Numbers 23:1

Balaam Blesses Israel

23:1 ¹ Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”

Isaiah 58:3-4

58:3 They lament, ²  ‘Why don’t you notice when we fast?

Why don’t you pay attention when we humble ourselves?’

Look, at the same time you fast, you satisfy your selfish desires, ³ 

you oppress your workers. ⁴ 

58:4 Look, your fasting is accompanied by ⁵  arguments, brawls,

and fistfights. ⁶ 

Do not fast as you do today,

trying to make your voice heard in heaven.

Matthew 20:12

20:12 saying, ‘These last fellows worked one hour, and you have made them equal to us who bore the hardship and burning heat of the day.’

Luke 18:12

18:12 I fast twice ⁷  a week; I give a tenth ⁸  of everything I get.’

John 16:2

16:2 They will put you out of ⁹  the synagogue, ¹⁰  yet a time ¹¹  is coming when the one who kills you will think he is offering service to God. ¹² 

Romans 3:27

3:27 Where, then, is boasting? ¹³  It is excluded! By what principle? ¹⁴  Of works? No, but by the principle of faith!

Ephesians 2:9

2:9 it is not from ¹⁵  works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁶ 

[23:1]  ¹ sn The first part of Balaam’s activity ends in disaster for Balak – he blesses Israel. The chapter falls into four units: the first prophecy (vv. 1-10), the relocation (vv. 11-17), the second prophecy (vv. 18-24), and a further location (vv. 25-30).

[58:3]  ² tn The words “they lament” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[58:3]  ³ tn Heb “you find pleasure”; NASB “you find your desire.”

[58:3]  ⁴ tn Or perhaps, “debtors.” See HALOT 865 s.v. * עָצֵב.

[58:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “you fast for” (so NASB); NRSV “you fast only to quarrel.”

[58:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “and for striking with a sinful fist.”

[18:12]  ⁷ sn The law only required fasting on the Day of Atonement. Such voluntary fasting as this practiced twice a week by the Pharisee normally took place on Monday and Thursday.

[18:12]  ⁸ tn Or “I tithe.”

[16:2]  ⁹ tn Or “expel you from.”

[16:2]  ¹⁰ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:59.

[16:2]  ¹¹ tn Grk “an hour.”

[16:2]  ¹² sn Jesus now refers not to the time of his return to the Father, as he has frequently done up to this point, but to the disciples’ time of persecution. They will be excommunicated from Jewish synagogues. There will even be a time when those who kill Jesus’ disciples will think that they are offering service to God by putting the disciples to death. Because of the reference to service offered to God, it is almost certain that Jewish opposition is intended here in both cases rather than Jewish opposition in the first instance (putting the disciples out of synagogues) and Roman opposition in the second (putting the disciples to death). Such opposition materializes later and is recorded in Acts: The stoning of Stephen in 7:58-60 and the slaying of James the brother of John by Herod Agrippa I in Acts 12:2-3 are notable examples.

[3:27]  ¹³ tn Although a number of interpreters understand the “boasting” here to refer to Jewish boasting, others (e.g. C. E. B. Cranfield, “‘The Works of the Law’ in the Epistle to the Romans,” JSNT 43 [1991]: 96) take the phrase to refer to all human boasting before God.

[3:27]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “By what sort of law?”

[2:9]  ¹⁵ tn Or “not as a result of.”

[2:9]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “lest anyone should boast.”