Deuteronomy 30:19-20

30:19 Today I invoke heaven and earth as a witness against you that I have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live! 30:20 I also call on you ¹  to love the Lord your God, to obey him and be loyal to him, for he gives you life and enables you to live continually ²  in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Deuteronomy 32:46-47

32:46 he said to them, “Keep in mind all the words I am solemnly proclaiming to you today; you must command your children to observe carefully all the words of this law. 32:47 For this is no idle word for you – it is your life! By this word you will live a long time in the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”

Psalms 78:5-9

78:5 He established a rule ³  in Jacob;

he set up a law in Israel.

He commanded our ancestors

to make his deeds known to their descendants, ⁴ 

78:6 so that the next generation, children yet to be born,

might know about them.

They will grow up and tell their descendants about them. ⁵ 

78:7 Then they will place their confidence in God.

They will not forget the works of God,

and they will obey ⁶  his commands.

78:8 Then they will not be like their ancestors,

who were a stubborn and rebellious generation,

a generation that was not committed

and faithful to God. ⁷ 

78:9 The Ephraimites ⁸  were armed with bows, ⁹ 

but they retreated in the day of battle. ¹⁰ 

John 6:63

6:63 The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help! ¹¹  The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. ¹² 

Romans 3:2

3:2 Actually, there are many advantages. ¹³  First of all, ¹⁴  the Jews ¹⁵  were entrusted with the oracles of God. ¹⁶ 

Romans 9:4

9:4 who are Israelites. To them belong ¹⁷  the adoption as sons, ¹⁸  the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple worship, ¹⁹  and the promises.

Romans 10:6-10

10:6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ²⁰  ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” ²¹  (that is, to bring Christ down) 10:7 or “Who will descend into the abyss?” ²²  (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 10:8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” ²³  (that is, the word of faith that we preach), 10:9 because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord ²⁴  and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10:10 For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness ²⁵  and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation. ²⁶ 

Hebrews 5:12

5:12 For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, ²⁷  you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God’s utterances. ²⁸  You have gone back to needing ²⁹  milk, not ³⁰  solid food.

Hebrews 5:1

5:1 For every high priest is taken from among the people ³¹  and appointed ³²  to represent them before God, ³³  to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.

Hebrews 4:11

4:11 Thus we must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following the same pattern of disobedience.

[30:20]  ¹ tn The words “I also call on you” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 19-20 are one long sentence, which the translation divides into two.

[30:20]  ² tn Heb “he is your life and the length of your days to live.”

[78:5]  ³ tn The Hebrew noun עֵדוּת (’edut) refers here to God’s command that the older generation teach their children about God’s mighty deeds in the nation’s history (see Exod 10:2; Deut 4:9; 6:20-25).

[78:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “which he commanded our fathers to make them known to their sons.” The plural suffix “them” probably refers back to the Lord’s mighty deeds (see vv. 3-4).

[78:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “in order that they might know, a following generation, sons [who] will be born, they will arise and will tell to their sons.”

[78:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “keep.”

[78:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “a generation that did not make firm its heart and whose spirit was not faithful with God.” The expression “make firm the heart” means “to be committed, devoted” (see 1 Sam 7:3).

[78:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “the sons of Ephraim.” Ephraim probably stands here by synecdoche (part for whole) for the northern kingdom of Israel.

[78:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “ones armed, shooters of bow.” It is possible that the term נוֹשְׁקֵי (noshÿqey, “ones armed [with]”) is an interpretive gloss for the rare רוֹמֵי (romey, “shooters of”; on the latter see BDB 941 s.v. I רָמָה). The phrase נוֹשְׁקֵי קֶשֶׁת (noshÿqey qeshet, “ones armed with a bow”) appears in 1 Chr 12:2; 2 Chr 17:17.

[78:9]  ¹⁰ sn They retreated. This could refer to the northern tribes’ failure to conquer completely their allotted territory (see Judg 1), or it could refer generally to the typical consequence (military defeat) of their sin (see vv. 10-11).

[6:63]  ¹¹ tn Grk “the flesh counts for nothing.”

[6:63]  ¹² tn Or “are spirit-giving and life-producing.”

[3:2]  ¹³ tn Grk “much in every way.”

[3:2]  ¹⁴ tc ‡ Most witnesses (א A D² 33 Ï) have γάρ (gar) after μέν (men), though some significant Alexandrian and Western witnesses lack the conjunction (B D* G Ψ 81 365 1506 2464* pc latt). A few mss have γάρ, but not μέν (6 1739 1881). γάρ was frequently added by scribes as a clarifying conjunction, making it suspect here. NA²⁷ has the γάρ in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.

[3:2]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “they were.”

[3:2]  ¹⁶ tn The referent of λόγια (logia, “oracles”) has been variously understood: (1) BDAG 598 s.v. λόγιον takes the term to refer here to “God’s promises to the Jews”; (2) some have taken this to refer more narrowly to the national promises of messianic salvation given to Israel (so S. L. Johnson, Jr., “Studies in Romans: Part VII: The Jews and the Oracles of God,” BSac 130 [1973]: 245); (3) perhaps the most widespread interpretation sees the term as referring to the entire OT generally.

[9:4]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “of whom.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[9:4]  ¹⁸ tn The Greek term υἱοθεσία (Juioqesia) was originally a legal technical term for adoption as a son with full rights of inheritance. BDAG 1024 s.v. notes, “a legal t.t. of ‘adoption’ of children, in our lit., i.e. in Paul, only in a transferred sense of a transcendent filial relationship between God and humans (with the legal aspect, not gender specificity, as major semantic component).” Although some modern translations remove the filial sense completely and render the term merely “adoption” (cf. NAB, ESV), the retention of this component of meaning was accomplished in the present translation by the phrase “as sons.”

[9:4]  ¹⁹ tn Or “cultic service.”

[10:6]  ²⁰ sn A quotation from Deut 9:4.

[10:6]  ²¹ sn A quotation from Deut 30:12.

[10:7]  ²² sn A quotation from Deut 30:13.

[10:8]  ²³ sn A quotation from Deut 30:14.

[10:9]  ²⁴ tn Or “the Lord.” The Greek construction, along with the quotation from Joel 2:32 in v. 13 (in which the same “Lord” seems to be in view) suggests that κύριον (kurion) is to be taken as “the Lord,” that is, Yahweh. Cf. D. B. Wallace, “The Semantics and Exegetical Significance of the Object-Complement Construction in the New Testament,” GTJ 6 (1985): 91-112.

[10:10]  ²⁵ tn Grk “believes to righteousness.”

[10:10]  ²⁶ tn Grk “confesses to salvation.”

[5:12]  ²⁷ tn Grk “because of the time.”

[5:12]  ²⁸ tn Grk “the elements of the beginning of the oracles of God.”

[5:12]  ²⁹ tn Grk “you have come to have a need for.”

[5:12]  ³⁰ tc ‡ Most texts, including some early and important ones (א² A B* D Ψ 0122 0278 1881 Ï sy Cl), have καί (kai, “and”) immediately preceding οὐ (ou, “not”), but other equally significant witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א* B² C 33 81 1739 lat Or Did) lack the conjunction. As it was a natural tendency for scribes to add a coordinating conjunction, the καί appears to be a motivated reading. On balance, it is probably best to regard the shorter reading as authentic. NA²⁷ has καί in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[5:1]  ³¹ tn Grk “from among men,” but since the point in context is shared humanity (rather than shared maleness), the plural Greek term ἀνθρώπων (anqrwpwn) has been translated “people.”

[5:1]  ³² tn Grk “who is taken from among people is appointed.”

[5:1]  ³³ tn Grk “appointed on behalf of people in reference to things relating to God.”