Discovery BoxEzra 10:2
Context10:2 Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, from the descendants of Elam, 1 addressed Ezra:
“We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying 2 foreign women from the local peoples. 3 Nonetheless, there is still hope for Israel in this regard. 4
Psalms 51:4
Context51:4 Against you – you above all 5 – I have sinned;
I have done what is evil in your sight.
So 6 you are just when you confront me; 7
you are right when you condemn me. 8
Malachi 3:8
Context3:8 Can a person rob 9 God? You indeed are robbing me, but you say, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In tithes and contributions! 10
Malachi 3:2
Context3:2 Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can keep standing when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire, 11 like a launderer’s soap.
Colossians 1:19-21
Context1:19 For God 12 was pleased to have all his 13 fullness dwell 14 in the Son 15
1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, 16 whether things on earth or things in heaven.
1:21 And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your 17 minds 18 as expressed through 19 your evil deeds,
[10:2] 1 tc The translation reads with the Qere, many medieval Hebrew
[10:2] 2 tn Heb “in that we have given a dwelling to.” So also in vv. 14, 17, 18.
[10:2] 3 tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”
[51:4] 5 tn Heb “only you,” as if the psalmist had sinned exclusively against God and no other. Since the Hebrew verb חָטָא (hata’, “to sin”) is used elsewhere of sinful acts against people (see BDB 306 s.v. 2.a) and David (the presumed author) certainly sinned when he murdered Uriah (2 Sam 12:9), it is likely that the psalmist is overstating the case to suggest that the attack on Uriah was ultimately an attack on God himself. To clarify the point of the hyperbole, the translation uses “especially,” rather than the potentially confusing “only.”
[51:4] 6 tn The Hebrew term לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) normally indicates purpose (“in order that”), but here it introduces a logical consequence of the preceding statement. (Taking the clause as indicating purpose here would yield a theologically preposterous idea – the psalmist purposely sinned so that God’s justice might be vindicated!) For other examples of לְמַעַן indicating result, see 2 Kgs 22:17; Jer 27:15; Amos 2:7, as well as IBHS 638-40 §38.3.
[51:4] 7 tn Heb “when you speak.” In this context the psalmist refers to God’s word of condemnation against his sin delivered through Nathan (cf. 2 Sam 12:7-12).
[51:4] 8 tn Heb “when you judge.”
[3:8] 9 tc The LXX presupposes an underlying Hebrew text of עָקַב (’aqav, “deceive”), a metathesis of קָבַע (qava’, “rob”), in all four uses of the verb here (vv. 8-9). The intent probably is to soften the impact of “robbing” God, but the language of the passage is intentionally bold and there is no reason to go against the reading of the MT (which is followed here by most English versions).
[3:8] 10 sn The tithes and contributions mentioned here are probably those used to sustain the Levites (see Num 18:8, 11, 19, 21-24).
[3:2] 11 sn The refiner’s fire was used to purify metal and refine it by melting it and allowing the dross, which floated to the top, to be scooped off.
[1:19] 12 tn The noun “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but since God is the one who reconciles the world to himself (cf. 2 Cor 5:19), he is clearly the subject of εὐδόκησεν (eudokhsen).
[1:19] 13 tn The Greek article τό (to), insofar as it relates to God, may be translated as a possessive pronoun, i.e., “his.” BDAG 404 s.v. εὐδοκέω 1 translates the phrase as “all the fullness willed to dwell in him” thus leaving the referent as impersonal. Insofar as Paul is alluding to the so-called emanations from God this is acceptable. But the fact that “the fullness” dwells in a person (i.e., “in him”) seems to argue for the translation “his fullness” where “his” refers to God.
[1:19] 14 tn The aorist verb κατοικῆσαι (katoikhsai) could be taken as an ingressive, in which case it refers to the incarnation and may be translated as “begin to dwell, to take up residence.” It is perhaps better, though, to take it as a constative aorist and simply a reference to the fact that the fullness of God dwells in Jesus Christ. This is a permanent dwelling, though, not a temporary one, as the present tense in 2:9 makes clear.
[1:19] 15 tn Grk “him”; the referent (the Son; see v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[1:20] 16 tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì46 א A C D1 Ψ 048vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.
[1:21] 17 tn The article τῇ (th) has been translated as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).
[1:21] 18 tn Although διανοία (dianoia) is singular in Greek, the previous plural noun ἐχθρούς (ecqrous) indicates that all those from Colossae are in view here.
[1:21] 19 tn The dative ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς (en toi" ergoi" toi" ponhroi") is taken as means, indicating the avenue through which hostility in the mind is revealed and made known.
