Ezekiel 7:19

7:19 They will discard their silver in the streets, and their gold will be treated like filth. ¹  Their silver and gold will not be able to deliver them on the day of the Lord’s fury. ²  They will not satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs because their wealth ³  was the obstacle leading to their iniquity. ⁴ 

Ezekiel 14:3

14:3 “Son of man, these men have erected their idols in their hearts and placed the obstacle leading to their iniquity ⁵  right before their faces. Should I really allow them to seek ⁶  me?

Ezekiel 14:7-9

14:7 For when anyone from the house of Israel, or the foreigner who lives in Israel, separates himself from me and erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet to seek something from me, I the Lord am determined to answer him personally. 14:8 I will set my face against that person and will make him an object lesson and a byword ⁷  and will cut him off from among my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

14:9 “‘As for the prophet, if he is made a fool by being deceived into speaking a prophetic word – I, the Lord, have made a fool of ⁸  that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel.

Deuteronomy 13:3

13:3 You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer, ⁹  for the Lord your God will be testing you to see if you love him ¹⁰  with all your mind and being. ¹¹ 

Psalms 119:165

119:165 Those who love your law are completely secure; ¹² 

nothing causes them to stumble. ¹³ 

Isaiah 8:14

8:14 He will become a sanctuary, ¹⁴ 

but a stone that makes a person trip,

and a rock that makes one stumble –

to the two houses of Israel. ¹⁵ 

He will become ¹⁶  a trap and a snare

to the residents of Jerusalem. ¹⁷ 

Jeremiah 6:21

6:21 So, this is what the Lord says:

‘I will assuredly ¹⁸  make these people stumble to their doom. ¹⁹ 

Parents and children will stumble and fall to their destruction. ²⁰ 

Friends and neighbors will die.’

Luke 2:34

2:34 Then ²¹  Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “Listen carefully: ²²  This child ²³  is destined to be the cause of the falling and rising ²⁴  of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be rejected. ²⁵ 

Romans 9:32-33

9:32 Why not? Because they pursued ²⁶  it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works. ²⁷  They stumbled over the stumbling stone, ²⁸  9:33 just as it is written,

“Look, I am laying in Zion a stone that will cause people to stumble

and a rock that will make them fall, ²⁹ 

yet the one who believes in him will not be put to shame.” ³⁰ 

Romans 11:9

11:9 And David says,

“Let their table become a snare and trap,

a stumbling block and a retribution for them;

Romans 11:1

Israel’s Rejection not Complete nor Final

11:1 So I ask, God has not rejected his people, has he? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.

Colossians 1:23

1:23 if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, ³¹  without shifting ³²  from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant.

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ³³  brothers and sisters ³⁴  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ³⁵  from God our Father! ³⁶ 

Colossians 2:9-12

2:9 For in him all the fullness of deity lives ³⁷  in bodily form, 2:10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. 2:11 In him you also were circumcised – not, however, ³⁸  with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal ³⁹  of the fleshly body, ⁴⁰  that is, ⁴¹  through the circumcision done by Christ. 2:12 Having been buried with him in baptism, you also have been raised with him through your ⁴²  faith in the power ⁴³  of God who raised him from the dead.

Colossians 2:1

2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, ⁴⁴  and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face. ⁴⁵ 

Colossians 2:8

2:8 Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you ⁴⁶  through an empty, deceitful philosophy ⁴⁷  that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits ⁴⁸  of the world, and not according to Christ.

[7:19]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term can refer to menstrual impurity. The term also occurs at the end of v. 20.

[7:19]  ² sn Compare Zeph 1:18.

[7:19]  ³ tn Heb “it.” Apparently the subject is the silver and gold mentioned earlier (see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:102).

[7:19]  ⁴ tn The “stumbling block of their iniquity” is a unique phrase of the prophet Ezekiel (Ezek 14:3, 4, 7; 18:30; 44:12).

[14:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “the stumbling block of their iniquity.” This phrase is unique to the prophet Ezekiel.

[14:3]  ⁶ tn Or “I will not reveal myself to them.” The Hebrew word is used in a technical sense here of seeking an oracle from a prophet (2 Kgs 1:16; 3:11; 8:8).

[14:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “proverbs.”

[14:9]  ⁸ tn The translation is uncertain due to difficulty both in determining the meaning of the verb’s stem and its conjugation in this context. In the Qal stem the basic meaning of the verbal root פָּתַה (patah) is “to be gullible, foolish.” The doubling stems (the Pual and Piel used in this verse) typically give such stative verbs a factitive sense, hence either “make gullible” (i.e., “entice”) or “make into a fool” (i.e., “to show to be a fool”). The latter represents the probable meaning of the term in Jer 20:7, 10 and is followed here (see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:193; R. Mosis “Ez 14, 1-11 - ein Ruf zur Umkehr,” BZ 19 [1975]: 166-69 and ThWAT 4:829-31). In this view, if a prophet speaks when not prompted by God, he will be shown to be a fool, but this does not reflect negatively on the Lord because it is God who shows him to be a fool. Secondly, the verb is in the perfect conjugation and may be translated “I have made a fool of him” or “I have enticed him,” or to show determination (see IBHS 439-41 §27.2f and g), or in certain syntactical constructions as future. Any of these may be plausible if the doubling stems used are understood in the sense of “making a fool of.” But if understood as “to make gullible,” more factors come into play. As the Hebrew verbal form is a perfect, it is often translated as present perfect: “I have enticed.” In this case the Lord states that he himself enticed the prophet to cooperate with the idolaters. Such enticement to sin would seem to be a violation of God’s moral character, but sometimes he does use such deception and enticement to sin as a form of punishment against those who have blatantly violated his moral will (see, e.g., 2 Sam 24). If one follows this line of interpretation in Ezek 14:9, one would have to assume that the prophet had already turned from God in his heart. However, the context gives no indication of this. Therefore, it is better to take the perfect as indicating certitude and to translate it with the future tense: “I will entice.” In this case the Lord announces that he will judge the prophet appropriately. If a prophet allows himself to be influenced by idolaters, then the Lord will use deception as a form of punishment against that deceived prophet. A comparison with the preceding oracles also favors this view. In 14:4 the perfect of certitude is used for emphasis (see “I will answer”), though in v. 7 a participle is employed. For a fuller discussion of this text, see R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “Does God Deceive?” BSac 155 (1998): 23-25.

[13:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “or dreamer of dreams.” See note on this expression in v. 1.

[13:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[13:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “all your heart and soul” (so NRSV, CEV, NLT); or “heart and being” (NCV “your whole being”). See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.

[119:165]  ¹² tn Heb “great peace [is] to the lovers of your law.”

[119:165]  ¹³ tn Heb “and there is no stumbling to them.”

[8:14]  ¹⁴ tn Because the metaphor of protection (“sanctuary”) does not fit the negative mood that follows in vv. 14b-15, some contend that מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdash, “sanctuary”) is probably a corruption of an original מוֹקֵשׁ (moqesh, “snare”), a word that appears in the next line (cf. NAB and H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:355-56). If the MT reading is retained (as in the above translation), the fact that Yahweh is a sanctuary wraps up the point of v. 13 and stands in contrast to God’s treatment of those who rebel against him (the rest of v. 14).

[8:14]  ¹⁵ sn The two “houses” of Israel (= the patriarch Jacob) are the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.

[8:14]  ¹⁶ tn These words are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. וְהָיָה (vÿhayah, “and he will be”) does double duty in the parallel structure of the verse.

[8:14]  ¹⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:21]  ¹⁸ tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle rendered “behold” joined to the first person pronoun.

[6:21]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “I will put stumbling blocks in front of these people.” In this context the stumbling blocks are the invading armies.

[6:21]  ²⁰ tn The words “and fall to their destruction” are implicit in the metaphor and are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[2:34]  ²¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[2:34]  ²² tn Grk “behold.”

[2:34]  ²³ tn Grk “this one”; the referent (the child) is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[2:34]  ²⁴ sn The phrase the falling and rising of many emphasizes that Jesus will bring division in the nation, as some will be judged (falling) and others blessed (rising) because of how they respond to him. The language is like Isa 8:14-15 and conceptually like Isa 28:13-16. Here is the first hint that Jesus’ coming will be accompanied with some difficulties.

[2:34]  ²⁵ tn Grk “and for a sign of contradiction.”

[9:32]  ²⁶ tn Grk “Why? Because not by faith but as though by works.” The verb (“they pursued [it]”) is to be supplied from the preceding verse for the sake of English style; yet a certain literary power is seen in Paul’s laconic style.

[9:32]  ²⁷ tc Most mss, especially the later ones (א² D Ψ 33 Ï sy), read νόμου (nomou, “of the law”) here, echoing Paul’s usage in Rom 3:20, 28 and elsewhere. The qualifying phrase is lacking in א* A B F G 6 629 630 1739 1881 pc lat co. The longer reading thus is weaker externally and internally, being motivated apparently by a need to clarify.

[9:32]  ²⁸ tn Grk “the stone of stumbling.”

[9:33]  ²⁹ tn Grk “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.”

[9:33]  ³⁰ sn A quotation from Isa 28:16; 8:14.

[1:23]  ³¹ tn BDAG 276 s.v. ἑδραῖος suggests “firm, steadfast.”

[1:23]  ³² tn BDAG 639 s.v. μετακινέω suggests “without shifting from the hope” here.

[1:2]  ³³ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ³⁴ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ³⁵ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ³⁶ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

[2:9]  ³⁷ sn In him all the fullness of deity lives. The present tense in this verse (“lives”) is significant. Again, as was stated in the note on 1:19, this is not a temporary dwelling, but a permanent one. Paul’s point is polemical against the idea that the fullness of God dwells anywhere else, as the Gnostics believed, except in Christ alone. At the incarnation, the second person of the Trinity assumed humanity, and is forever the God-man.

[2:11]  ³⁸ tn The terms “however” and “but” in this sentence were supplied in order to emphasize the contrast.

[2:11]  ³⁹ tn The articular noun τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (th apekdusei) is a noun which ends in -σις (-sis) and therefore denotes action, i.e., “removal.” Since the head noun is a verbal noun, the following genitive τοῦ σώματος (tou swmatos) is understood as an objective genitive, receiving the action of the head noun.

[2:11]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “in the removal of the body of flesh.” The genitive τῆς σαρκός (th" sarko") has been translated as an attributive genitive, “fleshly body.”

[2:11]  ⁴¹ tn The second prepositional phrase beginning with ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ (en th peritomh) is parallel to the prepositional phrase ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (en th apekdusei) and gives a further explanation of it. The words “that is” were supplied to bring out this force in the translation.

[2:12]  ⁴² tn The article with the genitive modifier τῆς πίστεως (th" pistew") is functioning as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[2:12]  ⁴³ tn The genitive τῆς ἐνεργείας (th" energeia") has been translated as an objective genitive, “faith in the power.”

[2:1]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “I want you to know how hard I am working for you…”

[2:1]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.”

[2:8]  ⁴⁶ tn The Greek construction here is somewhat difficult and can be literally rendered “Be careful, lest someone shall be the one who takes you captive.”

[2:8]  ⁴⁷ tn The Greek reads τῆς φιλοσοφίας καὶ κενῆς ἀπάτης (th" filosofia" kai kenh" apath"). The two nouns φιλοσοφίας and κενῆς are joined by one article and probably form a hendiadys. Thus the second noun was taken as modifying the first, as the translation shows.

[2:8]  ⁴⁸ tn The phrase κατὰ τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου (kata ta stoiceia tou kosmou) is difficult to translate because of problems surrounding the precise meaning of στοιχεῖα in this context. Originally it referred to the letters of the alphabet, with the idea at its root of “things in a row”; see C. Vaughn, “Colossians,” EBC 11:198. M. J. Harris (Colossians and Philemon [EGGNT], 93) outlines three probable options: (1) the material elements which comprise the physical world; (2) the elementary teachings of the world (so NEB, NASB, NIV); (3) the elemental spirits of the world (so NEB, RSV). The first option is highly unlikely because Paul is not concerned here with the physical elements, e.g., carbon or nitrogen. The last two options are both possible. Though the Gnostic-like heresy at Colossae would undoubtedly have been regarded by Paul as an “elementary teaching” at best, because the idea of “spirits” played such a role in Gnostic thought, he may very well have had in mind elemental spirits that operated in the world or controlled the world (i.e., under God’s authority and permission).