Isaiah 49:1

Ideal Israel Delivers the Exiles

49:1 Listen to me, you coastlands! ¹ 

Pay attention, you people who live far away!

The Lord summoned me from birth; ² 

he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world. ³ 

Isaiah 49:5

49:5 So now the Lord says,

the one who formed me from birth ⁴  to be his servant –

he did this ⁵  to restore Jacob to himself,

so that Israel might be gathered to him;

and I will be honored ⁶  in the Lord’s sight,

for my God is my source of strength ⁷  –

Jeremiah 1:5

1:5 “Before I formed you in your mother’s womb ⁸  I chose you. ⁹ 

Before you were born I set you apart.

I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.”

Luke 1:15-16

1:15 for he will be great in the sight of ¹⁰  the Lord. He ¹¹  must never drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. ¹²  1:16 He ¹³  will turn ¹⁴  many of the people ¹⁵  of Israel to the Lord their God.

Acts 9:15

9:15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, because this man is my chosen instrument ¹⁶  to carry my name before Gentiles and kings and the people of Israel. ¹⁷ 

Acts 13:2

13:2 While they were serving ¹⁸  the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart ¹⁹  for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

Acts 22:14-15

22:14 Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors ²⁰  has already chosen ²¹  you to know his will, to see ²²  the Righteous One, ²³  and to hear a command ²⁴  from his mouth, 22:15 because you will be his witness ²⁵  to all people ²⁶  of what you have seen and heard.

Romans 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²⁷  a slave ²⁸  of Christ Jesus, ²⁹  called to be an apostle, ³⁰  set apart for the gospel of God. ³¹ 

[49:1]  ¹ tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “in far-off lands.”

[49:1]  ² tn Heb “called me from the womb.”

[49:1]  ³ tn Heb “from the inner parts of my mother he mentioned my name.”

[49:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the womb” (so KJV, NASB).

[49:5]  ⁵ tn The words “he did this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct of purpose is subordinated to the previous statement.

[49:5]  ⁶ tn The vav (ו) + imperfect is translated here as a result clause; one might interpret it as indicating purpose, “and so I might be honored.”

[49:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “and my God is [perhaps, “having been”] my strength.” The disjunctive structure (vav [ו] + subject + verb) is interpreted here as indicating a causal circumstantial clause.

[1:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “the womb.” The words “your mother’s” are implicit and are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “I knew you.” The parallelism here with “set you apart” and “appointed you” make clear that Jeremiah is speaking of his foreordination to be a prophet. For this same nuance of the Hebrew verb see Gen 18:19; Amos 3:2.

[1:15]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “before.”

[1:15]  ¹¹ tn Grk “and he”; because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun in the translation.

[1:15]  ¹² tn Grk “even from his mother’s womb.” While this idiom may be understood to refer to the point of birth (“even from his birth”), Luke 1:41 suggests that here it should be understood to refer to a time before birth.

[1:16]  ¹³ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[1:16]  ¹⁴ sn The word translated will turn is a good summary term for repentance and denotes John’s call to a change of direction (Luke 3:1-14).

[1:16]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “sons”; but clearly this is a generic reference to people of both genders.

[9:15]  ¹⁶ tn Or “tool.”

[9:15]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “the sons of Israel.” In Acts, Paul is a minister to all nations, including Israel (Rom 1:16-17).

[13:2]  ¹⁸ tn This term is frequently used in the LXX of the service performed by priests and Levites in the tabernacle (Exod 28:35, 43; 29:30; 30:20; 35:19; 39:26; Num 1:50; 3:6, 31) and the temple (2 Chr 31:2; 35:3; Joel 1:9, 13; 2:17, and many more examples). According to BDAG 591 s.v. λειτουργέω 1.b it is used “of other expression of religious devotion.” Since the previous verse described the prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch, it is probable that the term here describes two of them (Barnabas and Saul) as they were serving in that capacity. Since they were not in Jerusalem where the temple was located, general religious service is referred to here.

[13:2]  ¹⁹ tn Or “Appoint.”

[22:14]  ²⁰ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[22:14]  ²¹ tn L&N 30.89 has “‘to choose in advance, to select beforehand, to designate in advance’…‘the God of our ancestors has already chosen you to know his will’ Ac 22:14.”

[22:14]  ²² tn Grk “and to see.” This καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[22:14]  ²³ sn The Righteous One is a reference to Jesus Christ (Acts 3:14).

[22:14]  ²⁴ tn Or “a solemn declaration”; Grk “a voice.” BDAG 1071-72 s.v. φωνή 2.c states, “that which the voice gives expression to: call, cry, outcry, loud or solemn declaration (… = order, command)…Cp. 22:14; 24:21.”

[22:15]  ²⁵ tn Or “a witness to him.”

[22:15]  ²⁶ tn Grk “all men,” but this is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo").

[1:1]  ²⁷ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ²⁸ tn Traditionally, “servant.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  ²⁹ tc Many important mss, as well as several others (̲⁶ א A G Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï), have a reversed order of these words and read “Jesus Christ” rather than “Christ Jesus” (̹⁰ B 81 pc). The meaning is not affected in either case, but the reading “Christ Jesus” is preferred as slightly more difficult and thus more likely the original (a scribe who found it would be prone to change it to the more common expression). At the same time, Paul is fond of the order “Christ Jesus,” especially in certain letters such as Romans, Galatians, and Philippians. As well, the later Pauline letters almost uniformly use this order in the salutations. A decision is difficult, but “Christ Jesus” is slightly preferred.

[1:1]  ³⁰ tn Grk “a called apostle.”

[1:1]  ³¹ tn The genitive in the phrase εὐαγγέλιον θεοῦ (euangelion qeou, “the gospel of God”) could be translated as (1) a subjective genitive (“the gospel which God brings”) or (2) an objective genitive (“the gospel about God”). Either is grammatically possible. This is possibly an instance of a plenary genitive (see ExSyn 119-21; M. Zerwick, Biblical Greek, §§36-39). If so, an interplay between the two concepts is intended: The gospel which God brings is in fact the gospel about himself. However, in view of God’s action in v. 2 concerning this gospel, a subjective genitive notion (“the gospel which God brings”) is slightly preferred.