Isaiah 59:15

59:15 Honesty has disappeared;

the one who tries to avoid evil is robbed.

The Lord watches and is displeased, ¹ 

for there is no justice.

Jeremiah 29:26

29:26 “The Lord has made you priest in place of Jehoiada. ²  He has put you in charge in the Lord’s temple of controlling ³  any lunatic ⁴  who pretends to be a prophet. ⁵  And it is your duty to put any such person in the stocks ⁶  with an iron collar around his neck. ⁷ 

Hosea 9:7

9:7 The time of judgment ⁸  is about to arrive! ⁹ 

The time of retribution ¹⁰  is imminent! ¹¹ 

Let Israel know! ¹² 

Israel Rejects Hosea’s Prophetic Exhortations

The prophet is considered a fool ¹³  –

the inspired man ¹⁴  is viewed as a madman ¹⁵  –

because of the multitude of your sins

and your intense ¹⁶  animosity.

Mark 3:21

3:21 When his family ¹⁷  heard this they went out to restrain him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

John 10:20

10:20 Many of them were saying, “He is possessed by a demon and has lost his mind! ¹⁸  Why do you listen to him?”

Acts 17:18

17:18 Also some of the Epicurean ¹⁹  and Stoic ²⁰  philosophers were conversing ²¹  with him, and some were asking, ²²  “What does this foolish babbler ²³  want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.” ²⁴  (They said this because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) ²⁵ 

Acts 26:24

26:24 As Paul ²⁶  was saying these things in his defense, Festus ²⁷  exclaimed loudly, “You have lost your mind, ²⁸  Paul! Your great learning is driving you insane!”

Acts 26:1

Paul Offers His Defense

26:1 So Agrippa ²⁹  said to Paul, “You have permission ³⁰  to speak for yourself.” Then Paul held out his hand ³¹  and began his defense: ³² 

Colossians 4:10

4:10 Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you received instructions; if he comes to you, welcome him).

Colossians 4:2

Exhortation to Pray for the Success of Paul’s Mission

4:2 Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.

Colossians 1:13

1:13 He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, ³³ 

[59:15]  ¹ tn Heb “and it is displeasing in his eyes.”

[29:26]  ² tn Heb “in place of Jehoiada the priest.” The word “the priest” is unnecessary to the English sentence.

[29:26]  ³ tc Heb “The Lord has appointed you priest in place of the priest Jehoiada to be overseer in the house of the Lord for/over.” The translation is based on a reading presupposed by several of the versions. The Hebrew text reads “The Lord has…to be overseers [in] the house of the Lord for/over.” The reading here follows that of the Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions in reading פָּקִיד בְּבֵית (paqid bÿvet) in place of פְּקִדִים בֵּית (pÿqidim bet). There has been a confusion of the ם (mem) and בּ (bet) and a transposition of the י (yod) and ד (dalet).

[29:26]  ⁴ sn The Hebrew term translated lunatic applies to anyone who exhibits irrational behavior. It was used for example of David who drooled and scratched on the city gate to convince Achish not to arrest him as a politically dangerous threat (1 Sam 21:14). It was often used contemptuously of the prophets by those who wanted to play down the significance of their words (2 Kgs 9:11; Hos 9:7 and here).

[29:26]  ⁵ tn The verb here is a good example of what IBHS 431 §26.2f calls the estimative-declarative reflexive where a person presents himself in a certain light. For examples of this usage see 2 Sam 13:5; Prov 13:7.

[29:26]  ⁶ tn See the translator’s note on 20:2 for this word which only occurs here and in 20:2-3.

[29:26]  ⁷ tn This word only occurs here in the Hebrew Bible. All the lexicons are agreed as seeing it referring to a collar placed around the neck. The basis for this definition are the cognate languages (see, e.g., HALOT 958-59 s.v. צִינֹק for the most complete discussion).

[9:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “the days of the visitation”; NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “the days of punishment.”

[9:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “has come” (בָּאוּ, ba’u). The two perfect tense (suffix-conjugation) verbs בָּאוּ (Qal perfect 3rd person common plural from בּוֹא, bo’, “to come”) repeated in this verse are both examples of the so-called “prophetic perfect”: the perfect, which connotes completed or factual action, is used in reference to future events to emphasize the certainty of the announced event taking place.

[9:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the days of the retribution”; NIV “of reckoning”; NRSV “of recompense.”

[9:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “has come”; NIV “are at hand”; NLT “is almost here.”

[9:7]  ¹² tc The Aleppo Codex and Leningrad Codex (the MT ms employed for BHS) both place the atnach (colon-divider) after יֵדְעוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל (yedÿ’u yisra’el, “Let Israel know!”), indicating that this line belongs with 9:7a (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV). However, the LXX reads κακωθήσεται (kakwqhsetai) which reflects an underlying Vorlage of יָרֵעוּ (yare’u, Qal imperfect 3rd person common plural from יָרַע, yara’, “to cry”), as opposed to the MT יֵדְעוּ (yedÿ’u, Qal jussive 3rd common plural from יָדַע, yada’, “to know”). The Old Greek connects יֵדְעוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל (“Israel cries out”) with the following lines (cf. NRSV), which appear to be quotations of Israel mocking Hosea. Aquila (ἔγνω, egnw) and Symmachus (γνώσεται, gnwsetai) both reflect the proto-MT tradition. For a discussion of this textual and syntactical problem, see H. W. Wolff, Hosea (Hermeneia), 150.

[9:7]  ¹³ tn Or “is distraught”; cf. CEV, NLT “are crazy.”

[9:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the man of the Spirit”; NAB, NRSV “spirit.”

[9:7]  ¹⁵ tn Or “is driven to despair.” The term מְשֻׁגָּע (mÿshugga’, Pual participle masculine singular from שָׁגַע, shaga’, “to be mad”) may be understood in two senses: (1) It could be a predicate adjective which is a figure of speech: “to be maddened,” to be driven to despair (Deut 28:34); or (2) it could be a substantive: “a madman,” referring to prophets who attempted to enter into a prophetic state through whipping themselves into a frenzy (1 Sam 21:16; 2 Kgs 9:11; Jer 29:26; see BDB 993 s.v. שָׁגַע). The prophetic context of 9:7 favors the latter option (which is followed by most English versions). Apparently, the general populace viewed these mantics with suspicion and questioned the legitimacy of their claim to be true prophets (e.g., 2 Kgs 9:11; Jer 29:26).

[9:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “great.”

[3:21]  ¹⁷ tc Western witnesses D W it, instead of reading οἱ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ (Joi par’ aujtou, here translated “family”), have περὶ αὐτοῦ οἱ γραμματεῖς καὶ οἱ λοιποί (peri autou Joi grammatei" kai Joi loipoi, “[when] the scribes and others [heard] about him”). But this reading is obviously motivated, for it removes the embarrassing statement about Jesus’ family’s opinion of him as “out of his mind” and transfers this view to the Lord’s opponents. The fact that virtually all other witnesses have οἱ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ here, coupled with the strong internal evidence for the shorter reading, shows this Western reading to be secondary.

[10:20]  ¹⁸ tn Or “is insane.” To translate simply “he is mad” (so KJV, ASV, RSV; “raving mad” NIV) could give the impression that Jesus was angry, while the actual charge was madness or insanity.

[17:18]  ¹⁹ sn An Epicurean was a follower of the philosophy of Epicurus, who founded a school in Athens about 300 b.c. Although the Epicureans saw the aim of life as pleasure, they were not strictly hedonists, because they defined pleasure as the absence of pain. Along with this, they desired the avoidance of trouble and freedom from annoyances. They saw organized religion as evil, especially the belief that the gods punished evildoers in an afterlife. In keeping with this, they were unable to accept Paul’s teaching about the resurrection.

[17:18]  ²⁰ sn A Stoic was a follower of the philosophy founded by Zeno (342-270 b.c.), a Phoenician who came to Athens and modified the philosophical system of the Cynics he found there. The Stoics rejected the Epicurean ideal of pleasure, stressing virtue instead. The Stoics emphasized responsibility for voluntary actions and believed risks were worth taking, but thought the actual attainment of virtue was difficult. They also believed in providence.

[17:18]  ²¹ tn BDAG 956 s.v. συμβάλλω 1 has “converse, confer” here.

[17:18]  ²² tn Grk “saying.”

[17:18]  ²³ tn Or “ignorant show-off.” The traditional English translation of σπερμολόγος (spermologo") is given in L&N 33.381 as “foolish babbler.” However, an alternate view is presented in L&N 27.19, “(a figurative extension of meaning of a term based on the practice of birds in picking up seeds) one who acquires bits and pieces of relatively extraneous information and proceeds to pass them off with pretense and show – ‘ignorant show-off, charlatan.’” A similar view is given in BDAG 937 s.v. σπερμολόγος: “in pejorative imagery of persons whose communication lacks sophistication and seems to pick up scraps of information here and there scrapmonger, scavenger…Engl. synonyms include ‘gossip’, ‘babbler’, chatterer’; but these terms miss the imagery of unsystematic gathering.”

[17:18]  ²⁴ tn The meaning of this phrase is not clear. Literally it reads “strange deities” (see BDAG 210 s.v. δαιμόνιον 1). The note of not being customary is important. In the ancient world what was new was suspicious. The plural δαιμονίων (daimoniwn, “deities”) shows the audience grappling with Paul’s teaching that God was working through Jesus.

[17:18]  ²⁵ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[26:24]  ²⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:24]  ²⁷ sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.

[26:24]  ²⁸ tn On the term translated “lost your mind” see BDAG 610 s.v. μαίνομαι, which has “you’re out of your mind, you’re raving, said to one whose enthusiasm seems to have outrun better judgment 26:24.”

[26:1]  ²⁹ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

[26:1]  ³⁰ tn Grk “It is permitted for you.”

[26:1]  ³¹ tn Or “extended his hand” (a speaker’s gesture).

[26:1]  ³² tn Or “and began to speak in his own defense.”

[1:13]  ³³ tn Here αὐτοῦ (autou) has been translated as a subjective genitive (“he loves”).