Exodus 22:28

22:28 “You must not blaspheme ¹  God ²  or curse the ruler of your people.

Proverbs 17:26

17:26 It is terrible ³  to punish ⁴  a righteous person,

and to flog ⁵  honorable men is wrong. ⁶ 

Acts 23:3

23:3 Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! ⁷  Do ⁸  you sit there judging me according to the law, ⁹  and in violation of the law ¹⁰  you order me to be struck?”

Acts 23:5

23:5 Paul replied, ¹¹  “I did not realize, ¹²  brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You must not speak evil about a ruler of your people.’” ¹³ 

Romans 13:7

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, ¹⁴  and the authorities that exist have been instituted by God.

Romans 2:17

The Condemnation of the Jew

2:17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law ¹⁵  and boast of your relationship to God ¹⁶ 

Romans 2:2

2:2 Now we know that God’s judgment is in accordance with truth ¹⁷  against those who practice such things.

Romans 2:10

2:10 but ¹⁸  glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, for the Jew first and also the Greek.

Jude 1:8

1:8 Yet these men, ¹⁹  as a result of their dreams, ²⁰  defile the flesh, reject authority, ²¹  and insult ²²  the glorious ones. ²³ 

[22:28]  ¹ tn The two verbs in this verse are synonyms: קָלַל (qalal) means “to treat lightly, curse,” and אָרַר (’arar) means “to curse.”

[22:28]  ² tn The word אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) is “gods” or “God.” If taken as the simple plural, it could refer to the human judges, as it has in the section of laws; this would match the parallelism in the verse. If it was taken to refer to God, then the idea of cursing God would be more along the line of blasphemy. B. Jacob says that the word refers to functioning judges, and that would indirectly mean God, for they represented the religious authority, and the prince the civil authority (Exodus, 708).

[17:26]  ³ tn Heb “not good.” This is an example of tapeinosis – an understatement that implies the worst-case scenario: “it is terrible.”

[17:26]  ⁴ tn The verb עָנַשׁ, here a Qal infinitive construct, properly means “to fine” (cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT) but is taken here to mean “to punish” in general. The infinitive functions as the subject of the clause.

[17:26]  ⁵ tn The form is the Hiphil infinitive construct from נָכָה (nakhah, “to strike; to smite”). It may well refer to public beatings, so “flog” is used in the translation, since “strike” could refer to an individual’s action and “beat” could be taken to refer to competition.

[17:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “[is] against uprightness.” The expression may be rendered “contrary to what is right.”

[23:3]  ⁷ sn You whitewashed wall. This was an idiom for hypocrisy – just as the wall was painted on the outside but something different on the inside, so this person was not what he appeared or pretended to be (L&N 88.234; see also BDAG 1010 s.v. τοῖχος). Paul was claiming that the man’s response was two-faced (Ezek 13:10-16; Matt 23:27-28). See also Deut 28:22.

[23:3]  ⁸ tn Grk “And do.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[23:3]  ⁹ tn The law refers to the law of Moses.

[23:3]  ¹⁰ tn BDAG 769 s.v. παρανομέω has “παρανομῶν κελεύεις in violation of the law you order Ac 23:3.”

[23:5]  ¹¹ tn Grk “said.”

[23:5]  ¹² tn Or “know.”

[23:5]  ¹³ sn A quotation from Exod 22:28. This text defines a form of blasphemy. Paul, aware of the fact that he came close to crossing the line, backed off out of respect for the law.

[13:1]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “by God.”

[2:17]  ¹⁵ sn The law refers to the Mosaic law, described mainly in the OT books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

[2:17]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “boast in God.” This may be an allusion to Jer 9:24.

[2:2]  ¹⁷ tn Or “based on truth.”

[2:10]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “but even,” to emphasize the contrast. The second word has been omitted since it is somewhat redundant in English idiom.

[1:8]  ¹⁹ tn The reference is now to the false teachers.

[1:8]  ²⁰ tn Grk “dreaming.” The participle ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι (enupniazomenoi, “dreaming”) is adverbial to the pronoun οὗτοι (|outoi, “these”), though the particular relationship is not clear. It could mean, “while dreaming,” “by dreaming,” or “because of dreaming.” This translation has adopted the last option as Jude’s meaning, partially for syntactical reasons (the causal participle usually precedes the main verb) and partially for contextual reasons (these false teachers must derive their authority from some source, and the dreams provide the most obvious base). The participle ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι was sometimes used of apocalyptic visions, both of true and false prophets. This seems to be the meaning here.

[1:8]  ²¹ tn Most likely, the authority of the Lord is in view. This verse, then, echoes the indictment of v. 4: “they deny our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

[1:8]  ²² tn The construction with the three verbs (“defile, “reject,” and “insult”) involves the particles μέν, δέ, δέ (men, de, de). A more literal (and pedantic) translation would be: “on the one hand, they defile the flesh, on the other hand, they reject authority, and on another hand, they insult the glorious ones.”

[1:8]  ²³ sn The glorious ones refers to angelic beings rather than mere human beings, just as in 2 Pet 2:10 (on which this passage apparently depends). Whether the angelic beings are good or evil, however, is difficult to tell (hence, the translation is left ambiguous). However, both in 2 Pet 2:11 and here, in Jude 9, the wicked angels seem to be in view (for not even Michael insults them).