Psalms 74:20

74:20 Remember your covenant promises, ¹ 

for the dark regions of the earth are full of places where violence rules. ² 

Psalms 115:4-8

115:4 Their ³  idols are made of silver and gold –

they are man-made. ⁴ 

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. ⁵ 

115:8 Those who make them will end up ⁶  like them,

as will everyone who trusts in them.

Isaiah 44:18-20

44:18 They do not comprehend or understand,

for their eyes are blind and cannot see;

their minds do not discern. ⁷ 

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?’ ⁸ 

44:20 He feeds on ashes; ⁹ 

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?’ ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 46:5-8

46:5 To whom can you compare and liken me?

Tell me whom you think I resemble, so we can be compared!

46:6 Those who empty out gold from a purse

and weigh out silver on the scale ¹¹ 

hire a metalsmith, who makes it into a god.

They then bow down and worship it.

46:7 They put it on their shoulder and carry it;

they put it in its place and it just stands there;

it does not ¹²  move from its place.

Even when someone cries out to it, it does not reply;

it does not deliver him from his distress.

46:8 Remember this, so you can be brave! ¹³ 

Think about it, you rebels! ¹⁴ 

Acts 17:30

17:30 Therefore, although God has overlooked ¹⁵  such times of ignorance, ¹⁶  he now commands all people ¹⁷  everywhere to repent, ¹⁸ 

Acts 26:17-18

26:17 I will rescue ¹⁹  you from your own people ²⁰  and from the Gentiles, to whom ²¹  I am sending you 26:18 to open their eyes so that they turn ²²  from darkness to light and from the power ²³  of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share ²⁴  among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

Romans 1:21-23

1:21 For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts ²⁵  were darkened. 1:22 Although they claimed ²⁶  to be wise, they became fools 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings ²⁷  or birds or four-footed animals ²⁸  or reptiles.

Romans 1:28

1:28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, ²⁹  God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. ³⁰ 

Romans 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ³¹  a slave ³²  of Christ Jesus, ³³  called to be an apostle, ³⁴  set apart for the gospel of God. ³⁵ 

Colossians 1:21

Paul’s Goal in Ministry

1:21 And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your ³⁶  minds ³⁷  as expressed through ³⁸  your evil deeds,

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ³⁹  brothers and sisters ⁴⁰  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ⁴¹  from God our Father! ⁴² 

Colossians 4:4

4:4 Pray that I may make it known as I should. ⁴³ 

Galatians 4:8

Heirs of Promise Are Not to Return to Law

4:8 Formerly when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods at all. ⁴⁴ 

Galatians 4:1

4:1 Now I mean that the heir, as long as he is a minor, ⁴⁵  is no different from a slave, though he is the owner ⁴⁶  of everything.

Galatians 4:5

4:5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights. ⁴⁷ 

[74:20]  ¹ tc Heb “look at the covenant.” The LXX reads “your covenant,” which seems to assume a second person pronominal suffix. The suffix may have been accidentally omitted by haplography. Note that the following word (כִּי) begins with kaf (כ).

[74:20]  ² tn Heb “for the dark places of the earth are full of dwelling places of violence.” The “dark regions” are probably the lands where the people have been exiled (see C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms [ICC], 2:157). In some contexts “dark regions” refers to Sheol (Ps 88:6) or to hiding places likened to Sheol (Ps 143:3; Lam 3:6).

[115:4]  ³ tn The referent of the pronominal suffix is “the nations” (v. 2).

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

[115:7]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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.”

[44:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “for their eyes are smeared over so they cannot see, so their heart cannot be wise.”

[44:19]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Or perhaps, “he eats on an ash heap.”

[44:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Is it not a lie in my right hand?”

[46:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the reed,” probably referring to the beam of a scales. See BDB 889 s.v. קָנֶה 4.c.

[46:7]  ¹² tn Or perhaps, “cannot,” here and in the following two lines. The imperfect forms can indicate capability.

[46:8]  ¹³ tn The meaning of the verb אָשַׁשׁ (’ashash, which appears here in the Hitpolel stem) is uncertain. BDB 84 s.v. אשׁשׁ relates it to a root meaning “found, establish” in Arabic; HALOT 100 s.v. II אשׁשׁ gives the meaning “pluck up courage.” The imperative with vav (ו) may indicate purpose following the preceding imperative.

[46:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “return [it], rebels, to heart”; NRSV “recall it to mind, you transgressors.”

[17:30]  ¹⁵ tn Or “has deliberately paid no attention to.”

[17:30]  ¹⁶ tn Or “times when people did not know.”

[17:30]  ¹⁷ tn Here ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") has been translated as a generic noun (“people”).

[17:30]  ¹⁸ sn He now commands all people everywhere to repent. God was now asking all mankind to turn to him. No nation or race was excluded.

[26:17]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “rescuing.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the participle ἐξαιρούμενος (exairoumeno") has been translated as a finite verb and a new sentence started in the translation at the beginning of v. 17.

[26:17]  ²⁰ tn That is, from the Jewish people. Grk “the people”; the words “your own” have been supplied to clarify the meaning.

[26:17]  ²¹ tn The antecedent of the relative pronoun is probably both the Jews (“your own people”) and the Gentiles, indicating the comprehensive commission Paul received.

[26:18]  ²² sn To open their eyes so that they turn… Here is Luke’s most comprehensive report of Paul’s divine calling. His role was to call humanity to change their position before God and experience God’s forgiveness as a part of God’s family. The image of turning is a key one in the NT: Luke 1:79; Rom 2:19; 13:12; 2 Cor 4:6; 6:14; Eph 5:8; Col 1:12; 1 Thess 5:5. See also Luke 1:77-79; 3:3; 24:47.

[26:18]  ²³ tn BDAG 352-53 s.v. ἐξουσία 2 states, “Also of Satan’s power Ac 26:18.” It is also possible to translate this “the domain of Satan” (cf. BDAG 353 s.v. 6)

[26:18]  ²⁴ tn Or “and an inheritance.”

[1:21]  ²⁵ tn Grk “heart.”

[1:22]  ²⁶ tn The participle φάσκοντες (faskonte") is used concessively here.

[1:23]  ²⁷ tn Grk “exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God in likeness of an image of corruptible man.” Here there is a wordplay on the Greek terms ἄφθαρτος (afqarto", “immortal, imperishable, incorruptible”) and φθαρτός (fqarto", “mortal, corruptible, subject to decay”).

[1:23]  ²⁸ sn Possibly an allusion to Ps 106:19-20.

[1:28]  ²⁹ tn Grk “and just as they did not approve to have God in knowledge.”

[1:28]  ³⁰ tn Grk “the things that are improper.”

[1:1]  ³¹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ³² tn Traditionally, “servant.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  ³³ tc Many important mss, as well as several others (̲⁶ א A G Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï), have a reversed order of these words and read “Jesus Christ” rather than “Christ Jesus” (̹⁰ B 81 pc). The meaning is not affected in either case, but the reading “Christ Jesus” is preferred as slightly more difficult and thus more likely the original (a scribe who found it would be prone to change it to the more common expression). At the same time, Paul is fond of the order “Christ Jesus,” especially in certain letters such as Romans, Galatians, and Philippians. As well, the later Pauline letters almost uniformly use this order in the salutations. A decision is difficult, but “Christ Jesus” is slightly preferred.

[1:1]  ³⁴ tn Grk “a called apostle.”

[1:1]  ³⁵ tn The genitive in the phrase εὐαγγέλιον θεοῦ (euangelion qeou, “the gospel of God”) could be translated as (1) a subjective genitive (“the gospel which God brings”) or (2) an objective genitive (“the gospel about God”). Either is grammatically possible. This is possibly an instance of a plenary genitive (see ExSyn 119-21; M. Zerwick, Biblical Greek, §§36-39). If so, an interplay between the two concepts is intended: The gospel which God brings is in fact the gospel about himself. However, in view of God’s action in v. 2 concerning this gospel, a subjective genitive notion (“the gospel which God brings”) is slightly preferred.

[1:21]  ³⁶ tn The article τῇ (th) has been translated as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[1:21]  ³⁷ tn Although διανοία (dianoia) is singular in Greek, the previous plural noun ἐχθρούς (ecqrous) indicates that all those from Colossae are in view here.

[1:21]  ³⁸ tn The dative ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς (en toi" ergoi" toi" ponhroi") is taken as means, indicating the avenue through which hostility in the mind is revealed and made known.

[1:2]  ³⁹ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ⁴¹ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ⁴² tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

[4:4]  ⁴³ tn The phrase begins with the ἵνα (Jina) clause and is subordinate to the imperative προσκαρτερεῖτε (proskartereite) in v. 2. The reference to the idea that Paul must make it known indicates that this clause is probably best viewed as purpose and not content, like the ἵνα of v. 3. It is the second purpose stated in the context; the first is expressed through the infinitive λαλῆσαι (lalhsai) in v. 3. The term “pray” at the beginning of the sentence is intended to pick up the imperative of v. 3.

[4:8]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “those that by nature…” with the word “beings” implied. BDAG 1070 s.v. φύσις 2 sees this as referring to pagan worship: “Polytheists worship…beings that are by nature no gods at all Gal 4:8.”

[4:1]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “a small child.” The Greek term νήπιος (nhpios) refers to a young child, no longer a helpless infant but probably not more than three or four years old (L&N 9.43). The point in context, though, is that this child is too young to take any responsibility for the management of his assets.

[4:1]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “master” or “lord” (κύριος, kurios).

[4:5]  ⁴⁷ tn The Greek term υἱοθεσία (Juioqesia) was originally a legal technical term for adoption as a son with full rights of inheritance. BDAG 1024 s.v. notes, “a legal t.t. of ‘adoption’ of children, in our lit., i.e. in Paul, only in a transferred sense of a transcendent filial relationship between God and humans (with the legal aspect, not gender specificity, as major semantic component).” Although some modern translations remove the filial sense completely and render the term merely “adoption” (cf. NAB), the retention of this component of meaning was accomplished in the present translation by the phrase “as sons.”