Ezekiel 11:19

11:19 I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them; ¹  I will remove the hearts of stone from their bodies ²  and I will give them tender hearts, ³ 

Ezekiel 36:26

36:26 I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone ⁴  from your body and give you a heart of flesh. ⁵ 

Psalms 51:10

51:10 Create for me a pure heart, O God! ⁶ 

Renew a resolute spirit within me! ⁷ 

Jeremiah 32:39

32:39 I will give them a single-minded purpose to live in a way that always shows respect for me. They will want to do that for ⁸  their own good and the good of the children who descend from them.

Matthew 12:33

Trees and Their Fruit

12:33 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad ⁹  and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is known by its fruit.

Matthew 23:26

23:26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, ¹⁰  so that the outside may become clean too!

Acts 3:19

3:19 Therefore repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped out,

Romans 8:13

8:13 (for if you live according to the flesh, you will ¹¹  die), ¹²  but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live.

Romans 12:2

12:2 Do not be conformed ¹³  to this present world, ¹⁴  but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve ¹⁵  what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

James 4:8

4:8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded. ¹⁶ 

James 4:1

Passions and Pride

4:1 Where do the conflicts and where ¹⁷  do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, ¹⁸  from your passions that battle inside you? ¹⁹ 

James 1:22

1:22 But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves.

[11:19]  ¹ tc The MT reads “you”; many Hebrew mss along with the LXX and other ancient versions read “within them.”

[11:19]  ² tn Heb “their flesh.”

[11:19]  ³ tn Heb “heart of flesh.”

[36:26]  ⁴ sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is stubborn and unresponsive (see 1 Sam 25:37). In Rabbinic literature a “stone” was associated with an evil inclination (b. Sukkah 52a).

[36:26]  ⁵ sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is responsive and obedient to God.

[51:10]  ⁶ sn The heart is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s motives and moral character.

[51:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “and a reliable spirit renew in my inner being.”

[32:39]  ⁸ tn Heb “I will give to them one heart and one way to [= in order that they may] fear me all the days for good to them.” The phrase “one heart” refers both to unanimity of will and accord (cf. 1 Chr 12:38 [12:39 HT]; 2 Chr 30:12) and to singleness of purpose or intent (cf. Ezek 11:19 and see BDB 525 s.v. ֵלב 4 where reference is made to “inclinations, resolutions, and determinations of the will”). The phrase “one way” refers to one way of life or conduct (cf. BDB 203 s.v. דֶּרֶךְ 6.a where reference is made to moral action and character), a way of life that is further qualified by the goal of showing “fear, reverence, respect” for the Lord. The Hebrew sentence has been broken up to avoid a long complex sentence in English which is contrary to contemporary English style. However, an attempt has been made to preserve all the connections of the original.

[12:33]  ⁹ tn Grk “rotten.” The word σαπρός, modifying both “tree” and “fruit,” can also mean “diseased” (L&N 65.28).

[23:26]  ¹⁰ tc A very difficult textual problem is found here. The most important Alexandrian and Byzantine, as well as significant Western, witnesses (א B C L W 0102 0281 ˹³ 33 Ï lat co) have “and the dish” (καὶ τῆς παροψίδος, kai th" paroyido") after “cup,” while few important witnesses (D Θ Ë¹ 700 and some versional and patristic authorities) omit the phrase. On the one hand, scribes sometimes tended to eliminate redundancy; since “and the dish” is already present in v. 25, it may have been deleted in v. 26 by well-meaning scribes. On the other hand, as B. M. Metzger notes, the singular pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou, “its”) with τὸ ἐκτός (to ekto", “the outside”) in some of the same witnesses that have the longer reading (viz., B* ˹³ al) hints that their archetype lacked the words (TCGNT 50). Further, scribes would be motivated both to add the phrase from v. 25 and to change αὐτοῦ to the plural pronoun αὐτῶν (aujtwn, “their”). Although the external evidence for the shorter reading is not compelling in itself, combined with these two prongs of internal evidence, it is to be slightly preferred.

[8:13]  ¹¹ tn Grk “are about to, are certainly going to.”

[8:13]  ¹² sn This remark is parenthetical to Paul’s argument.

[12:2]  ¹³ tn Although συσχηματίζεσθε (suschmatizesqe) could be either a passive or middle, the passive is more likely since it would otherwise have to be a direct middle (“conform yourselves”) and, as such, would be quite rare for NT Greek. It is very telling that being “conformed” to the present world is viewed as a passive notion, for it may suggest that it happens, in part, subconsciously. At the same time, the passive could well be a “permissive passive,” suggesting that there may be some consciousness of the conformity taking place. Most likely, it is a combination of both.

[12:2]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “to this age.”

[12:2]  ¹⁵ sn The verb translated test and approve (δοκιμάζω, dokimazw) carries the sense of “test with a positive outcome,” “test so as to approve.”

[4:8]  ¹⁶ tn Or “two-minded” (the same description used in 1:8).

[4:1]  ¹⁷ tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.

[4:1]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “from here.”

[4:1]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”