cf. KJV “with a line”; ASV “with a pencil”; NAB, NRSV “with a stylus”; NASB “with red chalk”; NIV “with a marker.”
[44:13] 25 tn Heb “works” (so NASB) or “fashions” (so NRSV); NIV “he roughs it out.”
[44:13] 26 tn Heb “he makes it like the pattern of a man”; NAB “like a man in appearance.”
[44:13] 27 tn Heb “like the glory of man to sit [in] a house”; NIV “that it may dwell in a shrine.”
[44:14] 28 tn It is not certain what type of tree this otherwise unattested noun refers to. Cf. ASV “a holm-tree” (NRSV similar).
[44:14] 29 tn Heb “strengthens for himself,” i.e., “secures for himself” (see BDB 55 s.v. אָמֵץ Pi.2).
[44:14] 30 tn Some prefer to emend אֹרֶן (’oren) to אֶרֶז (’erez, “cedar”), but the otherwise unattested noun appears to have an Akkadian cognate, meaning “cedar.” See H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 44-45. HALOT 90 s.v. I אֹרֶן offers the meaning “laurel.”
[44:15] 31 tn Heb “and it becomes burning [i.e., firewood] for a man”; NAB “to serve man for fuel.”
[44:15] 32 tn Or perhaps, “them.”
[44:16] 33 tn Heb “eats” (so NASB); NAB, NRSV “roasts.”
[44:18] 34 tn Heb “for their eyes are smeared over so they cannot see, so their heart cannot be wise.”
[44:19] 35 tn There is no formal interrogative sign here, but the context seems to indicate these are rhetorical questions. See GKC 473 §150.a.
[44:20] 36 tn Or perhaps, “he eats on an ash heap.”
[44:20] 37 tn Heb “Is it not a lie in my right hand?”
[46:6] 38 tn Heb “the reed,” probably referring to the beam of a scales. See BDB 889 s.v. קָנֶה 4.c.
[46:7] 39 tn Or perhaps, “cannot,” here and in the following two lines. The imperfect forms can indicate capability.
[46:8] 40 tn The meaning of the verb אָשַׁשׁ (’ashash, which appears here in the Hitpolel stem) is uncertain. BDB 84 s.v. אשׁשׁ relates it to a root meaning “found, establish” in Arabic; HALOT 100 s.v. II אשׁשׁ gives the meaning “pluck up courage.” The imperative with vav (ו) may indicate purpose following the preceding imperative.
[46:8] 41 tn Heb “return [it], rebels, to heart”; NRSV “recall it to mind, you transgressors.”
[10:3] 42 tn Heb “statutes.” According to BDB 350 s.v. חֻקָּה 2.b it refers to the firmly established customs or practices of the pagan nations. Compare the usage in Lev 20:23; 2 Kgs 17:8. Here it is essentially equivalent to דֶּרֶךְ (derekh) in v. 1, which has already been translated “religious practices.”
[10:3] 43 sn This passage is dripping with sarcasm. It begins by talking about the “statutes” of the pagan peoples as a “vapor” using a singular copula and singular predicate. Then it suppresses the subject, the idol, as though it were too horrible to mention, using only the predications about it. The last two lines read literally: “[it is] a tree which one cuts down from the forest; the work of the hands of a craftsman with his chisel.”
[10:4] 44 tn The pronoun is plural in Hebrew, referring to the parts.
[10:5] 45 tn Heb “And it is not in them to do good either.”
[10:11] 46 tn Aram “The gods who did not make…earth will disappear…” The sentence is broken up in the translation to avoid a long, complex English sentence in conformity with contemporary English style.
[10:11] 47 tn This verse is in Aramaic. It is the only Aramaic sentence in Jeremiah. Scholars debate the appropriateness of this verse to this context. Many see it as a gloss added by a postexilic scribe which was later incorporated into the text. Both R. E. Clendenen (“Discourse Strategies in Jeremiah 10,” JBL 106 [1987]: 401-8) and W. L. Holladay (Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 1:324-25, 334-35) have given detailed arguments that the passage is not only original but the climax and center of the contrast between the
[10:14] 48 tn Heb “Every man.” But in the context this is not a reference to all people without exception but to all idolaters. The referent is made explicit for the sake of clarity.
[10:14] 49 tn Or “nothing but a phony god”; Heb “a lie/falsehood.”
[10:14] 50 tn Heb “There is no breath in them.” The referent is made explicit so that no one will mistakenly take it to refer to the idolaters or goldsmiths.
[10:15] 51 tn Or “objects of mockery.”
[8:1] 52 tn Heb “A horn unto your gums!”; NAB “A trumpet to your lips!”
[8:1] 53 tn Or perhaps “A vulture.” Some identify the species indicated by the Hebrew term נֶשֶׁר (nesher) as the griffon vulture (cf. NEB, NRSV).
[8:1] 54 tn Heb “my covenant” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “the covenant I made with them.”
[1:4] 55 tn The adverbial participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") is understood to be temporal and translated with “since.” A causal idea may also be in the apostle’s mind, but the context emphasizes temporal ideas, e.g., “from the day” (v. 6).
[1:19] 56 tn The noun “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but since God is the one who reconciles the world to himself (cf. 2 Cor 5:19), he is clearly the subject of εὐδόκησεν (eudokhsen).
[1:19] 57 tn The Greek article τό (to), insofar as it relates to God, may be translated as a possessive pronoun, i.e., “his.” BDAG 404 s.v. εὐδοκέω 1 translates the phrase as “all the fullness willed to dwell in him” thus leaving the referent as impersonal. Insofar as Paul is alluding to the so-called emanations from God this is acceptable. But the fact that “the fullness” dwells in a person (i.e., “in him”) seems to argue for the translation “his fullness” where “his” refers to God.
[1:19] 58 tn The aorist verb κατοικῆσαι (katoikhsai) could be taken as an ingressive, in which case it refers to the incarnation and may be translated as “begin to dwell, to take up residence.” It is perhaps better, though, to take it as a constative aorist and simply a reference to the fact that the fullness of God dwells in Jesus Christ. This is a permanent dwelling, though, not a temporary one, as the present tense in 2:9 makes clear.
[1:19] 59 tn Grk “him”; the referent (the Son; see v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[1:20] 60 tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì46 א A C D1 Ψ 048vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.
[1:2] 61 tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.
[1:2] 62 tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).
[1:2] 63 tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”
[1:2] 64 tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these
[4:8] 65 tn Grk “those that by nature…” with the word “beings” implied. BDAG 1070 s.v. φύσις 2 sees this as referring to pagan worship: “Polytheists worship…beings that are by nature no gods at all Gal 4:8.”
