Isaiah 55:7

55:7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle ¹ 

and sinful people their plans. ² 

They should return ³  to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, ⁴ 

and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 4:14

4:14 “Oh people of Jerusalem, purify your hearts from evil ⁶ 

so that you may yet be delivered.

How long will you continue to harbor up

wicked schemes within you?

Jeremiah 4:1

4:1 “If you, Israel, want to come back,” says the Lord,

“if you want to come back to me ⁷ 

you must get those disgusting idols ⁸  out of my sight

and must no longer go astray. ⁹ 

Colossians 1:20

1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, ¹⁰  whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Ephesians 2:3

2:3 among whom ¹¹  all of us ¹²  also ¹³  formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath ¹⁴  even as the rest… ¹⁵ 

Ephesians 2:1

New Life Individually

2:1 And although you were ¹⁶  dead ¹⁷  in your transgressions and sins,

Ephesians 5:23

5:23 because the husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is the head of the church – he himself being the savior of the body.

[55:7]  ¹ tn Heb “Let the wicked one abandon his way.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ² tn Heb “and the man of evil his thoughts.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ³ tn Heb “let him return.” The singular is collective, meaning “let them.”

[55:7]  ⁴ tn The imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive after the jussive indicates purpose/result.

[55:7]  ⁵ 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.

[4:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “Oh, Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil.”

[4:1]  ⁷ tn Or “If you, Israel, want to turn [away from your shameful ways (those described in 3:23-25)]…then you must turn back to me.” Or perhaps, “Israel, you must turn back…Yes, you must turn back to me.”

[4:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “disgusting things.”

[4:1]  ⁹ tn Or possibly, “If you get those disgusting idols out of my sight, you will not need to flee.” This is less probable because the normal meaning of the last verb is “to wander,” “ to stray.”

[1:20]  ¹⁰ tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì⁴⁶ א A C D¹ Ψ 048^vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.

[2:3]  ¹¹ sn Among whom. The relative pronoun phrase that begins v. 3 is identical, except for gender, to the one that begins v. 2 (ἐν αἵς [en Jais], ἐν οἵς [en Jois]). By the structure, the author is building an argument for our hopeless condition: We lived in sin and we lived among sinful people. Our doom looked to be sealed as well in v. 2: Both the external environment (kingdom of the air) and our internal motivation and attitude (the spirit that is now energizing) were under the devil’s thumb (cf. 2 Cor 4:4).

[2:3]  ¹² tn Grk “we all.”

[2:3]  ¹³ tn Or “even.”

[2:3]  ¹⁴ sn Children of wrath is a Semitic idiom which may mean either “people characterized by wrath” or “people destined for wrath.”

[2:3]  ¹⁵ sn Eph 2:1-3. The translation of vv. 1-3 is very literal, even to the point of retaining the awkward syntax of the original. See note on the word dead in 2:1.

[2:1]  ¹⁶ tn The adverbial participle “being” (ὄντας, ontas) is taken concessively.

[2:1]  ¹⁷ sn Chapter 2 starts off with a participle, although you were dead, that is left dangling. The syntax in Greek for vv. 1-3 constitutes one incomplete sentence, though it seems to have been done intentionally. The dangling participle leaves the readers in suspense while they wait for the solution (in v. 4) to their spiritual dilemma.