Isaiah 7:15-16

7:15 He will eat sour milk ¹  and honey, which will help him know how ²  to reject evil and choose what is right. 7:16 Here is why this will be so: ³  Before the child knows how to reject evil and choose what is right, the land ⁴  whose two kings you fear will be desolate. ⁵ 

Amos 5:14-15

5:14 Seek good and not evil so you can live!

Then the Lord, the God who commands armies, just might be with you,

as you claim he is.

5:15 Hate what is wrong, love what is right!

Promote ⁶  justice at the city gate! ⁷ 

Maybe the Lord, the God who commands armies, will have mercy on ⁸  those who are left from ⁹  Joseph. ¹⁰ 

Micah 3:2

3:2 yet you ¹¹  hate what is good, ¹² 

and love what is evil. ¹³ 

You flay my people’s skin ¹⁴ 

and rip the flesh from their bones. ¹⁵ 

John 3:20

3:20 For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed.

Romans 2:18

2:18 and know his will ¹⁶  and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law, ¹⁷ 

Romans 7:16

7:16 But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁸ 

Romans 7:22

7:22 For I delight in the law of God in my inner being.

Romans 8:7

8:7 because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so.

Romans 12:2

12:2 Do not be conformed ¹⁹  to this present world, ²⁰  but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve ²¹  what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:9

Conduct in Love

12:9 Love must be ²²  without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good.

[7:15]  ¹ tn Or, perhaps “cream,” frequently, “curds” (NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); KJV, ASV “butter”; CEV “yogurt.”

[7:15]  ² tn Heb “for his knowing.” Traditionally the preposition has been translated in a temporal sense, “when he knows.” However, though the preposition לְ (lamed) can sometimes have a temporal force, it never carries such a nuance in any of the 40 other passages where it is used with the infinitive construct of יָדַע (yada’, “to know”). Most often the construction indicates purpose/result. This sense is preferable here. The following context indicates that sour milk and honey will epitomize the devastation that God’s judgment will bring upon the land. Cultivated crops will be gone and the people will be forced to live off the milk produced by their goats and the honey they find in the thickets. As the child is forced to eat a steady diet of this sour milk and honey, he will be reminded of the consequences of sin and motivated to make correct moral decisions in order to avoid further outbreaks of divine discipline.

[7:16]  ³ tn Heb “for, because.” The particle introduces the entire following context (vv. 16-25), which explains why Immanuel will be an appropriate name for the child, why he will eat sour milk and honey, and why experiencing such a diet will contribute to his moral development.

[7:16]  ⁴ sn Since “two kings” are referred to later in the verse, the “land” must here refer to Syria-Israel.

[7:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “the land will be abandoned, which you fear because of its two kings.” After the verb קוּץ (quts, “loathe, dread”) the phrase מִפְּנֵי (mipney, “from before”) introduces the cause of loathing/dread (see Gen 27:46; Exod 1:12; Num 22:3).

[5:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “set up, establish.” In the ancient Near East it was the responsibility especially of the king to establish justice. Here the prophet extends that demand to local leaders and to the nation as a whole (cf. 5:24).

[5:15]  ⁷ sn Legal disputes were resolved in the city gate (see the note in v. 12). This repetition of this phrase serves to highlight a deliberate contrast to the injustices cited in vv. 11-13.

[5:15]  ⁸ tn Or “will show favor to.”

[5:15]  ⁹ tn Or “the remnant of” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “what’s left of your people.”

[5:15]  ¹⁰ sn Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.

[3:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the ones who.”

[3:2]  ¹² tn Or “good.”

[3:2]  ¹³ tn Or “evil.”

[3:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “their skin from upon them.” The referent of the pronoun (“my people,” referring to Jacob and/or the house of Israel, with the Lord as the speaker) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and their flesh from their bones.”

[2:18]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “the will.”

[2:18]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “because of being instructed out of the law.”

[7:16]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “I agree with the law that it is good.”

[12:2]  ¹⁹ tn Although συσχηματίζεσθε (suschmatizesqe) could be either a passive or middle, the passive is more likely since it would otherwise have to be a direct middle (“conform yourselves”) and, as such, would be quite rare for NT Greek. It is very telling that being “conformed” to the present world is viewed as a passive notion, for it may suggest that it happens, in part, subconsciously. At the same time, the passive could well be a “permissive passive,” suggesting that there may be some consciousness of the conformity taking place. Most likely, it is a combination of both.

[12:2]  ²⁰ tn Grk “to this age.”

[12:2]  ²¹ sn The verb translated test and approve (δοκιμάζω, dokimazw) carries the sense of “test with a positive outcome,” “test so as to approve.”

[12:9]  ²² tn The verb “must be” is understood in the Greek text.