Genesis 42:21-22

42:21 They said to one other, ¹  “Surely we’re being punished ²  because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was ³  when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress ⁴  has come on us!” 42:22 Reuben said to them, “Didn’t I say to you, ‘Don’t sin against the boy,’ but you wouldn’t listen? So now we must pay for shedding his blood!” ⁵ 

Genesis 42:1

Joseph’s Brothers in Egypt

42:1 When Jacob heard ⁶  there was grain in Egypt, he ⁷  said to his sons, “Why are you looking at each other?” ⁸ 

Genesis 2:1

2:1 The heavens and the earth ⁹  were completed with everything that was in them. ¹⁰ 

Genesis 17:18

17:18 Abraham said to God, “O that ¹¹  Ishmael might live before you!” ¹² 

Psalms 50:21

50:21 When you did these things, I was silent, ¹³ 

so you thought I was exactly like you. ¹⁴ 

But now I will condemn ¹⁵  you

and state my case against you! ¹⁶ 

Ecclesiastes 7:22

7:22 For you know in your own heart ¹⁷ 

that you also have cursed others many times.

Mark 6:14-16

The Death of John the Baptist

6:14 Now ¹⁸  King Herod ¹⁹  heard this, for Jesus’ ²⁰  name had become known. Some ²¹  were saying, “John the baptizer ²²  has been raised from the dead, and because of this, miraculous powers are at work in him.” 6:15 Others said, “He is Elijah.” Others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets from the past.” 6:16 But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised!”

Luke 12:1-3

Fear God, Not People

12:1 Meanwhile, ²³  when many thousands of the crowd had gathered so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus ²⁴  began to speak first to his disciples, “Be on your guard against ²⁵  the yeast of the Pharisees, ²⁶  which is hypocrisy. ²⁷  12:2 Nothing is hidden ²⁸  that will not be revealed, ²⁹  and nothing is secret that will not be made known. 12:3 So then ³⁰  whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered ³¹  in private rooms ³²  will be proclaimed from the housetops. ³³ 

Romans 2:15

2:15 They ³⁴  show that the work of the law is written ³⁵  in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or else defend ³⁶  them, ³⁷ 

Romans 2:22

2:22 You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor ³⁸  idols, do you rob temples?

Romans 2:1

The Condemnation of the Moralist

2:1 ³⁹ Therefore ⁴⁰  you are without excuse, ⁴¹  whoever you are, ⁴²  when you judge someone else. ⁴³  For on whatever grounds ⁴⁴  you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.

Romans 3:20

3:20 For no one is declared righteous before him ⁴⁵  by the works of the law, ⁴⁶  for through the law comes ⁴⁷  the knowledge of sin.

[42:21]  ¹ tn Heb “a man to his neighbor.”

[42:21]  ² tn Or “we are guilty”; the Hebrew word can also refer to the effect of being guilty, i.e., “we are being punished for guilt.”

[42:21]  ³ tn Heb “the distress of his soul.”

[42:21]  ⁴ sn The repetition of the Hebrew noun translated distress draws attention to the fact that they regard their present distress as appropriate punishment for their refusal to ignore their brother when he was in distress.

[42:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “and also his blood, look, it is required.” God requires compensation, as it were, from those who shed innocent blood (see Gen 9:6). In other words, God exacts punishment for the crime of murder.

[42:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “saw.”

[42:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “Jacob.” Here the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[42:1]  ⁸ sn Why are you looking at each other? The point of Jacob’s question is that his sons should be going to get grain rather than sitting around doing nothing. Jacob, as the patriarch, still makes the decisions for the whole clan.

[2:1]  ⁹ tn See the note on the phrase “the heavens and the earth” in 1:1.

[2:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and all the host of them.” Here the “host” refers to all the entities and creatures that God created to populate the world.

[17:18]  ¹¹ tn The wish is introduced with the Hebrew particle לוּ (lu), “O that.”

[17:18]  ¹² tn Or “live with your blessing.”

[50:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “these things you did and I was silent.” Some interpret the second clause (“and I was silent”) as a rhetorical question expecting a negative answer, “[When you do these things], should I keep silent?” (cf. NEB). See GKC 335 §112.cc.

[50:21]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew infinitive construct (הֱיוֹת, heyot) appears to function like the infinitive absolute here, adding emphasis to the following finite verbal form (אֶהְיֶה, ’ehyeh). See GKC 339-40 §113.a. Some prefer to emend הֱיוֹת (heyot) to the infinitive absolute form הָיוֹ (hayo).

[50:21]  ¹⁵ tn Or “rebuke” (see v. 8).

[50:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and I will set in order [my case against you] to your eyes.” The cohortative form expresses the Lord’s resolve to accuse and judge the wicked.

[7:22]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “your heart knows.”

[6:14]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[6:14]  ¹⁹ sn Herod was technically not a king, but a tetrarch, a ruler with rank and authority lower than a king. A tetrarch ruled only with the approval of the Roman authorities. This was roughly equivalent to being governor of a region. In the NT, Herod, who ruled over Galilee, is called a king (Matt 14:9, Mark 6:14-29), reflecting popular usage rather than an official title.

[6:14]  ²⁰ tn Grk “his”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:14]  ²¹ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[6:14]  ²² tn While Matthew and Luke consistently use the noun βαπτίστης (baptisths, “the Baptist”) to refer to John, as a kind of a title, Mark prefers the substantival participle ὁ βαπτίζων (Jo baptizwn, “the one who baptizes, the baptizer”) to describe him (only twice does he use the noun [Mark 6:25; 8:28]).

[12:1]  ²³ tn The phrase ἐν οἷς (en Jois) can be translated “meanwhile.”

[12:1]  ²⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:1]  ²⁵ tn According to L&N 27.59, “to pay attention to, to keep on the lookout for, to be alert for, to be on your guard against.” This is another Lukan present imperative calling for constant vigilance.

[12:1]  ²⁶ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[12:1]  ²⁷ sn The pursuit of popularity can lead to hypocrisy, if one is not careful.

[12:2]  ²⁸ tn Or “concealed.”

[12:2]  ²⁹ sn I.e., be revealed by God. The passive voice verbs here (“be revealed,” be made known”) see the revelation as coming from God. The text is both a warning about bad things being revealed and an encouragement that good things will be made known, though the stress with the images of darkness and what is hidden in vv. 2-3 is on the attempt to conceal.

[12:3]  ³⁰ tn Or “because.” Understanding this verse as a result of v. 2 is a slightly better reading of the context. Knowing what is coming should impact our behavior now.

[12:3]  ³¹ tn Grk “spoken in the ear,” an idiom. The contemporary expression is “whispered.”

[12:3]  ³² sn The term translated private rooms refers to the inner room of a house, normally without any windows opening outside, the most private location possible (BDAG 988 s.v. ταμεῖον 2).

[12:3]  ³³ tn The expression “proclaimed from the housetops” is an idiom for proclaiming something publicly (L&N 7.51). Roofs of many first century Jewish houses in Judea and Galilee were flat and had access either from outside or from within the house. Something shouted from atop a house would be heard by everyone in the street below.

[2:15]  ³⁴ 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.

[2:15]  ³⁵ tn Grk “show the work of the law [to be] written,” with the words in brackets implied by the Greek construction.

[2:15]  ³⁶ tn Or “excuse.”

[2:15]  ³⁷ tn Grk “their conscience bearing witness and between the thoughts accusing or also defending one another.”

[2:22]  ³⁸ tn Or “detest.”

[2:1]  ³⁹ sn Rom 2:1-29 presents unusual difficulties for the interpreter. There have been several major approaches to the chapter and the group(s) it refers to: (1) Rom 2:14 refers to Gentile Christians, not Gentiles who obey the Jewish law. (2) Paul in Rom 2 is presenting a hypothetical viewpoint: If anyone could obey the law, that person would be justified, but no one can. (3) The reference to “the ones who do the law” in 2:13 are those who “do” the law in the right way, on the basis of faith, not according to Jewish legalism. (4) Rom 2:13 only speaks about Christians being judged in the future, along with such texts as Rom 14:10 and 2 Cor 5:10. (5) Paul’s material in Rom 2 is drawn heavily from Diaspora Judaism, so that the treatment of the law presented here cannot be harmonized with other things Paul says about the law elsewhere (E. P. Sanders, Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People, 123); another who sees Rom 2 as an example of Paul’s inconsistency in his treatment of the law is H. Räisänen, Paul and the Law [WUNT], 101-9. (6) The list of blessings and curses in Deut 27–30 provide the background for Rom 2; the Gentiles of 2:14 are Gentile Christians, but the condemnation of Jews in 2:17-24 addresses the failure of Jews as a nation to keep the law as a whole (A. Ito, “Romans 2: A Deuteronomistic Reading,” JSNT 59 [1995]: 21-37).

[2:1]  ⁴⁰ tn Some interpreters (e.g., C. K. Barrett, Romans [HNTC], 43) connect the inferential Διό (dio, “therefore”) with 1:32a, treating 1:32b as a parenthetical comment by Paul.

[2:1]  ⁴¹ tn That is, “you have nothing to say in your own defense” (so translated by TCNT).

[2:1]  ⁴² tn Grk “O man.”

[2:1]  ⁴³ tn Grk “Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone [of you] who judges.”

[2:1]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “in/by (that) which.”

[3:20]  ⁴⁵ sn An allusion to Ps 143:2.

[3:20]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “because by the works of the law no flesh is justified before him.” Some recent scholars have understood the phrase ἒργα νόμου (erga nomou, “works of the law”) to refer not to obedience to the Mosaic law generally, but specifically to portions of the law that pertain to things like circumcision and dietary laws which set the Jewish people apart from the other nations (e.g., J. D. G. Dunn, Romans [WBC], 1:155). Other interpreters, like C. E. B. Cranfield (“‘The Works of the Law’ in the Epistle to the Romans,” JSNT 43 [1991]: 89-101) reject this narrow interpretation for a number of reasons, among which the most important are: (1) The second half of v. 20, “for through the law comes the knowledge of sin,” is hard to explain if the phrase “works of the law” is understood in a restricted sense; (2) the plural phrase “works of the law” would have to be understood in a different sense from the singular phrase “the work of the law” in 2:15; (3) similar phrases involving the law in Romans (2:13, 14; 2:25, 26, 27; 7:25; 8:4; and 13:8) which are naturally related to the phrase “works of the law” cannot be taken to refer to circumcision (in fact, in 2:25 circumcision is explicitly contrasted with keeping the law). Those interpreters who reject the “narrow” interpretation of “works of the law” understand the phrase to refer to obedience to the Mosaic law in general.

[3:20]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “is.”