James 2:3

2:3 do you pay attention to the one who is finely dressed and say, ¹  “You sit here in a good place,” ²  and to the poor person, “You stand over there,” or “Sit on the floor”? ³ 

James 2:9

2:9 But if you show prejudice, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as violators. ⁴ 

James 3:17

3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, ⁵  full of mercy and good fruit, ⁶  impartial, and not hypocritical. ⁷ 

Leviticus 19:15

Justice, Love, and Propriety

19:15 “‘You ⁸  must not deal unjustly in judgment: ⁹  you must neither show partiality to the poor nor honor the rich. ¹⁰  You must judge your fellow citizen fairly. ¹¹ 

Deuteronomy 1:17

1:17 They ¹²  must not discriminate in judgment, but hear the lowly ¹³  and the great alike. Nor should they be intimidated by human beings, for judgment belongs to God. If the matter being adjudicated is too difficult for them, they should bring it before me for a hearing.

Deuteronomy 16:19

16:19 You must not pervert justice or show favor. Do not take a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and distort ¹⁴  the words of the righteous. ¹⁵ 

Deuteronomy 16:2

16:2 You must sacrifice the Passover animal ¹⁶  (from the flock or the herd) to the Lord your God in the place where he ¹⁷  chooses to locate his name.

Deuteronomy 19:7

19:7 Therefore, I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.

Proverbs 24:23

Further Sayings of the Wise

24:23 These sayings also are from the wise:

To show partiality ¹⁸  in judgment is terrible: ¹⁹ 

Proverbs 28:21

28:21 To show partiality ²⁰  is terrible, ²¹ 

for a person will transgress over the smallest piece of bread. ²² 

Matthew 22:16

22:16 They sent to him their disciples along with the Herodians, ²³  saying, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful, and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. ²⁴  You do not court anyone’s favor because you show no partiality. ²⁵ 

Romans 1:11

1:11 For I long to see you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift ²⁶  to strengthen you,

Romans 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²⁷  a slave ²⁸  of Christ Jesus, ²⁹  called to be an apostle, ³⁰  set apart for the gospel of God. ³¹ 

Romans 5:21

5:21 so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Jude 1:16

1:16 These people are grumblers and ³²  fault-finders who go ³³  wherever their desires lead them, ³⁴  and they give bombastic speeches, ³⁵  enchanting folks ³⁶  for their own gain. ³⁷ 

[2:3]  ¹ tn Grk “and you pay attention…and say,” continuing the “if” clauses from v. 2. In the Greek text, vv. 2-4 form one long sentence.

[2:3]  ² tn Or “sit here, please.”

[2:3]  ³ tn Grk “sit under my footstool.” The words “on the floor” have been supplied in the translation to clarify for the modern reader the undesirability of this seating arrangement (so also TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). Another option followed by a number of translations is to replace “under my footstool” with “at my feet” (NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[2:9]  ⁴ tn Or “transgressors.”

[3:17]  ⁵ tn Or “willing to yield,” “open to persuasion.”

[3:17]  ⁶ tn Grk “fruits.” The plural Greek term καρπούς has been translated with the collective singular “fruit.”

[3:17]  ⁷ tn Or “sincere.”

[19:15]  ⁸ tc Smr has the singular rather than the plural “you” of the MT, which brings this verb form into line with the ones surrounding it.

[19:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “You shall not do injustice in judgment” (NASB similar); cf. NIV “do not pervert justice.”

[19:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “You shall not lift up faces of poor [people] and you shall not honor faces of great.”

[19:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “In righteousness you shall judge your fellow citizen.”

[1:17]  ¹² tn Heb “you,” and throughout the verse (cf. NASB, NRSV).

[1:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “the small,” but referring to social status, not physical stature.

[16:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “twist, overturn”; NRSV “subverts the cause.”

[16:19]  ¹⁵ tn Or “innocent”; NRSV “those who are in the right”; NLT “the godly.”

[16:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “sacrifice the Passover” (so NASB). The word “animal” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[16:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in the previous verse.

[24:23]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to recognize faces”; KJV, ASV “to have respect of persons”; NLT “to show favoritism.”

[24:23]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “not good.” This is a figure known as tapeinosis – a deliberate understatement to emphasize a worst-case scenario: “it is terrible!”

[28:21]  ²⁰ tn The construction uses the Hiphil infinitive הַכֵּר (hakken) as the subject of the sentence: “to have respect for [or, recognize] persons is not good” (e.g., 24:23; 18:5; Deut 1:17; Lev 19:15). Such favoritism is “not good”; instead, it is a miscarriage of justice and is to be avoided.

[28:21]  ²¹ tn Heb “not good.” This is a figure of speech known as tapeinosis – a deliberate understatement to emphasize a worst-case scenario: “it is terrible!”

[28:21]  ²² tn The meaning and connection of the line is not readily clear. It could be taken in one of two ways: (1) a person can steal even a small piece of bread if hungry, and so the court should show some compassion, or it should show no partiality even in such a pathetic case; (2) a person could be bribed for a very small price (a small piece of bread being the figure representing this). This second view harmonizes best with the law.

[22:16]  ²³ sn The Herodians are mentioned in the NT only once in Matt (22:16 = Mark 12:13) and twice in Mark (3:6; 12:13; some mss also read “Herodians” instead of “Herod” in Mark 8:15). It is generally assumed that as a group the Herodians were Jewish supporters of the Herodian dynasty (or of Herod Antipas in particular). In every instance they are linked with the Pharisees. This probably reflects agreement regarding political objectives (nationalism as opposed to submission to the yoke of Roman oppression) rather than philosophy or religious beliefs.

[22:16]  ²⁴ sn Teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Very few comments are as deceitful as this one; they did not really believe this at all. The question of the Pharisees and Herodians was specifically designed to trap Jesus.

[22:16]  ²⁵ tn Grk “And it is not a concern to you about anyone because you do not see the face of men.”

[1:11]  ²⁶ sn Paul does not mean here that he is going to bestow upon the Roman believers what is commonly known as a “spiritual gift,” that is, a special enabling for service given to believers by the Holy Spirit. Instead, this is either a metonymy of cause for effect (Paul will use his own spiritual gifts to edify the Romans), or it simply means something akin to a blessing or benefit in the spiritual realm. It is possible that Paul uses this phrase to connote specifically the broader purpose of his letter, which is for the Romans to understand his gospel, but this seems less likely.

[1:1]  ²⁷ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ²⁸ tn Traditionally, “servant.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  ²⁹ tc Many important mss, as well as several others (̲⁶ א A G Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï), have a reversed order of these words and read “Jesus Christ” rather than “Christ Jesus” (̹⁰ B 81 pc). The meaning is not affected in either case, but the reading “Christ Jesus” is preferred as slightly more difficult and thus more likely the original (a scribe who found it would be prone to change it to the more common expression). At the same time, Paul is fond of the order “Christ Jesus,” especially in certain letters such as Romans, Galatians, and Philippians. As well, the later Pauline letters almost uniformly use this order in the salutations. A decision is difficult, but “Christ Jesus” is slightly preferred.

[1:1]  ³⁰ tn Grk “a called apostle.”

[1:1]  ³¹ tn The genitive in the phrase εὐαγγέλιον θεοῦ (euangelion qeou, “the gospel of God”) could be translated as (1) a subjective genitive (“the gospel which God brings”) or (2) an objective genitive (“the gospel about God”). Either is grammatically possible. This is possibly an instance of a plenary genitive (see ExSyn 119-21; M. Zerwick, Biblical Greek, §§36-39). If so, an interplay between the two concepts is intended: The gospel which God brings is in fact the gospel about himself. However, in view of God’s action in v. 2 concerning this gospel, a subjective genitive notion (“the gospel which God brings”) is slightly preferred.

[1:16]  ³² tn “And” is not in Greek, but is supplied for the sake of English style.

[1:16]  ³³ tn Or “going.” Though the participle is anarthrous, so also is the subject. Thus, the participle could be either adverbial or adjectival.

[1:16]  ³⁴ tn Grk “(who go/going) according to their own lusts.”

[1:16]  ³⁵ tn Grk “and their mouth speaks bombastic things.”

[1:16]  ³⁶ sn Enchanting folks (Grk “awing faces”) refers to the fact that the speeches of these false teachers are powerful and seductive.

[1:16]  ³⁷ tn Or “to their own advantage.”