Ecclesiastes 8:2

8:2 Obey the king’s command, ¹ 

because you took ²  an oath before God ³  to be loyal to him. ⁴ 

Exodus 1:17

1:17 But ⁵  the midwives feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live. ⁶ 

Exodus 1:20-21

1:20 So God treated the midwives well, ⁷  and the people multiplied and became very strong. 1:21 And because the midwives feared God, he made ⁸  households ⁹  for them.

Psalms 119:6

119:6 Then I would not be ashamed,

if ¹⁰  I were focused on ¹¹  all your commands.

Hosea 5:11

5:11 Ephraim will be oppressed, ¹²  crushed ¹³  under judgment, ¹⁴ 

because he was determined to pursue worthless idols. ¹⁵ 

Luke 20:25

20:25 So ¹⁶  he said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” ¹⁷ 

Acts 4:19

4:19 But Peter and John replied, ¹⁸  “Whether it is right before God to obey ¹⁹  you rather than God, you decide,

Acts 5:29

5:29 But Peter and the apostles replied, ²⁰  “We must obey ²¹  God rather than people. ²² 

Romans 13:5-7

13:5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath of the authorities ²³  but also because of your conscience. ²⁴  13:6 For this reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities ²⁵  are God’s servants devoted to governing. ²⁶  13:7 Pay everyone what is owed: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

Romans 13:1

Submission to Civil Government

13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God’s appointment, ²⁷  and the authorities that exist have been instituted by God.

Romans 3:13-14

3:13 “Their throats are open graves, ²⁸ 

they deceive with their tongues,

the poison of asps is under their lips.” ²⁹ 

3:14 “Their mouths are ³⁰  full of cursing and bitterness.” ³¹ 

[8:2]  ¹ tc The Leningrad Codex (the basis of BHS) reads אֲנִי (’ani, 1st person common singular independent personal pronoun): “I obey the king’s command.” Other medieval Hebrew mss and all the versions (LXX, Vulgate, Targum, Syriac Peshitta) preserve an alternate textual tradition of the definite accusative marker אֶת־ (’et) introducing the direct object: אֶת־פִּי־מֶלֶךְ שְׁמוֹר (’et-pi-melekh shÿmor, “Obey the command of the king”). External evidence supports the alternate textual tradition. The MT is guilty of simple orthographic confusion between similar looking letters. The BHS editors and the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project adopt אֶת־ as the original reading. See D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 3:582–83.

[8:2]  ² tn The phrase “you took” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

[8:2]  ³ tn The genitive-construct שְׁבוּעַת אֱלֹהִים (shÿvu’at ’elohim, “an oath of God”) functions as a genitive of location (“an oath before God”) or an adjectival genitive of attribute (“a supreme oath”).

[8:2]  ⁴ tn The words “to be loyal to him” do not appear in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[1:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “and they [fem. pl.] feared”; the referent (the midwives) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:17]  ⁶ tn The verb is the Piel preterite of חָיָה (khaya, “to live”). The Piel often indicates a factitive nuance with stative verbs, showing the cause of the action. Here it means “let live, cause to live.” The verb is the exact opposite of Pharaoh’s command for them to kill the boys.

[1:20]  ⁷ tn The verb וַיֵּיטֶב (vayyetev) is the Hiphil preterite of יָטַב (yatav). In this stem the word means “to cause good, treat well, treat favorably.” The vav (ו) consecutive shows that this favor from God was a result of their fearing and obeying him.

[1:21]  ⁸ tn The temporal indicator וַיְהִי (vayÿhi) focuses attention on the causal clause and lays the foundation for the main clause, namely, “God made households for them.” This is the second time the text affirms the reason for their defiance, their fear of God.

[1:21]  ⁹ tn Or “families”; Heb “houses.”

[119:6]  ¹⁰ tn Or “when.”

[119:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I gaze at.”

[5:11]  ¹² tn The verb עָשַׁק (’ashaq, “to oppress”) may refer to (1) oppressing the poor and defenseless (BDB 798 s.v. עָשַׁק 1), or more likely to (2) oppression of one nation by another as the judgment of God (Deut 28:29, 33; 1 Chr 16:21; Pss 105:14; 119:121, 122; Isa 52:4; Jer 50:33; Hos 5:11; BDB 798 s.v. 2). The Qal passive participles עָשׁוּק (’ashuq, “oppressed”) and רְצוּץ (rÿtsuts, “crushed”) might refer to a present situation (so KJV, RSV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); however, the context suggests that they refer to a future situation (so NLT). When a participle is used in reference to the future, it often denotes an imminent future situation and may be rendered, “about to” (e.g., Gen 6:17; 15:14; 20:3; 37:30; 41:25; 49:29; Exod 9:17-18; Deut 28:31; 1 Sam 3:11; 1 Kgs 2:2; 20:22; 2 Kgs 7:2). For functions of the participle, see IBHS 627-28 §37.6f.

[5:11]  ¹³ sn The term רְצוּץ (rÿtsuts, “crushed”) is a metaphor for weakness (e.g., 2 Kgs 18:21; Isa 36:6; 42:3) and oppression (e.g., Deut 28:33; 1 Sam 12:3, 4; Amos 4:1; Isa 58:6). Here it is used as a figure to describe the devastating effects of the Lord’s judgment.

[5:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “crushed of judgment” (רְצוּץ מִשְׁפָּט, rÿtsuts mishpat). The second term is a genitive of cause (“crushed because of judgment” or “crushed under judgment”) rather than respect (“crushed in judgment,” as in many English versions).

[5:11]  ¹⁵ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term translated “worthless idols” is uncertain; cf. KJV “the commandment”; NASB “man’s command”; NAB “filth”; NRSV “vanity.”

[20:25]  ¹⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate that Jesus’ pronouncement results from the opponents’ answer to his question.

[20:25]  ¹⁷ sn Jesus’ answer to give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s was a both/and, not the questioners’ either/or. So he slipped out of their trap.

[4:19]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “answered and said to them.”

[4:19]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “hear,” but the idea of “hear and obey” or simply “obey” is frequently contained in the Greek verb ἀκούω (akouw; see L&N 36.14).

[5:29]  ²⁰ tn Grk “apostles answered and said.”

[5:29]  ²¹ sn Obey. See 4:19. This response has Jewish roots (Dan 3:16-18; 2 Macc 7:2; Josephus, Ant. 17.6.3 [17.159].

[5:29]  ²² tn Here ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") has been translated as a generic noun (“people”).

[13:5]  ²³ tn Grk “its wrath”; the referent (the governing authorities) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:5]  ²⁴ tn Grk “because of (the) conscience,” but the English possessive “your” helps to show whose conscience the context implies.

[13:6]  ²⁵ tn Grk “they”; the referent (the governing authorities) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:6]  ²⁶ tn Grk “devoted to this very thing.”

[13:1]  ²⁷ tn Grk “by God.”

[3:13]  ²⁸ tn Grk “their throat is an opened grave.”

[3:13]  ²⁹ sn A quotation from Pss 5:9; 140:3.

[3:14]  ³⁰ tn Grk “whose mouth is.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[3:14]  ³¹ sn A quotation from Ps 10:7.