Isaiah 27:11

27:11 When its branches get brittle, ¹  they break;

women come and use them for kindling. ² 

For these people lack understanding, ³ 

therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;

the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

Isaiah 44:20

44:20 He feeds on ashes; ⁴ 

his deceived mind misleads him.

He cannot rescue himself,

nor does he say, ‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’ ⁵ 

Isaiah 46:8

46:8 Remember this, so you can be brave! ⁶ 

Think about it, you rebels! ⁷ 

Psalms 19:1-5

Psalm 19 ⁸ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; ⁹ 

the sky displays his handiwork. ¹⁰ 

19:2 Day after day it speaks out; ¹¹ 

night after night it reveals his greatness. ¹² 

19:3 There is no actual speech or word,

nor is its ¹³  voice literally heard.

19:4 Yet its voice ¹⁴  echoes ¹⁵  throughout the earth;

its ¹⁶  words carry ¹⁷  to the distant horizon. ¹⁸ 

In the sky ¹⁹  he has pitched a tent for the sun. ²⁰ 

19:5 Like a bridegroom it emerges ²¹  from its chamber; ²² 

like a strong man it enjoys ²³  running its course. ²⁴ 

Psalms 115:8

115:8 Those who make them will end up ²⁵  like them,

as will everyone who trusts in them.

Jeremiah 10:8-12

10:8 The people of those nations ²⁶  are both stupid and foolish.

Instruction from a wooden idol is worthless! ²⁷ 

10:9 Hammered-out silver is brought from Tarshish ²⁸ 

and gold is brought from Uphaz ²⁹  to cover those idols. ³⁰ 

They are the handiwork of carpenters and goldsmiths. ³¹ 

They are clothed in blue and purple clothes. ³² 

They are all made by skillful workers. ³³ 

10:10 The Lord is the only true God.

He is the living God and the everlasting King.

When he shows his anger the earth shakes.

None of the nations can stand up to his fury.

10:11 You people of Israel should tell those nations this:

‘These gods did not make heaven and earth.

They will disappear ³⁴  from the earth and from under the heavens.’ ³⁵ 

10:12 The Lord is the one who ³⁶  by his power made the earth.

He is the one who by his wisdom established the world.

And by his understanding he spread out the skies.

Acts 14:17

14:17 yet he did not leave himself without a witness by doing good, ³⁷  by giving you rain from heaven ³⁸  and fruitful seasons, satisfying you ³⁹  with food and your hearts with joy.” ⁴⁰ 

Romans 1:19-21

1:19 because what can be known about God is plain to them, ⁴¹  because God has made it plain to them. 1:20 For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people ⁴²  are without excuse. 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts ⁴³  were darkened.

Romans 1:28

1:28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, ⁴⁴  God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. ⁴⁵ 

Romans 3:1-2

3:1 Therefore what advantage does the Jew have, or what is the value of circumcision? 3:2 Actually, there are many advantages. ⁴⁶  First of all, ⁴⁷  the Jews ⁴⁸  were entrusted with the oracles of God. ⁴⁹ 

[27:11]  ¹ tn Heb “are dry” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[27:11]  ² tn Heb “women come [and] light it.” The city is likened to a dead tree with dried up branches that is only good for firewood.

[27:11]  ³ tn Heb “for not a people of understanding [is] he.”

[44:20]  ⁴ tn Or perhaps, “he eats on an ash heap.”

[44:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “Is it not a lie in my right hand?”

[46:8]  ⁶ tn The meaning of the verb אָשַׁשׁ (’ashash, which appears here in the Hitpolel stem) is uncertain. BDB 84 s.v. אשׁשׁ relates it to a root meaning “found, establish” in Arabic; HALOT 100 s.v. II אשׁשׁ gives the meaning “pluck up courage.” The imperative with vav (ו) may indicate purpose following the preceding imperative.

[46:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “return [it], rebels, to heart”; NRSV “recall it to mind, you transgressors.”

[19:1]  ⁸ sn Psalm 19. The psalmist praises God for his self-revelation in the heavens and in the Mosaic law. The psalmist concludes with a prayer, asking the Lord to keep him from sinning and to approve of his thoughts and words.

[19:1]  ⁹ sn God’s glory refers here to his royal majesty and power.

[19:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and the work of his hands the sky declares.” The participles emphasize the ongoing testimony of the heavens/sky.

[19:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “it gushes forth a word.” The “sky” (see v. 1b) is the subject of the verb. Though not literally speaking (see v. 3), it clearly reveals God’s royal majesty. The sun’s splendor and its movement across the sky is in view (see vv. 4-6).

[19:2]  ¹² tn Heb “it [i.e., the sky] declares knowledge,” i.e., knowledge about God’s royal majesty and power (see v. 1). This apparently refers to the splendor and movements of the stars. The imperfect verbal forms in v. 2, like the participles in the preceding verse, combine with the temporal phrases (“day after day” and “night after night”) to emphasize the ongoing testimony of the sky.

[19:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “their.” The antecedent of the plural pronoun is “heavens” (v. 1).

[19:4]  ¹⁴ tc The MT reads, “their measuring line” (קוּם, qum). The noun קַו (qav, “measuring line”) makes no sense in this context. The reading קוֹלָם (qolam, “their voice”) which is supported by the LXX, is preferable.

[19:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “goes out,” or “proceeds forth.”

[19:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “their” (see the note on the word “its” in v. 3).

[19:4]  ¹⁷ tn The verb is supplied in the translation. The Hebrew text has no verb; יָצָא (yatsa’, “goes out”) is understood by ellipsis.

[19:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to the end of the world.”

[19:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in them” (i.e., the heavens).

[19:4]  ²⁰ sn He has pitched a tent for the sun. The personified sun emerges from this “tent” in order to make its daytime journey across the sky. So the “tent” must refer metaphorically to the place where the sun goes to rest during the night.

[19:5]  ²¹ tn The participle expresses the repeated or regular nature of the action.

[19:5]  ²² tn The Hebrew noun חֻפָּה (khufah, “chamber”) occurs elsewhere only in Isa 4:5 and Joel 2:16 (where it refers to the bedroom of a bride and groom).

[19:5]  ²³ tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to the regularity of the action.

[19:5]  ²⁴ tn Heb “[on] a path.”

[115:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “will be.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a prayer, “may those who make them end up like them.”

[10:8]  ²⁶ tn Or “Those wise people and kings are…” It is unclear whether the subject is the “they” of the nations in the preceding verse, or the wise people and kings referred to. The text merely has “they.”

[10:8]  ²⁷ tn Heb “The instruction of vanities [worthless idols] is wood.” The meaning of this line is a little uncertain. Various proposals have been made to make sense, most of which involve radical emendation of the text. For some examples see J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah (NICOT), 323-24, fn 6. However, this is probably a case of the bold predication that discussed in GKC 452 §141.d, some examples of which may be seen in Ps 109:4 “I am prayer,” and Ps 120:7 “I am peace.”

[10:9]  ²⁸ tc Two Qumran scrolls of Jeremiah (4QJer^a and 4QJer^b) reflect a Hebrew text that is very different than the traditional MT from which modern Bibles have been translated. The Hebrew text in these two manuscripts is similar to that from which LXX was translated. This is true both in small details and in major aspects where the LXX differs from MT. Most notably, 4QJer^a, 4QJer^b and LXX present a version of Jeremiah about 13% shorter than the longer version found in MT. One example of this shorter text is Jer 10:3-11 in which MT and 4QJer^a both have all nine verses, while LXX and 4QJer^b both lack vv. 6-8 and 10, which extol the greatness of God. In addition, the latter part of v. 9 is arranged differently in LXX and 4QJer^b. The translation here follows MT which is supported by 4QJer^a.

[10:9]  ²⁹ tn This is a place of unknown location. It is mentioned again in Dan 10:5. Many emend the word to “Ophir” following the Syriac version and the Aramaic Targum. Ophir was famous for its gold (cf. 1 Kgs 9:28; Job 28:16).

[10:9]  ³⁰ tn The words “to cover those idols” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[10:9]  ³¹ tn The words “They are” are not in the text. The text reads merely, “the work of the carpenter and of the hands of the goldsmith.” The words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[10:9]  ³² tn Heb “Blue and purple their clothing.”

[10:9]  ³³ sn There is an ironic pun in this last line. The Hebrew word translated “skillful workers” is the same word that is translated “wise people” in v. 7. The artisans do their work skillfully but they are not “wise.”

[10:11]  ³⁴ tn Aram “The gods who did not make…earth will disappear…” The sentence is broken up in the translation to avoid a long, complex English sentence in conformity with contemporary English style.

[10:11]  ³⁵ tn This verse is in Aramaic. It is the only Aramaic sentence in Jeremiah. Scholars debate the appropriateness of this verse to this context. Many see it as a gloss added by a postexilic scribe which was later incorporated into the text. Both R. E. Clendenen (“Discourse Strategies in Jeremiah 10,” JBL 106 [1987]: 401-8) and W. L. Holladay (Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 1:324-25, 334-35) have given detailed arguments that the passage is not only original but the climax and center of the contrast between the Lord and idols in vv. 2-16. Holladay shows that the passage is a very carefully constructed chiasm (see accompanying study note) which argues that “these” at the end is the subject of the verb “will disappear” not the attributive adjective modifying heaven. He also makes a very good case that the verse is poetry and not prose as it is rendered in the majority of modern English versions.

[10:12]  ³⁶ tn The words “The Lord is” are not in the text. They are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation here because of the possible confusion of who the subject is due to the parenthetical address to the people of Israel in v. 11. The first two verbs are participles and should not merely be translated as the narrative past. They are predicate nominatives of an implied copula intending to contrast the Lord as the one who made the earth with the idols which did not.

[14:17]  ³⁷ tn The participle ἀγαθουργῶν (agaqourgwn) is regarded as indicating means here, parallel to the following participles διδούς (didou") and ἐμπιπλῶν (empiplwn). This is the easiest way to understand the Greek structure. Semantically, the first participle is a general statement, followed by two participles giving specific examples of doing good.

[14:17]  ³⁸ tn Or “from the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).

[14:17]  ³⁹ tn Grk “satisfying [filling] your hearts with food and joy.” This is an idiomatic expression; it strikes the English reader as strange to speak of “filling one’s heart with food.” Thus the additional direct object “you” has been supplied, separating the two expressions somewhat: “satisfying you with food and your hearts with joy.”

[14:17]  ⁴⁰ sn God’s general sovereignty and gracious care in the creation are the way Paul introduces the theme of the goodness of God. He was trying to establish monotheism here. It is an OT theme (Gen 8:22; Ps 4:7; 145:15-16; 147:8-9; Isa 25:6; Jer 5:24) which also appears in the NT (Luke 12:22-34).

[1:19]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “is manifest to/in them.”

[1:20]  ⁴² tn Grk “they”; the referent (people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:21]  ⁴³ tn Grk “heart.”

[1:28]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “and just as they did not approve to have God in knowledge.”

[1:28]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “the things that are improper.”

[3:2]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “much in every way.”

[3:2]  ⁴⁷ tc ‡ Most witnesses (א A D² 33 Ï) have γάρ (gar) after μέν (men), though some significant Alexandrian and Western witnesses lack the conjunction (B D* G Ψ 81 365 1506 2464* pc latt). A few mss have γάρ, but not μέν (6 1739 1881). γάρ was frequently added by scribes as a clarifying conjunction, making it suspect here. NA²⁷ has the γάρ in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.

[3:2]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “they were.”

[3:2]  ⁴⁹ tn The referent of λόγια (logia, “oracles”) has been variously understood: (1) BDAG 598 s.v. λόγιον takes the term to refer here to “God’s promises to the Jews”; (2) some have taken this to refer more narrowly to the national promises of messianic salvation given to Israel (so S. L. Johnson, Jr., “Studies in Romans: Part VII: The Jews and the Oracles of God,” BSac 130 [1973]: 245); (3) perhaps the most widespread interpretation sees the term as referring to the entire OT generally.