John 8:41

8:41 You people ¹  are doing the deeds of your father.”

Then ²  they said to Jesus, ³  “We were not born as a result of immorality! ⁴  We have only one Father, God himself.”

Isaiah 48:1-2

The Lord Appeals to the Exiles

48:1 Listen to this, O family of Jacob, ⁵ 

you who are called by the name ‘Israel,’

and are descended from Judah, ⁶ 

who take oaths in the name of the Lord,

and invoke ⁷  the God of Israel –

but not in an honest and just manner. ⁸ 

48:2 Indeed, they live in the holy city; ⁹ 

they trust in ¹⁰  the God of Israel,

whose name is the Lord who commands armies.

Isaiah 66:5

66:5 Hear the word of the Lord,

you who respect what he has to say! ¹¹ 

Your countrymen, ¹²  who hate you

and exclude you, supposedly for the sake of my name,

say, “May the Lord be glorified,

then we will witness your joy.” ¹³ 

But they will be put to shame.

Hosea 1:9

1:9 Then the Lord ¹⁴  said: “Name him ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), because you ¹⁵  are not my people and I am not your ¹⁶  God.” ¹⁷ 

Romans 2:17-29

The Condemnation of the Jew

2:17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law ¹⁸  and boast of your relationship to God ¹⁹  2:18 and know his will ²⁰  and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law, ²¹  2:19 and if you are convinced ²²  that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 2:20 an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth – 2:21 therefore ²³  you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 2:22 You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor ²⁴  idols, do you rob temples? 2:23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law! 2:24 For just as it is written, “the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” ²⁵ 

2:25 For circumcision ²⁶  has its value if you practice the law, but ²⁷  if you break the law, ²⁸  your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 2:26 Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys ²⁹  the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 2:27 And will not the physically uncircumcised man ³⁰  who keeps the law judge you who, despite ³¹  the written code ³²  and circumcision, transgress the law? 2:28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh, 2:29 but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart ³³  by the Spirit ³⁴  and not by the written code. ³⁵  This person’s ³⁶  praise is not from people but from God.

[8:41]  ¹ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied in English to clarify the plural Greek pronoun and verb.

[8:41]  ² tc ‡ Important and early witnesses (א B L W 070 it sy^s,p co) lack the conjunction here, while the earliest witnesses along with many others read οὖν (oun, “therefore”; Ì^66,75 C D Θ Ψ 0250 ˹³ 33 Ï). This conjunction occurs in John some 200 times, far more than in any other NT book. Even though the combined testimony of two early papyri for the conjunction is impressive, the reading seems to be a predictable scribal emendation. In particular, οὖν is frequently used with the plural of εἶπον (eipon, “they said”) in John (in this chapter alone, note vv. 13, 39, 48, 57, and possibly 52). On balance, it is probably best to consider the shorter reading as authentic, even though “Then” is virtually required in translation for English stylistic reasons. NA²⁷ has the conjunction in brackets, indicating some doubt as to its authenticity.

[8:41]  ³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) is specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:41]  ⁴ sn We were not born as a result of immorality! is ironic, because Jesus’ opponents implied that it was not themselves but Jesus who had been born as a result of immoral behavior. This shows they did not know Jesus’ true origin and were not aware of the supernatural events surrounding his birth. The author does not even bother to refute the opponents’ suggestion but lets it stand, assuming his readers will know the true story.

[48:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV, CEV “people of Israel.”

[48:1]  ⁶ tc The Hebrew text reads literally “and from the waters of Judah came out.” מִמֵּי (mimme) could be a corruption of מִמְּעֵי (mimmÿ’e, “from the inner parts of”; cf. NASB, NIV, NLT, NRSV) as suggested in the above translation. Some translations (ESV, NKJV) retain the MT reading because the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, which corrects a similar form to “from inner parts of” in 39:7, does not do it here.

[48:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “cause to remember”; KJV, ASV “make mention of.”

[48:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “not in truth and not in righteousness.”

[48:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “they call themselves [or “are called”] from the holy city.” The precise meaning of the statement is uncertain. The Niphal of קָרָא (qara’) is combined with the preposition מִן (min) only here. When the Qal of קָרָא is used with מִן, the preposition often indicates the place from which one is summoned (see 46:11). So one could translate, “from the holy city they are summoned,” meaning that they reside there.

[48:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “lean on” (so NASB, NRSV); NAB, NIV “rely on.”

[66:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “who tremble at his word.”

[66:5]  ¹² tn Heb “brothers” (so NASB, NIV); NRSV “Your own people”; NLT “Your close relatives.”

[66:5]  ¹³ tn Or “so that we might witness your joy.” The point of this statement is unclear.

[1:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Then he said”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity. As in v. 6, many English versions specify the speaker here.

[1:9]  ¹⁵ tn The independent personal pronoun אַתֶּם (’attem, “you”) is a plural form, referring to the people of Israel as a whole. To make this clear TEV translates this as third person: “the people of Israel are not my people” (cf. CEV, NLT).

[1:9]  ¹⁶ tn The pronominal suffix on the preposition לָכֶם (lakhem, “your”) is a plural form, referring to the people of Israel as a whole.

[1:9]  ¹⁷ tc The MT reads לֹא־אֶהְיֶה לָכֶם (lo’-’ehyeh lakhem, “I will not be yours”). The editors of BHS suggest emending the text to לֹא־אֱלֹהֵיכֶם (lo’-’elohekhem, “I will not be your God”). The emendation creates a tighter parallel with the preceding אַתֶּם לֹא עַמִּי (’attem lo’ ’ammi, “you are not my people”). Because of a lack of external evidence, however, the reading of the MT should be retained.

[2:17]  ¹⁸ sn The law refers to the Mosaic law, described mainly in the OT books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

[2:17]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “boast in God.” This may be an allusion to Jer 9:24.

[2:18]  ²⁰ tn Grk “the will.”

[2:18]  ²¹ tn Grk “because of being instructed out of the law.”

[2:19]  ²² tn This verb is parallel to the verbs in vv. 17-18a, so it shares the conditional meaning even though the word “if” is not repeated.

[2:21]  ²³ tn The structure of vv. 21-24 is difficult. Some take these verses as the apodosis of the conditional clauses (protases) in vv. 17-20; others see vv. 17-20 as an instance of anacoluthon (a broken off or incomplete construction).

[2:22]  ²⁴ tn Or “detest.”

[2:24]  ²⁵ sn A quotation from Isa 52:5.

[2:25]  ²⁶ sn Circumcision refers to male circumcision as prescribed in the OT, which was given as a covenant to Abraham in Gen 17:10-14. Its importance for Judaism can hardly be overstated: According to J. D. G. Dunn (Romans [WBC], 1:120) it was the “single clearest distinguishing feature of the covenant people.” J. Marcus has suggested that the terms used for circumcision (περιτομή, peritomh) and uncircumcision (ἀκροβυστία, akrobustia) were probably derogatory slogans used by Jews and Gentiles to describe their opponents (“The Circumcision and the Uncircumcision in Rome,” NTS 35 [1989]: 77-80).

[2:25]  ²⁷ tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.

[2:25]  ²⁸ tn Grk “if you should be a transgressor of the law.”

[2:26]  ²⁹ tn The Greek word φυλάσσω (fulassw, traditionally translated “keep”) in this context connotes preservation of and devotion to an object as well as obedience.

[2:27]  ³⁰ tn Grk “the uncircumcision by nature.” The word “man” is supplied here to make clear that male circumcision (or uncircumcision) is in view.

[2:27]  ³¹ tn Grk “through,” but here the preposition seems to mean “(along) with,” “though provided with,” as BDAG 224 s.v. διά A.3.c indicates.

[2:27]  ³² tn Grk “letter.”

[2:29]  ³³ sn On circumcision is of the heart see Lev 26:41; Deut 10:16; Jer 4:4; Ezek 44:9.

[2:29]  ³⁴ tn Some have taken the phrase ἐν πνεύματι (en pneumati, “by/in [the] S/spirit”) not as a reference to the Holy Spirit, but referring to circumcision as “spiritual and not literal” (RSV).

[2:29]  ³⁵ tn Grk “letter.”

[2:29]  ³⁶ tn Grk “whose.” The relative pronoun has been replaced by the phrase “this person’s” and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started in the translation.