Isaiah 58:2

58:2 They seek me day after day;

they want to know my requirements, ¹ 

like a nation that does what is right

and does not reject the law of their God.

They ask me for just decrees;

they want to be near God.

Jeremiah 42:2-5

42:2 They said to him, “Please grant our request ²  and pray to the Lord your God for all those of us who are still left alive here. ³  For, as you yourself can see, there are only a few of us left out of the many there were before. ⁴  42:3 Pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do.” 42:4 The prophet Jeremiah answered them, “Agreed! ⁵  I will indeed pray to the Lord your God as you have asked. I will tell you everything the Lord replies in response to you. ⁶  I will not keep anything back from you.” 42:5 They answered Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not do just as ⁷  the Lord sends you to tell us to do.

Ezekiel 33:31

33:31 They come to you in crowds, ⁸  and they sit in front of you as ⁹  my people. They hear your words, but do not obey ¹⁰  them. For they talk lustfully, ¹¹  and their heart is set on ¹²  their own advantage. ¹³ 

Mark 6:19-20

6:19 So Herodias nursed a grudge against him and wanted to kill him. But ¹⁴  she could not 6:20 because Herod stood in awe of ¹⁵  John and protected him, since he knew that John ¹⁶  was a righteous and holy man. When Herod ¹⁷  heard him, he was thoroughly baffled, ¹⁸  and yet ¹⁹  he liked to listen to John. ²⁰ 

Acts 28:22-27

28:22 But we would like to hear from you what you think, for regarding this sect we know ²¹  that people ²²  everywhere speak against ²³  it.”

28:23 They set ²⁴  a day to meet with him, ²⁵  and they came to him where he was staying ²⁶  in even greater numbers. ²⁷  From morning until evening he explained things ²⁸  to them, ²⁹  testifying ³⁰  about the kingdom of God ³¹  and trying to convince ³²  them about Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets. 28:24 Some were convinced ³³  by what he said, ³⁴  but others refused ³⁵  to believe. 28:25 So they began to leave, ³⁶  unable to agree among themselves, after Paul made one last statement: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly to your ancestors ³⁷  through the prophet Isaiah 28:26 when he said,

‘Go to this people and say,

“You will keep on hearing, ³⁸  but will never understand,

and you will keep on looking, ³⁹  but will never perceive.

28:27 For the heart of this people has become dull, ⁴⁰ 

and their ears are hard of hearing, ⁴¹ 

and they have closed their eyes,

so that they would not see with their eyes

and hear with their ears

and understand with their heart

and turn, ⁴²  and I would heal them.”’ ⁴³ 

[58:2]  ¹ tn Heb “ways” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, TEV); NLT “my laws.”

[42:2]  ² tn Heb “please let our petition fall before you.” For the idiom here see 37:20 and the translator’s note there.

[42:2]  ³ tn Heb “on behalf of us, [that is] on behalf of all this remnant.”

[42:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “For we are left a few from the many as your eyes are seeing us.” The words “used to be” are not in the text but are implicit. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness of English style.

[42:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “I have heard” = “I agree.” For this nuance of the verb see BDB 1034 s.v. שָׁמַע Qal.1.j and compare the usage in Gen 37:27 and Judg 11:17 listed there.

[42:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “all the word which the Lord will answer you.

[42:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “do according to all the word which.”

[33:31]  ⁸ tn Heb “as people come.” Apparently this is an idiom indicating that they come in crowds. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:264.

[33:31]  ⁹ tn The word “as” is supplied in the translation.

[33:31]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “do.”

[33:31]  ¹¹ tn Heb “They do lust with their mouths.”

[33:31]  ¹² tn Heb “goes after.”

[33:31]  ¹³ tn The present translation understands the term often used for “unjust gain” in a wider sense, following M. Greenberg, who also notes that the LXX uses a term which can describe either sexual or ritual pollution. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:687.

[6:19]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “and.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[6:20]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “was fearing,” “was respecting”; the imperfect tense connotes an ongoing fear or respect for John.

[6:20]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:20]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:20]  ¹⁸ tc In place of ἠπόρει (hporei, “he was baffled”) the majority of mss (A C D ˹ 33 Ï lat sy) have ἐποίει (epoiei, “he did”; cf. KJV’s “he did many things.”) The best mss (א B L [W] Θ 2427 co) support the reading followed in the translation. The variation may be no more than a simple case of confusion of letters, since the two readings look very much alike. The verb ποιέω (poiew, “I do”) certainly occurs more frequently than ἀπορέω (aporew, “I am at a loss”), so a scribe would be more likely to write a more familiar word. Further, even though the reading ἐποίει is the harder reading in terms of the sense, it is virtually nonsensical here, rendering it most likely an unintentional corruption.

[6:20]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “and.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “and yet” to indicate the concessive nature of the final clause.

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

[28:22]  ²¹ tn Grk “regarding this sect it is known to us.” The passive construction “it is known to us” has been converted to an active one to simplify the translation.

[28:22]  ²² tn Grk “that everywhere it is spoken against.” To simplify the translation the passive construction “it is spoken against” has been converted to an active one with the subject “people” supplied.

[28:22]  ²³ tn On the term translated “speak against,” see BDAG 89 s.v. ἀντιλέγω 1.

[28:23]  ²⁴ tn Grk “Having set.” The participle ταξάμενοι (taxamenoi) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[28:23]  ²⁵ tn Grk “Having set a day with him”; the words “to meet” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[28:23]  ²⁶ tn Or “came to him in his rented quarters.”

[28:23]  ²⁷ tn BDAG 848 s.v. πολύς 1.b.β.ב states, “(even) more πλείονες in even greater numbers Ac 28:23.”

[28:23]  ²⁸ tn The word “things” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[28:23]  ²⁹ tn Grk “to whom he explained.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“whom”) has been replaced by the pronoun (“them”) and a new sentence begun at this point in the translation.

[28:23]  ³⁰ tn BDAG 233 s.v. διαμαρτύρομαι 1 has “to make a solemn declaration about the truth of someth. testify of, bear witness to (orig. under oath)…God’s kingdom 28:23.”

[28:23]  ³¹ sn Testifying about the kingdom of God. The topic is important. Paul’s preaching was about the rule of God and his promise in Jesus. Paul’s text was the Jewish scriptures.

[28:23]  ³² tn Or “persuade.”

[28:24]  ³³ tn Or “persuaded.”

[28:24]  ³⁴ tn Grk “by the things spoken.”

[28:24]  ³⁵ sn Some were convinced…but others refused to believe. Once again the gospel caused division among Jews, as in earlier chapters of Acts (13:46; 18:6).

[28:25]  ³⁶ tn The imperfect verb ἀπελύοντο (apeluonto) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.

[28:25]  ³⁷ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[28:26]  ³⁸ tn Grk “you will hear with hearing” (an idiom).

[28:26]  ³⁹ tn Or “seeing”; Grk “you will look by looking” (an idiom).

[28:27]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “insensitive.”

[28:27]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “they hear heavily with their ears” (an idiom for slow comprehension).

[28:27]  ⁴² sn Note how the failure to respond to the message of the gospel is seen as a failure to turn.

[28:27]  ⁴³ sn A quotation from Isa 6:9-10.