Numbers 25:11-13

25:11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites, when he manifested such zeal ¹  for my sake among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in my zeal. ²  25:12 Therefore, announce: ³  ‘I am going to give ⁴  to him my covenant of peace. ⁵  25:13 So it will be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of a permanent priesthood, because he has been zealous for his God, ⁶  and has made atonement ⁷  for the Israelites.’”

Psalms 69:9

69:9 Certainly ⁸  zeal for ⁹  your house ¹⁰  consumes me;

I endure the insults of those who insult you. ¹¹ 

John 2:17

2:17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal ¹²  for your house will devour me.” ¹³ 

Romans 12:11

12:11 Do not lag in zeal, be enthusiastic in spirit, serve the Lord.

Romans 12:2

12:2 Do not be conformed ¹⁴  to this present world, ¹⁵  but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve ¹⁶  what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

Colossians 1:11

1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of ¹⁷  all patience and steadfastness, joyfully

Galatians 4:18

4:18 However, it is good ¹⁸  to be sought eagerly ¹⁹  for a good purpose ²⁰  at all times, and not only when I am present with you.

Titus 2:14

2:14 He ²¹  gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, ²²  who are eager to do good. ²³ 

[25:11]  ¹ tn Heb “he was zealous with my zeal.” The repetition of forms for “zeal” in the line stresses the passion of Phinehas. The word “zeal” means a passionate intensity to protect or preserve divine or social institutions.

[25:11]  ² tn The word for “zeal” now occurs a third time. While some English versions translate this word here as “jealousy” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV), it carries the force of God’s passionate determination to defend his rights and what is right about the covenant and the community and parallels the “zeal” that Phinehas had just demonstrated.

[25:12]  ³ tn Heb “say.”

[25:12]  ⁴ tn Here too the grammar expresses an imminent future by using the particle הִנְנִי (hinni) before the participle נֹתֵן (noten) – “here I am giving,” or “I am about to give.”

[25:12]  ⁵ tn Or “my pledge of friendship” (NAB), or “my pact of friendship” (NJPS). This is the designation of the leadership of the priestly ministry. The terminology is used again in the rebuke of the priests in Mal 2.

[25:13]  ⁶ tn The motif is reiterated here. Phinehas was passionately determined to maintain the rights of his God by stopping the gross sinful perversions.

[25:13]  ⁷ sn The atonement that he made in this passage refers to the killing of the two obviously blatant sinners. By doing this he dispensed with any animal sacrifice, for the sinners themselves died. In Leviticus it was the life of the substitutionary animal that was taken in place of the sinners that made atonement. The point is that sin was punished by death, and so God was free to end the plague and pardon the people. God’s holiness and righteousness have always been every bit as important as God’s mercy and compassion, for without righteousness and holiness mercy and compassion mean nothing.

[69:9]  ⁸ tn Or “for.” This verse explains that the psalmist’s suffering is due to his allegiance to God.

[69:9]  ⁹ tn Or “devotion to.”

[69:9]  ¹⁰ sn God’s house, the temple, here represents by metonymy God himself.

[69:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the insults of those who insult you fall upon me.”

[2:17]  ¹² tn Or “Fervent devotion to your house.”

[2:17]  ¹³ sn A quotation from Ps 69:9.

[12:2]  ¹⁴ tn Although συσχηματίζεσθε (suschmatizesqe) could be either a passive or middle, the passive is more likely since it would otherwise have to be a direct middle (“conform yourselves”) and, as such, would be quite rare for NT Greek. It is very telling that being “conformed” to the present world is viewed as a passive notion, for it may suggest that it happens, in part, subconsciously. At the same time, the passive could well be a “permissive passive,” suggesting that there may be some consciousness of the conformity taking place. Most likely, it is a combination of both.

[12:2]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “to this age.”

[12:2]  ¹⁶ sn The verb translated test and approve (δοκιμάζω, dokimazw) carries the sense of “test with a positive outcome,” “test so as to approve.”

[1:11]  ¹⁷ tn The expression “for the display of” is an attempt to convey in English the force of the Greek preposition εἰς (eis) in this context.

[4:18]  ¹⁸ tn Or “commendable.”

[4:18]  ¹⁹ tn Or “to be zealous.”

[4:18]  ²⁰ tn Grk “But it is always good to be zealous in good.”

[2:14]  ²¹ tn Grk “who” (as a continuation of the previous clause).

[2:14]  ²² tn Or “a people who are his very own.”

[2:14]  ²³ tn Grk “for good works.”