Isaiah 55:6-7

55:6 Seek the Lord while he makes himself available; ¹ 

call to him while he is nearby!

55:7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle ² 

and sinful people their plans. ³ 

They should return ⁴  to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, ⁵ 

and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. ⁶ 

Ezekiel 18:30-31

18:30 “Therefore I will judge each person according to his conduct, ⁷  O house of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord. Repent ⁸  and turn from all your wickedness; then it will not be an obstacle leading to iniquity. ⁹  18:31 Throw away all your sins you have committed and fashion yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! ¹⁰  Why should you die, O house of Israel?

Zechariah 1:3-4

1:3 Therefore say to the people: ¹¹  The Lord who rules over all ¹²  says, “Turn ¹³  to me,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and I will turn to you,” says the Lord who rules over all. 1:4 “Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets called out, saying, ‘The Lord who rules over all says, “Turn now from your evil wickedness,”’ but they would by no means obey me,” says the Lord.

Matthew 3:8

3:8 Therefore produce fruit ¹⁴  that proves your ¹⁵  repentance,

Ephesians 4:22-24

4:22 You were taught with reference to your former way of life to lay aside ¹⁶  the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires, 4:23 to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 4:24 and to put on the new man who has been created in God’s image ¹⁷  – in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth. ¹⁸ 

Titus 2:11-14

2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people. ¹⁹  2:12 It trains us ²⁰  to reject godless ways ²¹  and worldly desires and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 2:13 as we wait for the happy fulfillment of our hope in the glorious appearing ²²  of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. ²³  2:14 He ²⁴  gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, ²⁵  who are eager to do good. ²⁶ 

Titus 2:1

Conduct Consistent with Sound Teaching

2:1 But as for you, communicate the behavior that goes with ²⁷  sound teaching.

Titus 2:1

Conduct Consistent with Sound Teaching

2:1 But as for you, communicate the behavior that goes with ²⁸  sound teaching.

[55:6]  ¹ tn Heb “while he allows himself to be found.” The Niphal form has a tolerative force here.

[55:7]  ² tn Heb “Let the wicked one abandon his way.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ³ tn Heb “and the man of evil his thoughts.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “let him return.” The singular is collective, meaning “let them.”

[55:7]  ⁵ tn The imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive after the jussive indicates purpose/result.

[55:7]  ⁶ sn The appeal and promise of vv. 6-7 echoes the language of Deut 4:25-31; 30:1-10; and 1 Kgs 8:46-53, all of which anticipate the exile and speak of the prerequisites for restoration.

[18:30]  ⁷ tn Heb “ways.”

[18:30]  ⁸ tn The verbs and persons in this verse are plural whereas the individual has been the subject of the chapter.

[18:30]  ⁹ tn Or “leading to punishment.”

[18:31]  ¹⁰ sn In Ezek 11:19, 36:26 the new heart and new spirit are promised as future blessings.

[1:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:3]  ¹² sn The epithet Lord who rules over all occurs frequently as a divine title throughout Zechariah (53 times total). This name (יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת, yÿhvah tsÿva’ot), traditionally translated “Lord of hosts” (so KJV, NAB, NASB; cf. NIV, NLT “Lord Almighty”; NCV, CEV “Lord All-Powerful”), emphasizes the majestic sovereignty of the Lord, an especially important concept in the postexilic world of great human empires and rulers. For a thorough study of the divine title, see T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 123-57.

[1:3]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew verb שׁוּב (shuv) is common in covenant contexts. To turn from the Lord is to break the covenant and to turn to him (i.e., to repent) is to renew the covenant relationship (cf. 2 Kgs 17:13).

[3:8]  ¹⁴ sn Fruit worthy of repentance refers to the deeds that indicate a change of attitude (heart) on the part of John’s hearers.

[3:8]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “fruit worthy of.”

[4:22]  ¹⁶ tn An alternative rendering for the infinitives in vv. 22-24 (“to lay aside… to be renewed… to put on”) is “that you have laid aside… that you are being renewed… that you have put on.” The three infinitives of vv. 22 (ἀποθέσθαι, apoqesqai), 23 (ἀνανεοῦσθαι, ananeousqai), and 24 (ἐνδύσασθαι, endusasqai), form part of an indirect discourse clause; they constitute the teaching given to the believers addressed in the letter. The problem in translation is that one cannot be absolutely certain whether they go back to indicatives in the original statement (i.e., “you have put off”) or imperatives (i.e., “put off!”). Every other occurrence of an aorist infinitive in indirect discourse in the NT goes back to an imperative, but in all of these examples the indirect discourse is introduced by a verb that implies a command. The verb διδάσκω (didaskw) in the corpus Paulinum may be used to relate the indicatives of the faith as well as the imperatives. This translation implies that the infinitives go back to imperatives, though the alternate view that they refer back to indicatives is also a plausible interpretation. For further discussion, see ExSyn 605.

[4:24]  ¹⁷ tn Or “in God’s likeness.” Grk “according to God.” The preposition κατά used here denotes a measure of similarity or equality (BDAG 513 s.v. B.5.b.α).

[4:24]  ¹⁸ tn Or “in righteousness and holiness which is based on truth” or “originated from truth.”

[2:11]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “all men”; but ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpois) is generic here, referring to both men and women.

[2:12]  ²⁰ tn Grk “training us” (as a continuation of the previous clause). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 12 by translating the participle παιδεύουσα (paideuousa) as a finite verb and supplying the pronoun “it” as subject.

[2:12]  ²¹ tn Grk “ungodliness.”

[2:13]  ²² tn Grk “the blessed hope and glorious appearing.”

[2:13]  ²³ tn The terms “God and Savior” both refer to the same person, Jesus Christ. This is one of the clearest statements in the NT concerning the deity of Christ. The construction in Greek is known as the Granville Sharp rule, named after the English philanthropist-linguist who first clearly articulated the rule in 1798. Sharp pointed out that in the construction article-noun-καί-noun (where καί [kai] = “and”), when two nouns are singular, personal, and common (i.e., not proper names), they always had the same referent. Illustrations such as “the friend and brother,” “the God and Father,” etc. abound in the NT to prove Sharp’s point. The only issue is whether terms such as “God” and “Savior” could be considered common nouns as opposed to proper names. Sharp and others who followed (such as T. F. Middleton in his masterful The Doctrine of the Greek Article) demonstrated that a proper name in Greek was one that could not be pluralized. Since both “God” (θεός, qeos) and “savior” (σωτήρ, swthr) were occasionally found in the plural, they did not constitute proper names, and hence, do fit Sharp’s rule. Although there have been 200 years of attempts to dislodge Sharp’s rule, all attempts have been futile. Sharp’s rule stands vindicated after all the dust has settled. For more information on Sharp’s rule see ExSyn 270-78, esp. 276. See also 2 Pet 1:1 and Jude 4.

[2:14]  ²⁴ tn Grk “who” (as a continuation of the previous clause).

[2:14]  ²⁵ tn Or “a people who are his very own.”

[2:14]  ²⁶ tn Grk “for good works.”

[2:1]  ²⁷ tn Grk “say what is fitting for sound teaching” (introducing the behavior called for in this chapter.).

[2:1]  ²⁸ tn Grk “say what is fitting for sound teaching” (introducing the behavior called for in this chapter.).