Genesis 18:25

18:25 Far be it from you to do such a thing – to kill the godly with the wicked, treating the godly and the wicked alike! Far be it from you! Will not the judge ¹  of the whole earth do what is right?” ² 

Psalms 58:10-11

58:10 The godly ³  will rejoice when they see vengeance carried out;

they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.

58:11 Then ⁴  observers ⁵  will say,

“Yes indeed, the godly are rewarded! ⁶ 

Yes indeed, there is a God who judges ⁷  in the earth!”

Isaiah 3:10-11

3:10 Tell the innocent ⁸  it will go well with them, ⁹ 

for they will be rewarded for what they have done. ¹⁰ 

3:11 Too bad for the wicked sinners!

For they will get exactly what they deserve. ¹¹ 

Daniel 12:1-3

12:1 “At that time Michael,

the great prince who watches over your people, ¹² 

will arise. ¹³ 

There will be a time of distress

unlike any other from the nation’s beginning ¹⁴ 

up to that time.

But at that time your own people,

all those whose names are ¹⁵  found written in the book,

will escape.

12:2 Many of those who sleep

in the dusty ground will awake –

some to everlasting life,

and others to shame and everlasting abhorrence. ¹⁶ 

12:3 But the wise will shine

like the brightness of the heavenly expanse.

And those bringing many to righteousness

will be like the stars forever and ever.

Matthew 25:46

25:46 And these will depart into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Romans 2:5-6

2:5 But because of your stubbornness ¹⁷  and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed! ¹⁸  2:6 He ¹⁹  will reward ²⁰  each one according to his works: ²¹ 

Romans 2:2

2:2 Now we know that God’s judgment is in accordance with truth ²²  against those who practice such things.

Romans 1:5-10

1:5 Through him ²³  we have received grace and our apostleship ²⁴  to bring about the obedience ²⁵  of faith ²⁶  among all the Gentiles on behalf of his name. 1:6 You also are among them, ²⁷  called to belong to Jesus Christ. ²⁸  1:7 To all those loved by God in Rome, ²⁹  called to be saints: ³⁰  Grace and peace to you ³¹  from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Paul’s Desire to Visit Rome

1:8 First of all, ³²  I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world. 1:9 For God, whom I serve in my spirit by preaching the gospel ³³  of his Son, is my witness that ³⁴  I continually remember you 1:10 and I always ask ³⁵  in my prayers, if perhaps now at last I may succeed in visiting you according to the will of God. ³⁶ 

[18:25]  ¹ tn Or “ruler.”

[18:25]  ² sn Will not the judge of the whole earth do what is right? For discussion of this text see J. L. Crenshaw, “Popular Questioning of the Justice of God in Ancient Israel,” ZAW 82 (1970): 380-95, and C. S. Rodd, “Shall Not the Judge of All the Earth Do What Is Just?” ExpTim 83 (1972): 137-39.

[58:10]  ³ tn The singular is representative here, as is the singular from “wicked” in the next line.

[58:11]  ⁴ tn Following the imperfects of v. 10, the prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive probably indicates a result or consequence of what precedes.

[58:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “man.” The singular is representative here.

[58:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “surely [there] is fruit for the godly.”

[58:11]  ⁷ tn The plural participle is unusual here if the preceding אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) is here a plural of majesty, referring to the one true God. Occasionally the plural of majesty does take a plural attributive (see GKC 428-29 §132.h). It is possible that the final mem (ם) on the participle is enclitic, and that it was later misunderstood as a plural ending. Another option is to translate, “Yes indeed, there are gods who judge in the earth.” In this case, the statement reflects the polytheistic mindset of pagan observers who, despite their theological ignorance, nevertheless recognize divine retribution when they see it.

[3:10]  ⁸ tn Or “the righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, TEV); NLT “those who are godly.”

[3:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “that it is good.”

[3:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for the fruit of their deeds they will eat.”

[3:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for the work of his hands will be done to him.”

[12:1]  ¹² tn Heb “stands over the sons of your people.”

[12:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “will stand up.”

[12:1]  ¹⁴ tn Or “from the beginning of a nation.”

[12:1]  ¹⁵ tn The words “whose names are” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.

[12:2]  ¹⁶ sn This verse is the only undisputed reference to a literal resurrection found in the Hebrew Bible.

[2:5]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “hardness.” Concerning this imagery, see Jer 4:4; Ezek 3:7; 1 En. 16:3.

[2:5]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”

[2:6]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[2:6]  ²⁰ tn Or “will render,” “will recompense.” In this context Paul is setting up a hypothetical situation, not stating that salvation is by works.

[2:6]  ²¹ sn A quotation from Ps 62:12; Prov 24:12; a close approximation to Matt 16:27.

[2:2]  ²² tn Or “based on truth.”

[1:5]  ²³ tn Grk “through whom.”

[1:5]  ²⁴ tn Some interpreters understand the phrase “grace and apostleship” as a hendiadys, translating “grace [i.e., gift] of apostleship.” The pronoun “our” is supplied in the translation to clarify the sense of the statement.

[1:5]  ²⁵ tn Grk “and apostleship for obedience.”

[1:5]  ²⁶ tn The phrase ὑπακοὴν πίστεως has been variously understood as (1) an objective genitive (a reference to the Christian faith, “obedience to [the] faith”); (2) a subjective genitive (“the obedience faith produces [or requires]”); (3) an attributive genitive (“believing obedience”); or (4) as a genitive of apposition (“obedience, [namely] faith”) in which “faith” further defines “obedience.” These options are discussed by C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans (ICC), 1:66. Others take the phrase as deliberately ambiguous; see D. B. Garlington, “The Obedience of Faith in the Letter to the Romans: Part I: The Meaning of ὑπακοὴ πίστεως (Rom 1:5; 16:26),” WTJ 52 (1990): 201-24.

[1:6]  ²⁷ tn Grk “among whom you also are called.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation. The NIV, with its translation “And you also are among those who are called,” takes the phrase ἐν οἳς ἐστε to refer to the following clause rather than the preceding, so that the addressees of the letter (“you also”) are not connected with “all the Gentiles” mentioned at the end of v. 5. It is more likely, however, that the relative pronoun οἳς has τοῖς ἔθνεσιν as its antecedent, which would indicate that the church at Rome was predominantly Gentile.

[1:6]  ²⁸ tn Grk “called of Jesus Christ.”

[1:7]  ²⁹ map For location see JP4 A1.

[1:7]  ³⁰ tn Although the first part of v. 7 is not a complete English sentence, it maintains the “From…to” pattern used in all the Pauline letters to indicate the sender and the recipients. Here, however, there are several intervening verses (vv. 2-6), which makes the first half of v. 7 appear as an isolated sentence fragment.

[1:7]  ³¹ tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:8]  ³² tn Grk “First.” Paul never mentions a second point, so J. B. Phillips translated “I must begin by telling you….”

[1:9]  ³³ tn Grk “whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel.”

[1:9]  ³⁴ tn Grk “as.”

[1:10]  ³⁵ tn Grk “remember you, always asking.”

[1:10]  ³⁶ tn Grk “succeed in coming to you in the will of God.”