Psalms 81:11-12

81:11 But my people did not obey me; ¹ 

Israel did not submit to me. ² 

81:12 I gave them over to their stubborn desires; ³ 

they did what seemed right to them. ⁴ 

Hosea 4:17-18

4:17 Ephraim has attached himself to idols;

Do not go near him!

The Shameful Sinners Will Be Brought to Shame

4:18 They consume their alcohol,

then engage in cult prostitution;

they dearly love their shameful behavior.

Matthew 15:14

15:14 Leave them! They are blind guides. ⁵  If someone who is blind leads another who is blind, ⁶  both will fall into a pit.”

Acts 7:42

7:42 But God turned away from them and gave them over ⁷  to worship the host ⁸  of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘It was not to me that you offered slain animals and sacrifices ⁹  forty years in the wilderness, was it, ¹⁰  house of Israel?

Acts 14:16

14:16 In ¹¹  past ¹²  generations he allowed all the nations ¹³  to go their own ways,

Acts 17:29-30

17:29 So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity ¹⁴  is like gold or silver or stone, an image ¹⁵  made by human ¹⁶  skill ¹⁷  and imagination. ¹⁸  17:30 Therefore, although God has overlooked ¹⁹  such times of ignorance, ²⁰  he now commands all people ²¹  everywhere to repent, ²² 

Ephesians 4:18

4:18 They are darkened in their understanding, ²³  being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.

Ephesians 4:2

4:2 with all humility and gentleness, ²⁴  with patience, bearing with ²⁵  one another in love,

Ephesians 2:10-12

2:10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them. ²⁶ 

New Life Corporately

2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh – who are called “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision” that is performed on the body ²⁷  by human hands – 2:12 that you were at that time without the Messiah, ²⁸  alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, ²⁹  having no hope and without God in the world.

[81:11]  ¹ tn Heb “did not listen to my voice.”

[81:11]  ² tn The Hebrew expression אָבָה לִי (’avah liy) means “submit to me” (see Deut 13:8).

[81:12]  ³ tn Heb “and I sent him away in the stubbornness of their heart.”

[81:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “they walked in their counsel.” The prefixed verbal form is either preterite (“walked”) or a customary imperfect (“were walking”).

[15:14]  ⁵ tc ‡ Most mss, some of which are significant, read “They are blind guides of the blind” (א¹ C L W Z Θ Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat). The shorter reading is read by א*^,2 B D 0237 Epiph. There is a distinct possibility of omission due to homoioarcton in א*; this manuscript has a word order variation which puts the word τυφλοί (tufloi, “blind”) right before the word τυφλῶν (tuflwn, “of the blind”). This does not explain the shorter reading, however, in the other witnesses, of which B and D are quite weighty. Internal considerations suggest that the shorter reading is original: “of the blind” was likely added by scribes to balance this phrase with Jesus’ following statement about the blind leading the blind, which clearly has two groups in view. A decision is difficult, but internal considerations here along with the strength of the witnesses argue that the shorter reading is more likely original. NA²⁷ places τυφλῶν in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[15:14]  ⁶ tn Grk “If blind leads blind.”

[7:42]  ⁷ sn The expression and gave them over suggests similarities to the judgment on the nations described by Paul in Rom 1:18-32.

[7:42]  ⁸ tn Or “stars.”

[7:42]  ⁹ tn The two terms for sacrifices “semantically reinforce one another and are here combined essentially for emphasis” (L&N 53.20).

[7:42]  ¹⁰ tn The Greek construction anticipates a negative reply which is indicated in the translation by the ‘tag’ question, “was it?”

[14:16]  ¹¹ tn Grk “them, who in.” The relative pronoun (“who”) was replaced by the pronoun “he” (“In past generations he”) and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek and the awkwardness of two relative clauses (“who made the heaven” and “who in past generations”) following one another.

[14:16]  ¹² tn On this term see BDAG 780 s.v. παροίχομαι. The word is a NT hapax legomenon.

[14:16]  ¹³ tn Or “all the Gentiles” (in Greek the word for “nation” and “Gentile” is the same). The plural here alludes to the variety of false religions in the pagan world.

[17:29]  ¹⁴ tn Or “the divine being.” BDAG 446 s.v. θεῖος 1.b has “divine being, divinity” here.

[17:29]  ¹⁵ tn Or “a likeness.” Again idolatry is directly attacked as an affront to God and a devaluation of him.

[17:29]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “by the skill and imagination of man,” but ἀνθρώπου (anqrwpou) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

[17:29]  ¹⁷ tn Or “craftsmanship” (cf. BDAG 1001 s.v. τέχνη).

[17:29]  ¹⁸ tn Or “thought.” BDAG 336 s.v. ἐνθύμησις has “thought, reflection, idea” as the category of meaning here, but in terms of creativity (as in the context) the imaginative faculty is in view.

[17:30]  ¹⁹ tn Or “has deliberately paid no attention to.”

[17:30]  ²⁰ tn Or “times when people did not know.”

[17:30]  ²¹ tn Here ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") has been translated as a generic noun (“people”).

[17:30]  ²² 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.

[4:18]  ²³ tn In the Greek text this clause is actually subordinate to περιπατεῖ (peripatei) in v. 17. It was broken up in the English translation so as to avoid an unnecessarily long and cumbersome statement.

[4:2]  ²⁴ tn Or “meekness.” The word is often used in Hellenistic Greek of the merciful execution of justice on behalf of those who have no voice by those who are in a position of authority (Matt 11:29; 21:5).

[4:2]  ²⁵ tn Or “putting up with”; or “forbearing.”

[2:10]  ²⁶ tn Grk “so that we might walk in them” (or “by them”).

[2:11]  ²⁷ tn Grk “in the flesh.”

[2:12]  ²⁸ tn Or “without Christ.” Both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.” Because the context refers to ancient Israel’s messianic expectation, “Messiah” was employed in the translation at this point rather than “Christ.”

[2:12]  ²⁹ tn Or “covenants of the promise.”