Romans 9:33

9:33 just as it is written,

“Look, I am laying in Zion a stone that will cause people to stumble

and a rock that will make them fall, ¹ 

yet the one who believes in him will not be put to shame.” ² 

Isaiah 28:16

28:16 Therefore, this is what the sovereign master, the Lord, says:

“Look, I am laying ³  a stone in Zion,

an approved ⁴  stone,

set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation. ⁵ 

The one who maintains his faith will not panic. ⁶ 

Isaiah 49:23

49:23 Kings will be your children’s ⁷  guardians;

their princesses will nurse your children. ⁸ 

With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you

and they will lick the dirt on ⁹  your feet.

Then you will recognize that I am the Lord;

those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.

Jeremiah 17:7

17:7 My blessing is on those people who trust in me,

who put their confidence in me. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 17:1

17:1 ¹¹ The sin of Judah is engraved with an iron chisel

on their stone-hard ¹²  hearts.

It is inscribed with a diamond ¹³  point

on the horns of their altars. ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 2:6

2:6 They did not ask:

‘Where is the Lord who delivered us out of Egypt,

who brought us through the wilderness,

through a land of desert sands and rift valleys,

through a land of drought and deep darkness, ¹⁵ 

through a land in which no one travels,

and where no one lives?’ ¹⁶ 

[9:33]  ¹ tn Grk “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.”

[9:33]  ² sn A quotation from Isa 28:16; 8:14.

[28:16]  ³ tc The Hebrew text has a third person verb form, which does not agree with the first person suffix that precedes. The form should be emended to יֹסֵד (yosed), a Qal active participle used in a present progressive or imminent future sense.

[28:16]  ⁴ tn Traditionally “tested,” but the implication is that it has passed the test and stands approved.

[28:16]  ⁵ sn The reality behind the metaphor is not entirely clear from the context. The stone appears to represent someone or something that gives Zion stability. Perhaps the ideal Davidic ruler is in view (see 32:1). Another option is that the image of beginning a building project by laying a precious cornerstone suggests that God is about to transform Zion through judgment and begin a new covenant community that will experience his protection (see 4:3-6; 31:5; 33:20-24; 35:10).

[28:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “will not hurry,” i.e., act in panic.

[49:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “your,” but Zion here stands by metonymy for her children (see v. 22b).

[49:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “you.” See the preceding note.

[49:23]  ⁹ tn Or “at your feet” (NAB, NIV); NLT “from your feet.”

[17:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Blessed is the person who trusts in the Lord, and whose confidence is in the Lord.” However, because this is a statement of the Lord and the translation chooses to show that the blessing comes from him, the first person is substituted for the divine name.

[17:1]  ¹¹ tn The chapter division which was not a part of the original text but was added in the middle ages obscures the fact that there is no new speech here. The division may have resulted from the faulty identification of the “them” in the preceding verse. See the translator’s note on that verse.

[17:1]  ¹² tn The adjective “stone-hard” is not in the Hebrew text. It is implicit in the metaphor and is supplied in the translation for clarity. Cf. Ezek 11:19; 36:26; and Job 19:24 for the figure.

[17:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “adamant.” The word “diamond” is an accommodation to modern times. There is no evidence that diamond was known in ancient times. This hard stone (perhaps emery) became metaphorical for hardness; see Ezek 3:9 and Zech 7:12. For discussion see W. E. Staples, “Adamant,” IDB 1:45.

[17:1]  ¹⁴ tn This verse has been restructured for the sake of the English poetry: Heb “The sin of Judah is engraved [or written] with an iron pen, inscribed with a point of a diamond [or adamant] upon the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of their altars.”

[2:6]  ¹⁵ tn This word is erroneously rendered “shadow of death” in most older English versions; that translation is based on a faulty etymology. Contextual studies and comparative Semitic linguistics have demonstrated that the word is merely another word for darkness. It is confined to poetic texts and often carries connotations of danger and distress. It is associated in poetic texts with the darkness of a prison (Ps 107:10, 14), a mine (Job 28:3), and a ravine (Ps 23:4). Here it is associated with the darkness of the wasteland and ravines of the Sinai desert.

[2:6]  ¹⁶ sn The context suggests that the question is related to a lament where the people turn to God in their troubles, asking him for help and reminding him of his past benefactions. See for example Isa 63:11-19 and Ps 44. It is an implicit prayer for his intervention, cf. 2 Kgs 2:14.