Deuteronomy 4:37

4:37 Moreover, because he loved ¹  your ancestors, he chose their ²  descendants who followed them and personally brought you out of Egypt with his great power

Deuteronomy 9:4-5

9:4 Do not think to yourself after the Lord your God has driven them out before you, “Because of my own righteousness the Lord has brought me here to possess this land.” It is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out ahead of you. 9:5 It is not because of your righteousness, or even your inner uprightness, ³  that you have come here to possess their land. Instead, because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out ahead of you in order to confirm the promise he ⁴  made on oath to your ancestors, ⁵  to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Deuteronomy 10:15

10:15 However, only to your ancestors did he ⁶  show his loving favor, ⁷  and he chose you, their descendants, ⁸  from all peoples – as is apparent today.

Deuteronomy 10:1

The Opportunity to Begin Again

10:1 At that same time the Lord said to me, “Carve out for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones and come up the mountain to me; also make for yourself a wooden ark. ⁹ 

Deuteronomy 12:22

12:22 Like you eat the gazelle or ibex, so you may eat these; the ritually impure and pure alike may eat them.

Deuteronomy 12:2

12:2 You must by all means destroy ¹⁰  all the places where the nations you are about to dispossess worship their gods – on the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree. ¹¹ 

Deuteronomy 22:20

22:20 But if the accusation is true and the young woman was not a virgin,

Psalms 44:3

44:3 For they did not conquer ¹²  the land by their swords,

and they did not prevail by their strength, ¹³ 

but rather by your power, ¹⁴  strength ¹⁵  and good favor, ¹⁶ 

for you were partial to ¹⁷  them.

Isaiah 43:4

43:4 Since you are precious and special in my sight, ¹⁸ 

and I love you,

I will hand over people in place of you,

nations in place of your life.

Jeremiah 31:3

31:3 In a far-off land the Lord will manifest himself to them.

He will say to them, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love.

That is why I have continued to be faithful to you. ¹⁹ 

Zephaniah 3:17

3:17 The Lord your God is in your midst;

he is a warrior who can deliver.

He takes great delight in you; ²⁰ 

he renews you by his love; ²¹ 

he shouts for joy over you.” ²² 

Matthew 11:26

11:26 Yes, Father, for this was your gracious will. ²³ 

Ephesians 2:4-5

2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 2:5 even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you are saved! ²⁴  –

Ephesians 2:2

2:2 in which ²⁵  you formerly lived ²⁶  according to this world’s present path, ²⁷  according to the ruler of the kingdom ²⁸  of the air, the ruler of ²⁹  the spirit ³⁰  that is now energizing ³¹  the sons of disobedience, ³² 

Ephesians 2:13-14

2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ³³  2:14 For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one ³⁴  and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility,

Titus 3:3-7

3:3 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another. 3:4 ³⁵  But “when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, 3:5 he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, 3:6 whom he poured out on us in full measure ³⁶  through Jesus Christ our Savior. 3:7 And so, ³⁷  since we have been justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life.” ³⁸ 

Titus 3:1

Conduct Toward Those Outside the Church

3:1 Remind them to be subject to rulers and ³⁹  authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work.

Titus 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ⁴⁰  a slave ⁴¹  of God and apostle of Jesus Christ, to further the faith ⁴²  of God’s chosen ones and the knowledge of the truth that is in keeping with godliness,

[4:37]  ¹ tn The concept of love here is not primarily that of emotional affection but of commitment or devotion. This verse suggests that God chose Israel to be his special people because he loved the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) and had promised to bless their descendants. See as well Deut 7:7-9.

[4:37]  ² tc The LXX, Smr, Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate read a third person masculine plural suffix for the MT’s 3rd person masculine singular, “his descendants.” Cf. Deut 10:15. Quite likely the MT should be emended in this instance.

[9:5]  ³ tn Heb “uprightness of your heart” (so NASB, NRSV). The Hebrew word צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “righteousness”), though essentially synonymous here with יֹשֶׁר (yosher, “uprightness”), carries the idea of conformity to an objective standard. The term יֹשֶׁר has more to do with an inner, moral quality (cf. NAB, NIV “integrity”). Neither, however, was grounds for the Lord’s favor. As he states in both vv. 4-5, the main reason he allowed Israel to take this land was the sinfulness of the Canaanites who lived there (cf. Gen 15:16).

[9:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 9:3.

[9:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “fathers.”

[10:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 10:4.

[10:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “take delight to love.” Here again the verb אָהַב (’ahav, “love”), juxtaposed with בָחַר (bakhar, “choose”), is a term in covenant contexts that describes the Lord’s initiative in calling the patriarchal ancestors to be the founders of a people special to him (cf. the note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37).

[10:15]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text includes “after them,” but it is redundant in English style and has not been included in the translation.

[10:1]  ⁹ tn Or “chest” (so NIV, CEV); NLT “sacred chest”; TEV “wooden box.” This chest was made of acacia wood; it is later known as the ark of the covenant.

[12:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “destroying you must destroy”; KJV “Ye shall utterly (surely ASV) destroy”; NRSV “must demolish completely.” The Hebrew infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis, which is reflected in the translation by the words “by all means.”

[12:2]  ¹¹ sn Every leafy tree. This expression refers to evergreens which, because they keep their foliage throughout the year, provided apt symbolism for nature cults such as those practiced in Canaan. The deity particularly in view is Asherah, wife of the great god El, who was considered the goddess of fertility and whose worship frequently took place at shrines near or among clusters (groves) of such trees (see also Deut 7:5). See J. Hadley, NIDOTTE 1:569-70; J. DeMoor, TDOT 1:438-44.

[44:3]  ¹² tn Or “take possession of.”

[44:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “and their arm did not save them.” The “arm” here symbolizes military strength.

[44:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your right hand.” The Lord’s “right hand” here symbolizes his power to protect and deliver (see Pss 17:7; 20:6; 21:8).

[44:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “your arm.”

[44:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “light of your face.” The idiom “light of your face” probably refers to a smile (see Eccl 8:1), which in turn suggests favor and blessing (see Num 6:25; Pss 4:6; 31:16; 67:1; 80:3, 7, 19; 89:15; Dan 9:17).

[44:3]  ¹⁷ tn Or “favorable toward.”

[43:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Since you are precious in my eyes and you are honored.”

[31:3]  ¹⁹ tn Or “The people of Israel who survived the onslaughts of Egypt and Amalek found favor in the wilderness as they journeyed to find rest. At that time long ago the Lord manifested himself to them. He said, ‘I have…That is why I have drawn you to myself through my unfailing kindness.’” For the basis for each of these translations see the translator’s note. There is debate whether the reference here is to God’s preservation of Israel during their wandering in the Sinai desert or his promise to protect and preserve them on their return through the Arabian desert on the way back from Assyria and Babylon (see e.g., Isa 42:14-16; 43:16-21; Jer 16:14-15; 23:7-8). The only finite verbs in vv. 2-3a before the introduction of the quote are perfects which can denote either a past act or a future act viewed as certain of fulfillment (the prophetic perfect; see GKC 312-13 §106.n and see examples in Jer 11:16; 13:17; 25:14; 28:4). The phrase at the beginning of v. 3 can either refer to temporal (cf. BDB 935 s.v. רָחוֹק 2.b and Isa 22:11) or spatial distance (cf. BDB 935 s.v. רָחוֹק 2.a[2] and Isa 5:29; 59:14). The verb in the final clause in v. 3 can refer to either the continuance of God’s love as in Ps 36:10 (cf. BDB 604 s.v. מָשַׁךְ Qal.5) or drawing someone to him in electing, caring love as in Hos 11:4 (cf. BDB 604 s.v. מָשַׁךְ Qal.1). The translation has opted for the prophetic reference to future deliverance because of the preceding context, the use of מֵרָחוֹק (merakhoq) to refer to the far off land of exile in Jer 30:10; 46:27; 51:50, and the reference to survivors from the sword being called on to remember the Lord in that far off land in 51:50.

[3:17]  ²⁰ tn Heb “he rejoices over you with joy.”

[3:17]  ²¹ tc The MT reads, “he is silent in his love,” but this makes no sense in light of the immediately preceding and following lines. Some take the Hiphil verb form as causative (see Job 11:3) rather than intransitive and translate, “he causes [you] to be silent by his love,” that is, “he soothes [you] by his love.” The present translation follows the LXX and assumes an original reading יְחַדֵּשׁ (yÿkhaddesh, “he renews”) with ellipsis of the object (“you”).

[3:17]  ²² tn Heb “he rejoices over you with a shout of joy.”

[11:26]  ²³ tn Grk “for (to do) thus was well-pleasing before you,” BDAG 325 s.v. ἔμπροσθεν 1.b.δ; speaking of something taking place “before” God is a reverential way of avoiding direct connection of the action to him.

[2:5]  ²⁴ tn Or “by grace you have been saved.” The perfect tense in Greek connotes both completed action (“you have been saved”) and continuing results (“you are saved”).

[2:2]  ²⁵ sn The relative pronoun which is feminine as is sins, indicating that sins is the antecedent.

[2:2]  ²⁶ tn Grk “walked.”

[2:2]  ²⁷ tn Or possibly “Aeon.”

[2:2]  ²⁸ tn Grk “domain, [place of] authority.”

[2:2]  ²⁹ tn Grk “of” (but see the note on the word “spirit” later in this verse).

[2:2]  ³⁰ sn The ruler of the kingdom of the air is also the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience. Although several translations regard the ruler to be the same as the spirit, this is unlikely since the cases in Greek are different (ruler is accusative and spirit is genitive). To get around this, some have suggested that the genitive for spirit is a genitive of apposition. However, the semantics of the genitive of apposition are against such an interpretation (cf. ExSyn 100).

[2:2]  ³¹ tn Grk “working in.”

[2:2]  ³² sn Sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” However, it also contains a subtle allusion to vv. 4-10: Some of those sons of disobedience have become sons of God.

[2:13]  ³³ tn Or “have come near in the blood of Christ.”

[2:14]  ³⁴ tn Grk “who made the both one.”

[3:4]  ³⁵ tn Verses 4-7 are set as poetry in NA²⁶/NA²⁷. These verses probably constitute the referent of the expression “this saying” in v. 8.

[3:6]  ³⁶ tn Or “on us richly.”

[3:7]  ³⁷ tn This is the conclusion of a single, skillfully composed sentence in Greek encompassing Titus 3:4-7. Showing the goal of God’s merciful salvation, v. 7 begins literally, “in order that, being justified…we might become heirs…”

[3:7]  ³⁸ tn Grk “heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

[3:1]  ³⁹ tc Most later witnesses (D² 0278 Ï lat sy) have καί (kai, “and”) after ἀρχαῖς (arcai", “rulers”), though the earliest and best witnesses (א A C D* F G Ψ 33 104 1739 1881) lack the conjunction. Although the καί is most likely not authentic, it has been added in translation due to the requirements of English style. For more discussion, see TCGNT 586.

[1:1]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ⁴¹ tn Traditionally, “servant” or “bondservant.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  ⁴² tn Grk “for the faith,” possibly, “in accordance with the faith.”