Discovery BoxPsalms 44:20-21
Context44:20 If we had rejected our God, 1
and spread out our hands in prayer to another god, 2
44:21 would not God discover it,
for he knows 3 one’s thoughts? 4
Jeremiah 29:23
Context29:23 This will happen to them because they have done what is shameful 5 in Israel. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have spoken lies while claiming my authority. 6 They have spoken words that I did not command them to speak. I know what they have done. I have been a witness to it,’ says the Lord.” 7
Malachi 3:5
Context3:5 “I 8 will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who practice divination, those who commit adultery, those who break promises, 9 and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, 10 who refuse to help 11 the immigrant 12 and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the Lord who rules over all.
Luke 12:2-3
Context12:2 Nothing is hidden 13 that will not be revealed, 14 and nothing is secret that will not be made known. 12:3 So then 15 whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered 16 in private rooms 17 will be proclaimed from the housetops. 18
Romans 2:16
Context2:16 on the day when God will judge 19 the secrets of human hearts, 20 according to my gospel 21 through Christ Jesus.
Romans 2:1
Context2:1 22 Therefore 23 you are without excuse, 24 whoever you are, 25 when you judge someone else. 26 For on whatever grounds 27 you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.
Colossians 4:5
Context4:5 Conduct yourselves 28 with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunities.
[44:20] 1 tn Heb “If we had forgotten the name of our God.” To “forget the name” here refers to rejecting the
[44:20] 2 tn Heb “and spread out your hands to another god.” Spreading out the hands was a prayer gesture (see Exod 9:29, 33; 1 Kgs 8:22, 38; 2 Chr 6:12-13, 29; Ezra 9:15; Job 11:13; Isa 1:15). In its most fundamental sense זר (“another; foreign; strange”) refers to something that is outside one’s circle, often making association with it inappropriate. A “strange” god is an alien deity, an “outside god” (see L. A. Snijders, TDOT 4:54-55).
[44:21] 3 tn The active participle describes what is characteristically true.
[44:21] 4 tn Heb “would not God search out this, for he knows the hidden things of [the] heart?” The expression “search out” is used metonymically here, referring to discovery, the intended effect of a search. The “heart” (i.e., mind) is here viewed as the seat of one’s thoughts. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he would!” The point seems to be this: There is no way the Israelites who are the speakers in the psalm would reject God and turn to another god, for the omniscient God would easily discover such a sin.
[29:23] 5 tn It is commonly assumed that this word is explained by the two verbal actions that follow. The word (נְבָלָה, nÿvalah) is rather commonly used of sins of unchastity (cf., e.g., Gen 34:7; Judg 19:23; 2 Sam 13:12) which would fit the reference to adultery. However, the word is singular and not likely to cover both actions that follow. The word is also used of the greedy act of Achan (Josh 7:15) which threatened Israel with destruction and the churlish behavior of Nabal (1 Sam 25:25) which threatened him and his household with destruction. The word is also used of foolish talk in Isa 9:17 (9:16 HT) and Isa 32:6. It is possible that this refers to a separate act, one that would have brought the death penalty from Nebuchadnezzar, i.e., the preaching of rebellion in conformity with the message of the false prophets in Jerusalem and other nations (cf. 27:9, 13). Hence it is possible that the translation should read: “This will happen because of their vile conduct. They have propagated rebellion. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives. They have spoken words that I did not command them to speak. They have spoken lies while claiming my authority.”
[29:23] 6 tn Heb “prophesying lies in my name.” For an explanation of this idiom see the study notes on 14:14 and 23:27.
[29:23] 7 tn Heb “Oracle of the
[3:5] 8 tn The first person pronoun (a reference to the
[3:5] 9 tn Heb “those who swear [oaths] falsely.” Cf. NIV “perjurers”; TEV “those who give false testimony”; NLT “liars.”
[3:5] 10 tn Heb “and against the oppressors of the worker for a wage, [the] widow and orphan.”
[3:5] 11 tn Heb “those who turn aside.”
[3:5] 12 tn Or “resident foreigner”; NIV “aliens”; NRSV “the alien.”
[12:2] 14 sn I.e., be revealed by God. The passive voice verbs here (“be revealed,” be made known”) see the revelation as coming from God. The text is both a warning about bad things being revealed and an encouragement that good things will be made known, though the stress with the images of darkness and what is hidden in vv. 2-3 is on the attempt to conceal.
[12:3] 15 tn Or “because.” Understanding this verse as a result of v. 2 is a slightly better reading of the context. Knowing what is coming should impact our behavior now.
[12:3] 16 tn Grk “spoken in the ear,” an idiom. The contemporary expression is “whispered.”
[12:3] 17 sn The term translated private rooms refers to the inner room of a house, normally without any windows opening outside, the most private location possible (BDAG 988 s.v. ταμεῖον 2).
[12:3] 18 tn The expression “proclaimed from the housetops” is an idiom for proclaiming something publicly (L&N 7.51). Roofs of many first century Jewish houses in Judea and Galilee were flat and had access either from outside or from within the house. Something shouted from atop a house would be heard by everyone in the street below.
[2:16] 19 tn The form of the Greek word is either present or future, but it is best to translate in future because of the context of future judgment.
[2:16] 21 sn On my gospel cf. Rom 16:25; 2 Tim 2:8.
[2:1] 22 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] 23 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] 24 tn That is, “you have nothing to say in your own defense” (so translated by TCNT).
[2:1] 26 tn Grk “Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone [of you] who judges.”
[2:1] 27 tn Grk “in/by (that) which.”
[4:5] 28 tn Grk “walk.” The verb περιπατέω (peripatew) is a common NT idiom for one’s lifestyle, behavior, or manner of conduct (L&N 41.11).
