John 9:34

9:34 They replied, ¹  “You were born completely in sinfulness, ²  and yet you presume to teach us?” ³  So they threw him out.

John 9:40

9:40 Some of the Pharisees ⁴  who were with him heard this ⁵  and asked him, ⁶  “We are not blind too, are we?” ⁷ 

Isaiah 5:21

5:21 Those who think they are wise are as good as dead, ⁸ 

those who think they possess understanding. ⁹ 

Isaiah 28:14

The Lord Will Judge Jerusalem

28:14 Therefore, listen to the Lord’s word,

you who mock,

you rulers of these people

who reside in Jerusalem! ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 29:14-19

29:14 Therefore I will again do an amazing thing for these people –

an absolutely extraordinary deed. ¹¹ 

Wise men will have nothing to say,

the sages will have no explanations.” ¹² 

29:15 Those who try to hide their plans from the Lord are as good as dead, ¹³ 

who do their work in secret and boast, ¹⁴ 

“Who sees us? Who knows what we’re doing?” ¹⁵ 

29:16 Your thinking is perverse! ¹⁶ 

Should the potter be regarded as clay? ¹⁷ 

Should the thing made say ¹⁸  about its maker, “He didn’t make me”?

Or should the pottery say about the potter, “He doesn’t understand”?

Changes are Coming

29:17 In just a very short time ¹⁹ 

Lebanon will turn into an orchard,

and the orchard will be considered a forest. ²⁰ 

29:18 At that time ²¹  the deaf will be able to hear words read from a scroll,

and the eyes of the blind will be able to see through deep darkness. ²² 

29:19 The downtrodden will again rejoice in the Lord;

the poor among humankind will take delight ²³  in the Holy One of Israel. ²⁴ 

Isaiah 65:5

65:5 They say, ‘Keep to yourself!

Don’t get near me, for I am holier than you!’

These people are like smoke in my nostrils,

like a fire that keeps burning all day long.

Isaiah 65:1

The Lord Will Distinguish Between Sinners and the Godly

65:1 “I made myself available to those who did not ask for me; ²⁵ 

I appeared to those who did not look for me. ²⁶ 

I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’

to a nation that did not invoke ²⁷  my name.

Colossians 1:20-21

1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, ²⁸  whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Paul’s Goal in Ministry

1:21 And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your ²⁹  minds ³⁰  as expressed through ³¹  your evil deeds,

Colossians 3:18-20

Exhortation to Households

3:18 Wives, submit to your ³²  husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 3:19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. 3:20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing in the Lord.

James 3:13-18

True Wisdom

3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct he should show his works done in the gentleness that wisdom brings. ³³  3:14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfishness in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth. 3:15 Such ³⁴  wisdom does not come ³⁵  from above but is earthly, natural, ³⁶  demonic. 3:16 For where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is disorder and every evil practice. 3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, ³⁷  full of mercy and good fruit, ³⁸  impartial, and not hypocritical. ³⁹  3:18 And the fruit that consists of righteousness ⁴⁰  is planted ⁴¹  in peace among ⁴²  those who make peace.

[9:34]  ¹ tn Grk “They answered and said to him.” This has been simplified in the translation to “They replied.”

[9:34]  ² tn Or “From birth you have been evil.” The implication of this insult, in the context of John 9, is that the man whom Jesus caused to see had not previously adhered rigorously to all the conventional requirements of the OT law as interpreted by the Pharisees. Thus he had no right to instruct them about who Jesus was.

[9:34]  ³ tn Grk “and are you teaching us?”

[9:40]  ⁴ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[9:40]  ⁵ tn Grk “heard these things.”

[9:40]  ⁶ tn Grk “and said to him.”

[9:40]  ⁷ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “are we?”).

[5:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “Woe [to] the wise in their own eyes.” See the note at v. 8.

[5:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “[who] before their faces are understanding.”

[28:14]  ¹⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[29:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Therefore I will again do something amazing with these people, an amazing deed, an amazing thing.” This probably refers to the amazing transformation predicted in vv. 17-24, which will follow the purifying judgment implied in vv. 15-16.

[29:14]  ¹² tn Heb “the wisdom of their wise ones will perish, the discernment of their discerning ones will keep hidden.”

[29:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who deeply hide counsel from the Lord.” This probably alludes to political alliances made without seeking the Lord’s guidance. See 30:1-2 and 31:1.

[29:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and their works are in darkness and they say.”

[29:15]  ¹⁵ tn The rhetorical questions suggest the answer, “no one.” They are confident that their deeds are hidden from others, including God.

[29:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “your overturning.” The predicate is suppressed in this exclamation. The idea is, “O your perversity! How great it is!” See GKC 470 §147.c. The people “overturn” all logic by thinking their authority supersedes God’s.

[29:16]  ¹⁷ tn The expected answer to this rhetorical question is “of course not.” On the interrogative use of אִם (’im), see BDB 50 s.v.

[29:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “that the thing made should say.”

[29:17]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew text phrases this as a rhetorical question, “Is it not yet a little, a short [time]?”

[29:17]  ²⁰ sn The meaning of this verse is debated, but it seems to depict a reversal in fortunes. The mighty forest of Lebanon (symbolic of the proud and powerful, see 2:13; 10:34) will be changed into a common orchard, while the common orchard (symbolic of the oppressed and lowly) will grow into a great forest. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:538.

[29:18]  ²¹ tn Or “In that day” (KJV).

[29:18]  ²² tn Heb “and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.”

[29:19]  ²³ tn Or “will rejoice” (NIV, NCV, NLT).

[29:19]  ²⁴ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[65:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “I allowed myself to be sought by those who did not ask.”

[65:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “I allowed myself to be found by those who did not seek.”

[65:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “call out in”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “call on.”

[1:20]  ²⁸ tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì⁴⁶ א A C D¹ Ψ 048^vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.

[1:21]  ²⁹ tn The article τῇ (th) has been translated as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[1:21]  ³⁰ tn Although διανοία (dianoia) is singular in Greek, the previous plural noun ἐχθρούς (ecqrous) indicates that all those from Colossae are in view here.

[1:21]  ³¹ tn The dative ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς (en toi" ergoi" toi" ponhroi") is taken as means, indicating the avenue through which hostility in the mind is revealed and made known.

[3:18]  ³² tn The article τοῖς (tois) with ἀνδράσιν (andrasin, “husbands”) has been translated as a possessive pronoun (“your”); see ExSyn 215.

[3:13]  ³³ tn Grk “works in the gentleness of wisdom.”

[3:15]  ³⁴ tn Grk “This.”

[3:15]  ³⁵ tn Grk “come down”; “descend.”

[3:15]  ³⁶ tn Grk “soulish,” which describes life apart from God, characteristic of earthly human life as opposed to what is spiritual. Cf. 1 Cor 2:14; 15:44-46; Jude 19.

[3:17]  ³⁷ tn Or “willing to yield,” “open to persuasion.”

[3:17]  ³⁸ tn Grk “fruits.” The plural Greek term καρπούς has been translated with the collective singular “fruit.”

[3:17]  ³⁹ tn Or “sincere.”

[3:18]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “the fruit of righteousness,” meaning righteous living as a fruit, as the thing produced.

[3:18]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “is sown.”

[3:18]  ⁴² tn Or “for,” or possibly “by.”