Luke 7:35

7:35 But wisdom is vindicated ¹  by all her children.” ² 

Jude 1:7

1:7 So also ³  Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, ⁴  since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire ⁵  in a way similar to ⁶  these angels, ⁷  are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

Psalms 51:4

51:4 Against you – you above all ⁸  – I have sinned;

I have done what is evil in your sight.

So ⁹  you are just when you confront me; ¹⁰ 

you are right when you condemn me. ¹¹ 

Romans 3:4-6

3:4 Absolutely not! Let God be proven true, and every human being ¹²  shown up as a liar, ¹³  just as it is written: “so that you will be justified ¹⁴  in your words and will prevail when you are judged.” ¹⁵ 

3:5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates ¹⁶  the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is he? ¹⁷  (I am speaking in human terms.) ¹⁸  3:6 Absolutely not! For otherwise how could God judge the world?

Romans 10:3

10:3 For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

Revelation 15:3

15:3 They ¹⁹  sang the song of Moses the servant ²⁰  of God and the song of the Lamb: ²¹ 

“Great and astounding are your deeds,

Lord God, the All-Powerful! ²² 

Just ²³  and true are your ways,

King over the nations! ²⁴ 

Revelation 16:5

16:5 Now ²⁵  I heard the angel of the waters saying:

“You are just ²⁶  – the one who is and who was,

the Holy One – because you have passed these judgments, ²⁷ 

[7:35]  ¹ tn Or “shown to be right.” This is the same verb translated “acknowledged… justice” in v. 29, with a similar sense – including the notion of response. Wisdom’s children are those who respond to God through John and Jesus.

[7:35]  ² tn Or “by all those who follow her” (cf. CEV, NLT). Note that the parallel in Matt 11:19 reads “by her deeds.”

[1:7]  ³ tn Grk “as.”

[1:7]  ⁴ tn Grk “the towns [or cities] surrounding them.”

[1:7]  ⁵ tn Grk “strange flesh.” This phrase has been variously interpreted. It could refer to flesh of another species (such as angels lusting after human flesh). This would aptly describe the sin of the angels, but not easily explain the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. It could refer to the homosexual practices of the Sodomites, but a difficulty arises from the use of ἕτερος ({etero"; “strange,” “other”). When this is to be distinguished from ἄλλος (allos, “another”) it suggests “another of a different kind.” If so, would that properly describe homosexual behavior? In response, the language could easily be compact: “pursued flesh other than what was normally pursued.” However, would this find an analogy in the lust of angels (such would imply that angels normally had sexual relations of some sort, but cf. Matt 22:30)? Another alternative is that the focus of the parallel is on the activity of the surrounding cities and the activity of the angels. This is especially plausible since the participles ἐκπορνεύσασαι (ekporneusasai, “having indulged in sexual immorality”) and ἀπελθοῦσαι (apelqousai, “having pursued”) have concord with “cities” (πόλεις, poleis), a feminine plural noun, rather than with Sodom and Gomorrah (both masculine nouns). If so, then their sin would not necessarily have to be homosexuality. However, most likely the feminine participles are used because of constructio ad sensum (construction according to sense). That is, since both Sodom and Gomorrah are cities, the feminine is used to imply that all the cities are involved. The connection with angels thus seems to be somewhat loose: Both angels and Sodom and Gomorrah indulged in heinous sexual immorality. Thus, whether the false teachers indulge in homosexual activity is not the point; mere sexual immorality is enough to condemn them.

[1:7]  ⁶ tn Or “in the same way as.”

[1:7]  ⁷ tn “Angels” is not in the Greek text; but the masculine demonstrative pronoun most likely refers back to the angels of v. 6.

[51:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “only you,” as if the psalmist had sinned exclusively against God and no other. Since the Hebrew verb חָטָא (hata’, “to sin”) is used elsewhere of sinful acts against people (see BDB 306 s.v. 2.a) and David (the presumed author) certainly sinned when he murdered Uriah (2 Sam 12:9), it is likely that the psalmist is overstating the case to suggest that the attack on Uriah was ultimately an attack on God himself. To clarify the point of the hyperbole, the translation uses “especially,” rather than the potentially confusing “only.”

[51:4]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew term לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) normally indicates purpose (“in order that”), but here it introduces a logical consequence of the preceding statement. (Taking the clause as indicating purpose here would yield a theologically preposterous idea – the psalmist purposely sinned so that God’s justice might be vindicated!) For other examples of לְמַעַן indicating result, see 2 Kgs 22:17; Jer 27:15; Amos 2:7, as well as IBHS 638-40 §38.3.

[51:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “when you speak.” In this context the psalmist refers to God’s word of condemnation against his sin delivered through Nathan (cf. 2 Sam 12:7-12).

[51:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “when you judge.”

[3:4]  ¹² tn Grk “every man”; but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to stress humanity rather than masculinity.

[3:4]  ¹³ tn Grk “Let God be true, and every man a liar.” The words “proven” and “shown up” are supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning.

[3:4]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “might be justified,” a subjunctive verb, but in this type of clause it carries the same sense as the future indicative verb in the latter part. “Will” is more idiomatic in contemporary English.

[3:4]  ¹⁵ tn Or “prevail when you judge.” A quotation from Ps 51:4.

[3:5]  ¹⁶ tn Or “shows clearly.”

[3:5]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “That God is not unjust to inflict wrath, is he?”

[3:5]  ¹⁸ sn The same expression occurs in Gal 3:15, and similar phrases in Rom 6:19 and 1 Cor 9:8.

[15:3]  ¹⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[15:3]  ²⁰ tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

[15:3]  ²¹ tn Grk “saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[15:3]  ²² tn On this word BDAG 755 s.v. παντοκράτωρ states, “the Almighty, All-Powerful, Omnipotent (One) only of God…(ὁ) κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ π. …Rv 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 21:22.”

[15:3]  ²³ tn Or “righteous,” although the context favors justice as the theme.

[15:3]  ²⁴ tc Certain mss (Ì⁴⁷ א*^,2 C 1006 1611 1841 pc) read “ages” (αἰώνων, aiwnwn) instead of “nations” (ἐθνῶν, eqnwn), which itself is supported by several mss (א¹ A 051 Ï). The ms evidence seems to be fairly balanced, though αἰώνων has somewhat better support. The replacement of “ages” with “nations” is possibly a scribal attempt to harmonize this verse with the use of “nations” in the following verse. On the other hand, the idea of “nations” fits well with v. 4 and it may be that “ages” is a scribal attempt to assimilate this text to 1 Tim 1:17: “the king of the ages” (βασιλεὺς τῶν αἰώνων, basileu" twn aiwnwn). The decision is a difficult one since both scenarios deal well with the evidence, though the verbal parallel with 1 Tim 1:17 is exact while the parallel with v. 4 is not. The term “king” occurs 17 other times (most occurrences refer to earthly kings) in Revelation and it is not used with either “ages” or “nations” apart from this verse. Probably the reading “nations” should be considered original due to the influence of 1 Tim 1:17.

[16:5]  ²⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the somewhat parenthetical nature of the remarks that follow.

[16:5]  ²⁶ tn Or “righteous,” although the context favors justice as the theme.

[16:5]  ²⁷ tn Or “because you have judged these things.” The pronoun ταῦτα (tauta) is neuter gender.