Leviticus 19:4

19:4 Do not turn to idols, ¹  and you must not make for yourselves gods of cast metal. I am the Lord your God.

Exodus 20:4-5

20:4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image ²  or any likeness ³  of anything ⁴  that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below. ⁵  20:5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, ⁶  for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous ⁷  God, responding to ⁸  the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations ⁹  of those who reject me, ¹⁰ 

Exodus 20:23

20:23 You must not make gods of silver alongside me, ¹¹  nor make gods of gold for yourselves. ¹² 

Exodus 23:24

23:24 “You must not bow down to their gods; you must not serve them or do according to their practices. Instead you must completely overthrow them and smash their standing stones ¹³  to pieces. ¹⁴ 

Exodus 34:17

34:17 You must not make yourselves molten gods.

Deuteronomy 4:16-19

4:16 I say this ¹⁵  so you will not corrupt yourselves by making an image in the form of any kind of figure. This includes the likeness of a human male or female, 4:17 any kind of land animal, any bird that flies in the sky, 4:18 anything that crawls ¹⁶  on the ground, or any fish in the deep waters of the earth. ¹⁷  4:19 When you look up ¹⁸  to the sky ¹⁹  and see the sun, moon, and stars – the whole heavenly creation ²⁰  – you must not be seduced to worship and serve them, ²¹  for the Lord your God has assigned ²²  them to all the people ²³  of the world. ²⁴ 

Deuteronomy 5:8-9

5:8 You must not make for yourself an image ²⁵  of anything in heaven above, on earth below, or in the waters beneath. ²⁶  5:9 You must not worship or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. I punish ²⁷  the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons for the sin of the fathers who reject ²⁸  me, ²⁹ 

Deuteronomy 16:21-22

Examples of Legal Cases

16:21 You must not plant any kind of tree as a sacred Asherah pole ³⁰  near the altar of the Lord your God which you build for yourself. 16:22 You must not erect a sacred pillar, ³¹  a thing the Lord your God detests.

Deuteronomy 27:15

27:15 ‘Cursed is the one ³²  who makes a carved or metal image – something abhorrent ³³  to the Lord, the work of the craftsman ³⁴  – and sets it up in a secret place.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ ³⁵ 

Psalms 97:7

97:7 All who worship idols are ashamed,

those who boast about worthless idols.

All the gods bow down before him. ³⁶ 

Psalms 115:4-8

115:4 Their ³⁷  idols are made of silver and gold –

they are man-made. ³⁸ 

115:5 They have mouths, but cannot speak,

eyes, but cannot see,

115:6 ears, but cannot hear,

noses, but cannot smell,

115:7 hands, but cannot touch,

feet, but cannot walk.

They cannot even clear their throats. ³⁹ 

115:8 Those who make them will end up ⁴⁰  like them,

as will everyone who trusts in them.

Isaiah 2:20

2:20 At that time ⁴¹  men will throw

their silver and gold idols,

which they made for themselves to worship, ⁴² 

into the caves where rodents and bats live, ⁴³ 

Isaiah 44:9-20

44:9 All who form idols are nothing;

the things in which they delight are worthless.

Their witnesses cannot see;

they recognize nothing, so they are put to shame.

44:10 Who forms a god and casts an idol

that will prove worthless? ⁴⁴ 

44:11 Look, all his associates ⁴⁵  will be put to shame;

the craftsmen are mere humans. ⁴⁶ 

Let them all assemble and take their stand!

They will panic and be put to shame.

44:12 A blacksmith works with his tool ⁴⁷ 

and forges metal over the coals.

He forms it ⁴⁸  with hammers;

he makes it with his strong arm.

He gets hungry and loses his energy; ⁴⁹ 

he drinks no water and gets tired.

44:13 A carpenter takes measurements; ⁵⁰ 

he marks out an outline of its form; ⁵¹ 

he scrapes ⁵²  it with chisels,

and marks it with a compass.

He patterns it after the human form, ⁵³ 

like a well-built human being,

and puts it in a shrine. ⁵⁴ 

44:14 He cuts down cedars

and acquires a cypress ⁵⁵  or an oak.

He gets ⁵⁶  trees from the forest;

he plants a cedar ⁵⁷  and the rain makes it grow.

44:15 A man uses it to make a fire; ⁵⁸ 

he takes some of it and warms himself.

Yes, he kindles a fire and bakes bread.

Then he makes a god and worships it;

he makes an idol and bows down to it. ⁵⁹ 

44:16 Half of it he burns in the fire –

over that half he cooks ⁶⁰  meat;

he roasts a meal and fills himself.

Yes, he warms himself and says,

‘Ah! I am warm as I look at the fire.’

44:17 With the rest of it he makes a god, his idol;

he bows down to it and worships it.

He prays to it, saying,

‘Rescue me, for you are my god!’

44:18 They do not comprehend or understand,

for their eyes are blind and cannot see;

their minds do not discern. ⁶¹ 

44:19 No one thinks to himself,

nor do they comprehend or understand and say to themselves:

‘I burned half of it in the fire –

yes, I baked bread over the coals;

I roasted meat and ate it.

With the rest of it should I make a disgusting idol?

Should I bow down to dry wood?’ ⁶² 

44:20 He feeds on ashes; ⁶³ 

his deceived mind misleads him.

He cannot rescue himself,

nor does he say, ‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’ ⁶⁴ 

Isaiah 48:5-8

48:5 I announced them to you beforehand;

before they happened, I predicted them for you,

so you could never say,

‘My image did these things,

my idol, my cast image, decreed them.’

48:6 You have heard; now look at all the evidence! ⁶⁵ 

Will you not admit that what I say is true? ⁶⁶ 

From this point on I am announcing to you new events

that are previously unrevealed and you do not know about. ⁶⁷ 

48:7 Now they come into being, ⁶⁸  not in the past;

before today you did not hear about them,

so you could not say,

‘Yes, ⁶⁹  I know about them.’

48:8 You did not hear,

you do not know,

you were not told beforehand. ⁷⁰ 

For I know that you are very deceitful; ⁷¹ 

you were labeled ⁷²  a rebel from birth.

Jeremiah 10:3-8

10:3 For the religion ⁷³  of these people is worthless.

They cut down a tree in the forest,

and a craftsman makes it into an idol with his tools. ⁷⁴ 

10:4 He decorates it with overlays of silver and gold.

He uses hammer and nails to fasten it ⁷⁵  together

so that it will not fall over.

10:5 Such idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field.

They cannot talk.

They must be carried

because they cannot walk.

Do not be afraid of them

because they cannot hurt you.

And they do not have any power to help you.” ⁷⁶ 

10:6 I said, ⁷⁷ 

“There is no one like you, Lord. ⁷⁸ 

You are great.

And you are renowned for your power. ⁷⁹ 

10:7 Everyone should revere you, O King of all nations, ⁸⁰ 

because you deserve to be revered. ⁸¹ 

For there is no one like you

among any of the wise people of the nations nor among any of their kings. ⁸² 

10:8 The people of those nations ⁸³  are both stupid and foolish.

Instruction from a wooden idol is worthless! ⁸⁴ 

Acts 17:29

17:29 So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity ⁸⁵  is like gold or silver or stone, an image ⁸⁶  made by human ⁸⁷  skill ⁸⁸  and imagination. ⁸⁹ 

Romans 2:22-23

2:22 You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor ⁹⁰  idols, do you rob temples? 2:23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law!

Romans 2:1

The Condemnation of the Moralist

2:1 ⁹¹ Therefore ⁹²  you are without excuse, ⁹³  whoever you are, ⁹⁴  when you judge someone else. ⁹⁵  For on whatever grounds ⁹⁶  you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.

Colossians 1:19-20

1:19 For God ⁹⁷  was pleased to have all his ⁹⁸  fullness dwell ⁹⁹  in the Son ¹⁰⁰ 

1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, ¹⁰¹  whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Revelation 13:14-15

13:14 and, by the signs he was permitted to perform on behalf of the beast, he deceived those who live on the earth. He told ¹⁰²  those who live on the earth to make an image to the beast who had been wounded by the sword, but still lived. 13:15 The second beast ¹⁰³  was empowered ¹⁰⁴  to give life ¹⁰⁵  to the image of the first beast ¹⁰⁶  so that it could speak, and could cause all those who did not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

Revelation 22:15

22:15 Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers ¹⁰⁷  and the sexually immoral, and the murderers, and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood! ¹⁰⁸ 

[19:4]  ¹ sn Regarding the difficult etymology and meaning of the term for “idols” (אֱלִילִים, ’elilim), see B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 126; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 304; N. H. Snaith, Leviticus and Numbers (NBC), 89; and Judith M. Hadley, NIDOTTE 1:411. It appears to be a diminutive play on words with אֵל (’el, “god; God”) and, perhaps at the same time, recalls a common Semitic word for “worthless; weak; powerless; nothingness.” Snaith suggests a rendering of “worthless godlings.”

[20:4]  ² tn A פֶּסֶל (pesel) is an image that was carved out of wood or stone. The Law was concerned with a statue that would be made for the purpose of worship, an idol to be venerated, and not any ordinary statue.

[20:4]  ³ tn The word תְּמוּנָה (tÿmunah) refers to the mental pattern from which the פֶּסֶל (pesel) is constructed; it is a real or imagined resemblance. If this is to stand as a second object to the verb, then the verb itself takes a slightly different nuance here. It would convey “you shall not make an image, neither shall you conceive a form” for worship (B. Jacob, Exodus, 547). Some simply make the second word qualify the first: “you shall not make an idol in the form of…” (NIV).

[20:4]  ⁴ tn Here the phrase “of anything” has been supplied.

[20:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “under the earth” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[20:5]  ⁶ tn The combination of these two verbs customarily refers to the worship of pagan deities (e.g., Deut 17:3: 30:17; Jer 8:2; see J. J. Stamm and M. E. Andrew, The Ten Commandments in Recent Research [SBT], 86). The first verb is לאֹ־תִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה (lo’ tishtakhaveh), now to be classified as a hishtaphel imperfect from חָוָה (khavah; BDB 1005 s.v. שׁחה), “to cause oneself to be low to the ground.” It is used of the true worship of God as well. The second verb is וְלֹא תָעָבְדֵם (vÿlo’ to’ovdem). The two could be taken as a hendiadys: “you will not prostrate yourself to serve them.” In an interesting side comment U. Cassuto (Exodus, 242) offers an explanation of the spelling of the second verb: he suggests that it was spelled with the qamets khatuf vowel to show contempt for pagan worship, as if their conduct does not even warrant a correct spelling of the word “serve.” Gesenius says that the forms like this are anomalous, but he wonders if they were pointed as if the verb was a Hophal with the meaning “you shall not allow yourself to be brought to worship them” (GKC 161 §60.b). But this is unlikely.

[20:5]  ⁷ sn The word “jealous” is the same word often translated “zeal” or “zealous.” The word describes a passionate intensity to protect or defend something that is jeopardized. The word can also have the sense of “envy,” but in that case the object is out of bounds. God’s zeal or jealousy is to protect his people or his institutions or his honor. Yahweh’s honor is bound up with the life of his people.

[20:5]  ⁸ tn Verses 5 and 6 are very concise, and the word פָּקַד (paqad) is difficult to translate. Often rendered “visiting,” it might here be rendered “dealing with” in a negative sense or “punishing,” but it describes positive attention in 13:19. When used of God, it essentially means that God intervenes in the lives of people for blessing or for cursing. Some would simply translate the participle here as “punishing” the children for the sins of the fathers (cf. Lev 18:25; Isa 26:21; Jer 29:32; 36:31; Hos 1:4; Amos 3:2). That is workable, but may not say enough. The verse may indicate that those who hate Yahweh and do not keep his commandments will repeat the sins their fathers committed and suffer for them. Deut 24:16 says that individuals will die for their own sins and not their father’s sins (see also Deut 7:10 and Ezek 18). It may have more to do with patterns of sin being repeated from generation to generation; if the sin and the guilt were not fully developed in the one generation, then left unchecked they would develop and continue in the next. But it may also indicate that the effects of the sins of the fathers will be experienced in the following generations, especially in the case of Israel as a national entity (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 243). God is showing here that his ethical character is displayed in how he deals with sin and righteousness, all of which he describes as giving strong motivation for loyalty to him and for avoiding idolatry. There is a justice at work in the dealings of God that is not present in the pagan world.

[20:5]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew word for “generations” is not found in v. 5 or 6. The numbers are short for a longer expression, which is understood as part of the description of the children already mentioned (see Deut 7:9, where “generation” [דּוֹר, dor] is present and more necessary, since “children” have not been mentioned).

[20:5]  ¹⁰ tn This is an important qualification to the principle. The word rendered “reject” is often translated “hate” and carries with it the idea of defiantly rejecting and opposing God and his word. Such people are doomed to carry on the sins of their ancestors and bear guilt with them.

[20:23]  ¹¹ tn The direct object of the verb must be “gods of silver.” The prepositional phrase modifies the whole verse to say that these gods would then be alongside the one true God.

[20:23]  ¹² tn Heb “neither will you make for you gods of gold.”

[23:24]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew is מַצֵּבֹתֵיהֶם (matsevotehem, “their standing stones”); these long stones were erected to represent the abode of the numen or deity. They were usually set up near the altar or the high place. To destroy these would be to destroy the centers of Canaanite worship in the land.

[23:24]  ¹⁴ tn Both verbs are joined with their infinitive absolutes to provide the strongest sense to these instructions. The images of the false gods in Canaan were to be completely and utterly destroyed. This could not be said any more strongly.

[4:16]  ¹⁵ tn The words “I say this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text v. 16 is subordinated to “Be careful” in v. 15, but this makes for an unduly long sentence in English.

[4:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “creeping thing.”

[4:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “under the earth.”

[4:19]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “lest you lift up your eyes.” In the Hebrew text vv. 16-19 are subordinated to “Be careful” in v. 15, but this makes for an unduly long sentence in English.

[4:19]  ¹⁹ tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[4:19]  ²⁰ tn Heb “all the host of heaven.”

[4:19]  ²¹ tn In the Hebrew text the verbal sequence in v. 19 is “lest you look up…and see…and be seduced…and worship them…and serve them.” However, the first two actions are not prohibited in and of themselves. The prohibition pertains to the final three actions. The first two verbs describe actions that are logically subordinate to the following actions and can be treated as temporal or circumstantial: “lest, looking up…and seeing…, you are seduced.” See Joüon 2:635 §168.h.

[4:19]  ²² tn Or “allotted.”

[4:19]  ²³ tn Or “nations.”

[4:19]  ²⁴ tn Heb “under all the heaven.”

[5:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “an image, any likeness.”

[5:8]  ²⁶ tn Heb “under the earth” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV); NCV “below the land.”

[5:9]  ²⁷ tn In the Hebrew text the form is a participle, which is subordinated to what precedes. For the sake of English style, the translation divides this lengthy verse into two sentences.

[5:9]  ²⁸ tn Heb “who hate” (so NAB, NIV, NLT). Just as “to love” (אָהַב, ’ahav) means in a covenant context “to choose, obey,” so “to hate” (שָׂנֵא, sane’) means “to reject, disobey” (cf. the note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37; see also 5:10).

[5:9]  ²⁹ tn Heb “visiting the sin of fathers upon sons and upon a third (generation) and upon a fourth (generation) of those who hate me.” God sometimes punishes children for the sins of a father (cf. Num 16:27, 32; Josh 7:24-25; 2 Sam 21:1-9). On the principle of corporate solidarity and responsibility in OT thought see J. Kaminsky, Corporate Responsibility in the Hebrew Bible (JSOTSup). In the idiom of the text, the father is the first generation and the “sons” the second generation, making grandsons the third and great-grandsons the fourth. The reference to a third and fourth generation is a way of emphasizing that the sinner’s punishment would last throughout his lifetime. In this culture, where men married and fathered children at a relatively young age, it would not be unusual for one to see his great-grandsons. In an Aramaic tomb inscription from Nerab dating to the seventh century b.c., Agbar observes that he was surrounded by “children of the fourth generation” as he lay on his death bed (see ANET 661). The language of the text differs from Exod 34:7, the sons are the first generation, the grandsons (literally, “sons of the sons”) the second, great-grandsons the third, and great-great-grandsons the fourth. One could argue that formulation in Deut 5:9 (see also Exod 20:50) is elliptical/abbreviated or that it suffers from textual corruption (the repetition of the words “sons” would invite accidental omission).

[16:21]  ³⁰ tn Heb “an Asherah, any tree.”

[16:22]  ³¹ sn Sacred pillar. This refers to the stelae (stone pillars; the Hebrew term is מַצֵּבֹת, matsevot) associated with Baal worship, perhaps to mark a spot hallowed by an alleged visitation of the gods. See also Deut 7:5.

[27:15]  ³² tn Heb “man,” but in a generic sense here.

[27:15]  ³³ tn The Hebrew term translated here “abhorrent” (תּוֹעֵבָה, to’evah) speaks of attitudes and/or behaviors so vile as to be reprehensible to a holy God. See note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25.

[27:15]  ³⁴ tn Heb “craftsman’s hands.”

[27:15]  ³⁵ tn Or “So be it!” The term is an affirmation expressing agreement with the words of the Levites.

[97:7]  ³⁶ tn The translation assumes that the prefixed verbal form in the first line is an imperfect (“are ashamed”) and that the ambiguous form in the third line is a perfect (“bow down”) because the psalmist appears to be describing the effect of the Lord’s mighty theophany on those who witness it (see vv. 5, 8). Another option is to take the prefixed form in the first line as a jussive (“let all who worship idols be ashamed”) and the ambiguous form in the third line as an imperative (“All you gods, bow down before him!”; cf. NIV).

[115:4]  ³⁷ tn The referent of the pronominal suffix is “the nations” (v. 2).

[115:4]  ³⁸ tn Heb “the work of the hands of man.”

[115:7]  ³⁹ tn Heb “they cannot mutter in their throats.” Verse 5a refers to speaking, v. 7c to inarticulate sounds made in the throat (see M. Dahood, Psalms [AB], 3:140-41).

[115:8]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “will be.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a prayer, “may those who make them end up like them.”

[2:20]  ⁴¹ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[2:20]  ⁴² tn Or “bow down to.”

[2:20]  ⁴³ tn Heb “to the shrews and to the bats.” On the meaning of חֲפַרְפָּרָה (khafarparah, “shrew”), see HALOT 341 s.v. חֲפַרְפָּרָה. The BHS text as it stands (לַחְפֹּר פֵּרוֹת, perot lakhpor), makes no sense. Based on Theodotion’s transliteration and a similar reading in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, most scholars suggest that the MT mistakenly divided a noun (a hapax legomenon) that should be translated “moles,” “shrews,” or “rodents.”

[44:10]  ⁴⁴ tn The rhetorical question is sarcastic. The sense is, “Who is foolish enough…?”

[44:11]  ⁴⁵ tn The pronoun “his” probably refers to the one who forms/casts an idol (v. 10), in which case it refers to the craftsman’s associates in the idol-manufacturing guild.

[44:11]  ⁴⁶ sn The point seems to be this: If the idols are the mere products of human hands, then those who trust in them will be disappointed, for man-made gods are incapable of helping their “creators.”

[44:12]  ⁴⁷ tn The noun מַעֲצָד (ma’atsad), which refers to some type of tool used for cutting, occurs only here and in Jer 10:3. See HALOT 615 s.v. מַעֲצָד.

[44:12]  ⁴⁸ tn Some English versions take the pronoun “it” to refer to an idol being fashioned by the blacksmith (cf. NIV, NCV, CEV). NLT understands the referent to be “a sharp tool,” which is then used by the carpenter in the following verse to carve an idol from wood.

[44:12]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “and there is no strength”; NASB “his strength fails.”

[44:13]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “stretches out a line” (ASV similar); NIV “measures with a line.”

[44:13]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “he makes an outline with the [?].” The noun שֶׂרֶד (shered) occurs only here; it apparently refers to some type of tool or marker. Cf. KJV “with a line”; ASV “with a pencil”; NAB, NRSV “with a stylus”; NASB “with red chalk”; NIV “with a marker.”

[44:13]  ⁵² tn Heb “works” (so NASB) or “fashions” (so NRSV); NIV “he roughs it out.”

[44:13]  ⁵³ tn Heb “he makes it like the pattern of a man”; NAB “like a man in appearance.”

[44:13]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “like the glory of man to sit [in] a house”; NIV “that it may dwell in a shrine.”

[44:14]  ⁵⁵ tn It is not certain what type of tree this otherwise unattested noun refers to. Cf. ASV “a holm-tree” (NRSV similar).

[44:14]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “strengthens for himself,” i.e., “secures for himself” (see BDB 55 s.v. אָמֵץ Pi.2).

[44:14]  ⁵⁷ tn Some prefer to emend אֹרֶן (’oren) to אֶרֶז (’erez, “cedar”), but the otherwise unattested noun appears to have an Akkadian cognate, meaning “cedar.” See H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 44-45. HALOT 90 s.v. I אֹרֶן offers the meaning “laurel.”

[44:15]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “and it becomes burning [i.e., firewood] for a man”; NAB “to serve man for fuel.”

[44:15]  ⁵⁹ tn Or perhaps, “them.”

[44:16]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “eats” (so NASB); NAB, NRSV “roasts.”

[44:18]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “for their eyes are smeared over so they cannot see, so their heart cannot be wise.”

[44:19]  ⁶² tn There is no formal interrogative sign here, but the context seems to indicate these are rhetorical questions. See GKC 473 §150.a.

[44:20]  ⁶³ tn Or perhaps, “he eats on an ash heap.”

[44:20]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “Is it not a lie in my right hand?”

[48:6]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “gaze [at] all of it”; KJV “see all this.”

[48:6]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “[as for] you, will you not declare?”

[48:6]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “and hidden things, and you do not know them.”

[48:7]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “are created” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “They are brand new.”

[48:7]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “look”; KJV, NASB “Behold.”

[48:8]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “beforehand your ear did not open.”

[48:8]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “deceiving, you deceive.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

[48:8]  ⁷² tn Or “called” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[10:3]  ⁷³ tn Heb “statutes.” According to BDB 350 s.v. חֻקָּה 2.b it refers to the firmly established customs or practices of the pagan nations. Compare the usage in Lev 20:23; 2 Kgs 17:8. Here it is essentially equivalent to דֶּרֶךְ (derekh) in v. 1, which has already been translated “religious practices.”

[10:3]  ⁷⁴ sn This passage is dripping with sarcasm. It begins by talking about the “statutes” of the pagan peoples as a “vapor” using a singular copula and singular predicate. Then it suppresses the subject, the idol, as though it were too horrible to mention, using only the predications about it. The last two lines read literally: “[it is] a tree which one cuts down from the forest; the work of the hands of a craftsman with his chisel.”

[10:4]  ⁷⁵ tn The pronoun is plural in Hebrew, referring to the parts.

[10:5]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “And it is not in them to do good either.”

[10:6]  ⁷⁷ tn The words “I said” are not in the Hebrew text, but there appears to be a shift in speaker. Someone is now addressing the Lord. The likely speaker is Jeremiah, so the words “I said” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[10:6]  ⁷⁸ tn The form that introduces this line has raised debate. The form מֵאֵין (me’en) normally means “without” and introduces a qualification of a term expressing desolation or “so that not” and introduces a negative result (cf. BDB 35 s.v. II אַיִן 6.b). Neither of these nuances fit either this verse or the occurrence in v. 7. BDB 35 s.v. II אַיִן 6.b.γ notes that some have explained this as a strengthened form of אַיִן (’ayin) which occurs in a similar phrase five other times (cf., e.g., 1 Kgs 8:23). Though many including BDB question the validity of this solution it is probably better than the suggestion that BDB gives of repointing to מֵאַיִן (me’ayin, “whence”), which scarcely fits the context of v. 7, or the solution of HALOT 41 s.v. I אַיִן, which suggests that the מ (mem) is a double writing (dittograph) of the final consonant from the preceding word. That would assume that the scribe made the same error twice or was influenced the second time by the first erroneous writing.

[10:6]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “Great is your name in power.”

[10:7]  ⁸⁰ tn Heb “Who should not revere you…?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.

[10:7]  ⁸¹ tn Heb “For it is fitting to you.”

[10:7]  ⁸² tn Heb “their royalty/dominion.” This is a case of substitution of the abstract for the concrete “royalty, royal power” for “kings” who exercise it.

[10:8]  ⁸³ tn Or “Those wise people and kings are…” It is unclear whether the subject is the “they” of the nations in the preceding verse, or the wise people and kings referred to. The text merely has “they.”

[10:8]  ⁸⁴ tn Heb “The instruction of vanities [worthless idols] is wood.” The meaning of this line is a little uncertain. Various proposals have been made to make sense, most of which involve radical emendation of the text. For some examples see J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah (NICOT), 323-24, fn 6. However, this is probably a case of the bold predication that discussed in GKC 452 §141.d, some examples of which may be seen in Ps 109:4 “I am prayer,” and Ps 120:7 “I am peace.”

[17:29]  ⁸⁵ tn Or “the divine being.” BDAG 446 s.v. θεῖος 1.b has “divine being, divinity” here.

[17:29]  ⁸⁶ tn Or “a likeness.” Again idolatry is directly attacked as an affront to God and a devaluation of him.

[17:29]  ⁸⁷ tn Grk “by the skill and imagination of man,” but ἀνθρώπου (anqrwpou) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

[17:29]  ⁸⁸ tn Or “craftsmanship” (cf. BDAG 1001 s.v. τέχνη).

[17:29]  ⁸⁹ tn Or “thought.” BDAG 336 s.v. ἐνθύμησις has “thought, reflection, idea” as the category of meaning here, but in terms of creativity (as in the context) the imaginative faculty is in view.

[2:22]  ⁹⁰ tn Or “detest.”

[2:1]  ⁹¹ sn Rom 2:1-29 presents unusual difficulties for the interpreter. There have been several major approaches to the chapter and the group(s) it refers to: (1) Rom 2:14 refers to Gentile Christians, not Gentiles who obey the Jewish law. (2) Paul in Rom 2 is presenting a hypothetical viewpoint: If anyone could obey the law, that person would be justified, but no one can. (3) The reference to “the ones who do the law” in 2:13 are those who “do” the law in the right way, on the basis of faith, not according to Jewish legalism. (4) Rom 2:13 only speaks about Christians being judged in the future, along with such texts as Rom 14:10 and 2 Cor 5:10. (5) Paul’s material in Rom 2 is drawn heavily from Diaspora Judaism, so that the treatment of the law presented here cannot be harmonized with other things Paul says about the law elsewhere (E. P. Sanders, Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People, 123); another who sees Rom 2 as an example of Paul’s inconsistency in his treatment of the law is H. Räisänen, Paul and the Law [WUNT], 101-9. (6) The list of blessings and curses in Deut 27–30 provide the background for Rom 2; the Gentiles of 2:14 are Gentile Christians, but the condemnation of Jews in 2:17-24 addresses the failure of Jews as a nation to keep the law as a whole (A. Ito, “Romans 2: A Deuteronomistic Reading,” JSNT 59 [1995]: 21-37).

[2:1]  ⁹² tn Some interpreters (e.g., C. K. Barrett, Romans [HNTC], 43) connect the inferential Διό (dio, “therefore”) with 1:32a, treating 1:32b as a parenthetical comment by Paul.

[2:1]  ⁹³ tn That is, “you have nothing to say in your own defense” (so translated by TCNT).

[2:1]  ⁹⁴ tn Grk “O man.”

[2:1]  ⁹⁵ tn Grk “Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone [of you] who judges.”

[2:1]  ⁹⁶ tn Grk “in/by (that) which.”

[1:19]  ⁹⁷ tn The noun “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but since God is the one who reconciles the world to himself (cf. 2 Cor 5:19), he is clearly the subject of εὐδόκησεν (eudokhsen).

[1:19]  ⁹⁸ tn The Greek article τό (to), insofar as it relates to God, may be translated as a possessive pronoun, i.e., “his.” BDAG 404 s.v. εὐδοκέω 1 translates the phrase as “all the fullness willed to dwell in him” thus leaving the referent as impersonal. Insofar as Paul is alluding to the so-called emanations from God this is acceptable. But the fact that “the fullness” dwells in a person (i.e., “in him”) seems to argue for the translation “his fullness” where “his” refers to God.

[1:19]  ⁹⁹ tn The aorist verb κατοικῆσαι (katoikhsai) could be taken as an ingressive, in which case it refers to the incarnation and may be translated as “begin to dwell, to take up residence.” It is perhaps better, though, to take it as a constative aorist and simply a reference to the fact that the fullness of God dwells in Jesus Christ. This is a permanent dwelling, though, not a temporary one, as the present tense in 2:9 makes clear.

[1:19]  ¹⁰⁰ tn Grk “him”; the referent (the Son; see v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:20]  ¹⁰¹ 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.

[13:14]  ¹⁰² tn Grk “earth, telling.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in Greek.

[13:15]  ¹⁰³ tn Grk “it”; the referent (the second beast) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:15]  ¹⁰⁴ tn Grk “it was given [permitted] to it [the second beast].”

[13:15]  ¹⁰⁵ tn Grk “breath,” but in context the point is that the image of the first beast is made to come to life and speak.

[13:15]  ¹⁰⁶ tn Grk “of the beast”; the word “first” has been supplied to specify the referent.

[22:15]  ¹⁰⁷ tn On the term φάρμακοι (farmakoi) see L&N 53.101.

[22:15]  ¹⁰⁸ tn Or “lying,” “deceit.”